Breaking: Cruise line crew members busted yet again

by Chris Owen on

In December it was Royal Caribbean in the news when crew members got caught smuggling drugs in Baltimore. In January, US Customs and Border patrol went back and found more. Earlier this month, a drug dealer was busted on shiny new Allure of the Seas dealing to the World’s Largest Gay Cruise. It seems Royal Caribbean is the cruise line of choice for drug dealers in spite of the line’s “zero tolerance” for drugs on board.

Now we have yet another incident with the Associated Press reporting two crew members busted in Jamaica with nearly 75 pounds of cocaine.

“On February 23, Jamaican authorities detained a crew member and found that he was in possession of 18 kilos of cocaine. Authorities then boarded [Grandeur of the Seas] and found an additional 15 kilos in the cabin of a different crew member.” Royal Caribbean said in a statement to CruiseCritic.com.

But yet John Doe and his lovely wife Sally get the bottle of champagne they wanted to bring on board to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary confiscated upon embarkation. That, the cruise line has under control.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinz also told Cruise Critic in January that drug busts onboard ships are very rare and have occurred “only a handful of times.”

Well, we count four since December. How many is a handful?

Maybe Royal Caribbean should approach drug smuggling by its own crew with the same intensity they do bringing liquids on board by passengers, going so far as to say on their website:

“Please Note: All guests must comply with TSA guidelines for transporting liquids.”

Really? Forget the Tequilla. Mom can’t bring a full bottle of Clairol Herbal Essence shampoo but somehow your crew members bring enough party drugs on board to to fire Manhattan?

Something is not quite right here. No mon, something very bad dis place.

Native Americans in Oregon hunt buffalo for first time in a century

by Sean McLachlan on


In the old days, the Cayuse people used to rely on the buffalo hunt. Like many other Native American tribes, the buffalo gave them meat, hide, bone, grease, bone, and other materials. But once European settlers swept across the continent the buffalo all but disappeared. The Cayuse haven’t had a buffalo hunt in a hundred years.

All that has changed now that the Cayuse have won the right, initially given to them in a treaty dating back to 1855, to hunt buffalo on Federal land. It’s the latest in a string of victories for Native Americans in various states pushing for traditional hunting rights. In 2006, the Nez Perce and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai won the right to hunt on Federal land outside Yellowstone National Park, although they are forbidden from hunting within the park.

White settlers hunted the buffalo nearly to extinction by the early twentieth century. A couple of generations of careful management has helped the population rebound, and they’re now classified as “Near Threatened“, which is a lot better than “Endangered”.

Now the Cayuse and Shoshone-Bannock of Oregon have begun to hunt again. In addition to hiking, swimming, bird watching, logging, and a host of other uses, Federal land now has a new use, or an old one.

[Photo courtesy John Hill]

%Poll-60711%

Video: Albino Redwoods, a biological mystery

by Elizabeth Seward on

I recently spent 10 days exploring Northern California, magnetized by every patch of Redwood trees I saw. This wasn’t my first trip to the area and it won’t prove to be my last, either. There’s something especially magnificent about Redwood trees. The limits of their growth are widely still unknown, but at their recorded tallest height (379 feet), the Giant Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) family includes the tallest trees on Earth.

Although I’ve been home for a couple of days now from the trip, I’m still finding myself at the mercy of web searches related to these trees. An admittedly semi-mindless YouTube trolling session this evening brought me to this well-shot and knowledgeable video focusing on Albino Redwoods. These special trees baffle scientists. All I can think is… I wish I’d made a point to check out these ghost-like trees in person. If you’ll be in Redwood territory soon, take note.

Coast to coast: Best hotels for Oscar viewing parties

by McLean Robbins on

Want to live it up like an A-lister? You don’t have to hit the red carpet in Los Angeles to make like the stars of The Social Network, The King’s Speech, True Grit or Black Swan. Hotel bars, particularly at luxe properties, have long been beloved by the see-and-be seen set. But if what you really want to see is the annual Oscars / Academy Awards … you’re in luck at these great Oscar viewing parties:

New York

Head to the W Hotel Union Square for Refinery 29’s Oscars bash. $40 admission nabs gourmet popcorn, an open bar, passed apps and Refinery editrixes moderating a style panel of Timo Weiland, Carol Han and designer Jonathan Simkhai, plus prize giveaways. Get your tickets here.

Washington DC

Get swanky just four blocks from The White House at The Jefferson hotel. For $95, you’ll snag admission to their Oscar party at Quill bar, where you’ll enjoy a private viewing area, glass of rose Champagne, a movie-inspired cocktail from their in-house mixologist, truffled popcorn, caviar tacos, foie gras bon bons, mini gold-plated chili cheese dogs and a copy of all recipes for the speciality cocktails served that evening. Snag tickets here.

[Flickr via Dave_B_]

Miami
74 degrees? We’ll take it. Lounge poolside at the chic South Beach hotspot The Delano, where they’ll be screening the Oscars broadcast by the pool.

Seattle
Don’t miss Hotel 1000’s charity bash. $75 gets you admission to the red carpet event, which offers a “paparazzi experience,” cocktail, drink tickets, apps and a swanky swag bag. You even get a chance to win prizes for being the best celebrity look-alike or having the hottest outfit.

Las Vegas
It’s Vegas. Who would expect anything less than an over-the-top event? Party at The Palms, where, for between $50 and $100, you’ll enjoy a celebrity red carpet, private screening of the Oscars broadcast, an after-party at The Playboy Club, and more. Shell out for the VIP tix and you’ll also enjoy VIP after-party access,the official 83rd Academy Awards Program, admission to the Celebrity VIP Reception in the Brendan Celebrity Suite with hosted bar and complimentary hors d’oeuvres, and private balcony theater viewing of the ABC telecast. Buy tickets here.

San Francisco
Don’t miss the great views and private screening at the Intercontinental’s chic Top of the Mark restaurant. Nibble apps like Nob Hill Sliders and Shrimp Cocktail while you fill out your ballots. Choose right, and you’ll be entered to win a luxe gift bag filled with a gift card for brunch for two, complimentary cocktails for two, a limited edition Evian water bottle made by Issey Miyake, and Ghiradelli chocolates. The event is free, but reservations are suggested.

Los Angeles
Would you expect anything less than black tie for this star-studded city? Of course not. Join The Beverly Hills hotel for a swank bash. Tickets are a pricey $1,000, but we’ve heard rumors that actual celebrities may attend.

The Bahamas
Who says it’s just adults that can have fun? Atlantis is offering an exclusive party in their new CRUSH teens club, where atendees can compete for best-dressed prizes, sip Oscar-themed mocktails and enjoy screenings of Twilight and The Social Network.

San Jose to add “Silicon Valley” to airport name, maybe

by Chris Owen on

That would make it “Norman Y Mineta San Jose/Silicon Valley International Airport” a runway length name but just what city leaders think it needs.

“People want to go to Silicon Valley,” San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said. “But they don’t really know where it is.”

Actually, the problem is that people want to go to San Francisco which has overshadowed San Jose for decades.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, San Jose’s airport has struggled, trailing behind San Francisco then Oakland, losing lucrative routes to Paris and Taiwan. The economic slump that started in 2008 pretty much drove a stake through the beleaguered airport’s heart causing a loss of a third of its scheduled flights and a quarter of it’s passengers.

%Gallery-7858%A $1.3 billion upgrade last summer didn’t help either and now the city is struggling to make payments on the project.

“We need to think about how we can do things differently to market our airport and our region,” said City Councilman Sam Liccardo, who sits on the naming committee that came up with the idea to add on to the name. “The term ‘Silicon Valley’ has global cachet.”

It looks like there are plenty of people living in the area too. “As 2011 begins, about 850,000, the number of jobs in the valley today is about the same as in 1995, the year Yahoo was founded and three years before Google was born. Over the same period, the population has grown by 20 percent” says SiliconValley.com.

Reaching out to the world with a new airport name? Maybe that is just what San Jose needs to kickstart traffic. Still, when we book flights, the airport will be SJC up against SFO.

Flickr photo by J-fish