cruise

Published on: March 4, 2026

A New Florida Cruise Port? Where? What to Know.

Just south of Interstate 275 in a pocket of the Tampa Bay is an island that may be home to a new cruise port, but locals worry about the environmental impact of such a project, according to The Miami Herald.

The area is being eyed for a terminal by two companies — SSA Marine and Slip Knott LLC — for megaships that cannot pass under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The bridge maintains a clearance of about 193 feet for ships, despite being raised by about 50% to accommodate larger vessels in 1987, and still presents a limitation for megaships trying to pass through the area.

Currently, the island serves as a natural habitat for a multitude of native species and is known as “Paradise Island” to locals and nature enthusiasts, according to reporting from The Miami Herald. “As a conservation tradeoff” ahead of their plans to develop the Knott-Cowen Tract into a cruise port hub, the companies have proposed the preservation of Rattlesnake Key — a largely undeveloped 830-acre island that sold last year for $18 million. SSA Marine is the current owner of Rattlesnake Key.

Published on: August 27, 2025

Ship Drifts for Hours After Power Failure. What this means for passengers.

By Leesfield & Partners

A major power failure Monday left a cruise ship with thousands of passengers drifting for hours off the coast of Italy, according to Cruise News Today.

An electrical issue the ship’s engines caused the outage, though onboard services continued with little disruption The ship required help from the Italian Coast Guard and two tugboats that guided it into Naples. The ship later regained partial engine power, arriving hours after it was originally meant to. The cruise line is conducting a full inspection and said the ship is expected to resume its sailing schedule Tuesday.

While this power failure was quickly addressed and resulted in limited disruption to passengers’ vacations, other engine failure, mechanical issues and fires do occur aboard ships. If not swiftly dealt with, however, there can be bigger consequences. The passengers of a 2013 cruise ship that lost power know this better than most. In that case, which was explored in a recent Netflix documentary, passengers were stranded without power for days in a stifling ship with no working bathrooms, creating a recipe for disaster.

Published on: July 16, 2024

Man’s family awarded $2 million in lawsuit after he died from burn at Kentucky motel. What do places like hotels and cruise ships owe customers?

By Leesfield & Partners

The family of a 76-year-old Kentucky man was awarded over $2 million this month after his death from a burning incident in a motel shower, according to news outlets.

The incident happened in 2021 while the man was on a business trip. When he got in the shower, hot water estimated in the lawsuit to be 150 degrees Fahrenheit scalded him. The man fell and was unable to get up until coworkers who heard him screaming rushed into the bathroom to help. The man had third-degree burns following the incident and died seven months later after spending most of his time in and out of hospitals. Third-degree burns affect the deeper layers of the skin and burn down to the fatty tissue. They require immediate medical attention.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of the grieving family did not specify what caused the water to come out at 150 degrees. A judgment filed earlier this month stated that the hotel failed to properly inspect and maintain the property in a reasonably safe condition.