PRINCESS Cruises is defending itself over
claims that it failed to rescue crew onboard a
small boat named Fifty Cent after they had
been adrift at sea for over a month (CW 17 May).
The story was initially corroborated by
photographs of a small boat thought to be
Fifty Cent, taken by Princess passengers from
onboard Star Princess.
Criticisism and several lawsuits have been
levelled at the cruise line in the wake of the
story, however Princess has always ascertained
that Star’s bridge staff did not see signs of
distress and therefore did not stop or notify
the ship’s captain.
In an effort to determine the truth, Princess
Cruises had the passengers photographs
analysed by Michael Snyder, a retired photo
analyst and photogrammetry expert from NASA’s
Johnson Space Center who concluded that “the
small boat photographed by the passengers
onboard Star Princess is clearly not the small
boat called Fifty Cent”.
