U.S. Senators from Connecticut, Massachusetts and West Virginia want to make it easier for consumers to assess the safety record of the cruise ship they are about to board in what for many is the vacation of a lifetime.
Connecticut U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Massachusetts' Ed Markey and West Virginia's Jay Rockefeller want the U.S. Coast Guard to publish online information from its inspection of cruise ships.
The request comes after the Coast Guard begun unannounced inspections of cruise ships at U.S. ports, targeting those with patterns of safety problems.
The senators sent a joint letter to the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, Adm. Robert J. Papp Jr., saying his agency does a disservice to the public when it keeps from consumers the identity of cruise ships and lines that have a pattern of safety violations.
