Two crew members from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Explorer of the Seas went overboard last night near the port of Victoria, British Columbia. According to the reports ship’s Captain announced “Code Oscar” on the loudspeakers on Thursday evening at around 8:00 p.m. local time. Joint Rescue Coordination Centre reports that the crew was working on a lifeboat when they ended up in the water. Luckily they were wearing life vests and shortly after other boats joined the rescue operation.

Hosting its second annual Pride Party at Sea, Celebrity Cruises celebrated Pride Month across their award-winning fleet. Ambassadors for this year’s festivities were Olympic Bronze Medalist Adam Rippon and Two Time Men’s figure skating Olympian Johnny Weir.

A crew member was arrested by the Croatian Police in the port of Split for sexual assault. According to the Croatian Newspaper 24 Sata, a 26-year-old crew member with Turkish nationality who was working as a cook on a cruise vessel sexually assaulted a 68-year-old woman.

Princess Cruises announced it will host the largest ever slot tournament after signing a deal with American gaming machine and systems innovator Scientific Games Corporation. The cruise line introduced its Monopoly Cruise for Cash campaign with hundreds of cruises this year before the main event in December with a $200,777 slot tournament aboard Regal Princess.

TUI Cruises has announced the expansion of its fleet with an order of two additional new class vessels.  The new units, which will be built by Fincantieri in the Italian shipyard in Monfalcone will be significantly larger than the previous new builds in the Hamburg shipping company. The size of 161,000 gross tons clearly exceeds the previous ships of the Tui Cruises fleet. In comparison, the latest “Mein Schiff 1" comes to 111,500 gross registered tons.

Norwegian Cruise Line confirmed the previously announced option to build the fifth and sixth ships of the Leonardo Class with the Italian Shipbuilder Fincantieri SpA.

The Police arrested two Syrian immigrants in the port of Rhodes, Greece attempting to leave the country illegally and travel abroad on a cruise ship. The incident occurred on July 4, at around 1:30 p.m. when the crew of the cruise ship Celebrity Reflection, spotted two Syrian nationals age 32 and 18, and alerted the port authorities.

Today July 9, at the Criminal Court of Marseille started the trial of the P&O Cruises captain on charges for air pollution. This is the first case of its kind in Europe, claiming that the cruise ship P&O Azura exceeded the legal limit on sulfur emissions while in the port of Marseille, France. If found guilty the master of the vessel faces up to a year in prison and a €200,000 fine.

Anti-Tourism activists in Spain have vowed to increase the protests in the region popular cruise destinations this summer because as they say over-tourism. Following recent developments, Royal Caribbean has issued an advisory letter warning its shipboard personnel to stay out of harm’s way. Here is the letter distributed by Royal Caribbean.

Dear At Sea employees,

A crew member on board the Cunard’s ocean liner Queen Mary 2 was evacuated due to a medical emergency and transported to a hospital on Friday evening.