The appeal of a cruise ship voyage has mostly eluded me, and the experience of these peeps on the Carnival Splendor has only burnished my feeling. Of course one can get stuck at sea in any number of ways (I was once in a small boat with my two kids ages 14 and 11 at the time, with a broken engine and no paddles, and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard). But adrift in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico with no power, no hot water, no fresh food, and no quick way to bring the floating city home, is not anyone's idea of a vacation. And certainly not after you've paid thousands of dollars to one of these giant cruise line companies.
The good news is that no one was killed, and everyone is back on terra firma tonight. The ship docked at the wharf on Harbor Drive in San Diego today, a wharf teaming with well-wishers and reporters, who are trying to get interviews with the weary passengers.
Our Jeff Pegues is dockside for us, tonight at 11.
Also at 11, we're taking a closer look at the Better Business Bureau, the organization with the incredible brand name, but with bad rap from some businesses that aren't members.
That's because the businesses claim they get poor ratings from the BBB when they don't join; they claim they're getting punished for not joining.
This will be a shock to many shoppers, who often look for the "BBB" logo at stores or online to make sure they're dealing with reputable people. But does the Better Business Bureau affiliation really mean that?
Our investigative reporter Jim Hoffer tonight has the story.
A couple of international stories we're following. Ariel Sharon, the former Israeli Prime Minister who has been in a coma for the past five years, is expected to be moved soon from a hospital room to his ranch in the Negev desert. The guy, no matter what you thought of his politics, was tough in office, and he remains tough in a coma.
And the talker of the day involves Google Maps and how it has started an international incident. Relying on some faulty border information on Google Maps, Nicaraguan forces last week crossed into a part of Costa Rica and planted their flag. The military commander on the scene had looked up the area on Google Maps.
Oy.
Costa Rica, as you can imagine, didn't much fancy this "invasion," and responded with heavily armed police. Neither side is budging, even though Google Maps admits it had wrong information.
And now the kicker: Google was relying on information from the U.S. State Department.
Double oy.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast, and Scott Clark with the night's sports. I hope you can join Liz Cho and me, tonight at 11.