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According to a new article in Vanity Fair, the captain of the Costa Concordia made a laundry list of blunders before the cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Italy. NBC's Mara Schiavocampo reports.

A new magazine article on the sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise ship details a series of blunders and errors on the part of her captain that led to the deaths of at least 32 people and the largest shipwreck in maritime history.

The shipwreck in January off the coast of Italy precipitated a nightmarish scene of almost unimaginable chaos after the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, delayed calling for rescue aid after his navigation blunders forced the cruise ship onto rocks, according to the story.

Journalist Bryan Burrough, writing in the May Vanity Fair magazine, paints an unsparing portrait of that chaos in which passengers — given almost no information about the calamity that had befallen the ship — fought to find their children and other family members, free themselves in darkness from under deck as the ship tipped onto its side and attempted to reach life boats. 

Burrough, who interviewed dozens of witnesses, also details previously unsung heroes from some crew members to rescue divers and Italian Coast Guard officers and even the deputy mayor from the small town overlooking the wreck who combined forces to save most of the ship’s 4,200 passengers.

The story is damning in its details of Schettino’s actions, many reported for the first time. They include:

• One passenger’s claim, though it is elsewhere unconfirmed, that he saw the captain and a friend “polish off a decanter of red wine while eating” prior to the catastrophe.
• That the captain was going too fast for the conditions and seemed to be navigating by eyesight rather than with the aid of maps and radar, when he saw a set of rocks off the Tuscan coast prior to the crash. “What he failed to notice was another rock, nearer to the ship,” that was largely underwater, the story says. “An officer later told investigators he heard the captain say, ‘(expletive)…I didn’t see it!’ ”
• The captain, who was casually talking on the phone when the ship approached the rocks, wrongly ordered the ship to turn to starboard, rather than port, to avoid the mostly submerged rock when he finally did see it. That caused the ship’s stern to swing around and slam into it, ripping open a 230-foot-long gash below the waterline.
• When crew members spoke with the Coast Guard, Schettino ordered them to say that there was only a blackout on board and they did not need any immediate assistance. Schettino’s apparent refusal to “promptly admit the Concordia’s plight — to lie about it, according to the Italian Coast Guard — was not only a violation of Italian maritime law but cost precious time, delaying the arrival of rescue workers by as much as 45 minutes,” the story says.
• When the ship began listing to starboard, the captain dropped its massive anchors to prevent it from tipping further, but played out too much line — so the anchors never caught and were of no help. It was a “jaw-droppingly stupid mistake,” according to a veteran American captain and nautical analyst, John Konrad, quoted in the story.
• The captain, who made it ashore in a lifeboat he claims to have fallen into, begged in a phone call with a Coast Guard officer not to be sent back to the ship to look for survivors. That shocked the officer, who in return threatened Schettino by saying, “Tell me how many people are still on board and what they need. Is that clear? ... I’m going to make sure you get in trouble. I’m going to make you pay for this.”

In one of the few lighter reported details in the story, the ship’s hotel director survived for more than a day inside the tipped ship, trapped on a table above flooding waters, by drinking cans of Coke and bottles of Cognac he found floating by.

The ship remains on its side, and will take more than 10 to 12 months to remove, according to the story. As for the Schettino, he could face charges of manslaughter and illegally abandoning his ship. “Several survivors remarked on afterward, that amazingly, in a world of satellites and laser-guided weapons and instant communications almost anywhere on earth, ships could still sink,” the story says.

Read an excerpt of the article at Vanity Fair.

More on Overhead Bin

• 5 more bodies found in Costa Concordia wreckage
• Cruise ship survivors sue cruise line for $460 million
• Carnival Triumph sails from Gavelston after legal issue settled

The world's largest cruise ship picked up 23 Cuban refugees in the Caribbean Sea on Wednesday.

Royal Caribbean's 225,282-ton, 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas was sailing from Falmouth, Jamaica, to Cozumel, Mexico, when it spotted a small boat, said the line in a statement. Oasis approached the boat and picked up 23 refugees, including 19 men and four women. (Thanks to Cruise Critic member bajathree, who's onboard, for the tip.) 

Once onboard, the refugees received food, water and medical treatment, said the line. Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez told Cruise Critic that the new passengers were housed in Oasis' conference room with a few crewmembers until the ship arrived in Cozumel this morning.

According to Royal Caribbean, the U.S. Coast Guard was notified, as is the line's standard practice when dealing with distressed mariners. At the direction of the U.S.C.G, the 23 Cuban citizens were disembarked in Cozumel, where they were handed over to the Mexican authorities. 

Passenger and youtuber Spensaf1 posted a video of the refugees being handed life jackets and then transferred from their makeshift craft to a yellow boat. One of the onlookers can be heard saying, "it's lobster night tonight. Going to be eating pretty well tonight."

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A teenage girl is suing Carnival Cruise Lines and three of its employees, claiming she was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to urinate under the employees’ observation during a cruise last year.

The alleged incident is not only another potential black eye for the industry but also raises the question of what rights passengers have when at sea.

The case in question involves an 18-year-old girl, identified only as “J.G.,” who sailed on the Carnival Sensation with her family last April. After a stop in Nassau, Bahamas, security guards detained the then-17-year-old girl on suspicion of possessing marijuana.

According to the complaint, the agents “threatened, coerced and required J.G. to remove her panties, lift her dress to her waist and expose her nakedness to all agents in the cabin.”

She was then allegedly forced to urinate in front of employees, who also requested she remove a tampon. J.G. claims she was subjected to a genital cavity search before being booked and escorted off the ship. The suit alleges that J.G. was placed in an adult cell in the Bahamas and subsequently assaulted.

The cruise line vigorously disputes J.G.'s claim that she was interrogated, strip-searched and subjected to a cavity search. “Carnival does not typically comment on pending litigation but feels compelled to do so given the far-fetched claims made in this lawsuit,” spokesman Vance Gulliksen told msnbc.com.

“The claim that the plaintiff was strip searched is patently false and obviously made in retaliation for the cruise line having disembarked the plaintiff and her mother part-way through the voyage in Nassau where the plaintiff was taken into custody by the Bahamian police.”

Specific allegations aside, the case highlights the murky nature of jurisdiction and passenger rights on the high seas. According to legal experts, U.S. passengers are protected by U.S. laws but also subject to international maritime laws and the legally-binding contracts of their passenger tickets.

“When you go on a cruise ship, you are in the territory of the flag of the country the ship is registered in,” said Miami-based maritime attorney Michael Winkleman of Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina Winkleman. “But where you have a possible criminal case, different types of intervening jurisdictions can apply — the Coast Guard, the FBI — although the only real authority on the ship is the cruise line itself.”

Story: How safe is that cruise ship anyway?

And those tickets/contracts do give cruise lines the authority to search guests and their belongings, confiscate prohibited items and deny boarding or reboarding to passengers who refuse to comply.

As the Carnival contract states, “All Guests agree Carnival has, at all times with or without notice, the right to enter and search Guest's stateroom, personal safe or storage spaces, or to search or screen any Guest, and/or personal effects, at any location, to ensure compliance with any of the restrictions set forth in this agreement.”

“You’re implicitly agreeing to give them a certain authority over you,” said Winkleman, “but the question is what’s reasonable?”

“The short answer is that, irrespective of the law of the flag, cruise lines have a responsibility to treat passengers reasonably,” said maritime lawyer Jim Walker of Walker O’Neill in Miami. “My view is that it’s unreasonable to subject a minor to any of the conduct that’s alleged in this incident.”

Furthermore, passengers maintain the right to object to any type of search or interrogation, he says, although there are consequences for doing so, which include refusing passengers boarding and bringing in local authorities.

While neither Winkleman nor Walker are involved in the current litigation, both suggest that no cruise line operates under the premise that it has the right to conduct strip and cavity searches of passengers. Rather, they say, such incidents arise from the gray area of conflicting jurisdictions and the multi-cultural environment that constitutes the typical cruise.

In fact, since all but a handful of cruise ships sail under foreign flags, the majority of onboard personnel are from foreign countries. Along with waiters, housekeepers and maintenance crews, security agents are often recruited during job fairs, conducted both in the U.S. and overseas and by both the cruise lines themselves and third-party companies.

The nationality of the employees in the current case — Mayank Thapa, a security agent; Redentor Yuzon, an assistant housekeeping manager, and a female employee referred to only as “Leticia” — is not stated in the complaint. The suit cites the case’s “diversity of citizenship” as one reason for filing in U.S. District Court.

“When you have a security agent from a country outside the U.S. that doesn’t recognize these types of legal protections, they’re going to act according to their own cultural values and beliefs,” Walker said. “That’s where you have the collision between the theoretical rights Americans enjoy and the actual circumstances that are presented on board a ship. That’s why these things happen.”

Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.

Related stories:

• Video: New details on Costa Concordia captain's blunders
• How safe is that cruise ship anyway? 
• Carnival Triumph sails from Gavelston after legal issue settled
• Lawyer: Costa Concordia captain wasn't wearing his glasses

A security screener at John F. Kennedy International Airport was arrested recently after allegedly throwing a cup of hot coffee at an off-duty American Airlines pilot.

Pilot Steven Trivett, 54, was exiting the secure area of the terminal on March 28 around 5 a.m. when he told a Transportation Security Administration agent and her colleagues to tone down a profanity-laced conversation.

“He was walking though the screening area and overheard a conversation where he thought they were speaking unprofessionally,” Al Della Fave, press officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told msnbc.com.

Trivett reportedly told them that they should "conduct themselves more professionally in uniform and not use profanity or the n-word," the New York Post reported.

One screener apparently then told Trivett to mind his own business, and that's when he identified himself. He reportedly tried to grab the ID tags of screener Lateisha El, 30, and that's when she tossed a full cup of hot coffee on him, according to the Post.

TSA spokesman Greg Soule offered this explanation to msnbc.com:

"TSA holds our employees to the highest professional standards and has a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior at airport checkpoints. TSA is looking into this incident and will take swift and appropriate action. The unacceptable behavior of a few individuals in no way reflects the dedication of our nearly 50,000 Transportation Security Officers who work tirelessly to keep our skies safe." 

But Della Fave told msnbc.com that El told authorities she spilled the coffee accidentally, while Trivett said he believed she threw it at him.

“He charged her with assault, she charged him with harassment,” Della Fave said.

Now it's up to the courts to decide. 

More on Overhead Bin

• 'I've got snakes on a plane': Pilot makes emergency landing
• Delta removes flight attendant after report of 'unusual' behavior
• 12 injured during turbulence on flight to Houston

Several hundred more flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) have been canceled since tornadoes hit the area on Tuesday. 

Read the original report Click2Houston.com.

Ed Martelle, a spokesman for American Airlines and American Eagle, said the carriers had cancelled another 323 flights on Thursday. 

Martelle told msnbc.com that 60 planes remain out of service as they await inspections for damage since Tuesday's storms. More than 100 aircraft were originally were out of service.

The carriers have canceled more than 1,600 DFW flights since the severe weather, including about 800 Tuesday and 500 more Wednesday.

It could take a few more days for American Airlines' flight schedule to return to normal, Martelle said. American Eagle flights should become regular Thursday. 

NBC-affiliate Click2Houston.com contributed to this story.

More from Overhead Bin:

• Tornado damage cancels hundreds of flights from Dallas-Fort Worth
• Judge orders competency test for JetBlue captain who had midair breakdown
• 12 injured during turbulence on flight to Houston