The announcement comes as coroners investigate the death of an Australian woman, who died from an overdose of the date rape drug gamma-hydroxybutyrate less than 24 hours after boarding P and O's Pacific Sky ship in September 2002. P and O has already strengthened its safety and security procedures following the death of Dianne Brimble in 2002. Brimble, who was on the holiday cruise with her young daughter, was found slumped naked on the floor of a cabin after just one night on board. The coroner's court has heard the usually reserved woman was seen dancing with a group of men in the ship's disco just hours before she died. Digital photos retrieved from a camera showed Brimble later having sex with one of the men in the cabin in which her body was found. A string of passengers have testified about the drunken antics of the group of eight men on the cruise -- who allegedly offered at least one woman a suspicious pink liquid to drink and sexually propositioned other females on board.

Among the company's "beefed-up secutiry measures" are plans to increase the number of security staff, closing bars between the hours of 0400-1000, installing a 24-hour video surveillance system, using sniffer dogs at the start of all cruises, and unspecified revisions in its alcohol policy.

The question that comes to mind here is this one: four years after the death of Ms. Brimble and P&O is just now banning "excessive behavior"? I am left to wonder how executives at P&O defined that term both now and in the past.