Edhat Reader
By Ernest Salomon
The cruise season is upon us and most people do not read the cruise contract that they accept when they pay for their tickets. This is a typical cruise contract. Some are even more restrictive to passenger’s rights.
The carrier shall not be liable for any deaths, injury, illness, damage, delay, loss or detriment caused by: Act of God, warlike operations, civil commotions, labor troubles, interference by Authorities, perils of the sea, or any other cause beyond the control of the carrier, fire, thefts or any other crime, errors in the navigation or management of the vessel, or defect in or un-seaworthiness of hull, machinery appurtenances, equipment, furnishings, or supplies of the vessel, fault or neglect of pilot, tugs, agents, independent contractors such as ships physician, passengers or other persons on board, not in the carriers employ or other cause whatsoever nature, except if it proven that such death injury, illness, damage, delay loss resulting from Carrier’s act or omission was committed with THE INTENT TO CAUSE SUCH LOSS or with the knowledge that such loss would probably result there from.
Read your cruise contract before you pay for your tickets and go on your cruise knowing about the little recourse you have in the event of a major problem.
Cruise Industry’s Dark Waters
Kimberly Edwards was sexually assaulted in a woman’s bathroom on Majesty of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship. When she pointed the guy out, the ship’s staff told her to “deal with it and guys get drunk all the time and go to the ladies room, forget it”. She and her husband have sued Royal Carribbean. They deny responsibility and say it was her own fault. Her problem is that the ship is registered in the Bahamas and she will have to go to court there. It could have been worse, Liberia. These ships are not governed by US law while at sea! The assault was never reported to a congressional investigation into the safety cruise passengers.
It was reported to congress by cruise officials that in one three-year period alone, 178 passengers on North American Cruises were sexually assaulted, 24 went missing, and four were robbed. Royal Caribbean accounted for 66 of the 178 assaults. Here’s the scary part: Internal records at Royal Caribbean show that at least 273 people had been sexually assaulted during a shorter time period, and these are the only attacks that Royal Caribbean wrote down.
Cruise executives claim that they hire “their own” firefighters, doctors , nurses and security personnel. The contract above also says that they are not responsible for these people. The Costa Concordia had about 30 crewmembers who were employed by the cruise line. The rest were mostly all contracted employees for whom they are not responsible for in any way. If you are injured by the ship’s doctor, poisoned by its food or attacked by a contracted employee, you must sue that person in their home country. Try suing in Bulgaria, Romania, China or some other country with a horrific legal system or no legal system at all, if you can find the person you are trying to sue!
If you are a victim of a crime on as ship in international waters, you are on your own folks. The FBI will not help you and neither will the US Government. They have no jurisdiction. You are at the mercy of the cruise line! The industry is governed by 19th and 20th Century Sea Law in the 21st Century!
On a Princess Cruise ship that caught fire, a man named Richard Liffridge was burned to death. The cruise line said he died of a heart attack. They lied. He died from burns and smoke.
On another Royal Caribbean Cruise, a woman named Merriam Carver (I know her father.) disappeared from the ship in Alaska. A room steward reported her missing to his supervisor every day for five days and was told to get back to work. Finally, FIVE WEEKS after the cruise ended, Royal Caribbean reported her missing to the FBI. FIVE WEEKS LATER! She has never been heard of again.
You have no rights on a cruise ship!
If your tour bus in Russia or China goes off a cliff and you die or are unlucky enough to survive as a paraplegic, too bad. Sue in Russia or China. You cannot sue the cruise line. You must sue the tour operator in their home country!
If you are forced off the ship by the ships Captain in some faraway port, too bad. You are on your own. If the food poisons you, too bad! The kitchen and wait staff are not employed by the cruise company. You must sue these people in their home country. If you get a virus, bacteria or food poisoning, the same scenario holds true. You cannot sue the cruise line! Well, you get the idea.
If the ship sinks and you lose family or your own life, too bad! The most you or surviving family members can collect is about $50,000 US Dollars. The families of the 32 people who died on the Costa Concordia, owned by Carnival Lines were offered $40,000 US Dollars for each of the 32 dead passengers or a bit over $1.2 million US Dollars. The captain left the ship in one of the first lifeboats, leaving the rest of the 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew to fend for themselves on the sinking ship. Passengers gave up the right to sue Carnival in any court except Small Claims Court in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The also gave up the right to enter into any Class Action Suit against Carnival and the other 12 cruise lines that they own. Carnival controls 80% of the US cruise business!
Viking Cruise Lines does not own most of their cruise ships. They are a huge travel agency! You give up the right to sue them in any instance when you take one of their river cruises. If you are hurt or killed on a Viking Cruise, you must sue the ship’s owner, which is not real easy if the owner is in the Bahamas or Liberia. Good luck!
10% of all cruise passengers have some kind of mishap from minor to major on a cruise. The chances are that nothing will happen to you. But, remember this, if something does happen to you; YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS ON A CRUISE SHIP!
Read your cruise contract before you pay for your tickets and go on your cruise knowing about the little recourse you have in the event of a major problem.
Op-Ed’s are written by community members, not representatives of edhat. The views and opinions expressed in Op-Ed articles are those of the author’s.
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Well…. if you travel to other countries, US law doesn’t apply either. It’s one of the risks of travel. Personally, the joy and memories of travel outweigh the concern over who I can sue if something happens. Most US travel/sports/entertainment, etc companies also have liability waivers. From signing up for little league to tours of the Grand Canyon, you waive your right to sue in case of accidents.
Much of what you write is correct. The problem is that when a ship is at sea and outside of any counry’s maritime boundry, (12 miles for the USA), one must work through the country in which the ship is registered. For example, in the case of Carnival, one would seek resolution of any problem in The Bahamas or Panama, depending on the ship involved. Neither country would be my choice for any tort action. With any issue concerning the huge majority of contract workers on cruise ships, one must seek redress in the home country of the worker. Muchof the present law of the sea was written in ther 18th and 19th centuries and this is the root problem for the lack of rights and fair compensation for death or injury on today’s passenger ships. Cruise lines take this into consideration when they write their cruise contracts. The best example is the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Over 1,500 people drowned and their families received $442 for each. This is approximately a bit less than $13,000 in today’s dollars.
ANON – exactly. Maritime law is tricky and archaic in many areas.
Given the point of this article is to be aware of your rights and lack thereof on cruise ships, it is important to read your contract. Also be aware that when you travel, especially to places like those mentioned here, be aware of your rights in those countries. Get life insurance. Get travel insurance. Be aware and protect yourself when travelling abroad.
This is not an “accident” and signing up for a cruise does not give someone the right to SA you in a bathroom
Sac – you can’t be serious?
Only someone with no regard for what this woman and others went through would say that.
And don’t say “that’s not what I meant” when you clearly glossed over the issue of SA being discussed here.
The absence of a reference to the incident cited as an example does not mean that the rest of my statement suggests that SA should be ignored. You’re looking for something that isn’t there. Why?
The OP wasn’t sexually assualted. Nice overexaggerating on something I never said. I never said the woman was was mentioned as one of many examples shouldn’t be ignored or not allowed to sue. I simply stated facts. Fact is, when you travel outside the US, you don’t get to sue in US courts. Fact is, just about everything (mostly in the US) has a waiver of liability you must sign before engaging.
I said zero, nada, ziltch about sexual assault, which is clearly not subject to a waiver. But go on, ignore the point and make it about something else. You’re so good at that.
Most of this article is about sexual assault on cruise liners. If you can’t glean that, read again.
By your comment, you are downplaying that and other things as “stuff happens, live your life” and while I agree with the later point it’s distasteful to comment that and make it seem like OP is saying “lock the doors, don’t go out” when they are actually just pointing out that hundreds of people have been assaulted, go missing, etc. on cruises and the liners do nothing about it
You two are fighting for fighting’s sake. I like to hear what other people think, but this is getting old.
Here’s a tip: comments have the names of the commenters in bold at the beginning of the comments. When you see mine or others, don’t read the comment. These are not speeches being made out loud that you hear, they’re written words you can chose to not read.
I hope that helps!