Cruise Law News : Maritime Lawyer & Attorney : James M. Walker : Walker & O'Neill Law Firm : Admiralty Law, Cruise Ship Accidents & Injuries

Today I read a travel agency's twitter feed "Safety for Children on Cruise Ships."  I am interested in this issue after representing 60 clients sexually assaulted on cruise ships, including children.

I was hoping to see some good safety tips in the article to keep children safe. Boy was I disappointed.  Not only were there no useful safety tips but the travel agents made the following comment:

 . . . most parents also like the fact that a cruise also allows you to spend some time apart from your kids, knowing that they are well taken care of.

Royal Caribbean, Disney, Celebrity and many other cruise lines have special programs for children, supervised by crew members who are specially qualified and trained to work with kids.

Unfortunately, this is simply not true.

We have represented many families whose children have been molested by youth counselors on cruise ships.  Other children have been victimized by crew members or even other passengers when they were suppose to be under the supervision of the counselors.  Others have been taken into cabins by older teenagers and men and raped when they were trying to walk back to their cabins after the kid's activities ended.  

Another dangerous situation is when parents leave their kids in the cabin to see a show, or they want to stay up late in the casino or disco. A cabin attendant can open the cabin door with his pass key when the parents are away. As I have said in a prior article, leaving a 12 year old boy or his 14 year old sister alone in a cabin is a bad idea.

Cruise lines suggest that the crew members are carefully screened before they are hired.  Nonsense.  

The cruise line themselves do not perform background checks at all. They rely on the hiring agents around the world to perform all of the "screening."  But what type of background check can be performed in countries like Nicaragua, Trinidad, or India?  These places do not have computerized databases for drivers licenses or social security numbers much less a database for criminals or a tracking system for sexual predators.  Many of the hiring agencies who are suppose to be conducting background checks are paid commissions when they place employees on cruise ships.  There is a disincentive to keep the bad apples off of the cruise ships. 

Many travel agents shy away from unpleasant facts.  But it is another thing to affirmatively represent that children are safe and crew members are "specially qualified and trained." 

Exactly what "special qualifications" does the crew member you entrust your child have?  Why don't you ask the crew member before you drop your child off in the "kid's club."  Don't be surprised when they look at you with a puzzled face. 

If you are a travel agent reading this - do you think that you face liability if you make a representation that kids are safe to a client and a crew member molests your client's child during the cruise you just sold?  I know the answer.  Do you?  

Before you make a false statement in the hope of making a sale, take a moment and read the following articles:

Perverts, Child Predators and Cruise Ships 

Unsafe on the "Love Boat?" - Sexual Assaults on Princess Cruise Ships

Sexual Assault of Children on Cruise Ships - A Problem the Cruise Community Wants to Forget 

Cruise Ship Passenger Sentenced in Child Porn Case

Why Cruises are NOT the Best Vacations with Kids

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An article today by Wolfgang H. Thome of eTurboNews (ETN) raises two disturbing scenarios:

1.  It is only a matter of time before Somali pirates hijack a cruise ship, and

2.  There are no plans in place to rescue the passengers when this happens.

The article is entitled "Somali Piracy - a Problem from Hell – What is the Naval Coalition Doing?" 

The article discusses the recent hijacking of a Saudi supertanker with 300,000 tons of crude oil by what Mr. Thome calls "Somali sea terrorists."  This recent attack occurred nearly a thousand miles off the coast of Somalia.  A so-called mother ship launched fast skiffs to intercept and capture the tanker. 

If Somali pirates can board a  supertanker on the high seas, there is no doubt that a cruise ship is also easy prey.  If pirates capture a cruise ship, there is the risk that they will execute passengers. 

What also disturbs the ETN correspondent is that no naval coalition vessels were dispatched to investigate, safeguard shipping and attack and capture the pirates.

When Mr. Thome asked officials what the naval forces would do should a passenger cruise ship fall into the hands of pirates, "there was little more than stunned silence."  He fears that it will take a major tragedy and loss of lives before there is a plan of how to deal with the sea terrorists. Until then, he concludes, "the problem from hell will persist."

I have discussed this issue in a prior blog entitled "Cruise Line Liability for Injuries to Passengers and Crew Members Caused by Pirate Attacks."  I have talked about pirate attacks on the Seabourn Spirit and the Balmoral cruise ships, and the failure of the cruise industry to take realistic steps to protect the passengers and crew. 

Neither of these unarmed cruise ships could match the pirates' AK-47's and rifles.  The Seaborn Spirit used water hoses and the crew on the Balmoral brandished fake wooden rifles to try and scare off the pirates. 

When the MSC Melody cruise ship was attacked by pirates earlier this year, the first line of defense was the passengers' throwing deck chairs to repel the pirates who were climbing up the side of the cruise ship.  In an article entitled "Cruise Passengers Fought off Pirates with Deckchairs," U.K.'s Telegraph reported how vacationing passengers fought off gun-wielding Somali pirates with deck chairs and tables when the pirates targeted their cruise ship near the Seychelles.

The cruise industry needs to get serious and provide the cruise ships with more than hoses, super-loud sound machines, and fake weapons. Otherwise, we will all be watching CNN broadcast the terrifying story of a dozen Somali pirates with automatic weapons and RPG's holding a cruise ship hostage.

Credits:

Balmoral cruise ship   MailOnline

Map          MailOnline Terror for 1,200 Britons as Somali Pirates with Rocket Launchers Attack Cruise Ship (Balmoral)

Melody cruise ship      Reuters via U.K. Telegraph

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Today, six crew members filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for injuries sustained when the Maersk Alabama was hijacked by Somali pirates in April. The crew members sued Maersk Line Ltd., the operator of the vessel, and Waterman Steamship Corp., the crewing company which hired them. They are seeking damages for physical and mental injuries and loss of income.

The seaman allege that Maersk failed to adequately provide for self defense before transiting through deadly waters. The lawsuit raises interesting issues regarding the liability of vessel owners and operators, including cruise lines, for injuries sustained during pirate attacks. 

Shipping companies and cruise lines face liability when they do not take reasonable steps to protect their passengers and crew members.  They are legally responsible when they fail to protect the guests and crew from risks which are known or reasonably foreseeable.

Pirate Attacks Are Forseeable But Shipping Companies Want to Save Money  

The risk of an attack by pirates, particularly from Somali is well known.  No cargo or cruise line can argue with a straight face that an attack by pirates is unforeseeable. There have been literally hundreds of pirate attacks against a wide variety of cargo ships, cruise ships, and private yachts and sailboats in just the last few years. 

The problem is that many companies do not want to spend the money to hire security guards.  Or when they have security personnel, they do not permit them to have firearms to protect the passengers and crew.  Many of the cruise ships cost hundreds of millions of dollars, but the cruise lines refuse to pay an extra $50,000 a year to hire a couple of extra guards and equip them with weapons to fight off the heavily armed pirates. 

Many shipping companies think that they can save money by having virtually no security personel, and then ask the U.S. Navy to patrol the waters or come to the rescue after the ships are attacked by pirates.  The Houston maritime lawyer representing the six crew members, Brain Beckcom, states that "Maersk made a conscious decision, despite going into pirate-infested waters, not to provide any meaningful security for its workers.  Instead they'd just rely on the taxpayers and U.S. military to bail them out after the fact." 

The filing of the lawsuit comes a day after the the Maersk Alabama was attacked by pirates off of East Africa for the second time in seven months. On November 18th the pirates again attacked the vessel, but this time the crew members successfully fended off the attackers because they had armed guards who returned gunfire. The vessel did not carry armed security during the first attack.

There have been a number of highly publicized pirate attacks against cruise ships in the last few years. 

Pirates Love Cruise Ships - Attack Against the Seabourn Spirit

In November 2005, two speedboats full of pirates attacked the luxury cruise ship Seaborne Spirit, cruising about 100 miles off the coast of Africa. They began to board the cruise ship.  Security Officer Michael Groves battled them off with a water hose, and the pirates responded with rocket propelled grenades and AK-47's.   Officer Groves' bravery and grit defeated the heavily armed pack of pirates, and the vessel's passengers and crew were saved.  The Queen of England honored Officer Groves with a medal for his bravery.

If you are interested in this story, I suggest reading "Bad Ass of the Week- Michael Groves."   

Although the story ended happily for the Seaborne Spirit's passengers who continued on with their luxury cruise, the fact of the matter is that the owners of the cruise ship (Carnival) had irresponsibly jeopardized the passengers and crew members by sailing into well know dangerous waters with an inadequate number of security personnel who were completely unarmed.  Carnival also treated Officer Groves, who himself was injured by the pirates, quite shabbily and refused to compensate him for his injuries.    

Pirate Attack Against the Balmoral - Security Guards with Fake Guns 

Earlier this year, pirates repeatedly attacked the cruise ship Balmoral. The cruise ship's security employees were obviously ill equipped to handle the attack.  The Sun newspaper reported that the security guards were forced to to fashion "gun-shaped weapons from pieces of wood in the hope of deterring the attackers."

The newspaper reports that one passenger e-mailed a boyfriend about the attack: "I stood on the deck and watched through binoculars at men in the fishing boat armed with AK-47 rifles and rocket launchers. They were 300-400 metres away. Last night a lot of the passengers - many are in their 70s and 80s - were in tears and frightened to death." 

The passenger also commented: "the security have made guns from wood - like that's going to help!

Oasis of the Seas - A Pirate's  Dream? 

The risks of pirate attacks against cruise ships are so well known that even Saturday Night Live joked about Royal Caribbean's new mega-ship the Oasis of the Seas being attacked by pirates. The cruise community site Cruise Critic recently commented on Seth Meyer's cruise joke on the Weekend Update segment.

"The 20-story-tall Oasis of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, began her maiden voyage this week. Five times larger than the Titanic, it has seven neighborhoods, an ice rink, a golf course, a 750-seat outdoor amphitheater, and please say guns to fight off the pirates. No? No guns to fight off pirates? Well, enjoy your new boat, pirates!"

Unfortunately. there will be additional pirate attacks against cruise ships.  The Oasis of the Seas cost Royal Caribbean $1,500,000,000. If Royal Caribbean and the other cruise lines don't invest in reasonable security measures, such as additional security guards, weaponry, and anti-pirate devices, they will find themselves - like the Maersk Alabama - being served with lawsuits by injured passengers and crew members.

Credits:

Maersk Alabama       AP/Azim

Pirates Attacking the Balmoral       News Group Newspapers Ltd.

Mike Meyers               Saturday Night Live (via Cruise Critic)      

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A local news station in Phoenix Arizona, KPHO, aired an interview with Ken Carver whose daughter, Merrian, "disappeared" on a cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean's subsidiary, Celebrity Cruises.  KPHO's story is entitled "Valley Father Fights For Cruise Ship Safety." 

The video of Mr. Carver's interview can be viewed here.

The The Arizona Republic published an excellently researched and written story about Ms. Carver's "disappearance" and the cruise line's attempted cover up. 

Tragedies like this would destroy many parents who lose a child under these disturbing circumstances.  But Mr. Carver channeled his energies into creating the International Cruise Victims ("ICV"), an organization of cruise victims and friends who are fighting for mandatory reforms to the cruise industry.

Mr. Carver, a retired insurance executive, is leading the fight. Two weeks ago the United States House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass the Cruise Security and Safety Act of 2009.  The new safety law will require cruise lines to report crimes to the FBI and U.S. Coast Guard and implement other security measures.    

The new law is now awaiting a vote in the U.S. Senate. Mr. Carver obtained the support of Senator John Kerry to introduce the cruise safety bill in the U.S. Senate. 

We have reported on the ICV's hard work which led to the passage of this new law in a previous article: "Congress Passes Cruise Crime Law." Are you a member of the ICV?  If not, consider joining.

You can contact Mr. Carver at kcarver17@cox.net

Photo credit      KPHO, Phoenix, Arizona

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In a previous article "Congress Passes Cruise Crime Bill," I thanked the International Cruise Victims (ICV) organization for their efforts in enacting the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009. I  also thanked Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) for her leadership in enacting this ground breaking bill.  Congresswoman Matsui has been working on this legislation for the past three years after her constituent (and our friend and client) Laurie Dishman was sexually assaulted on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in February 2006.  

I failed to mention the family whose efforts initiated the legislation, George III and Maureen Smith and their daughter Bree Smith of Greenwich Connecticut.  After George IV disappeared from Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas in July 2005, the Smiths contacted their Congressman, Chris Shays (R-CT), who convened a series of hearings in December 2005 and March 2006.  He also attended a cruise safety hearing in March 2007 convened by Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD).   

The Smith family brought a great amount of much needed publicity to the issue of passenger "disappearances" and the shoddy manner in which cruise lines respond to such tragedies.   

Congressman Shays introduced legislation in 2006 which, although not passed by Congress, laid the groundwork for the introduction of the current cruise safety bill.  (Congressman Shays recently lost re-election and the new Congressman from the Smith's district is Congressman Jim Himes). Congressman Shays is shown in the photo debating cruise safety issues with Anita Dunham-Potter.

Two newspapers in Connecticut have reported on the new cruise law.  Joan Lownds of the Greenwich Post wrote an article entitled "Cruise Safety Bill is Passed by U.S. House Today."  Ms. Lownds reports that the Smith family formed the International Cruise Victims (ICV) with Ken Carver whose daughter disappeared from a cruise ship operated by Celebrity Cruises, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean. The ICV has lobbied for improved safety and transparency regulations on cruise ships.

The article quotes the Smith family: “Hopefully with the passage of the Cruise Safety Bill, the voices of the victimized and missing from cruise ships, as well as their families, will no longer be ignored and silenced."

Also reporting from Connecticut is the Connecticut Post.  In an article entitled "Greenwich Victim's Family Heartened by Legislation's Progress," the Smith family is quoted: 

"If one family can be spared the torment that our family has experienced in our battle for answers and justice for George as a result of the passage of the cruise security and safety legislation, then our efforts have not been in vain."

Here is a video of an interview in 2006 by CBS's Hannah Storm of the Smith family discussing their feelings following the loss of George Smith IV: 

Photo Credits:  CBS / The Early Show

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