In July of 2013, Senator Rockefeller introduced the Cruise Passenger Protection Act of 2013. The bill was designed to provide the Department of Transportation (DOT) with greater authority to protect consumers and investigate complaints of unsafe conditions and ill-treatment on cruise ships.
The cruise industry opposed the proposed cruise legislation because it was designed to provide greater consumer awareness to the public and required the cruise lines to provide consumers with clearer summaries of their rights and limitations while aboard cruise ships. The cruise lines also fought against the bills because it requires more accurate reporting of crimes on cruise ships.
The DOT just announced the launch of a new DOT website that will provide cruise consumers with a "reliable one-stop resource" where they can find information on important consumer protection issues related to cruise vacations.
Senator Rockefeller issued the following statement:
“I am so pleased to see Secretary Foxx take this important and extraordinary step to help protect passengers on cruise ships. Passengers desperately need access to accurate and updated information, which is why Secretary Foxx’s leadership on this issue is a game changer. As Chairman of the Commerce Committee, I’ve repeatedly urged the cruise industry to strengthen their consumer protections and disclosures, but they have very disappointingly failed to act. It is far past time that we step up to help American citizens when something goes wrong on a cruise ship, and I commend the Department of Transportation for this first step toward providing consumer protections for passengers.”
The DOT site is rather modest at this time. It primarily contains links to the Coast Guard, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), three federal agencies with a history of doing little to assist consumers. But it is a good start.
In July 2014, Rockefeller chaired his most recent hearing to examine the cruise industry’s poor consumer protection practices.
You can watch the hearing here and listen to the testimony of our former client and friend Laurie Dishman (photo above, with her father) as well as other victims of cruise line’s negligence.
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