A news station in Cleveland, Ohio aired a consumer investigation segment yesterday about a young couple whose engagement ring was stolen during a recent cruise.

The couple was upset because Carnival refused to replace the ring after it was stolen from the couple’s cabin and the ring box was found floating in the toilet.

All cruise lines have exclusions and limitations of liability in the passenger tickets which form the contract between the cruise lines and the guests. Passengers are usually out of luck when they lose a personal item due to theft.  

Federal law does not even require cruise lines to report thefts under $10,000. The title of the television investigative team video is "Marblehead Ohio couple issues warning about cruise ship security after engagement ring stolen."

Our firm is contacted several times a year by passengers who claim that their jewelry was stolen during a cruise. But we never take these type of cases because the courts routinely enforce the cruise lines’ fine print. 

I was surprised to see that the news station included a video of me discussing the issue of cruise ship crime. I was not interviewed by this station. It’s old tape of an interview years before. 

Even more surprising is that the video of the engagement ring caper ended with the reporter saying that Carnival reimbursed the value of the ring (plus $100) and also refunded the cruise for the couple. Why? I’m not sure. I have never heard of this happening before. But it’s certainly good public relations to do so. The couple needs to say a big "thank you" to Carnival (and the investigative reporter).  It seems only fair for Carnival to get some much needed PR when it does the right thing.  

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