Legal

A federal court in Miami, Florida recently awarded pre-judgment interest in the amount of $2,134,229.90 (calculated at $1,157.93 per day) on a jury verdict awarded to a woman raped on a Carnival cruise ship. The federal court jury awarded $10,200,000 awarded two years ago (on July 18, 2022) after a crew member raped the young

The Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity have been arrested late Friday night, February 4th, according to crew members on the ships.

Both Crystal cruise ships are in waters near the port in Freeport, Bahamas.

Earlier yesterday, we were notified that crew wages were current as of January. However, other Crystal crew members insist that

Last week, a federal district court (Judge Darrin P. Gayles) in Miami issued an arrest warrant for the Crystal Symphony because the luxury cruise ship is millions of dollars in arrears in unpaid fuel bills.

Judge Gayles signed the order of seizure which directs U.S. marshals to “arrest the defendant vessel, her boats, tackle, apparel

AIDAvitaToday, a German Court sentenced a nurse, who had worked aboard a cruise ship as a doctor, to three years in jail.

News agency dpa reported that the Berlin state court convicted the nurse of "bodily harm, fraud, abuse of titles and deprivation of liberty." The latter charge referred to the fact that he put

A retired Supreme Court justice is suggesting that all Bahamas-flagged cruise ships require that passenger disputes (including claims involving personal injury) be arbitrated in the Bahamas, according to the Tribune newspaper

The Bahamian newspaper reports that former justice Rubie Nottage told a group of arbitrators yesterday that arbitrating cruise passenger disputes would generate a

I’ve written thousands of articles here on Cruise Law News about all type of issues – cruise ship air pollution, cruise waste discharge, mistreatment of crew employees and the cruise industry’s exploitation of the Caribbean ports of call all the while cruise executives pocket obscene amounts of money.

But one of the issues that I rarely write

Today the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal published an opinion which recognizes the right of cruise ship passengers who become victims of medical malpractice to hold cruise lines vicariously liable for the negligence of the shipboard doctors and nurses.

The case is PATRICIA FRANZA, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Pasquale F. Vaglio versus ROYAL

Today, a jury here in Miami, Florida returned a verdict over $6,200,000 on behalf of a seriously injured crew member.

The crew members is from Haiti and worked as a cleaner on the Jewel of the Seas

He sustained a serious back injury due to the repetitive nature of his work and the long

A new "super-fast" cruise ferry service between Miami and Bimini, the Bahamas started off on the wrong foot when the ship flunked U.S. Coast Guard requirements. The Resorts World’s Bimini SuperFast was suppose to sail passengers from Miami over to a new gambling resort in Bimini.

On June 28th the wife of the Bahamian Prime Minister

Carnival Cruise Triumph FireThe long tortuous tow back to Mobile ended last night with smiles of relief on the faces of the over-3,000-passengers as they straggled off the stinking stricken Triumph.  It was a happy sight to me. Yes, there were people still upset, understandably so, but the sentiment seems to be that they had all encountered a

A rather ordinary couple of weeks in the world of cruising: 1,000 passengers or so sick with diarrhea and vomiting caused by gastrointestinal outbreaks on five cruise ships, 16 brawling passengers kicked off a cruise, a crewmember (a child activities supervisor no less) arrested on charges of molesting a child, a cruise passenger acquitted of

As this year comes to a close, it’s time to look back at some of events of 2011.

Jewel of the Seas Crew Member InjuryLast year started out with a bang.  Our firm represented a seriously injured crewmember in a case against Royal Caribbean.  Our client sustained a debilitating back injury, underwent an unsuccessful surgery, and needed a second surgery which

Yesterday, a jury in Miami returned a $1,000,000 verdict against a Miami based cruise line whose ship employee underwent an unnecessary surgery to insert a pacemaker which he did not need.

The case involves a Celebrity Cruises chef, Shalesh Buttoo, who experienced headaches and pain to his face while working on a Celebrity cruise ship.  Although only

Cunard’s three cruise ships, Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth, will no longer fly the Union Jack.

After 171 years of flying the Union Jack with Southampton painted on the stern, Cunard’s cruise ships will now be registered in Bermuda and will bear the name Hamilton – Bermuda’s capital. 

The question arises

Every so often we receive an email or telephone call from someone asking why cruise ships can’t sail from one U.S. port to another. 

The reason is because there is a Federal law which prohibits foreign flagged ships from coastwise trade between U.S. ports.  Only U.S. flagged ship can do that.  The thought at one