Passenger Rights

Foreign Flags - Marshall Islands, Liberia, Panama The LA Times has an interesting article this morning revealing how drilling companies skirt U.S. laws by registering their oil rigs in countries like the Marshall Islands, described by the Times as a "tiny, impoverished nation in the Pacific Ocean." 

Drilling rigs are considered to be "vessels" under maritime law.  This permits their owners and operators to register them wherever

Last night, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a safety bill for cruise passengers which will require cruise ships to reports crimes on the high seas to the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard. 

The bill will require the cruise industry to comply with a number of security provisions including specific rail heights, peep holes, warning devices, and cabin security measures.  The requirment that cruise

Leagle just published a decision from New Jersey which illustrates what can happen when a cruise passenger does not read the fine print in the ticket issued by the cruise line.

Costa cruise passenger Audrey Winograd sailed on the Costa Magica from Florida to the Dominican Republic.  While ashore in the shopping district of La Romana, several men

This weekend while cleaning out a file cabinet, I ran across an article published by the Miami Herald entitled "Lawyers Turn Cruise Lawsuits Into Industry." The article stated that between 2001 and 2006, over 2,000 lawsuits were filed against the Miami based cruise lines – Carnival, Celebrity, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean.

Cruise Ship Lawyer - Miami - Accident - InjuryThe article mentioned that

An article in the Baltimore Sun entitled "Pleasure Cruise Bring Risks, Too" addresses the limited liability of cruise lines when tragedy strikes a family during a cruise.  Written by Frank Roylance, the article begins with the sad circumstances of Carnival cruise passenger Carol Olson who died during what appears to be a very lax, unsupervised and negligently

The Baltimore Sun reports on the death of a 71 year old passenger from Reisterstown, Maryland , Carol Olson, during a snorkeling excursion in the Bahamas.  Ms. Olson was a passenger on Carnival’s Pride cruise ship and booked the excursion from the cruise line. 

Other passengers described having problems with the current. The excursion was described as poorly managed with

Today I returned to work after a week’s "Spring Break" vacation to find a recently published cruise line security book sitting on top of a large pile of pleadings on my desk. 

Cruising for Trouble - Mark Gaoutte - Pirates, Terrorists, Criminals"Cruising for Trouble" is written by Commander Mark Gaouette, the former Director of Security for Princess Cruises and Cunard Cruise Lines.  His book addresses security challenges facing the cruise

Reuters is reporting that the Carnival Sensation cruise ship’s arrival back in Port Canaveral today was delayed for several hours as authorities responded to what some are saying is a bomb hoax.

Ibrahim Zarou - Carnival Cruise - Bomb ThreatThe cruise ship was heading back to Port Canaveral after a three-day cruise to the Bahamas when a passenger allegedly overheard another passenger make a "bomb

Over 5 million cruise ship passengers cruise out of the port of Miami each year.  Many sail on cruise ships like the Carnival Destiny, pictured below as its leaves Miami Beach and heads south to the Caribbean.

The majority of our articles here at Cruise Law News address current issues which occur all too