On June 10th, a senior Federal District Court Judge in Miami rejected an attempt by a Miami-based cruise line to limit its potential liability at no more than $65,000 for alleged damages suffered by a minor raped on a cruise ship.
The case arose out of a shipboard rape of a girl alleged against Oceania Cruises. According to
Today we began advertising in Jamaica, as I mentioned in an earlier blog. The ad below will begin appearing in some of the newspapers in Jamaica, and a variation will appear on some of the billboards in Jamaica.
I have been a lawyer for 28 years. I have never advertised on television, radio, newspapers or billboards. We have relied on our reputation
The BDA Sun newspaper in Bermuda is reporting that a 52 year-old cruise passenger died during a diving excursion in Bermuda.
Donna Zapata cruised with her husband on Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas to Bermuda. She went on what is described as a "helmet diving" excursion with Hartley’s Bell Diving. The newspaper explains that this involves "shallow
A number of newspapers in the U.K. are reporting that 2,000 elderly British cruise ship passengers were forced to endure seven hours of immigration checks when their cruise ship docked at the port of Los Angeles.
The U.K.’s Telegraph and the Mail Online have rather sensationalized accounts of how things went wrong once when passengers aboard the luxury P&O cruise
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The Mercury News in San Jose California reports that four environmental groups filed a petition with the federal government today seeking to force cruise ships and other large vessels to slow down in waters between San Francisco and Los Angeles in order to reduce the chances of whale strikes.
A San Francisco environmental group, Pacific Environment
The Nassau Guardian reports that a cruise ship passenger went missing sometime Saturday after he left a Paradise Island beach on a rented jet ski and did not return. The newspaper reports that the U.S. Embassy has been notified of the passenger’s disappearance, and that two friends who accompanied the passenger on the cruise left with the ship.
The
The Australian newspaper reports that the Federal government in Australia is ignoring certain cruise safety recommendations proposed by Australian Coroner Jacqueline Milledge following an inquest into the death of P & O Cruises passenger Dianne Brimble.
Ms. Brimble’s death and the dreadful state of affairs which existed in the P & O Cruises fleet were some of the first issues I
This past week has been an exciting period of time for the lawyers at Cruise Law.
Jamaica:
Jonathan Aronson and I returned from visiting clients in Jamaica. There are a number of injured crew members who the cruise lines have dumped back in their home country after they were injured working the long hours demanded
The Telegraph newspaper in the U.K. has an interesting story containing a passenger’s account of events aboard the Independence of the Seas following the explosion at the port in Gibraltar. Some of the accounts:
“People thought it was a bomb and started screaming. Parents jumped in the pool to grab their children, while others dashed
The Virgin Islands Daily News reports today on the death of a young girl killed during a cruise stop in St. Thomas. We represent the parents of the deceased girl, Liz Marie Peréz Chaparro, a victim of the saddest, most senseless and avoidable tragedies we have ever seen in 28 years of practicing law. Here is the article today:
"ST. THOMAS –
Writing this article, I’m reminded of Seth Meyers’s joke at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner – addressing the Senate: “I don’t think you read bills anyways. I think you guys vote on bills the same way the rest of us agree to updated terms and conditions on iTunes.”
Let’s be honest. Most of us don’t
A local Charleston South Carolina television station (WCIV ABC-4) is reporting that the Southern Environmental Law Center in Charleston is preparing to file a lawsuit against Carnival Cruise Lines to make the cruise line subject to city and state regulations.
The lawsuit is the latest development in the debate about the suitability of cruise ships in this quaint old southern
Last week I was away from my computer traveling in Jamaica to visit crewmembers while the story broke about the U.K.’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency detaining the MSC Cruises’ Opera cruise ship for safety violations.
The incident was the type of event which I would normally and quickly write about. But by the time I returned to Miami the cruise
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Several news sources are reporting that an oil tank exploded at the port in Gibraltar today.
Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas cruise ship was in port at the time of the explosion. One newspaper reports that the cruise ship was due to sail at 4 p.m. but was "berthed nearby" when the oil tank exploded.
The cruise ship
Last week I traveled to Jamaica to visit clients in Montego Bay and Ocho Rios. During our trip, we also attended to some matters in the port town of Falmouth where Royal Caribbean parks its new mega-ships, the Genesis class Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas.
Falmouth is the capital of
WVEC (local ABC channel 13) reports that the Coast Guard airlifted an ill 60 year old passenger from a cruise ship off the coast of North Carolina yesterday.
The passenger was sailing on Carnival’s Miracle when he had a heart attack.
The Coast Guard sent a MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City to medevac the man from the Carnival
One of the proposals recommended by the International Cruise Victims (ICV) organization is having "sea marshals" on cruise ships in order to protect passengers and respond to shipboard crimes.
Since 9-11 the Federal government has placed "air marshals" on airplanes. The ICV has attempted to ensure that cruise ships have the same level of security by supporting legislation in California
The lawsuit we filed this week of behalf of our clients for the death of their daughter, Liz Marie Perez Chaparro, has been covered in the Miami New Times and USA Today this week. The article, written by Tim Elfrink, for the Miami New Times is entitled "Couple Sues Carnival Cruise Lines After Teenage Daughter Killed in Virgin Islands Gang
