Several years ago, U.S. based cruise lines began insisting that injured crew members seeking compensation for their injuries must pursue their claims through arbitration in foreign countries.
Companies like Carnival, NCL and Royal Caribbean started moving to dismiss lawsuits filed here in Miami, arguing that seriously injured crew members are not entitled to jury trials
Like any employee, crew members are not immune from being terminated. But termination on a cruise ship is a bit different from being fired at a regular job. It’s like being fired and kicked out of your apartment all at once.
Better known as the "6 AM knock," crew members wake up to the ship’s
Royal Caribbean announced a new tipping policy.
Passengers will no longer be permitted to pay the "recommended gratuities" directly to the hard working stateroom attendants. Instead, the cruise line will automatically charge tips of $12 a day per person. The tips will be automatically added to the guest’s account on a daily basis.
So who
We are happy to have Danielle Gauer here at our firm. Danielle has firsthand knowledge of the inner workings of the cruise industry performing as a dancer for several years prior to embarking on her university studies. She is currently completing her Juris Doctor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law and will be
Courthouse News Service reports on a case involving a crew member from Canada who was employed aboard a Holland America Line (HAL) cruise ship.
The Canadian crew member, employed on the Oosterdam cruise ship as a dancer, suffered a serious career-ending injury, but is being denied the right to take his case before a jury.
Below is a photograph of a crew member client of the firm. We can’t mention his name, or which country he lives in, or the cruise line that he worked for, or the cruise ship where he worked, or his job position, or whether he settled his case or, if so, the amount of the settlement, or anything
A Royal Caribbean galley worker who attacked a supervisor in May of this year on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge William Martini sentenced Donny Martin Crisanto, age 31, of Nicaragua, during a court appearance in Newark, New Jersey.
Cristano had previously
The lawyers here at Cruise Law are traveling again to Jamaica. We will be visiting our clients to see how they are doing. We will also make ourselves available to meet with any crew members (or their family members) who need to learn about the legal rights of cruise ship employees if they become ill or
The following is a guest blog by fellow lawyer Charles Gourlis who works on cases with us against the cruise lines. Charlie is a bright, hard working fellow. We are glad to have him on our side.
First of all, let me extend a heartfelt thank you to Jim Walker for allowing me to guest
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Earlier this month we wrote about a Royal Caribbean crew member disappearing from the Serenade of the Seas. Our article – Another Crew Member Goes Overboard From Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas – was widely read. We also posted the article on facebook and received many, many comments.
We also posted additional information
On October 8, 2012, we reported on four crew members aboard the MSC Orchestra who were sickened with meningitis.
According to AFP in Rome, today one of the crew members, Ermandiasa Gede, age 32 from Indonesian, died of the infection nine days after being hospitalized.
Two of the other crew members, a 26-year-old Brazilian crew
Two weeks ago a television program in the U.K., "Cruises Undercover: The Truth Below Deck," revealed the harsh working conditions aboard cruise ships operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises’ subsidiary, Celebrity Cruises. The difficult working conditions and low pay are almost unimaginable by U.S. standards: 12 plus hour days, 7 days a week, 30
A newspaper in Italy is reporting that four crew members of the cruise ship MSC Orchestra have contracted bacterial meningitis. Two of the four crew members are considered to be in serious condition. They were all hospitalized once the cruise ship reached port yesterday.
According to this newspaper, one crew member is a 32 year
Royal Caribbean and its subsidiary, Celebrity Cruise, have been in a state of panic lately frantically trying to fend off bad publicity surrounding an expose’ on crew member hours, wages and working conditions on the Eclipse which aired in the U.K.
The British television station sent two "undercover" reporters on to the cruise ship, one
Last night in Britain, Channel 4 Television’s "Dispatches" program aired its undercover investigation, "Cruises Undercover," into the hours and working conditions on Celebrity Cruises’ Eclipse cruise ship sailing out of Southampton.
The Twitter feed for "#cruisesundercover" and comments to the Channel 4 website page seems to show the general public’s disgust for the
On Monday October 1st, the U.K.’s Channel 4 Dispatches television is airing a documentary about the working conditions aboard the Celebrity Cruises’ Eclipse cruise ship which is now home ported in Southampton.
The program is called "Cruises Undercover: The Truth Below Deck." Channel 4 describes the program as follows:
Almost two million Brits
In May we reported on exploitative labor practices by Carnival subsidiary P&O Cruises.
In Profits Over People: Carnival’s Exploitation of Crew Members is Standard Industry Practice, we explained how P&O decided to pay its crewmembers a basic salary of 75 pence an hour (approximately $1.20 an hour / $400 a month). The company phased out
The Daily Business Review released "Top Verdicts & Settlements" for last year. You can click on the digital version here.
We obtained the highest award in an admiralty / maritime case in Florida in 2011. The case involved an injured crew member from Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas who the cruise line sent
