Woman Dies Aboard Carnival Liberty

It is reported that a 36-year-old women was found unconscious aboard the Miami based cruise ship Carnival Liberty on Tuesday, November 16. Two hours later, despite receiving medical attention, she was pronounced dead.

According to passengers on the ship, the woman had bruising on her face and several bags of evidence were seized from the scene. The FBI continues to investigate her death and a homicide has not been ruled out. Several passengers report that they saw a man being taken away in handcuffs, but as of yet no official statement has been released.

Although the Cruise Lines International Association does not keep record on the number of on-board deaths, coroners’ offices near major ports such as Miami Dade and Broward county do. Between 1999 and 2007, the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office reported 97 cruise ship deaths, while the Miami Dade County Medical Examiners Office reports 33 deaths between 2004 and 2007 alone.

The Carnival Liberty departed from Miami and was en route to St. Thomas when the incident occurred.

Look Closely At On Shore Excursions From Cruise Ships

Another example of the dangers of taking a cruise played out this week in Basseterre, St. Kitts.  Two masked gunmen robbed a group of 16 passengers taking an on shore excursion from the Celebrity Mercury cruise ship.   The incident highlights the dangers of taking an on-shore excursion while visiting foreign ports on a cruise ship.

With an estimated population 15,500, Basseterre is the capital of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies, a popular cruise ship destination.  Geographically, the port is located on the southwestern coast of Saint Kitts Island, and is one of the chief commercial ports of the Leeward Island.

The group of 16 cruise passengers were taking a tour bus to the Brimstone Hill Fortress, a popular cruise ship excursion.  The gunmen blocked the road with a fallen tree.  While the St. Kitts police have referred to the incident as an isolated incident, the dangers of taking an on shore cruise ship excursion are well known.

Earlier this year, it was reported that nine Portuguese tourists from a Classic International cruise ship were killed and 14 injured when their tour bus plunged into a ravine in northern Morocco. Eight of the dead in the accident near the border with the Spanish enclave of Cueta were female, including a teenager, when the bus skidded into a ravine due to fog and rain.

In May 2010, a passenger from the Carnival Pride cruise ship died during an on shore diving excursion.  While it was reported that the dive was supposed to be an easy dive, several passengers including the woman that died, became overwhelmed with strong currents and had difficulty getting back to the ship.

Cruise ship accident attorney Joseph M. Maus says cruise ship passengers need to look closely at ticket limitations before deciding to go on an on-shore excursion.  The ticket contract for many cruise ships specifically disclaims any responsibility for the on-shore excursions as they are run by “independent contractors”.  While the cruise ship passengers may think they are simply going on a cruise ship sponsored event, with all the protections and safety of the cruise ship, this is definitely not the case.  Many people injured during an on-shore cruise ship excursion are left to deal with a complex maze of foreign jurisdiction and laws.

For more information about the laws governing cruise ship accident and injury claims, contact the Maus Law Firm at (866) 556-5529 or log on to www.mauslawfirm.com

Carnival Splendor Update – Tugboats Arrive on Scene

Earlier this week, the Carnival Cruise Line’s Splendor, caught fire, leaving 4,500 passengers plus crew stranded off the coast of Mexico. The head of Carnival Cruise Lines commented that the engine fire that cut power on the disabled cruise ship was the worst accident in his company’s 35-year history. The Splendor was 200 miles south of San Diego and about 44 miles off the coast when the engine room fire began on Monday. Although no one was hurt, the fire left the ship without electricity, air conditioning, hot water or Internet service. In addition, most telephone service was cut off. Thankfully, the ship’s auxiliary power was able to be harnessed to make onboard toilets flush and to provide passengers with cold water. Because there is no electricity in the ship’s interior, some passengers have resorted to sleeping out on the deck.

Yesterday, two tugboats arrived at the ship and began pulling the 952-foot ship back to San Diego. The voyage could take at least until late Thursday, assuming good weather. The ship entered cell phone range on Wednesday, allowing passengers who had been mostly cut off from the outside world on Monday to finally reach their loved ones. Reporters noted that passengers have said that rooms in the interior of the ship were pitch black and passengers were having to prop open their cabin doors to let in air and emergency lighting from the hallways. On Tuesday, a US Navy ship brought 70,000 pounds of Spam, Pop Tarts, canned crab meat, and other supplies for the passengers and crew. Mealtimes now means a two-hour queue just to get cold food.

This cruise ship accident illustrates how quickly a dream vacation can turn into a nightmare. Even though the Splendor’s passengers are “safely” on the ship, there are still dangers, such as those that may be encountered by medically-compromised passengers, children, or the elderly. In addition, when a ship is drifiting at sea, there is no way for it to be stable in the event of a storm or rough seas.

Cruise ship injury lawyer, Joseph M. Maus says that passengers who may have been injured on the Carnival Splendor, or on other cruise ships, need to retain their tickets and be aware of cruise ship ticket limitations. These limitations generally require a one year Statute of Limitations in most cruise ship accident cases. Also, a claim must be entered in a specific location. In the case of the Splendor, any claim against Carnival Cruise Lines must be entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, FL.  This is true even thought the cruise originated out of a California port.

For more information, contact cruise ship injury lawyer Joseph M. Maus at 1-866-556-5529 or email him today. Mr. Maus provides a free, no obligation consultation to answer your questions and help you determine if you have a claim against your cruise line. He is an experienced Florida cruise ship injury lawyer who has handled thousands of claims ranging from slip and trip and falls, sexual assault, cruise ship viruses and violations of safety and cleanliness standards, injuries during onshore excursions, and many other types of claims which are related to cruise ships.   His office handles claims on a contingent basis which means there are no attorney’s fees charged unless a recovery is made on your behalf. Mr. Maus is licensed to practice throughout the State of Florida, in the Southern and Middle Districts of the United States District Court, and is licensed to practice before the United States Supreme Court and is an “AV” rated by Martindale Hubbell, the highest legal ability rating awarded, and the highest ethical rating awarded to attorneys.

Cruise Ship Accidents: The Many Ways It Can Happen

Being the unfortunate victim  involved in a cruise ship accident and suffered personal injury can be an enormous tragedy for anyone to experience. Generally individuals take a great deal of time in planning the fun and excitement they expect to be having when they take their family aboard a beautiful and exciting Princess Cruise Liner or other ship. Most families expect that they will be having the time of their life as they are planning for that cruise liner vacation.

Many ‘get aways’ and tour boat vacations are spoiled every single year by the unfortunate occurrence of some type of cruise liner accident. If this has happened to you, one of the most important things you can do for yourself and for your family is to contact the specialized services that only a high-qualified professional cruise ship accident attorneys can give.

If you or one of your family members have been involved in a cruise ship accident, or have become the victim of an infectious disease, that happened out to sea in international waters, and the result is a cruise liner injury claim, then you are probably not aware that there are special maritime or admiralty laws and rules that can apply to your injury claim. If the particular cruise liner accident that you or your family members were involved in occurred in California territorial waters or United States coastal waters, then there are other rules that may apply to your injury at sea case.

There are other traumatic accidents that can occur on a cruise ship tour where individuals can become unfortunate victims, besides the obvious physical injuries and infectious disease they can become victim too. Unfortunately there have also been several cases, which involved an individual becoming a rape victim while out at sea. Wrongful death and even murder are also tragic incidents that many individuals have become victim to while out at sea on a cruise ship.

Many of the personal injuries that victims suffer from when they are involved in a cruise ship or cruise liner accident can result in extremely expensive specialized medical care as well as the need for psychological care for any emotional injury that they can suffer from when they have endured a traumatic injury.

Carnival Splendor Cruise Ship Finally Reaches Port

The ordeal for thousands of stranded passengers aboard a crippled cruise ship finally comes to an end.

Tug boats pulled the disabled Carnival Splendor into port in San Diego today, four days after the ship lost power following an engine room fire.

The ship left Long Beach on Sunday for a seven day cruise on the Mexican Riviera, but a Monday morning engine room fire left the ship disabled without power.  Passengers had no air conditioning, no hot food and no phone service.

“It was awful,” passenger Marquis Horace said after disembarking. “It was absolutely deplorable conditions, food ran out, the toilets were overflowing. The best thing about it was the camaraderie with the passengers. ”

By Tuesday the USS Ronald Reagan was called into help, air dropping food and supplies onto the ships’ deck.

“There was no refrigeration. It was basically salad and vegetables, some fruit. Warm milk, they started giving us some seafood that I think was out of the freezer and was thawing out and started to smell bad so people weren’t eating it,” said passenger Ken King. “The lines were like two hours to feed everybody and by the time you got there there were just piece of bread.”

Once off the ship, many passengers will be taken by shuttle bus two hours north to the port of Long Beach, where this ill-fated cruise first set sail.

The Carnival Splendor and Other Passenger Ship Accidents

The Carnival Cruise ship the Carnival Splendor has been stranded just off Mexico since Monday with only auxiliary power. The ship is disabled because a fire occurred in the engine room and destroyed the main generators. Carnival Cruise Lines is expecting tug boats to arrive to tow the boat to land today. The 4,500 individuals on board were lucky and are so far uninjured. This is just the latest incident of an accident on a passenger ship. Many passengers were not so lucky in past cruise ship accidents.

The USS General Slocum caught fire in 1904 in the East River of New York killing over 1000 people aboard. The death toll could be attributed to the abysmal state of the ship’s safety equipment and Captain error. The Captain kept sailing despite the failed efforts to fight the fire with on board equipment. The ship was a complete loss to the fire and only approximately 300 people survived of the over 1300 aboard.

In 1994 over 850 people, of the almost 1000 on board, died when the MS Estonia sank due mostly to human error. A combination of not latching the vehicle level visor properly and not distributing the weight of the cargo evenly caused the ship to list and take on water. The water caused the engines to cut out, leaving the Estonia stranded in the middle of the Baltic Sea. Due to the ship’s location, rescue boats and helicopters were unable to reach the ship in time to save many people.

Boats do not have to traveling far for disaster to happen. In July of 1915, with over 2500 people on board, the SS Eastland rolled while docked because of a shift in the passenger load. When the ship rolled, over 800 people died from drowning or crushing injuries. It is suspected that there was a design flaw in the ship which caused the center of gravity to be too high as the ship had listed to one side and almost rolled once before.

Although ships have gotten safer over the years, there will always be risks. When there is a disabling fire on board and the ship is drifting at sea, it is still a very dangerous situation. The passengers on the Splendor were very lucky and had multiple factors on their side in the near disaster. Cruises are a great vacation idea, as long as the risks that go along with it are known before you sign up.

Carnival Splendor Cruise Ship catches on Fire

The Carnival Splendor Cruise ship caught on fire early Monday, leaving over 3,200 passengers stranded on the ship off the coast of Mexico.  By Tuesday, the United States Coast Guard had reached the ship.

U.S.C.G. officer Khris Johns reported on “Today” that the fire was located in the aft engine room.  The fire caused the ship to be without engine power, drifting approximately 80 miles off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico.  The Coast Guard has summoned two large tug boats to respond to the ship.  Once the tug boats arrive, it will take approximately 24 hours for the ship to be towed port in Ensenada.

The Coast Guard has stated that the passengers are not in any “immediate” danger, and no injuries have been reported yet.  The Carnival Splendor was only able to restore toilet service late Monday, and there is still no hot water, air conditioning, hot food or telephone service on board.

The fire on board the Splendor brings the issue of cruise ship safety into the public eye.  Earlier this year the Cruise Ship Safety Bill was signed into law giving added protection to cruise ship passengers.  The bill was voted into law in response to numerous incidents of passengers disappearing while on board a cruise ship, multiple incidences of sexual assaults occurring on board cruise ships, and the many accidents and injuries which occur on today’s large cruise ships.

Cruise ship injury attorney Joseph M. Maus says that accidents such as the Carnival Splendor fire, as well as, injuries and accidents are going to continue to happen just based on the sheer size of todays ships.  The most recent cruise ship to hit the water is Royal Carribean’s Allure of the Seas, the sister ship to the current world’s largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas.  The Allure of the Seas measures over 1,100 feet long, carries more than 5000 passengers, and stands 16 stories high.

Attorney Maus also says that passengers that become injured on the Carnival Splendor, as well as many other cruise ships, need to be aware of cruise ship ticket limitation which require a claim to be brought in a specific location.  For instance, if you become injured on a Carnival cruise ship, any claim must be brought in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, FL.  This is true even if the cruise ship originates out of a California port.

Tropical Storm Tomas causes cruise ship itinerary changes

As Tomas moves towards Jamaica and Haiti, and threatens other islands in the Carribean, cruise ships are changing their itineraries in order to avoid threats to passenger safety. Jamaica is still under hurricane watch, and watches and warnings have now been issued in Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.

The National Hurricane Center is reporting that T.S. Tomas is now located 125 miles south-southeast of Kingston Jamaica, and 295 miles west- southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Winds are now at 45 miles per hour moving north at eight miles per hour, with a north-northeast turn expected over the next 48 hours. The storm could eventually regain strength and become a hurricane once again. The National Hurricane center has also reported that water levels will raise and the storm will cause large and destructive winds. Furthermore, 5 to 10 inches of rain are expected along with possible flash floods and mudslides.

The storm has already caused injuries, fatalities, downed power lines, and damages in Barbados, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia. In St. Lucia, there have been 14 fatalities, seven people are missing and there is an estimated $37 million in damage on the island.

The U.S. Department of State issued a travel alert for Haiti, which houses Royal Caribbean’s private island of Labadee, since storms have caused widespread damages and loss in the past.

Rough seas can result in cruise ship passenger injuries. Several cruise lines have altered their ship itineraries:

Princess Cruises’ Caribbean Princess, which was scheduled to visit St. Lucia on Thursday, will no longer be able to call there.

Grand Princess’ scheduled calls to the Dominican Republic on Friday, November 5 and to Grand Turk on Saturday, November 6 have both been cancelled. A visit to San Juan on Friday has been added to the ships itinerary.

Ruby Princess will no longer call in Grand Turk on Friday, November 5. Th ship will take a longer southerly route in order to avoid Tomas, but is expected to arrive in Fort Lauderdale on time.

Silversea Cruises’ Silver Spirit, which was scheduled to visit St. Lucia on Friday, will call in Roseau, Dominica.

Carnival Miracle, which was scheduled to dock in St. Lucia on Saturday and St. Kitts on Sunday, instead spent the weekend at sea. To compensate, it stopped in Grand Turk on Monday and Nassau on Tuesday.

Carnival Victory, which was scheduled to stop in St. Lucia on Thursday, November 4, will now spend the day at sea.

Carnival Freedom’s scheduled call to Ocho Rios on Thursday, November 4, is being replaced with a visit to Cozumel.

Freedom of the Seas replaced yesterday’s sea day with a visit to CocoCay, and instead of calling in Labadee today the ship will remain at sea.

Serenade of the Seas departed from San Juan for a Southern Caribbean cruise on Sunday, and rather than calling on Curacao, Aruba and Dominica, the ship will now visit Barbados, Antigua, St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

P&O’s Ventura will skip its scheduled call in St. Lucia tomorrow, and will instead call in Dominica.

Celebrity Millenium will no longer call on St. Lucia on Friday, November 5, but will instead visit Martinique.

Allure of the Seas off to rough start

The world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, almost had a disastrous cruise ship accident on its first voyage. The Allure of the Seas, the sister ship to the current world’s largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, was recently launched and is on its way to Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades for its maiden cruise.

As the Allure of the Seas was passing under the Storebalt Bridge in Denmark, it almost hit the underside of the bridge. The cruise ship needs approximately 267 feet of clearance in order to pass under the bridge. The top of the cruise ship was within 12 inches of hitting the underside of the bridge.

To avoid a disastrous cruise ship accident, the ship’s captain and crew took steps to lower the ship in the water to avoid hitting the bridge. By adding water ballast to the ship and increasing the speed of the ship, the ship sits lower in the water, allowing it to pass. The ship is also equipped with retractable smokestacks that lower when needed, which the crew utilized to avoid an accident.

The Allure of the Seas is almost 1,200 feet long and holds over 5,000 passengers, in addition to crew. With a cruising speed of 22 knots, an accident involving such a large cruise ship and the Storebalt Bridge, a major traffic route between Zealand, Denmark and the Island of Sprogo, could have resulted in severe property damage and injuries.

Agreement reached between Government and Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Lines will be paying a total of $100,000 in penalties to nine disabled passengers, as well as $40,000 in civil penalties for ADA violations. The U.S. Justice Department charged the Miami based cruise ship line with failing to provide the required amenities to their disabled passengers, causing them to not be able to enjoy the activities on the cruise.

According to the Justice Department, the cruise line did not provide sign-language interpreters and closed caption television for deaf or hard of hearing passengers. The Daily Business Review reported that those in wheelchairs did not have access between the airport, ship and hotels, and they were charged an additional fee for wheelchair accessible buses that took hours to arrive. At times they were forced to wait in the busses for hours as they were unable to participate in excursions.

People with disabilities should be able to enjoy the activities on cruises just like the other guests. Aside from the fines Norwegian Cruise lines has also agreed to provide reasonable accommodations in the future for disabled passengers. These changes will include shipboard and transportation options for guests with disabilities as well as more timely responses to requests for accommodations.