Maritime law rules on board
Even on a cruise ship, stuff happens.
On a Celebrity ship, for example, someone is reported to have dropped a rum-filled coconut on the head of an unsuspecting passenger one deck below.
Then there’s the case of the passenger on an Oceanic Sun Line vessel who was peppered with buckshot by a skeet-shooting shipmate.
And more than a few passengers have claimed unsolicited contact with a stray golf ball from an onboard driving range.
There are dozens of these sometimes amusing, often woeful tales recounted on classactionlitigation.com, a source of useful legal research for attorneys as well as a resource for consumers.
The site includes cases in which a crew member is accused of assaulting a passenger, and a passenger under the influence is said to have assaulted a crew member. It logs reports of spills, rapes and cases in which shipboard doctors have been accused of misdiagnosis and malpractice.
Should any of this bad luck befall you, what could you do?
In most cases, the answer is: not much. Unfortunately, your remedies are limited by long-standing maritime law and, should you doubt it, take a good look at what’s printed on your cruise ticket. That is, if you can read the fine print.
When your cruise documents arrive, understandably you’re thrilled. What most people don’t realize – says consumer-law attorney Timothy Eble of South Carolina, among others – is that the ticket is your contract, even if you never read or sign it.
“Ignore the mouse print at your peril,” cautions Anne Campbell, editor of cruisemates.com, a consumer Web site with ship reviews and message boards.
Former Holland America Line spokesman Larry Dessler once summed it up this way: “Your ticket is a contract for travel, and unless you understand the limitations in it, you might be mightily surprised …
“All the line is responsible for is three hots and a cot – in other words, your room and your board. Period.”
That could be fair warning to vacationers who think they’re entitled to refunds or some other compensation when they don’t like the ship’s food, contract a stomach virus or are disappointed by a shore excursion.
Don’t bet the ship on it. If you get money back, it’s usually as a courtesy of the line, not an obligation.
Though consumer rights have been strengthened against airlines, hotels, tour operators and travel agents, “there has been little, if any, change in the passengers’ rights and remedies against cruise lines,” says Thomas Dickerson.
He’s a New York State Supreme Court judge and author of classactionlitigation.com’s travel-law section and of “Travel Law,” published by Law Journal Seminars-Press.
“Modern cruising can be a wonderful experience,” Dickerson says, “but please don’t have an accident. Because you will then discover that your rights as a modern consumer are severely limited by maritime law that is 100 years behind the times … ancient legal doctrines that favor ship owners over passengers.”
Among many limitations restricting consumers’ rights are disputes over jurisdiction. For example, you might want to sue a cruise line, based elsewhere, in your hometown. To do that, however, your local court would need to have jurisdiction – “and usually it will not,” Dickerson points out.
Your ticket also enumerates disclaimers of liability. When you accepted that ticket you may unwittingly have agreed to hold the cruise line harmless in ways you couldn’t imagine.
“The passenger ticket will contain a host of nearly invisible clauses, many of which seek to disclaim liability for a variety of problems that may arise during the cruise,” says Dickerson.
There’s hope, though, that cruise lines will not escape important responsibilities. A recent Supreme Court decision further empowered disabled passengers regarding cruise lines. The ruling says that foreign-flagged cruise ships that sail from U.S. ports must adhere to the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 and be accessible to travelers with disabilities.
For some passengers, at least, it’s a start.