Cruise Ship Law

PalmBeachPost.com

MIAMI — In a sign of the times, Norwegian Cruise Lines is offering an insurance option that allows passengers to get a full refund if they lose their jobs and decide to cancel their trips.

A company official says the cruise line wanted to offer a "safety net" for people who want to book a cruise but are uncertain about the future.

The Miami-based company announced the new travel protection plan on Wednesday. It's available for trips departing May 1 or later, and starts at $29 per person. Its protection is limited to people who have been at the same company for at least a year. It also covers medical emergencies and lost or delayed luggage.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 12:24 AM | Permalink

Shaneeva Yassin, NBC6.net News Editor

MIAMI -- An air ambulance arrived in Miami Tuesday carrying several passengers who were injured in a tour bus crash in the Caribbean island of Dominica.

The injured people, all Americans, were passengers on Celebrity Cruises' "Celebrity Summit", which offered a shore excursion to the island. It was a seven-night cruise out of Puerto Rico. Dominican is an island just east of Puerto Rico.

Sixteen people were injured, including some seriously, when there bus lost control Monday on its way back to the cruise. The driver hit a ditch and the bus slammed into a wall.

All 16 onboard the bus were immediately transported to the local Princess Margaret Hospital for care. The passengers sustained injuries, including broken bones, bumps, bruises and lacerations, however, three guests were more seriously injured. Five of the 16 guests were treated and released from the hospital Monday.

Additional personnel, including specially trained members of Celebrity Cruises' guest care team and an additional nurse arrived in Dominica Tuesday to escort the injured passengers and their traveling companions during flights to South Florida.

Eight passengers were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital for further assessment and care and are in critical condition, five are in serious condition and one is in fair condition, NBC 6's Steve Litz reported.

"We do have the physicians that will actually be hands-on with the care of the patient that immediately get called and they've been in total communication since last night," doctor Enida Roldan of JMH said.

Celebrity Cruises' President Dan Hanrahan issued a statement:

"Our thoughts and prayers are with our injured guests and their families. We'll continue to do our very best to assist them in the aftermath of this unfortunate accident."

The passengers had participated in a "Caribbean Cooking Adventure" shore excursion, in which they joined local culinary experts to learn how to prepare and present traditional Caribbean dishes. The three-and-a-half hour excursion concludes with a scenic drive through Roseau before returning to the pier.

The report out of Dominica is that the bus driver was experiencing problems with the bus' brakes, Litz reported.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 12:41 AM | Permalink

Another expedition ship has run aground in the frigid waters of Antarctica.

Quark Expeditions' 68-passenger Ocean Nova is stuck in Antarctica's Marguerite Bay, west of Debenham Island and near the Argentine research station San Martin.

An initial report on the incident released by Quark Expeditions indicates there is no imminent danger to the ship or passengers. "There is no sign of leakage of any kind from the vessel," the report adds.

The grounding, first reported in the English-language media by travel blogger Jeanne LeBlanc of the Hartford Courant, occurred early today.

The Quark Expeditions report says there are 65 passengers on board the ship, including 21 Americans, 17 Britons, eight Canadians, seven Australians, five South Africans and passengers from more than half a dozen other countries.

The report says the captain of the ice-strengthed Ocean Nova, Per Gravesen, attempted but failed to dislodge the vessel today at high tide, which occurred at around 1:00 PM local time, and is waiting for the next high tide tonight to try again. The report blamed "unfavorable weather conditions" for the failure.

A Spanish naval ship, the Hespedrides, is on the way to the site of the incident, as is another Quark vessel, the Clipper Adventurer. Should the second attempt at dislodging the Ocean Nova fail, Quark says it plans to transfer passengers to the Clipper Adventurer for return to Argentina and home.

The incident comes just two months after another expedition ship, the 84-passenger Ushuaia, ran aground near the entrance to Antarctica's famed Wilhelmina Bay. The Ushuaia eventually was evacuated before being freed by a Chilean tugboat.

Originally built in 1992 to navigate the ice-choked waters of Western Greenland, the 2,118-ton Ocean Nova is one of several dozen small expedition ships that operate adventure cruises to Antarctica each year during the brief Antarctic summer -- the period between November and March when the ice around the continent melts back enough to allow visits.

The often-spartan voyages appeal to well-heeled adventurers from around the globe who pay $4,000 per person or more for the chance to see one of the most remote and untrammeled regions on Earth, and they have grown in popularity in recent years. But several other recent incidents have raised concerns about the trips.

Just last year two expedition vessels, G.A.P. Adventures' Explorer and Hurtigruten's Fram, were damaged by icebergs. The Explorer eventually sank.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 9:37 PM | Permalink

TALLAHASSEE, FL – Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that his office has reached a resolution with two cruise lines over the imposition of a retroactively-imposed fuel surcharge on cruise passengers. Oceania Cruises and Classic Cruises Holdings, which does business as Regent Seven Seas Cruises, have separately agreed to refund approximately $3 million to consumers nationwide who were charged the fuel surcharge after they had booked their cruises.

“Our guests and our residents deserve the most accurate information about the costs of their vacations,” said Attorney General McCollum. “I appreciate this resolution, which will not only return funds to the affected consumers, but will also uphold Florida’s reputation as an attractive vacation destination.”

The agreements were reached after the Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division received several hundred complaints from around the country about the entire cruise line industry because cruise lines were retroactively charging a fuel supplement charge after cruises had been booked and deposits had been made by consumers. Under the agreements signed today, all consumers who were retroactively charged a fuel supplement will be refunded the full cost of the surcharge. In the future, the cruise lines must also ensure clear and conspicuous disclosure of any fuel supplement charges at the time the reservations are made, as well as in their advertisements.

Oceania will pay over $2.1 million in restitution and Classic Cruise Holdings will pay more than $1 million in restitution, a small portion of which may be in the form of onboard credits for consumers who have not yet sailed. The two companies – both of which fully cooperated with the investigation – will contact consumers eligible for refunds and must report to the Attorney General’s Office on the status of refunds within 30 days. Consumers who believe they have been improperly charged surcharges may file complaints with the Attorney General’s Office by calling the fraud hotline at 1-866-966-7226 or by visiting the Attorney General’s website at http://myfloridalegal.com.

Similar settlements were reached last year with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, and Carnival and its subsidiary cruise lines, resulting in another $61 million in consumer reimbursement.

A copy of the agreement with Oceania is available here.

A copy of the agreement with Classic Cruise Holdings is available here.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 10:18 PM | Permalink

Crash Occurred During Routine Work Done by Spirit of Washington's Crew

The Spirit of Washington cruise boat struck the District's main fireboat yesterday while the latter vessel was docked, gashing a 15-foot-hole in the fireboat and disabling it for the foreseeable future, fire officials said.

No passengers were aboard the 600-person cruise boat, and no one was injured in the 2 p.m. incident along Pier 4 at Sixth and Water streets SW, authorities said.

The accident occurred as the four-person crew of the Spirit of Washington performed a routine maneuver to reposition the ship alongside the pier, said Sal Naso, vice president and general manager of Spirit Cruises.

"They were just turning it around," Naso said. "It's done a thousand times a year. . . . We're obviously going to take care of the fire department."

Naso said damage to the cruise boat was minimal. The company substituted another boat, the Spirit of Mount Vernon, for its scheduled dinner cruise.

Alan Etter, spokesman for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, said the damage to the 70-foot John Glenn was "considerable." The gash was on the starboard side, above the water line, and will have to be fixed before the fireboat can be returned to service, he said.

He described the vessel as "a very necessary part of the department."

"It's a big deal to lose it," Etter said.

The John Glenn can pump 7,000 gallons of water a minute and is the city's only vessel with icebreaking capabilities, Etter said. It was instrumental in battling a blaze three years ago on the water in which three yachts caught fire, Etter said.

Naso and Etter said it was too early to determine what had gone wrong, although both said there had been reports of strong gusts of wind on the river. The U.S. Coast Guard was investigating the accident.

The District has had the John Glenn since 1978. It was returned to the department five years ago after a two-year refurbishing effort. All three of the boat's engines were replaced, and new electronics were added, Etter said.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 9:24 PM | Permalink