Cruise Injury Blog

What are your plans for St. Patrick’s Day?

Even though St. Patrick’s Day isn’t the biggest holiday of the year, preparing for festivities (or avoiding streets with a lot of bars) can be stressful. Wouldn’t it be nice to get away for the holidays?

Sounds like you need a holiday cruise.

Holiday Cruising Basics

Holiday cruises are a great way to celebrate time with your family or friends while exploring the world. When you factor in all-inclusive packages and the ability to get from your party to your room with a short walk, a holiday cruise may sound like heaven.

However, before you mark your calendars, make a plan for booking a holiday cruise and what you will need to bring onboard.

When to Book? Unless you can score some radical last-minute deals, you should look into booking a holiday cruise a few

When people get hurt or sick while taking a cruise, they often chalk it up to bad luck or their own ineptitude. They wouldn’t have fallen if they’d been paying more attention. There was just a virus going around. And so on and so forth.

However, many times what seems unavoidable – or even your fault – was actually caused by the actions of another. If you suffered an injury or illness during a cruise, ask yourself how the incident occurred. Who is responsible usually depends on several factors, including what type of injury you suffered and where it occurred.

Below, we’re going to look at several different types of injuries that can potentially occur while on a cruise and who might be held liable depending on the specific facts of the situation.

How the Nature of the Injury Informs Liability

Some of the

Cruise ship injuries are rare, but certainly make an already pricy vacation ever more expensive. Fortunately, accidents that were caused by the cruise ship or its staff may be repaid to the victims, if they take their case to court in a personal injury lawsuit.

Family Asks for Medical Damages, Legal Fees after Accident at Carnival Water Park

On January 4, a family filed a complaint against Carnival requesting a trial by jury to seek damages, medical expenses, legal fees, and other relief. The family alleged that Carnival was responsible for their child’s dental injuries because he was allowed to play in an unattended water park on one of their cruise ships on June 20, 2016.

Here’s what happened: allegedly, there was a padlock to secure the water park, but it was not properly secured. Because of this, the child was able to get

Whether this is your first cruise or your 50^th, you’ve probably seen the checklists for preparing for a cruise: Dramamine, extra bathing suits, and so on.

Travel insurance is on most of these checklists, but you may be asking yourself, “Is it worth it? What does it even cover?”

What Travel Insurance Covers

Most plans only cover accidents that are out of the control of any passengers or crew members. Situations commonly covered by travel insurance include:

Trip Cancellation/Interruption: If your trip is abruptly ended by an emergency situation, you might have to pay for additional lodging or travel. These costs may be covered by travel insurance, and the rest of your trip will also most likely be refunded. Have to Cancel Your Trip: If you come down with a sudden illness before your trip, or you’ve lost your job and shouldn’t

For many, this past New Year’s Eve was a way of saying, “good riddance” to 2016 and hello to a (hopefully) better year. If part of your New Year involves a cruise vacation, congratulations! Cruise ships can be a great way to see the world in comfort and luxury – without breaking the bank.

One thing to pay attention to before heading out on your cruise is safety. Generally speaking, cruises are a very safe way to travel. They aren’t without incident, though, and it’s worth paying attention to the news so you understand what you could be getting yourself into. One such incident from the end of 2016 appears to have resulted from possible negligence by the staff of the cruise ship.

Carnival Cruise Lines Hit With Slip and Fall Lawsuit

On October 12, Melissa Nini was on a Carnival Cruise Ship when

On March 7^th, 2015, Cameron Smook, a senior at Virginia Tech, lost his life after falling overboard on a Carnival cruise ship. The incident occurred just one day after Smook and his friends boarded the cruise ship, turning what should have been a relaxing vacation into a nightmare.

Naturally, this tragedy has elicited an outpouring of condolences and support for the family. But it has also sparked something else—outright rage. Some people, including United States Senator Richard Blumenthal, have been arguing that Smook’s death was entirely avoidable and that Carnival should be “ashamed and embarrassed” that it allowed this tragedy to happen. And they’re not wrong.

Embracing Cruise Ship Technology

As Sen. Blumenthal pointed out, there is current technology available that is able to detect when a passenger falls overboard on a ship. These “man overboard systems” range from water-activated units (e.g.,

Soothed by the gentle crash of the ocean, the warm rays of the sun, and the promise of a tropical destination, its easy for passengers on a cruise to forget their worries. While you certainly should feel relaxed and carefree on vacation, it’s important to always remain aware of the many hazards and risks that accompany cruise vacations. All too often, passengers who have let their guard down during their cruise vacation have experienced serious injury, illness, and accidents.

Avoiding these mistakes could mean the difference between an enjoying a relaxing vacation or suffering a health emergency.

1. Excessive partying. On cruises, passengers are prone to excess. They drink more than normal, eat more than normal, and engage in more active activities such as dancing and shore excursions. For passengers with existing heart conditions, this sudden level of excess can result in heart attack