NCL Dawn Passengers meet with Attorney

[spkeze]

If a rogue wave isn't an act of God, what is it? :confused:

 

Simply, the wave could have hit the Dawn or any other cruise ship regardless of date, time, or location. The sea is unpredictable.

[Marykatesmom]

I hope these passengers who are so set on sueing realize they will get little, if any, from this suit. Lawyers are the only ones who stand to gain from this type suit. All the rest of us lose from higher fares. And all because of one wave.

 

Sadly, a lawsuit is considered easy money. The lawyers take 40% plus expenses.

 

Reminds me of a letter my husband got about 4 yrs ago. It contained a coupon for free contacts lenses because he was, as a consumer of this company, a winner of a class action suit. He stopped using those lenses 2 yrs before that, so while he got a useless coupon the lawyers received 3.5 million dollars if I remember correctly. Who really ended up winning?

[redcat72]

Gee, if only we could sue "Mother Nature"...:p ;)

[medolee]

I have to agree with Terri23 and Hiedict.......if the Captain had orders to cut the cruise short and get back to NYC early for a TV show, then I think the passengers have a reason to be ticked off.....

.if this is true, then NCL should be held accountable.

 

 

 

But how ticked off would they be if they did get 30 seconds of fame by possible being in the background shot of the movie?????

 

But it will be at OUR expense. WE will end up paying this through the nose by increased fares.

[medolee]

Sadly, a lawsuit is considered easy money. The lawyers take 40% plus expenses.

 

 

But the expenses will really add up---they will get the majority of the money

[medolee]

If a rogue wave isn't an act of God, what is it? :confused:

 

Simply, the wave could have hit the Dawn or any other cruise ship regardless of date, time, or location. The sea is unpredictable.

 

Which means the passenger assumes part of the risk--it can happen anytime, anywhere and if it does the passenger is aware of that fact and is somewhat cruising at their own risk so to speak.

[Guest OBAYbee]

I just want to make sure that everyone who read the article doesn't think the woman named "O'Bay" was me. What a coincidence. LOL. Wasn't me I was here the entire time.

[Starspangle1]

If the ship would have gone to the Bahama's the way it should have & stayed in Miami for the one day, (instead of 2) then they wouldn't have been 5 (FIVE) hours ahead of schedule which put them in the storm that they should have missed, also if getting back to NY wasn't an issue then they should have taken another route that might have taken longer but safer, NCL never figured on the freak wave happening & this time took the ship through a storm. Captains always try to avoid rainy weather for the sake of the passangers, to give them clear calm days while on vacation. Waves and weather, yes an act of God but skipping a port & putting you up 5 hours closer north into a rain storm because of a money deal, sorry I don't buy it, very bad public relations.

[medolee]

I just want to make sure that everyone who read the article doesn't think the woman named "O'Bay" was me. What a coincidence. LOL. Wasn't me I was here the entire time.

 

LOL OK you are off the hook!!

[medolee]

1. As quoted in the press by the cruise line AND passengers on the ship, the ship was only doing 4 knots through the worse of the storm for the passengers comfort. Doesn't sound like he was racing back just to be on that show.

 

2. It's hard to go around a storm when it is moving east and the coast is to the west. It was too wide of a storm to go around.

 

3. This ship, and many, many others, have sailed through storms like this before and many, many more will again. I'm sure some new cruisers, or some who have never sailed in a storm, were frightened, but the ship was in no danger. It was one wave that has caused all this uproar. ONE wave. Without it, there is no news story.

 

4. If a captain misses a port due to conditions, people get mad. If he tries and misses, people get mad. If he sails into a storm, people get mad. If he doesn't sail into a storm and people are late getting to a port or late sailing the next cruise, people get mad. This captain did not do anything wrong, but one rogue wave made him a target for some.

 

5. I hope these passengers who are so set on sueing realize they will get little, if any, from this suit. Lawyers are the only ones who stand to gain from this type suit. All the rest of us lose from higher fares. And all because of one wave.

 

Thank you!! Must be midwest logic. How many tornados so far this year?

[brn2crz]

2. It's hard to go around a storm when it is moving east and the coast is to the west. It was too wide of a storm to go around

 

 

Also.I have not seen all the weather maps from this time period,but I remember one graphic showing a "low" pushing off the east coast,and a "high" hovering out in the Atlantic and the ships route home right in the middle...That "freak" wave could have,and probably did occur more than once.

[TexasDH]

Who is going to represent mother nature since Johnny Cockran is gone :mad:

 

 

Gee, now there's a thought! :cool:

[Retired not Expired]

If the ship would have gone to the Bahama's the way it should have & stayed in Miami for the one day, (instead of 2) then they wouldn't have been 5 (FIVE) hours ahead of schedule which put them in the storm that they should have missed, also if getting back to NY wasn't an issue then they should have taken another route that might have taken longer but safer, NCL never figured on the freak wave happening & this time took the ship through a storm. Captains always try to avoid rainy weather for the sake of the passangers, to give them clear calm days while on vacation. Waves and weather, yes an act of God but skipping a port & putting you up 5 hours closer north into a rain storm because of a money deal, sorry I don't buy it, very bad public relations.

 

And using this logic, every time an airplane takes off early or late and hits turbulance, the pilot is at fault and should be sued for taking the passengers through that turbulance.

 

And how about the guy that leaves for work five minutes early to catch up on something and someone else runs a stop sign and hits him. Is he at fault for being ahead of his normal schedule? Should the other driver sue him for being where he wasn't suppose to be?

 

They did not change the schedule to hit a storm and a rogue wave. That was just fate. And who knows what they might have hit if they were on schedule. The seas may have been worse. We don't know. For all we know being that five hours early kept them from being hit by a 100 foot wave. Maybe being early saved lives. Again, we don't know.

 

It's also obvious that some are miffed so bad about the schedule change, that they are using this wave as a chance to blame NCL for everything. They have a right to be miffed about the schedule. I probably would be too. But being in the path of that wave was fate, not a deliberate act.

 

And to answer about tornadoes. None nearby yet but a couple of bad storms with winds. But if my house gets hit by one, I'm going to sue the person that sold me this house. She knew it might get hit by a tornado. And the city for issuing a permit. And the Welcome Wagon for not warning me. And the electric company for hooking me up. And the water company. And......And..... And.....I'll be rich,,,,,,rich,,,,,rich.....

[AltaJoe]

Sadly, a lawsuit is considered easy money. The lawyers take 40% plus expenses.

 

Reminds me of a letter my husband got about 4 yrs ago. It contained a coupon for free contacts lenses because he was, as a consumer of this company, a winner of a class action suit. He stopped using those lenses 2 yrs before that, so while he got a useless coupon the lawyers received 3.5 million dollars if I remember correctly. Who really ended up winning?

 

About 15 years ago my father received notice of a class action suit settlement. The bank that held his mortgage miscalculated the interest earned from escrow by something like .00000000000001%. The law firm's take was millions. My father's would have been 17cents. Since the stamp cost more to mail back the acceptance. It would have cost him money. lol

[MrPete]

-- the question becomes whether or not the captain ignored weather advisories in order to get back to meet a scheduled call time...

 

I think it's more like, "How wavy does the sea have to be to make the ship unsafe? What is the maritime law? And was the ship sailing within that limit?"

 

It really doesn't matter why the ship was sailing anywhere in any direction, or that it was even in a storm. Most of us have sailed in at least one storm.

[FinelyCruising]

Here are some new notes..

 

I was not at all suprised to hear this when we got home that Sunday from the Jewel. We had some very strong winds the day before when rounding Nassau and the ship was creaking and motion could be felt. We went down to deck three where we could see the pretty good swells out of the portholes as close to the waterline as we did.

 

During that week of our cruise on the weather channel on the ship, which is the weather channel you and I watch at home, there was a large swath of weather that did create strong winds and rain and on our route north back to Ft Lauderdale. We were on the Atlantic side of of the islands, not the Caribbean side, and the winds were easily blowing right against the broad side of the barn.

 

Relative winds were steady and in excess of 50 mph, so as I said, I was not suprised to hear this happened. No other way to get back to NYC from the Bahamas than to be in the Atlantic.

 

In the end the timing was just bad luck since these waves are random. Can't have been pleasant, but let them get their tension out this way. It will be a long, long time before anything gets settled if and when they sue particularly since there was no physical injury. Heck the famous ones were well enough to rent a car and drive themselves back home.

[IKE]

This puts a whole new light on this story. Having to make a deadline for the Trump Show back in NYC rather than taking passengers lives into consideration is something I would have to look in to as well if I was on this particular cruise. Thank God everyone got home safe and sound. It could have been a disaster at sea with 70 ft wave hitting the Ship.

[SCOOP]

Just remember... we all have to face Saint Peter some day and then the Big Man. Maybe they can sue them when they get up there and tell them all about the grief they had on earth.

Scoop

[TahoeBob]

But if my house gets hit by one, I'm going to sue the person that sold me this house. She knew it might get hit by a tornado. And the city for issuing a permit. And the Welcome Wagon for not warning me. And the electric company for hooking me up. And the water company. And......And..... And.....I'll be rich,,,,,,rich,,,,,rich.....

 

Then you can take more cruises and just maby you will get hit by a big wave, then you sue the cruise line and get more money and move to california and get hit with a earthquake and sue some other people. You are the luckyest person alive to be in the good fortune to be able to sue all of these people, But when you move to california and sue someone for the earthquake just remember who told you to move here, I do execpt a 50% cut of your riches.

[RMILLER4292]

Unfortunately, we now live in a society of frivalous lawsuits and some see this as an oppertunity to make some money. I work in the public safety field, and see this type of thing often. Someone is unhappy with they way they were treated, and the city will pay them a large sum of money to shut them up wether they have a valid complaint or not. This is a bad practice, because it encourages this behavior to continue. Dollar signs do ugly things to people. Hopefully the courts will see the absurdity of this claim.

If it can be proven that the Captain willing and recklessly endangered the lives of passengers, then the injured passengers have a grounds for compensation. People that were just scared are not entitled to compensation beyond what the line has offered in my opinion. They did not suffer any physical harm due to the Captain's actions. Sorry for the long post.

[AltaJoe]

Then you can take more cruises and just maby you will get hit by a big wave, then you sue the cruise line and get more money and move to california and get hit with a earthquake and sue some other people. You are the luckyest person alive to be in the good fortune to be able to sue all of these people, But when you move to california and sue someone for the earthquake just remember who told you to move here, I do execpt a 50% cut of your riches.

 

I hate to point this out, but instead of getting a 50% cut, you'll be named as a defendant because you provided the guidance and incentive to move there.

[Linda CruiseDiva]

Captains always try to avoid rainy weather for the sake of the passangers, to give them clear calm days while on vacation.

 

Gee, what ships have you been sailing on? I've been through a number of storms over the years. Captains don't control the weather.

 

I agree that a small number of passengers are using the weather and sea conditions to vent their anger at the schedule change. If a "loser pays" rule were in effect nationwide, lawyers wouldn't take such frivolous lawsuits.

[erin_cruisers]

Did you catch this?

Angie O'Bay said she called the Coast Guard while at sea because she feared for her life and lost all faith in the captain.

 

I thought this was pretty scary too :eek:

It wasn't mentionned how she did this (if it IS true), but, with all the talk of putting cell phone coverage on ships...

...we could have a ship full of people on board (like O'Bay) calling the coast guard everytime the ship listed, burped, or whatever, and complaining that the ship and/or captain was out of control.

Isn't THAT a scary thought (especially for the ship owners) :(

[Guest OBAYbee]

Did you catch this?

 

 

I thought this was pretty scary too :eek:

It wasn't mentionned how she did this (if it IS true), but, with all the talk of putting cell phone coverage on ships...

...we could have a ship full of people on board (like O'Bay) calling the coast guard everytime the ship listed, burped, or whatever, and complaining that the ship and/or captain was out of control.

Isn't THAT a scary thought (especially for the ship owners) :(

 

Just so you all know I am NOT that O'BAY. Man, I can hardly wait for this news to become old news. That name is giving me the hives! LOL!

[GoinCruisin]

See, you guys all come down on Carnival cruisers... but we all got the memo about the wave, and stayed home :p We've known about it for months now... I won't rub it in though... I am seriously thinking about suing my realtor and my mortgage company because we had a hurricane blow through several years ago and they did not warn me about it, the way I see it, it's all their fault :D And if there is a big storm on my next cruise, I will not hesitate to take the big guy to court... :rolleyes: