Royal Caribbean class action lawsuit

[Dennis#1]

There must be different types of Cancel For Any Reason Insurance because I had that for a cruise I just decided I didn't want to go on and I got 80% of my expenses back. Yes, one must read the fine print or just ask the agent.

 

 

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Is there a policy out their that will pay 100% “Cancel For Any Reason” including the reason “I just decided I didn’t want to go.”

[xpcdoojk]

Force majeure anyone?

 

Yep... that one kills this stuff every time.

 

Like I said, good luck, making any money class folks.

 

JC

[ColoradoGurl]

If they win, which is debateable, the lawyers will win millions and the dumb class people will win a voucher good for $25 if they meet several conditions...

 

 

 

JC

 

 

But Royal still loses, and hopefully learns a lesson. It was really irresponsible to draw people into a hurricane zone when the city officials were asking people to evacuate.

 

 

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[Dennis#1]

If they win, which is debateable, the lawyers will win millions and the dumb class people will win a voucher good for $25 if they meet several conditions...

 

JC

 

You are most likely correct (i.e, the settlement voucher will have to be used on a future cruise within 12 months).

[xpcdoojk]

People on Facebook are PRAYING for Royal Caribbean and calling the plaintiffs bloodsuckers

 

FB people are just suckers, the bloodsuckers are the lawyers who are scamming the FB people. The FB people will see no sign of millions, they will see a few shekels at best.

 

If you were harmed in this, do not sign up with a class action suit. It will destroy your chances of an individual settlement.

 

Class action is a legal scam.... period end of sentence.

 

JC

[xpcdoojk]

But Royal still loses, and hopefully learns a lesson. It was really irresponsible to draw people into a hurricane zone when the city officials were asking people to evacuate.

 

 

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Maybe, not likely, but maybe.

 

So, let's follow the logic, we destroy RCI they declare bankruptcy and CCL buys the fleet. Then CCL owns like 99% of the cruise ships in the world... what do you think that will do to the price of fares.

 

Socialism works until you run out of other peoples money.....

 

JC

[Dennis#1]

FB people are just suckers, the bloodsuckers are the lawyers who are scamming the FB people. The FB people will see no sign of millions, they will see a few shekels at best.

 

If you were harmed in this, do not sign up with a class action suit. It will destroy your chances of an individual settlement.

 

Class action is a legal scam.... period end of sentence.

 

JC

 

Sometimes Class Action lawsuites are the necessary evil, because of the expenses (and time involved) in an individual settlement. Most attorneys will want a hefty retainer up front (and charge an hourly rate) to represent you. Even if you could find an attorney to take the case on a contingency basis, their fee may be 50% of the settlement and then they would deduct all their expenses. A friend of mine was recently awarded a $100,000 settlement by the court, and after legal fees and expenses, he ended up with slightly less than $2,000. And the process took almost three years of litigation.

[grandgeezer]

Sometimes Class Action lawsuites are the necessary evil, because of the expenses (and time involved) in an individual settlement. Most attorneys will want a hefty retainer up front (and charge an hourly rate) to represent you. Even if you could find an attorney to take the case on a contingency basis, their fee may be 50% of the settlement and then they would deduct all their expenses. A friend of mine was recently awarded a $100,000 settlement by the court, and after legal fees and expenses, he ended up with slightly less than $2,000. And the process took almost three years of litigation.

Your friend should sue his lawyer. My brother in law is a lawyer in the midwest and he charges 35% of the award, in lawsuits, and that includes expenses. If he doesn't win, he gets nothing so he only takes ones he's confident he can win. I was just on a jury and this past Wednesday we ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a medical malpractice case, It took over three years to get to trial but we awarded well into seven figures in damages. They will probably appeal it but, we were told afterwords that the damages was right in line with awards in similar circumstances. Remember, you might be going against a huge corporation but the decision is made by twelve of the plaintiffs and defendants peers.

[steamboats]

Regarding insurance: Here in Germany there is nothing like a "canel for any reason" travel insurance. So in this specific case I wouldn´t have been able to cancel unless RCI would have said they can´t run the cruise due to the weather conditions.

 

German travel law allows me to cancel due to act of god / force majeure. But this won´t be the case until the port is closed due to the weather conditions. When you book your flights on your own (and not with the cruise line) you weren´t even able to cancel the cruise due to act of god when your flight got cancelled (due to act of god). There´s a pretty recent judgement after the Islandic volcano that gave the party the right to cancel the cruise because all flights were cancelled due to the volcano ashes. But in that case really all flights were cancelled and airports shut down here in Europe. As for Galveston/Houston it´s more complicated if you don´t have a direct flight being cancelled. So if you have a connection in Chicago/New York/Washington DC your first leg would have been operated but the second leg into Texas might have been cancelled. No way to cancel the first leg and tell the cruise company that you now cancel the cruise due to act of god.

 

I don´t remember when RCI did cancel the cruise. But I remember that both RCI and Carnival did expect the port to be open by Sunday and then Monday. Two Carnival ships had been redirected to New Orleans. But the third (Carnival Vista?) was waiting to go to Galveston as the Liberty of the Seas was. The weather indeed was doing good (regarding the conditions for a ship at sea and going into port - of course there was already flooding going on). But due to the flooding the port did not open. Yes, of course the people wanting to board on Aug 27th weren´t able to reach the port due to the floodings either.

 

steamboats

[ColoradoGurl]

Maybe, not likely, but maybe.

 

 

 

So, let's follow the logic, we destroy RCI they declare bankruptcy and CCL buys the fleet. Then CCL owns like 99% of the cruise ships in the world... what do you think that will do to the price of fares.

 

 

 

Socialism works until you run out of other peoples money.....

 

 

 

JC

 

If Carnival bought out RC, and raised the prices to a monopoly amount of money, I would just stop cruising, as would lots of other people. That decrease in demand would force Carnival to drop prices. It's not like cruises are a necessity (though some might disagree), so there's only so high they can price it til the market stops buying.

 

 

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[momofmab]

Yup - 5 years of "shuffling papers" will result in a $50 obc, if they're lucky.

 

This was an unprecedented hurricane season, as far as the size, strength, frequency and similar paths these hurricanes took. Should Royal have done better? Perhaps. This hurricane season will likely set the new standard for all cruise lines on how they handle hurricane season sailings.

 

Highly unlikely that this will affect Royal negatively in the grand scheme (other than the class action folks promising to never sail them again). Ships will continue to go out at full capacity and people will continue to roll dice and book during hurricane season.

[momofmab]

If Carnival bought out RC, and raised the prices to a monopoly amount of money, I would just stop cruising, as would lots of other people. That decrease in demand would force Carnival to drop prices. It's not like cruises are a necessity (though some might disagree), so there's only so high they can price it til the market stops buying.

 

 

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The thing is, I think that number's pretty high. Look at the Disney parks (and Disney cruise line, for that matter). I used to be a once-a-year Disney go'er, but then I looked at how much it cost to take my family of four there for 4-5 days, and felt sick. I haven't been back in 4 years. It's not even the cost of food or lodging that gets me, but the admission charge. Disney raises its prices (and even charges a premium to "hop" between parks) and people eat it up - they buy the whole experience; many families go more than once a year.

 

The same goes for suite categories on some lines - the prices keep creeping up, but people can't get enough of the "suite life", and they always seem to be booked up. I've traveled in several suite levels, but when the price comes out at over $10,000 for my family of 4 (without airfare), I have to say "uncle". No problem though, there's a line of people behind me willing to pay that.

 

My point being that like Disney, I believe the cruise industry prices can continue to creep up, and people will still pay the prices - especially if they roll the UBP into some kind of "free" promo. "Free" unlimited alcohol is a big motivator :D

[SRF]

Lawyers getting richer, more they sue for more they get. Some get 40-50% of settlement. I was in class action suit 20 yrs ago against Royal. Back then you missed a port Royal never gave the Port Tax back. Settlement was $7 million everyone got $7 back for every port missed. I got $28 that had to be used for a Royal cruise within a yr.

 

Standard seems to be 40% for a no fee unless we win, single case these days.

 

Class action, you can figure the lawyers will get 80+%.

 

And again, the money has to come from somewhere, so WE ALL PAY IT. For what? To make some lawyers richer.

[SRF]

Best advice ever. 1st thing we tell all new employees, get 100k, 300k or more auto. Lol. Work for large PI law firm in Connecticut. We might be insurance capital of the U.S., but can drive with 20k, 40k. Always pay extra for any reason trip insurance. But I do work with insurance companies every day.

 

A number of years ago I was going through an insurance review with my company. I always carried higher than required coverage, but decided to ask how much to raise my limits to the max.

 

I turned out to be about $5 per month. I raised my limits. :D

[SRF]

But Royal still loses, and hopefully learns a lesson. It was really irresponsible to draw people into a hurricane zone when the city officials were asking people to evacuate.

 

No, they DON'T LOSE.

 

Either their insurance pays, and they raise fares to cover the higher price of insurance.

 

Or, they self insure, and they pay, and the raise fares a LOT to cover the cost.

 

Or if the judgement is high enough, RCI goes out of business, and then where are we?????

 

WE LOSE.

[tugboat]

Regarding insurance: Here in Germany there is nothing like a "canel for any reason" travel insurance. So in this specific case I wouldn´t have been able to cancel unless RCI would have said they can´t run the cruise due to the weather conditions.

 

 

 

German travel law allows me to cancel due to act of god / force majeure. But this won´t be the case until the port is closed due to the weather conditions. When you book your flights on your own (and not with the cruise line) you weren´t even able to cancel the cruise due to act of god when your flight got cancelled (due to act of god). There´s a pretty recent judgement after the Islandic volcano that gave the party the right to cancel the cruise because all flights were cancelled due to the volcano ashes. But in that case really all flights were cancelled and airports shut down here in Europe. As for Galveston/Houston it´s more complicated if you don´t have a direct flight being cancelled. So if you have a connection in Chicago/New York/Washington DC your first leg would have been operated but the second leg into Texas might have been cancelled. No way to cancel the first leg and tell the cruise company that you now cancel the cruise due to act of god.

 

 

 

I don´t remember when RCI did cancel the cruise. But I remember that both RCI and Carnival did expect the port to be open by Sunday and then Monday. Two Carnival ships had been redirected to New Orleans. But the third (Carnival Vista?) was waiting to go to Galveston as the Liberty of the Seas was. The weather indeed was doing good (regarding the conditions for a ship at sea and going into port - of course there was already flooding going on). But due to the flooding the port did not open. Yes, of course the people wanting to board on Aug 27th weren´t able to reach the port due to the floodings either.

 

 

 

steamboats

 

 

 

Wrong , The Port of Galveston put out a statement on Thursday stating the Port would be closed until Tuesday at the earliest. That's why so many of us on the gulf coast couldn't understand why Liberty came back to Galveston hoping to get in.

 

It's also IMHO why Carnival cancelled their cruise on Friday, let's just face it folks RCL made a really bad mistake which is going to cost them again. I.e. Dumping oil in the Caribbean, no life guards around the pools (now they have gone the other way. We could go on & on.

 

RCL puts out the best ships at sea, they just have a hard time running them.

 

 

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Edited October 1, 2017 by tugboat

[mugtech]

What is DSC?

Daily Service Charge.

[mugtech]

So your vacation time isn't worth anything to you? Considering these people had to use their vacation time to sit in a hotel, stranded with no food and no ability to leave, I think this is a completely fair thing to ask for.

Mental ************

[tugboat]

No, they DON'T LOSE.

 

 

 

Either their insurance pays, and they raise fares to cover the higher price of insurance.

 

 

 

Or, they self insure, and they pay, and the raise fares a LOT to cover the cost.

 

 

 

Or if the judgement is high enough, RCI goes out of business, and then where are we?????

 

 

 

WE LOSE.

 

 

 

Really they are going to Go out of business over people losing a week of vacation. No one died, no one was injured.

I recall where a young man drowned in a pool they lost that suit (hence life guards around the pools)

 

You don't build a corporation like RCL and then go out of business over like something like this.

 

 

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[mugtech]

So your vacation time isn't worth anything to you? Considering these people had to use their vacation time to sit in a hotel, stranded with no food and no ability to leave, I think this is a completely fair thing to ask for.

So it is class action, what about the retired ones? Do they benefit from someone else's lost wages? Would you have to allow for typical casino loses? If compensated for lost wages, would that make the comp taxable income? Should we include the cost of having a tax accountant figure out this stuff?

[steamboats]

Wrong , The Port of Galveston put out a statement on Thursday stating the Port would be closed until Tuesday at the earliest. That's why so many of us on the gulf coast couldn't understand why Liberty came back to Galveston hoping to get in.

 

According to this article by Cruisecritic RCI hoped to get in late Sunday and embark new pax on Monday. And on Monday the port said that it will stay closed for another 48 hours. The port closed on Friday.

 

 

According to the posts by the port on FB or Twitter the port was on Yankee on Thursday. Nothing about the port being closed til Tuesday. The port itself posted on Thursday that the Liberty will keep the original schedule. Same for Carnival. On Friday the port changed to Zulu (total shut up). The port posted the statement by Carnival on Friday that all ships intend to dock in Galveston as soon as the port is open again. On Saturday the port posted that the condition remains on Zulu but "if there is a lull in the storm the Captain of the Port MAY allow for inbound cruise vessels...". The port posted also the statement of RCI on Saturday that they intend to stay on the original schedule but that the port is still closed and it´s uncertain whether the Liberty can dock on Sunday. Then on Sunday the port posted that it´s still on Zulu until further notice. Later on Sunday there was a post saying "Zulu most likely for the next 24 hours". Then there was a post with the statement of RCI cancelling the Aug 27th cruise. On Monday the port announced condition Zulu will stay on for at least the next 48 hours. Post on Tuesday (Aug 29th) still Zulu, conditions are not expected to change within the next 24-36 hours. Wednesday post: Zulu for the next 24 hours. Wednesday evening they opened up the port daylight only and announced first cruise ships to arrive on Sep 1st.

 

 

But it wasn´t just the Liberty waiting, the Breeze (not Vista) waited too and was then rerouted to New Orleans.

 

The other thing was that the Liberty is not able to dock in Tampa or New Orleans and Miami was the closest US port she could go. Maybe that´s why they first waited longer instead hoping there will be a time frame to get in.

 

steamboats

[S.A.M.J.R.]

No, they DON'T LOSE.

 

Either their insurance pays, and they raise fares to cover the higher price of insurance.

 

Or, they self insure, and they pay, and the raise fares a LOT to cover the cost.

 

Or if the judgement is high enough, RCI goes out of business, and then where are we?????

 

WE LOSE.

So by this argument, even if a company (whether RCI or other) showed total negligence in a situation, they shouldn't be sued because it will raise prices to the consumers.

 

They can't raise the fares too much because it will price them out of the market they're in now. Yes, they'll still find people to sail with them, but not as many. "But Disney has high prices and they sail full"... how many ships does Disney have vs how many RCI has?

 

I'm still amazed that people are fine with RCI's decision making on this.

[LMaxwell]

Fearless prediction; J. Van Fleet moves on to lifes next big opportunity after this hurricane season concludes. I'd still love to know what he said on the Liberty and was it to Suite Lounge guests only, or did he take questions from all.

[tugboat]

According to this article by Cruisecritic RCI hoped to get in late Sunday and embark new pax on Monday. And on Monday the port said that it will stay closed for another 48 hours. The port closed on Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

According to the posts by the port on FB or Twitter the port was on Yankee on Thursday. Nothing about the port being closed til Tuesday. The port itself posted on Thursday that the Liberty will keep the original schedule. Same for Carnival. On Friday the port changed to Zulu (total shut up). The port posted the statement by Carnival on Friday that all ships intend to dock in Galveston as soon as the port is open again. On Saturday the port posted that the condition remains on Zulu but "if there is a lull in the storm the Captain of the Port MAY allow for inbound cruise vessels...". The port posted also the statement of RCI on Saturday that they intend to stay on the original schedule but that the port is still closed and it´s uncertain whether the Liberty can dock on Sunday. Then on Sunday the port posted that it´s still on Zulu until further notice. Later on Sunday there was a post saying "Zulu most likely for the next 24 hours". Then there was a post with the statement of RCI cancelling the Aug 27th cruise. On Monday the port announced condition Zulu will stay on for at least the next 48 hours. Post on Tuesday (Aug 29th) still Zulu, conditions are not expected to change within the next 24-36 hours. Wednesday post: Zulu for the next 24 hours. Wednesday evening they opened up the port daylight only and announced first cruise ships to arrive on Sep 1st.

 

 

 

 

 

But it wasn´t just the Liberty waiting, the Breeze (not Vista) waited too and was then rerouted to New Orleans.

 

 

 

The other thing was that the Liberty is not able to dock in Tampa or New Orleans and Miami was the closest US port she could go. Maybe that´s why they first waited longer instead hoping there will be a time frame to get in.

 

 

 

steamboats

 

 

 

Sorry when looking for information on the Port of Galveston, I don't go to Cruise Critic, FB or twitter. The place that I went to was the Port of Galveston website where I Read on Thursday night due to the Hurricane the port of Galveston would be closed till Tuesday( it ended up being Thursday)

 

 

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[Ocean Boy]

And if there is a HUGE settlement, who do you think will pay?

 

YOU will, in higher cruise fares and reduced benefits and perks.

 

It always amazes me when people say that XYZ company should pay.

 

They are businesses. Hurt them a little, and you pay higher prices. Hurt them a lot, and they go out of business. And with less competition, prices go up.

So the moral of the story is that corporations should be able to behave however they want because, if not, in the end it will only cost the consumer more?