Article on Passengers Rights

[sobore]

I read a newspaper article on passenger’s rights and it spoke to the fact that the cruise line is only responsible for providing a cabin and food. The article mentioned that all this legal mumbo-jumbo is in very fine print on your ticket. The question that came to mind is, in international waters if you are injured due to the cruise lines negligence what exactly are your rights? How does the ships registry play into this? Lastly, is there insurance to protect passengers from the perils they may face? :confused:

[DEL67]

I can not answer your first two questions; however I can say that both Carnival and HAL have not charged us for taking care of ship board injuries even though it was not their fault (DH his toe in the cabin on carnival and I broke a finger playing volleyball on HAL.) From the boards, I believe that this is not true of all other cruiselines.

 

As far as the ship's registry, in the past having foreign registry's ahs exempted ship's from complying with some US laws; however since the Supreme Court said that cruise lines using US ports must comply to some extend with the ADA, I do not know hoe completely true it is.

 

Yes, you can buy insurance through the cruiseline or from private vendors, that pays for, or acts as a secondary, for medical care aboard ship or in port as well as medical evacuation, trip delays, lost luggage, etc. Most experineced cruises buy insurance, not because of "perils," but rather because it isa a relatively small investment for the coverage. For example, medical evacuation can cost $70,000 or more.

 

Finally, I have to disagree with your use of the word "perils." I have found that ships are generally as safe, if not safer, then cities or other vacation destinations. Of course you have to take the same amount of care you would elsewhere, but passenger safety is of utmost importance to most cruise lines.