Celebrity Summit passengers on shore excursion injured when bus went off the road
I got an E-mail from friends who are on a short Caribbean cruise with the message, "Hi -- we are having a great time. One of the excursions in Dominica came to a bad end yesterday, but we were not involved. Just in case it made the news I want to reassure you that we are fine. Cruising is all that it is made out to be."
Of course, I immediately Googled the incident and found a USA Today report headlined, "Sixteen Cruise Ship Passengers Injured in Bus Accident on Dominica." According to the report, "The guests had signed up for the '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 tour concludes with a scenic drive through [the capital city of Roseau] before returning to the pier."
As I wrote recently, I felt as if I dodged the proverbial bullet in Cairo by crossing Hussein Square and visiting the Khan al-Khalili shortly before Sunday's explosion, and I "almost" dodged the bullet here too. If I had been on that ship, that's the shore excursion I would have selected.
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That is somewhat confusing, I mean, a bus and a cruise ship having an accident? Not more likely. Anyways, the good thing about cruises is that they always have insurance for their workers and their passengers, so, in case some accidents happen, surely passengers would be well taken cared of.
ReplyDeleteIt is my understanding that the passengers WERE taken care of. I wrote this post shortly after I learned about the accident. The Miami Herald later reported: "The cruise line chartered two air ambulances for the most seriously injured American tourists, a smaller G3 aircraft that could accommodate five or six gurneys and a small jet for those who could walk under their own power...Sixteen tourists...were returning to the Celebrity Summit from a culinary-themed shore excursion about 4 p.m. Monday when the open-air, safari-style vehicle in which they were riding lost control and slammed into a ditch near Roseau, the capital of Dominica. The driver, who worked for a Celebrity vendor, told reporters in Dominica that the brakes failed on the makeshift bus....All of the tourists were initially hospitalized in Roseau. Two were released and returned to the ship, while the Miami-based company made arrangements to airlift the rest..." See http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/922189.html for the full report.
ReplyDeleteIn commenting on this situation, the South Florida Law firm of Cohn, Smith & Cohn that specializes in cruise ship law, noted, "Cruise ship companies routinely hand their passengers a very complex contract to sign -- and buried somewhere in that contract is language that limits their legal liability. Furthermore, accidents on shore excursions like this may be subject to local law, while accidents on board ship could be governed by federal maritime law. However, many contracts specify that cruise ship injury claims should be heard in South Florida, and the ship’s home country’s law may also apply. And when a third party is involved, such as the company that employed the driver, multiple parties and their insurance companies could share legal responsibility for the accident.
"For those reasons, the deck is already stacked against people who are considering a cruise ship accident claim in Miami or anywhere else. On top of this, cruise ship contracts often set a shorter deadline by which you must sue than the deadline (statute of limitations) set by Florida state law. Filing in the wrong court, or waiting too long to file, could limit your ability to sue at all if you’re not careful. And of course, passengers who were seriously hurt on a cruise are already dealing with their injuries, medical needs and the financial problems that can result." For the entire post, see(http://www.southfloridainjuryattorneyblog.com/2009/04/victims_of_dominica_cruise_shi.html.