Passengers who took a Carnival Cruise Line trip during the novel coronavirus pandemic could be eligible for financial compensation. Investigations have begun to determine if Carnival Cruise Lines and its subsidiaries, Princess, Costa, and Holland America Cruises, negligently or recklessly permitted their vessels to become contaminated by the novel coronavirus. The investigation could determine that […]
Financial compensation claims
Passengers who took a Carnival Cruise Line trip during the novel coronavirus pandemic could be eligible for financial compensation. Investigations have begun to determine if Carnival Cruise Lines and its subsidiaries, Princess, Costa, and Holland America Cruises, negligently or recklessly permitted their vessels to become contaminated by the novel coronavirus. The investigation could determine that Carnival Cruise and its subsidiaries endangered passengers from the United States by allowing cruises to continue despite the warnings from federal health agencies among other governmental agencies. Any person who was aboard a cruise ship that became contaminated with the novel coronavirus could have legal options that must be explored with a successful, experienced, and resourceful cruise ship rights attorney.
No one could accurately predict how the novel coronavirus would infect every corner of the world the way it has since January. However, some entities like Carnival Cruise Lines and its subsidiary lines of cruise ships, in particular, knew how harmful the virus was and how easily it could spread. Despite the advanced warning, cruise lines continued to invite passengers onboard and to complete cruising itineraries despite the emerging threat of COVID-19 placing a stranglehold on the ship’s passengers and crew.
The stories of cruise ships stranded were a harbinger of things to come. A ship in the Diamond Princess line was stalled in Japanese waters for several weeks so passengers and crew could pass COVID-19 amongst themselves and not infect people on the mainland of Japan when they disembarked.
We knew at that point; a worldwide crisis was emerging. Notwithstanding, Carnival Cruise Lines failed to develop a safety plan for other cruises its ships were about to take. Moreover, Carnival Cruise Lines failed to screen boarding passengers adequately. Most people were simply asked to answer a couple of questions and then allowed to board if the crew did not detect a problem. Carnival never canceled any of its trips until government-mandated cancelation. This short history clearly illustrates Carnival Cruise Line’s willful indifference to their passenger’s lives and safety.
The U.S. government, out of necessity, had to step in and provide shelter for traveled trapped on a Grand Princess cruise. Some 2,000 passengers were quarantined by the U.S. government in military barracks in an attempt to stop the novel coronavirus. Additionally, the company operating a Grand Princess cruise admitted that a passenger fell ill with COVID-19 symptoms during a cruise from San Francisco to Mexico. The cruise ship reloaded its passengers and set sail for Hawaii shortly after that. The company failed to decommission the ship to clean the vessel thoroughly. More egregiously, the cruise line never warned its passengers that one of their own was infected by COVID-19.
Ships in Carnival’s Costa Line experienced COVID-19 contamination too. Ships dubbed the Costa Luminosa, and Costa Zaandam sailed with passengers who were sick with the novel coronavirus and COVID-19. These cruises should have been canceled but were not. The Carnival Cruises went on as if they had no care in the world. The Princess, Holland America, and Costa lines persisted with their voyages without implementing any precautions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Experts agree that cruise ships failed to institute appropriate mitigation methods to prevent the infection of its passengers from COVID-19. Cruise lines face withering scrutiny as their leaders try to explain why they failed to protect their passengers and crew in the throes of a global pandemic. The argument could easily be made that cruise lines contributed to the spread of the novel coronavirus across the Globe in addition to allowing their passengers and crew to get sick. Cruise ship operators always have a duty to protect their passengers and its crew. If you or a family member was positive or was on a ship contaminated by the coronavirus, you have legal rights.
