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When cruise ships sail into Key West, the looming vessels evoke thoughts about the tourist economy.

What people don’t think about is how much damage these ships can cause to local marine life as they navigate through the port.

The College of the Florida Keys recently revealed in a year’s long study that the turbidity measures of ships – the level of suspended particles, such as sediment and organic matter, stirred up by the ship as it moves through the area – surpassed limits set forth by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In some cases, these ships’ turbidity measurements reached levels akin to storms such as the recent damage left behind by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

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More than 100 passengers who traveled on P&O’s Ventura, a ship owned by Carnival Cruise Line, have filed suit after they say they got sick on board. 

Attorneys for the passengers claim there were “repeated outbreaks” of illness on the ship between April and June. About 519 passengers reported for weeks about their symptoms of norovirus, a stomach bug that causes inflammation in the stomach and intestines and is highly contagious. The first outbreak allegedly took place in May during a two-week cruise around the Canary Islands. 

In reporting from the BBC it was alleged that Carnival communicated that less than 1% of passengers experienced symptoms while Southampton health officials claimed the number was closer to 12% of passengers. 

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Photos were published online of the damage to a cruise ship that was hit by storm-force winds while sailing from Spain to Miami

The frightening voyage resulted in the injury of at least one passenger who will be allowed to evacuate the ship for additional medical care on shore in Las Palmas, Spain. No other details, including the condition of the passenger, were immediately available Wednesday. 

Passengers reported to CBS news that their captain said over the ship’s intercom speakers that the ship was impacted by winds that had gone from 46 mph to over 80 mph. 

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A cruise passenger recently experienced a medical crisis and was successfully evacuated. However, in the experience of Leesfield & Partners, such evacuations are not always granted. When they are denied, it often results in serious harm to the passenger’s health. 

One reason a cruise ship might deny a passenger a medical evacuation is because evacuations often result in a delayed voyage, which impacts their passengers’ traveling plans and their own schedules. Thankfully, the 69-year-old woman at the center of the recent incident was able to seek additional and potentially life-saving medical attention thanks to the evacuation. 

The woman was taken by helicopter from her Carnival Cruise Lines ship to the Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was accompanied by her spouse and one staffer from the on board medical team, according to reporting from a national news outlet. Once there, local emergency responders transported her to Centro Médico Hospital. 

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Hurricane-Force Winds Injure Cruise Ship Passenger. What Do These Companies Owe Their Passengers?

A Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines passenger was injured after their ship was hit by forceful winds, according to USA Today

The ship, Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas, “experienced sudden movement” on Nov. 7 as the ship headed to Miami, Florida, from Barcelona, Spain. The incident happened as the ship sailed through Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands. The passenger is being disembarked for additional medical attention, a cruise line spokesperson told reporters. 

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A utility task vehicle (UTV) cruise ship excursion in the Bahamas became deadly following the tragic death of an Illinois passenger. Now, the man’s friend who was driving the vehicle is facing felony charges. 

James Darling, 21, of Park Forest, Illinois, was recently charged with vehicular manslaughter in the death of his friend, according to local media. Darling also faces additional drug charges.

The incident happened on Oct. 20 in Arawak Cay, a man-made island in Nassau that is also known as Fish Fry. 

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a report detailing two separate outbreaks of Legionnaires’ Disease linked to cruise ships on different cruise lines. 

The report’s findings say that the two ships, which were referred to as only “Ship A” and “Ship B,” had outdoor, private hot tubs on balconies. These hot tubs, according to the CDC, were the most likely cause of the outbreaks. Cases began springing up in November 2022, resulting in at least 12 passengers exposed to the disease. 

Ship A, which had cases of Legionnaires’ Disease from November 2022 until April 2024, had a total of eight cases on board. Five of these cases stemmed from the same 14-day cruise in November 2022. Two other cases were identified from August-September 2023. In April 2024, one additional patient was identified. Both patients who were exposed in 2023 told health officials they were staying in cabins with hot tubs on the balconies. Of these cases, six were hospitalized. 

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Despite great reviews calling Joshua Jackson a “miracle worker” for pulling off the antics shown in his new show, Doctor Odyssey, which follows the adventures of a cruise ship doctor, Leesfield & Partners knows the bleak reality and its consequences for passengers. 

In nearly five decades of personal injury practice in Miami, Leesfield & Partners attorneys have recovered over $66 million for hundreds of victims of negligence at the hands of cruise ship doctors. Despite these companies marketing their ships as vessels with state-of-the-art infirmaries and staffed with some of the leading medical professionals in the field, this is often not the case. In fact, it has been the experience of this law firm that these ships have hired subpar doctors and nurses who do not meet the standards necessary to practice medicine in the United States.

These companies are able to skirt these regulations because they operate under different regulations while at sea, often traveling between countries and in international waters, paving the way for doctors who are not licensed in the U.S. to be hired for these roles. 

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A woman was taken into custody by police when her cruise ship docked at PortMiami after police accused her of assaulting another passenger

Kelli Lyn Ryan, 49, of Huntsville, Alabama, was charged with battery on a person 65 years old or older. 

A person convicted of this charge in Florida is guilty of a third-degree felony and could face a prison sentence of up to five years and or a fine of up to $5,000. 

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 After TikTok couple Matt and Abby Howard received pushback from their millions of followers for showing themselves allegedly leaving their children in a cabin unattended while watching them on a baby monitor, Royal Caribbean updated its banned items list to include the devices. 

“Baby monitors are not allowed to be used onboard our vessels as their radio signal could interfere with ship communication and/or navigation systems,” Royal Caribbean officials said in reporting from MSN Monday.

The controversy began when the couple, who regularly document their lives online as parents of two under 2 years old, showed a solution to the issue of attending dinner with two rowdy toddlers. The alleged solution appeared to online viewers as though the duo had decided to leave their boys asleep in separate cabins while they watched them on FaceTime and on baby monitors.

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