Cruise Ship Lawyers Blog
Heavy winds over the weekend caused chaos for multiple cruise lines over the weekend and multiple injuries to passengers.
At least three ships were affected by the winds, with one incident being caught on camera by a passenger who was filming from his cabin balcony.
The first incident was caused by 69 mph gusts that caused the ropes of an Alaskan cruise to snap, knocking a gangway into the water. The ship, which was later guided back by tugboats, began to slowly drift away from the pier. The gangway fell into the water and was retrieved by a crane.
No injuries were reported in this incident.
The second incident began after a mooring baller, a buoy used to secure a ship to a specific location, gave way. As the ship drifted, the gangway collapsed, and one passenger was sent into the water as a result. The passenger’s husband jumped in after her, according to Cruise News Today.
In another incident, a ship broke free from the dock following a sudden, brief windstorm. The moment that the ropes tethering the massive ship to the dock broke was captured in a cellphone video by a passenger on the ship. The video was posted online and garnered over 500,000 likes, thousands more comments and over 50,000 shares.
“Oh, our lines are snapping,” the passenger can be heard exclaiming as he zooms in on the ropes. “Look, look, look! Wait for it … Oh!”
A cruise line official immediately gets on the speakerphone to warn guests and crew to stop traffic on the gangway.
At least one passenger was injured in this incident.
In some temperate regions — like much of the U.S. and Europe — May and June can be breezy due to lingering contrasts between warm and cold air masses. This is due to the ongoing influence of pressure systems and the remaining temperature contrasts between polar and tropical zones, though the windiest months often occur earlier in spring, according to the National Weather Service.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners is a Florida law firm with offices in Miami, Key West and Orlando that handles all classes of injury, including medical malpractice, boat crashes and other maritime accidents, slip and fall and cruise ship cases. In decades of representing injured clients, Leesfield & Partners has been routinely recognized as among the top trial law firms in the U.S., with our attorneys ranking among the leaders in their field both statewide and nationally.
As common carriers, cruise ships have a heightened responsibility to safeguard the passengers onboard. This means ensuring that their decks and other common areas of the ship are maintained in a reasonably safe condition, that adequate medical personnel are adequately trained and prepared to treat the various medical emergencies that may arise, and that there is security and other safety measures in place to protect passengers from criminal activity.
In nearly five decades of personal injury practice, Leesfield & Partners’ skilled attorneys have secured numerous record and leading verdicts and settlements for injured cruise ship passengers and their grieving families. Whether injured due to the inadequate training of a cruise ship’s medical personnel, from a bad fall or from the negligence of other crew members, our attorneys will diligently work to secure the best possible outcome in your case.
Previous Cases
The firm represented a family whose son, a special needs man, died following a crash on a cruise ship excursion. In that case, the bus careened off a cliff on a cruise-sponsored shore excursion. The son was ejected and died in front of his family.
The firm settled the case for $2,990,000.
A confidential settlement was obtained for the family of a young girl who wandered off while on a cruise ship and, when she leaned over a poorly designed ship railing, fell to her death.
Leesfield & Partners secured a multi-million-dollar recovery for a woman who was raped by a crew member. In that case, the crew member abused his employee status and used a keycard to gain access into her room where he launched the violent attack.
A 9-year-old suffered catastrophic brain injuries while playing basketball on a cruise ship and hit his head. The firm obtained a $2.5 million recovery for the boy in that case.
A rollover ATV crash on a shore excursion caused serious injuries to multiple passengers. Leesfield & Partners settled the case for over $1.2 million.
Our 68-year-old client sustained severe injuries, including a fractured femur, when thrown off a “banana boat” during a cruise’s water sport excursion. The firm secured a $600,000 settlement in that case.
One man, 62, suffered a terrible head injury while playing pickleball aboard a ship. The firm obtained a $500,000 settlement in that case.
One client suffered tremendously after a fall on a cruise ship’s public restroom caused a severe knee injury. Leesfield & Partners settled the case for $425,000.
Another slip and fall recovery totaled $350,000 for a client who was injured due to an unmarked step in a restaurant aboard a cruise ship.
