The captain goes down with the ship. This maritime tradition is as old as the industry itself, but what about its modern application? Does the captain really have to go down with their ship, or does the maxim apply more to a captain’s obligation to do everything possible to rescue others if their vessel is sinking? It seems the latter is true, but there’s a bit more to it. On the evening of ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Also known as a whirlpool or an oceanic blackhole, maelstroms are powerful natural phenomena that have struck fear into the hearts of seamen for centuries. A maelstrom is a strong rotational current that’s created when weather and conditions with currents are just right. They occur when opposite currents collide and create a circular vortex. Vikings feared maelstroms because they are large enough ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
In early February, the dangers of a COVID-19 outbreak onboard cruise ships were made abundantly clear when authorities quarantined Carnival’s Diamond Princess at a dock in Yokohama, Japan. All 3,711 people aboard the ship were stuck in Tokyo Bay for 27 days. By mid-March, 712 passengers had tested positive for coronavirus. By mid-April, fourteen of those on board had died from the virus. The ship ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Our firm has previously reported on the serious health crisis Carnival was facing in March. The Diamond Princess, the Grand Princess, and at least five other ships have all been host to serious COVID-19 outbreaks—more than any other cruise operator in the world. At one point, one of its ships had a larger cluster of coronavirus cases ever seen outside of mainland China. The result is staggering—in ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Four passengers have died on a Holland America cruise ship, the company announced in a statement about the latest coronvirus outbreak aboard a Carnival-owned vessel. Two more passengers have tested positive for COVID-19 aboard the Zaandam, a ship carrying over 1,800 souls. Over 100 others are exhibiting signs of coronavirus infection—53 passengers and 85 crew, according to the company. “Four older ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
When passengers boarded the Costa Luminosa, they had no idea that they were placing their health and safety into the hands of a company that was unprepared for a viral outbreak at sea. Days before dozens of crew members and passengers on the Costa Luminosa became sick, the vessel’s owner, Carnival Cruises, was making headlines related to the coronavirus. Two Carnival cruise ships, the Diamond ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
When we think of cruises, the fun associated with them is usually the first thing that comes to mind. Relaxation, great food, swimming, and onshore excursions are just a few of the things that most think of when it comes to cruises. Though they might be a haven for fun, cruise ships are immune to accidents. Various accidents can spoil the fun of a cruise. However, many accidents on a cruise ship ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Cruise ships have a reputation of being one of the safest ways to travel. These large luxury boats can carry thousands of people to global destinations. However, it’s difficult to know exactly how many accidents occur on cruise ships. The Department of Transportation only reports criminal activity on boats. Additionally, independent research has questioned the thoroughness of accident statistics ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Cruise ships are beloved by passengers for the escape they offer from everyday life. These large floating luxury hotels take a lot of effort to operate. The largest cruise ship in operation, Symphony of the Seas, carries 2,200 crewmembers and 6,680 passengers. These ships are large, complicated, and have the ability to carry many people at once. So, safety must always receive prioritization within ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
A young girl has died after she fell off a cruise ship in Puerto Rico. The 1 ½-year-old fell from the 11th floor of the Royal Caribbean cruise liner Freedom of the Seas at the Panamerican dock in San Juan. She was a child of an officer from the South Bend, Indiana Police Department, the department confirmed. The family was traveling with two other siblings and two sets of grandparents. "The ...
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Arnold & Itkin makes it our business to fight for people who have been abused by businesses and employers, people whose injuries demand justice and financial support. Our newest case is a Jones Act case on behalf of a woman who was subjected to unsafe working conditions and denied treatment by her employer—Norwegian Cruise Lines. Not only was she injured, but her requests for medical care were ...
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Tragedies at sea over the last few years have shed light on a recurring problem: captain negligence and the disaster that can result. From ferries to cruise ships, captain negligence can cost the lives of passengers. Capsized South Korean Ferry On April 16, 2015, a South Korean ferry capsized—leaving more than 300 people dead or missing, many of whom were school children. It was found that the ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
Currently, Coast Guard crews are searching for a 46-year-old man who is believed to have fallen 100 feet overboard from the Navigator of the Seas , a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, sailing off the Florida coast. It was reported by the cruise line at 11 p.m. on Friday that a guest on the ship had seen a man falling from a balcony. That, however, all that is known about the circumstances around the ...
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Posted By Arnold & Itkin LLP
On February 7, 2016, Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas encountered a violent storm on its voyage. Touted as one the most technologically advanced cruise ships in the world, the newest mega ship for Royal Caribbean set sail toward very strong winds and large waves—despite clear warnings about the severe weather. What could have been a modern Titanic story turned out to be a sigh of relief for ...
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The offshore injury attorneys at Arnold & Itkin filed a lawsuit this week on behalf of a family whose toddler suffered severe brain damage because of the negligent medical treatment she received aboard a Carnival cruise ship. The lawsuit alleges that the medical staff on the cruise ship misdiagnosed the toddler's illness and unnecessarily delayed her evacuation to an American children's hospital ...
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On May 26, a tug boat contracted by Chevron sunk in rough seas off the coast of Nigeria. The fate of its twelve person crew is uncertain as all men are still missing. According to a statement from Chevron Nigeria, the Jascon-4 capsized early in the morning when it encountered “heavy ocean swells” while “performing towing operations” at a mooring point around 30 kilometers off the coast of the ...
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On April 9, a 4-year-old boy who suffered brain damage after nearly drowning on the Disney Fantasy cruise ship was transferred to a Minnesota hospital; he had spent nearly two weeks in an Orlando facility. The boy was released from Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando and transferred to Saint Paul Pediatric Hospital in Minnesota, near his home. The original drowning accident occurred on ...
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The Carnival Cruise Ship accident left vacationers stranded for days after an engine fire caused the ship to stop its course and turn into a Mexican port where men and women were removed from the ship and flown back to their homes. During the few days that passengers remained on the stranded ship, the power went out. The ship was relying on generators to produce enough electricity to keep the ...
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Posted By Maritime Lawyer
For recovery teams, time is running out as inclement weather makes it way towards the resting place of the Costa Concordia ; the storm is expected to bring with it winds of up to 30 knots and 1.5 meter waves to the west site of the island of Giglio. Even though the ship is located on the east, many are concerned that storm could force the ship – which is already resting precariously after slipping ...
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Posted By Maritime Injury Attorney
Five days after the initial crash, with several passengers still unaccounted for, rescue workers were forced to suspend search operations onboard the Costa Concordia after the ship shifted slightly on the rocks where it ran aground. Early in the morning on Wednesday January 18, instruments attached to the Concordia detected the slight shift, even though search and rescue crews working above water ...
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Posted By Maritime Attorney
On Friday, January 13, on the first day of its week-long Mediterranean cruise, an Italian cruise ship called the Costa Concordia ran aground near the reef off of Isola del Giglio. There was an estimated 2,300 passengers and 1,000 crew members aboard the ship – 123 of those being Americans. Officially, five people have been confirmed as dead, sixty have been injured and there are still an estimated ...
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