Injured on a cruise? Contact a personal injury attorney today!

All forms of travel experience downtime, often due to fatal accidents. Whether you’re on a train, plane, car, or ship, passenger safety is never 100 percent guaranteed. The cruise industry has enjoyed years of steady growth and is now the most profitable sector in the travel industry. However, recent tragedies have underscored the need to improve passenger safety. They have also made cruise ship law a popular field for the experienced personal injury attorney.

Recent Disasters

When completed, the Costa Concordia was the largest Italian ocean liner in history. The massive ship was one of Europe’s most popular floating cities before it hit a rock and ran aground off Italy’s west coast. There were more than 4,200 passengers on board at the time, 300 of whom were confirmed dead. It’s a fact of life that accidents happen, but many people now worry that these boats have simply gotten too big.

The most famous maritime disaster of all time was the sinking of the RMS Titanic. More than 1,500 people died when the ship hit an iceberg in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. But the Titanic was a rowboat compared to a modern ship like the Costa Concordia, which had 2,000 more passengers on board when she ran aground. And the Costa wasn’t even the biggest ship on the water! Now there are ocean liners that can accommodate more than 6,000 passengers!

Big and getting bigger

The cruise industry has been on a hot streak in recent years. According to travel experts, it is now a $40 billion industry. But, because it takes a long time to build new ships and bigger ships are more profitable, major cruise lines have been pouring money into bigger ships. The strategy has paid off, for the most part. There is no doubt that cruise travel is more popular than ever. Around 20 million people booked travel in 2014, 60 percent of which originated in North America.

As already mentioned, the most profitable ocean liners are megaships, which are essentially floating cities, complete with shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, and even casinos. Most of these Brobdingnagian ships operate from Florida and visit ports of call in the Caribbean. These fast, fun and affordable vacations have become extremely popular with American families. But are they safe?

legal advice

It stands to reason that every time a space becomes more crowded, there will inevitably be more accidents. It is not surprising that thousands of people are injured in cruise ship accidents each year. Most are the result of slip and falls, diving accidents, or food poisoning. It is the job of a personal injury attorney to determine if the victim is entitled to compensation for her injuries.

what to consider

Even if you are injured while on vacation through no fault of your own, you may not be able to sue for damages. Why? Because most major cruise lines put special provisions in their passenger contracts/tickets that limit the time you have to file a claim to one year. (Most other accident victims have three or four times as long to sue.) Therefore, it is important to contact a personal injury attorney as soon as possible after your accident.