Lawsuit alleges Royal Caribbean put passengers in danger
Royal Caribbean is facing a lawsuit for allegedly putting customers in unnecessary danger as Hurricane Harvey bore down on Texas.
Lead plantiff is Canadian traveler Nikki McIntosh who says the line left it way too late to offer free cancellations or changes to a sailing, which effectively ‘strong-armed’ passengers into coming to Galveston when the cruise line ‘repeatedly’ told them they would lose all money paid if they canceled.
The sailing was ultimately canceled when the port shut down just before Hurricane Harvey hit but not before cruisers were forced to come to Galveston.
"What Royal Caribbean did to these passengers is simply shocking," said attorney Michael Winkleman.
"They knowingly placed families with small children directly in the path of one of the worst storms to hit the US in centuries."
The port closure trapped Liberty of the Seas at sea but Royal Caribbean still maintained the sailing would take place on August 27, the suit claims.
"By this time, catastrophic flooding had already begun. Hundreds of flights were canceled, and highways were flooded, impassable and deadly. Yet RCCL was still attempting to find a way to make the scheduled sailing."
"At or around this time, was the last chance that these passengers likely could have escaped being trapped in Hurricane Harvey’s flood waters but RCCL did its best to convince these passengers to stay directly in harm’s way."
"Had the cruise been canceled a day or two earlier, just like Carnival did, then these passengers would not have been trapped in the path of Hurricane Harvey and subjected to 5-6 days of terror, hardship and inconvenience in a place foreign to them," it said.
Plaintiff McIntosh said she was stranded in a Houston hotel for six days.
The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, claims negligence and is seeking an undisclosed amount in lost wages, emotional anguish and physical pain and suffering.
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