Port Canaveral – Cruise Accident Attorney

MSC Cruises Claims Lawyers:  MSC has Port Canaveral as the New Homeport with the Inaugural Sailing of the MSC Divina. MSC Cruises is the world’s third largest cruise brand as well as the leader in Europe, South America, the Gulf region, and Southern Africa. The MSC fleet is fast growing and enormously popular. It is projected to grow to 23 cruise ships by 2025 with 6 more luxury Italian cruise ships on order through 2030. The MSC Divina was built in 2011, is 1,093 ft. long, 124 ft. wide and weighs 139,072 Tons. This cruise ship has 1,751 staterooms, 1,388 crew, and a maximum capacity of 4,345 passengers.

PORT CANAVERAL AND DISNEY CRUISE LINES 

Port Canaveral is very special due to its proximity to Orlando, Florida, and all of the amazing theme parks and attractions such as Disney World, Universal, and more. 

Since it is less than an hour’s drive from Port Canaveral to Orlando, many people refer to Port Canaveral as “Orlando’s Fun Port.” Another must-see attraction near Port Canaveral is the Kennedy Space Center. This historic and exciting attraction should not be missed if you are taking a cruise out of Port Canaveral. The port is also conveniently located near the Sandy beaches of Brevard County which is worth visiting if you are a beach lover. 

Orlando, Florida is known as the “theme park capital of the world” because it has some of the world’s greatest attractions like Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and everyone’s favorite the Magic Kingdom. Many families that we represent in accidents on cruise ships plan their vacations to spend time in both Orlando and then take a cruise out of Port Canaveral making it the fastest growing and most modern cruise ship port in the World. 

One of the strongest relationships in the cruise industry is between Disney Cruise Lines and Port Canaveral. Which is why the Disney Wish, Disney’s newest ship, is homeported in Port Canaveral and frequently sails from there to the Bahamas.  

Most cruise lines have package excursion deals for the passengers that will include visits to the theme parks and other Orlando attractions. If you are a passenger on a Carnival Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, or Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, ship cruising anywhere in the world, our cruise ship passenger injury firm strongly suggests that you purchase all types of shore excursions to either the Orlando theme parks or attractions like the Kennedy Space Center directly from the cruise line.

Currently, Disney has five ships in its fleet, the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder (2,400 passengers each), the Disney Dream, and Disney Fantasy (4,100 passengers each). 

Disney recently revealed a new fleet-wide alcohol policy, which we believe may be more directed towards increasing profits rather than safety. Set to go into effect next month, Disney’s new policy severely limits the amount of alcohol passengers will be permitted to bring aboard. According to Disney, under the new policy, passengers will be permitted to bring in only two unopened bottles of alcohol, wine, or champagne, or six 12-ounce bottles of beer from the time they initially board the ship until the end of the cruise (with the policy also applying to visiting ports). Passengers will also be required to consume alcohol brought onboard only in their cabins rather than out in restaurants, pools, or other common areas. We support any measure that makes the overconsumption of alcohol less likely or more difficult for cruise ship passengers. We investigate hundreds of accidents aboard cruise ships each year, many of which have left from Port Canaveral. Often alcohol is a factor in a passenger’s tripping, falling, sexual assault, and or types of incidents that can and do frequently occur onboard cruise ships, gangways, in ports, terminals, and during shore excursions. 

PORT CANAVERAL SHORE EXCURSIONS

One of the most important reasons for purchasing the excursion from Port Canaveral directly from your cruise line is that if the excursion is delayed, you have a flat tire, get involved in an accident, or any other reason the cruise ship will wait for you before leaving. In addition, the cruise lines will do some degree of “due diligence” to vet the shore excursion to make sure that they are insured, and operating in a reasonably safe manner.

If you decide to purchase your shore excursion independently of the cruise line and get injured for instance on a sailboat, snorkeling adventure, Segway tour, or other type of Shoreside adventure, the cruise line will not be responsible to compensate you for your injuries, medical bills, or pain and suffering. Instead, you’ll be forced to bring a claim directly against the shore excursion which may be very difficult or impossible, especially in a foreign country like The Bahamas.

Disney Cruise Lines has some of the most exciting shore excursions which they refer to as “port adventures”. These port adventures include things such as glacier float trips, plane tours, whale watching, horseback riding, wildlife expeditions, and salmon bakes. In the Bahamas, Disney Cruise Lines offers things like city tours, stingray encounters, parasailing, kayaking, snorkeling, fly fishing, and more. In Bermuda, Disney Cruise Lines offer SCUBA diving amongst the colorful coral reefs and sparkling saltwater pool dives. On the Pacific coast, Disney offers things such as visits to Alcatraz in Sausalito, butterfly garden tours, city and shopping excursions, and glass-blowing exhibitions. 

Port Canaveral has its own attractions such as the Exploration Tower. This is just one of the many things that make Port Canaveral unique. Especially when compared to other cruise ship ports. 

As one can imagine, the proximity to Disney has made Port Canaveral an important part of Disney Cruise Line’s operation. Port Canaveral serves as the home port for two of their largest ships, the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. In fact, Disney recently negotiated with the port authority of Port Canaveral to enlarge its facilities to accommodate more passengers, luggage, and parking. 

Regardless of where the cruise ship may go, most cruise lines require that any claim against them be initiated within one year of the date of the accident in Federal Court in Miami.  

For Norwegian, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and MSC, that means your claim has to be filed in the Southern District Court in Miami. For a Disney cruise ship accident claim, the case would have to be filed in Orlando’s Federal Courthouse–just a few minutes from Disney’s home office in Celebration or in Melbourne, Florida in state court. This makes Disney the only major cruise line that will permit an injured passenger’s claim to be litigated in a state court venue as well as federal court. 

The most common types of injuries that we see on cruises that leave from Port Canaveral include broken legs, fractured arms, injuries to hips, ankles, and knees, spinal injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and occasionally death.  

These types of injuries most frequently occur when people slip and fall on wet and slippery decks, steep dark staircases, participating in onboard attractions like artificial surf machines, zip lining, rock climbing, or ice-skating, or the victims of sexual assault committed by a fellow passenger or by a crew member employed by the cruise line. We’ve also investigated the number of cases where children have been injured in the kid’s clubs due to inadequate supervision or using areas of the ship that are not safe for children. Passengers have also been injured in the spa due to aggressive and violent spa treatments or massages performed by therapists who are inadequately trained or supervised. 

People can also be hurt due to medical malpractice committed by the ship’s medical personnel. We’ve investigated dozens of cases where ship medical doctors failed to diagnose fractures and recommended appropriate treatment. Also, there are certain circumstances where the ship cannot provide adequate medical care due to the limitations of the equipment that they have on board. In cases like this, it is frequently advisable that the passenger be medically disembarked at the shoreside facility. We’ve had many cases where passengers are simply left to their own devices in a foreign country to find their hospitals or medical care and then find their way home. When this happens cruise lines have to be responsible as they have an obligation under federal maritime law to provide reasonably safe accommodations for the passengers.

Our Orlando cruise ship accident attorneys offer anyone who has been hurt on a cruise that leaves from Port Canaveral or any other port worldwide, a free initial consultation via email, Zoom, FaceTime, Google Meet, SKYPE, or Toll-Free at 1-866-597-4529. 

We recommend that you contact us immediately, even if you are still onboard the cruise ship so that we can help you protect and preserve valuable evidence, obtain photographs, and make sure you are represented by counsel before giving any statements or signing anything with the cruise line that may severely jeopardize your ability to maximize your damages and recovery.