Child Injuries on Cruise Ships

ARTICLE 5 OF 6

Cruise ships market heavily to families and often include pools, water slides, climbing structures, arcades, youth programs, sports areas, bunk beds, balconies, and shore excursions. When a child is seriously injured, the legal analysis should account for the child's age, the activity, supervision, warnings, equipment design, and the circumstances that exposed the child to the hazard.

Parents should obtain immediate medical care and report the incident. Photograph the condition and surrounding area, preserve clothing or equipment, and identify witnesses. If the incident occurred in a youth program or supervised activity, obtain the names of staff members and preserve any written program materials or waivers.

Potential claims can involve unsafe premises, defective equipment, inadequate supervision, negligent security, excursion operators, or failures in medical response. The responsible party may be the cruise line, a contractor, an equipment company, or more than one entity.

Special attention should be given to surveillance footage because many public areas of cruise ships are monitored. A prompt preservation request may be important, particularly when the incident occurred in a location where video is likely to exist.

Ticket provisions and statutes can contain special rules affecting minors, including tolling of some notice periods in certain circumstances. Families should not rely on a general assumption that a child automatically has many years to bring a maritime claim; the actual contract and governing law should be reviewed.