What happens if you get sick while on a cruise? Is there any legal liability on the part of the cruise line? Was the cruise line negligent and was their negligence the cause of your illness?  These are the legal questions that arise in most personal injury cases.

What is Negligence?

Negligence simply is the act of not exercising reasonable care. You have to prove that the cruise line did not exercise reasonable care which then resulted in your illness.

Typical Illnesses

Three types of illnesses that can be linked to a cruise line’s negligence:

1. Norovirus (called stomach flu although not related to influenza) causes abdominal cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea among others. It spreads quickly through physical contact or by food and water.  Norovirus is very common everywhere so you have to prove the lack of exercising reasonable care.

2. Food poisoning is common on cruise ships and can be caused by a food preparer who did not wash his/her hands.

3. Legionnaire’s Disease is very serious disease that can be the result of the cruise line failing to heat their pools and hot tubs sufficiently.  The Legionella bacterium grows in warm water in places like heating and plumbing systems, and hot tubs.  Hot water kills the bacterium.

Proving Negligence

Without a mass outbreak of illness, it’s almost impossible to prove that the cruise line was negligent which caused your illness.

Get the Evidence!

If you do get sick, keep track of specific things on the ship, for instance:

• were others experiencing similar symptoms to yours?
• was the crew taking extra precautions like cleaning the bathrooms more frequently?
• were the ship’s hospital full of people?
• did the crew make health announcements?
• were any passengers quarantined?
• what changes did the cruise ship make to its original itinerary – for what reason?

Statute of Limitations

As with any lawsuit, there is a deadline by which to make a claim. It’s important to make the claim as soon as possible because the period of time can depend on the cruise line, usually less than a year and possibly within a couple of months.

Source: Nolo.com