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Don’t Suffer a Cruise Ship Accident in Silence—Call Cruise Accident Lawyer Andrew Winston

Cruise ships are like floating luxury hotels. Any good cruise line will provide its passengers with delicious cuisine, a plethora of entertainment options, recreational centers, and star treatment. But just like a large hotel, there is a lot that goes into creating the cruise ship experience—and, because it’s a moving vessel that spends weeks at sea, there are many things that can go wrong that would not happen on land.

Accidents occur aboard cruise ships all the time, and while some are inconsequential enough to avoid lasting harm, others result in long-term suffering or even wrongful death. If you or a loved one is a negligent cruise line victim, you owe it to yourself to contact The Winston Law Firm. We have more than 65 years of combined experience handling maritime law—the complex area of law that cruise ship injuries fall into—and we have helped clients like you get the monetary compensation they deserve.

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What Can Go Wrong on a Cruise?

“...someone could drown on a cruise, and this has happened when cruise ships have lacked the technology to locate and rescue someone in the water.”

Many injuries that might occur on a cruise are similar to what can happen on land. However, cruise injuries are different not only because they fall under admiralty law but due to the fact because cruise ships come with specific risk factors unique to the environment. Accidents that can and have occurred on cruises include:

  • Slip and falls. Wet decks and tripping hazards in high-traffic areas can cause passengers to fall and injure themselves. The narrow staircases on some cruise ships can also pose a risk, and those who fall may suffer brain trauma, a back or neck injury, spinal cord injury, broken bones, or internal bleeding.

  • Drowning. Going overboard is one way that someone could drown on a cruise, and this happened when cruise ships lacked the technology to locate and rescue someone in the water. However, in recent years, several tragic stories have also occurred about children drowning in unsupervised pools on cruises.

  • Shore excursion accidents. Cruise lines often claim that there are inherent risks to shore excursions and that passengers must assume responsibility for accidents, but there are situations where the cruise line itself may be at fault. Suppose crew members fail to inspect the equipment, follow activity regulations, or warn passengers about the potential risks of cruise-sponsored shore excursions, like ziplining or parasailing. In that case, the cruise line may be liable for any accident.

  • Medical negligence. The medical attention you receive on a cruise ship will not be the same as you receive in a hospital, and some cruise lines don’t even require that their doctors be licensed to practice medicine in the United States. Furthermore, cruise line infirmaries often lack the staff and resources to give all sick or injured passengers the necessary attention. It’s all too easy for a harried ship doctor to misdiagnose a problem, which can lead to severe complications for you.

  • Norovirus. This virus that causes gastrointestinal distress spreads quickly from person to person and can survive outside of a host for three weeks or more, and is increasingly becoming a problem for cruise ships. Norovirus outbreaks in early 2014 infected hundreds of people aboard at least three different vessels, forcing the ships to return to port early after sick passengers overwhelmed the infirmary and made each ship an unsanitary environment.

    When serious accidents or virus outbreaks occur, victims may not get adequate attention onboard the ship and may need to be airlifted to the nearest hospital. This can take time that the injured party does not have.

  • COVID-19. Few places in the world have not been hit hard by the novel coronavirus, and people have been exposed to all sorts of places — from restaurants, gyms, and hospitals to sidewalks and even inside their own homes. However, certain types of places pose more of a threat than others, and cruises have proven to be particularly dangerous.

The Law Office of Andrew Winston Will Take on Large Cruise Lines

Cruise lines know that accidents can happen on their ships, and they create carefully worded passenger contracts to relieve themselves of responsibility. They have the money and resources necessary to hire top lawyers to defend them if they are sued for negligence. This does not mean that injured passengers and crew members should not fight for compensation—they need to hire the best maritime lawyer to give themselves the best chance to win.

The Winston Law Firm has gone toe-to-toe with many large cruise lines and proved that our clients were entitled to compensation. We will undoubtedly settle out of court if we can get the compensation our clients deserve, but we are unafraid to go to trial if that is the best course of action.

Awards & Memberships
Million Dollar
Advocates Forum
The Top Trial Lawyers In America ®

One of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the United States. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won million and multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements.

Legal Awards That make a difference

Martindale-Hubbell AV PREEMINENT 2023

SuperLawyers Rated - Andrew Winston - 10 Years

Why should you choose The Winston Law Firm?

There are lots of personal injury attorneys in South Florida, and quite a few cruise lawyers. None of them, though, quite match up to our firm. Here’s why:

Experience. Our lawyers have decades of combined experienced handling cruise accident claims. This means that they not only know admiralty law, but have applied that experience in real-world situations again and again.

Success. While obviously, it is not possible to guarantee a particular outcome in personal injury cases, our track record speaks for itself.

Recognition. When you continually achieve great results for your clients, people tend to notice. At The Winston Law Firm, this has led to us receiving innumerable glowing testimonials from past clients as well as recognition and awards from across the entire spectrum of the legal community.

Cruise Line Intimidation Doesn’t Work on Us

Often, people do not bring claims against cruise lines or quickly drop them because they feel intimidated. The cruise line seems untouchable.

Remember this, though: cruise lines have a duty of care. That means they are responsible for treating passengers and crew members in a way that strives to keep you safe from harm. If they do not meet this standard of care, it is your right to hold them accountable for their actions and fight to receive fair and just compensation. We have experience in cases against popular cruise lines like:

Don’t let a cruise line intimidate you. By taking them to task for any harm that they have caused, you can not only get the monetary compensation you need to recover and move forward with your life, but you can also send a message to the cruise industry and hopefully prevent this same type of accident from happening to anyone else.

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Nearly every cruise ticket is also a contract with a strict statute of limitations on cruise ship accident cases. That means that if you don’t file suit against the cruise line within one (1) year of the accident, you will be forever time-barred from doing so. Additionally, ticket contracts for Royal Caribbean, Carnival, NCL, and others have “venue” provisions, which require you to file suit, if at all, in Federal District Court in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

If you or a loved one has been injured on a cruise ship, don’t wait any longer to contact the Winston Law Firm. You have nothing to lose by reaching out to us—we work on a contingency basis, which means you won’t owe us anything unless and until you win monetary compensation.

Schedule a free, no-obligation consultation today by calling us at 954-606-6606 or toll-free at 866-306-9606, or fill out our quick and easy online case review form, and one of our attorneys will get back to you promptly.

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Highly rated

Lawyers

What our clients say about the

Law Office of Andrew Winston

     
The Winston Law Firm is rated 4.4 out of 5 based on approximately 40 reviews from around the Web.
2024-01-29
     
Very please with the work they do. They did an amazing job for my son and really care about you.
Roman
2023-11-20
     
I was very pleased to have The Winston Law Firm representing me. They did amazing job. I am recommending this Firm.
svetlana m.
2023-10-04
     
Josephine L.
2023-09-13
     
The Amazing Legal Team at Winston Law is the one you need. Forget those Radio ads and stupid songs, Winston Law gets the job done.
CHRIS B.
2023-04-14
     
I originally contacted Mr. Andrew Winston about a car accident I had 8 years ago. He was the ONLY attorney who scheduled time for me. Ultimately, he wasn’t...
Jennifer
2023-04-14
     
I appreciated the time he took in meeting with me. I had an odd car accident in the summer of 2022. I expected a much smaller settlement.
Jennifer P.
2023-04-14
     
I appreciated the time he took in meeting with me. I had an odd car accident in the summer of 2022. I expected a much smaller settlement.
Jennifer P.
2023-03-10
     
Top Notch Law Firm that gets results!!!
Michael G.
2023-03-01
     
On top of all details and sincere and honest in their relationship
Coach S.
2022-10-17
     
I had ZERO expectation beforehand the case would settle and to my surprise Andrew got it done!! We certainly will.
Adam D.
2022-10-11
     
The circumstances of my accident left me with very little room to work with but Andrew Winston and his associates did the best they can to help me as much as possible.
Vanina G.
2022-09-08
     
Working with Winston Law Firm has been a great experience. And Jennifer was amazing too!! Thank you, thank you!
Melissa B.
2022-08-25
     
It has been nothing short of a pleasure dealing with a professional organization that communicates with each other throughout the entirety of the case.
Jennifer B.
2022-07-12
     
Madeleine and Andrew were terrific guiding me thru the process. The employee was ticketed.
John C.
2022-04-30
     
Huge shout out to Madeline for taking care of me. Big thanks to Jennifer for checking in and making sure all was going smooth.
Gabriel S.
2020-09-04
     
Andrew and his team were very professional and courteous and a pleasure to have represent me. atty. thank you!
Lucy O.
2020-04-17
     
Andrew is an amazing attorney. I have used him for all my cases for over 20 years. He always puts his clients first.
Kim H.
2020-04-05
     
Andrew and his staff were such a pleasure to deal with throughout the whole process. My expectations were exceeded by far!
Ron
2020-02-11
     
The best there is! Always recommend Mr. Winston to anyone that is in need of legal assistance.
Giselle R.
2020-01-17
     
He is a highly skilled and professional attorney. I highly recommend him.
C H.
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