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Home » Consumer Information » Cruise Ship Safety

Types of Cruise Ship Injuries

Cruises are obviously meant to be relaxing and fun, but there are many potential hazards on cruise ships that can injure you. Highly regarded cruise lines make passenger safety their number one priority and put a lot of effort into accident prevention. When you have millions of customers on your ships per year, safety simply cannot be ignored. Luckily, rules and regulations enforced by the US Coast Guard and Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) have been established to help prevent injuries and fatal accidents at sea. However, there is still an abundance of injuries that occur on cruise ships, and there are many causes.

Slip and fall injuries are very common and occur on cruise ships just as easily as they do on land. There is any number of reasons that a passenger might fall; a carpet may be frayed and improperly secured to the floor, or a piece of debris or some other obstacle may be obstructing a stairwell or hallway. Something as plain as a piece of ice sitting on a step can do some serious damage, especially if an elderly person slips on it.

Objects falling from upper decks can cause considerable harm when you take into account how large these ships are; some vessels can have as many as eight ascending balconies. Anything could possibly fall from above, but most likely it will be a bag or purse, drink, or even a child's toy. Many accidents like these happen when alcohol enters the picture, and gravity becomes an accomplice to the crime because the higher the object's point of release, the greater the impact it will have when it collides with a person below.

Fire on a cruise ship can be extremely dangerous, which is why the crew stresses fire prevention to such an extent. There are a variety of reasons that fires start, specifically faulty equipment or solvents and debris that is ignited as a result of some sort of negligence. Passengers risk being trampled during a fire if the crew is unable to manage evacuation at the exits. If the fire is so intense that passengers must abandon ship, they can injure themselves as they hastily depart from the vessel to enter a life boat or, in extreme cases, as they plummet into the water. Passengers may suffer from burns if they are close enough to the flames, but most fire injuries happen during the escape.

Cruise ships are like tiny cities, so they have all the luxuries of recreational activities crammed into a restricted area. In the past, passengers have been struck by golf balls at the driving range. Unbelievably, there have been instances where passengers come into the line of fire because they cross paths with skeet shooters. It may seem slightly ridiculous that there are activities involving guns on the ship, but this gives you an idea of how enormous these ships are and how serious safety needs to be taken while aboard a cruise. You may not even be safe while attending a show, as one passenger learned the hard way when she was struck by an object thrown at her by one of the entertainers.

Accidents at the pool are by no means unusual. As with any pool, injuries can occur if people slip and fall on the deck, carelessly jump or dive in and land on someone, or, in the worst case scenario, drown. Passengers may also become ill due to contamination of the water or improper water filtration.

Working out at the gym is a popular activity among cruise passengers, but there are risks associated with it that the cruise line cannot be held accountable for; if a passenger chooses to exercise knowing full well that strenuous activity may be detrimental to their body, the crew is not responsible for stopping that person from participating. On the other hand, if a weight machine or treadmill was defective or malfunctioned, and a passenger was hurt, then they may have grounds to sue.

If the cruise ship's captain and crew make a navigational error that causes the vessel to veer off course, passengers may be injured if it collides with another boat or a stationary object. If passengers are forced to jump ship under the circumstances, the crew must keep passengers calm so that they can empty out in an orderly fashion. Errant navigation can sometimes cause the ship to tilt abruptly. Passengers can be injured in the process if loose objects are jolted or pool water rushes across the deck.

Severe weather conditions and natural disasters can create major problems on cruise ships. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other phenomena can cause tidal waves, high winds, etc. that can wreak havoc on a ship. Sometimes these events are unpredictable and impossible to prevent, but there are occasions where the crew has been forewarned and fail to adjust the ship's course to get out of harm's way. Predicaments like these have even resulted in cruise ships sinking.

Passengers visiting the infirmary while onboard a ship can become the victims of medical malpractice at the hands of a doctor or nurse. A case like this can get complicated if the cruise ship is flying a foreign flag because the physicians on staff may not have earned US medical licenses. This does not necessarily mean that doctors trained in other countries are inferior, but problems can arise if you are a US citizen trying to prosecute the case due to the licensing discrepancy.

Another familiar source of cruise ship passenger injury is poisoning. Poisoning can originate from tainted food or viruses and airborne pathogens being spread through vents or heating and air conditioning units. Food poisoning often leads to gastroenteritis, which triggers bouts with nausea, and vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. Similar to gastroenteritis, E. coli is a strain of bacteria that contaminates food like beef and vegetables. Its effects are almost identical to gastroenteritis. Cruise ships can be havens for infection like legionnaire's disease, norovirus, and other forms of sickness based on the fact that there is such a dense population confined to a limited space. Legionnaire's disease is a bacterial infection that causes pneumonia, and norovirus is what causes the common stomach flu.

Since cruise ships are bound to make stops at various ports throughout the duration of the trip, there are numerous onshore activities that could ultimately be unsafe. These include:

  • Tours
  • Horseback rides
  • Bungee jumping
  • Helicopter rides
  • Jet skiing
  • Parasailing
  • Water skiing
  • Swimming

Passengers should be aware that participation in many of these activities is at their own risk and has no affiliation with the cruise line.