Posted on 03/14/2021 11:33:28 AM PDT by Capt. Tom
A year ago, before anyone knew how COVID-19 would obliterate our way of life, we got a taste by following the saga of thousands of cruise passengers stranded at sea. As desperate ships full of these sick and dying Americans and foreign nationals circled the coasts of the U.S., debates raged about what to do. Eventually, the passengers were accepted like war-torn refugees.
They became some of the first positive COVID-19 cases in our nation, and the first to die. Now, the legal system is trying to decide whom to blame.
A wave of federal lawsuits filed by former passengers over the last year provides an account of how cruise lines were cryptic about admitting whether the virus was on board, how they dealt with passengers presenting early symptoms and how some gave out free drinks to keep the party going despite sick people filling the infirmary.
How much did cruise lines know in the early days of a rapidly evolving pandemic? How much responsibility do the passengers shoulder for stepping on board in the first place?
Many of these debates are playing out in South Florida because some cruise lines force passengers, no matter where they are from, to file lawsuits in our federal court. Thus far, a handful of cases against lines like Celebrity Cruises, Holland America and Princess Cruises have been dismissed or narrowed down by federal judges across the country.
Legal experts say cruise lines are protected by language tucked into tickets that strips passengers of rights and century-old laws that rule the open seas and ensure cargo more than top-dollar paying cruisers. The unprecedented nature of a global pandemic also works in the cruise lines’ favor, said Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University and former attorney on behalf of cruise lines
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
There is a lot in the article to read and I was forced to excerpt it by FR rules.
With the armada of lawyers and ambulance chasers in this country ready to sue , if these ships were American flagged I believe they would be tied up for years in our courts.
This article pulls no punches ,here is a one para excerpt: "Dome said her husband began to present slight symptoms before he got off the Celebrity Eclipse on March 30, 2020. On April 2 he was diagnosed with COVID-19. Dome and her two sons, who had picked her and her husband up from the airport after they arrived home, also tested positive. On April 12, Robert Dome died."
Read the entire article for the dilemmas the covid virus has caused. -Tom
This article is definitely not favorable to Cruise Lines. -Tom
Geez I hope the courts will have enough sense to stay out of this. For a court to say, after the fact, that the Cruise Line should have done this or shouldn’t have done that would be the height of judicial arrogance. Which means they probably will.
I don’t understand why they think they can sue...?
Cruise lines were lying abound infections for years before COVID.
The cruise lines can third-party in Communist China and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
BOYCOTT CHINA
Thanks.
Legal issues aside, the early cruise ship experiences showed us how mysterious and inconsistent the virus is.
The husband got covid and died. The wife was fine?
Something like 20% of those early cruise passengers tested positive. Many of those were asymptomatic. Some died. But most, like the wife in the article, not affected?
Very strange.
The Lines are protected from acts of God, but if they unjustifiably personally do you harm, you apparently can sue. -Tom
An excerpt from the article- "Many of these debates are playing out in South Florida because some cruise lines force passengers, no matter where they are from, to file lawsuits in our federal court. Thus far, a handful of cases against lines like Celebrity Cruises, Holland America and Princess Cruises have been dismissed or narrowed down by federal judges across the country."
Yeah... yeah... scary virus spreading in the wild. Then a few people get infected/sick, a few more succumb to complications and death.
Not too much genius it takes in predicting what probably will unfold in the future once it hits/spreads into large population centers through the usual-suspect contagion venues. No different than the infection fallout from influenza, cold, hepatitis, herpes, or even the Ebola virus. And so what? This sh$t happens and ALWAYS there is someone or some agency that will tries to place/assign blame, find a fall-guy.
After the crises passes over, the whining will stop and everything will get back to normal...
Smoking, drinking, drunk-driving fatalities, suicides, murders , cancer, diabetes/heart disease and killing babies will resume so we can all de-stress and life will be good again.
Clearly, there are PLENTY of operational benefits in flagging a cruise ship under an ensign of convenience. These benefits touch on tax liabilities, labor laws and tort liability to name but a few.
But ultimately, I think the primary reason there are no US flagged cruise ships is that there are no US cruise ship builders. Without a US cruise ship builder, it’s impossible to put a US flag on a foreign built vessel that will be used commercially because of the cabotoge requirements spelled out in the Jones Act.
This is unlike the airplane industry, for example, where an airline can buy an Airbus or other foreign brand and put that plane into service on domestic routes flying a US flag. That is simply not legal under the Jones Act.
We don’t know the medical histories of the husband and wife. One might have been predisposed to not do as well.
Honestly, it’s really not that mysterious of a virus. On balance, it behaves similarly to most of the other known coronaviruses, more contagious than some far less virulent than others.
If you look back on the Diamond Princess, the virus really didn’t play out that much differently than it did anywhere else. The virus had a slightly elevated IFR than it does today, globally. BUT, that cruise ship also had a much older passenger complement than the general public. So, a slightly elevated death rate makes sense.
With respect to why the virus impacts other dramatically but many don’t even know they’re sick, it all comes down to age and pre-existing conditions. Absent advanced age and a pre-existing condition, like morbid obesity, diabetes, lung problems, hypertension and others, the chances of becomes critically ill with the virus are very very low.
Sure, it’s killed a lot of people. But, a lot of people have been infected because it is - on balance - a reasonably contagious virus. However, it’s not remotely as deadly as a Marburg virus like Ebola or even the Spanish Flu. There are PLENTY of more dangerous viruses around today. But, the vast majority of those are not respiratory viruses, which makes it very much harder to catch them.
I’ve never been on a cruise ship.. but I have known for years that those things are floating germ/virus bowls..
I’ve never been on a cruise ship.. but I have known for years that those things are floating germ/virus bowls..
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No, they aren’t. The facts simply do not support that statement. Believing it is fear porn.
https://youtu.be/ZGlpftxhJnk
The ‘election infection’ served its purpose and now remains the extinguishment of the fraud in a manner that most sheep don’t realize extent of the Hoax perpetuated on the gullible. I have the disbelief that this country is so populated with Idiots.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/douggollan/2020/03/09/fauci-says-cruising-is-ok-if-you-are-healthy/
Mar 9, 2020,08:02pm EDT|365,089 views
COVID-19 Travel Update: Fauci Says Cruising Is OK If You Are Healthy
Fauci then said, “If you are a healthy young person, there is no reason if you want to go on a cruise ship, go on a cruise ship. But the fact is that if you have…an individual who has an underlying condition, particularly an elderly person who has an underlying condition, I would recommend strongly that they do not go on a cruise ship.”
China. Sue Chinese terrorist nation for TRILLIONS.
My partner and I went on a Princess cruise in January 2019. Within days my partner came down with signs of Covid. We were on a 21-day cruise. When we got back to the States, Covid news had hit the media airwaves. I believe he had covid then. I also believe other passengers had it then.
Blame Fauci first.
Who’s to blame?
Very simple. The Chinese Communist Party, aka 共产党 or Gòngchǎndǎng. At the very least, the Gòngchǎndǎng knew of the seriousness of the CCP-Coronavirus, ceasing internal flights within China, yet allowing international flights for weeks, spreading the virus around the world. There is also STRONG evidence that the virus was concocted at the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) level 4 bio-lab in Wuhan.
Here’s a ‘fun fact’ about Communist China and the PLA. The country of China technically does not have a military. In the US, the military pledges allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, I believe. In China, the PLA pledges allegiance to the Gòngchǎndǎng, or Chinese Communist Party. The responsibility for the virus and cover up falls squarely at the feet of Xi Jinping!
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