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Cruise Ship Passengers and Their Rights

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Cruise Ship Passengers and Their Rights FACULTY OF LAW Lund University Viliam Chovanec Cruise Ship Passengers and Their Rights JASM01 Master Thesis Maritime Law 30 higher education credits Supervisor: Proshanto K. Mukherjee Term: Spring 2013 Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1 International Regime – The Athens Convention ............................................................... 5 Establishing liability ........................................................................................................... 5 Compulsory insurance ........................................................................................................ 7 Making a claim ................................................................................................................... 7 Liability limits .................................................................................................................... 8 The 2006 IMO Reservation and Guidelines ..................................................................... 10 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 10 Chapter 2 Limitation of Liability in International Conventions ..................................................... 12 Various types of liability limitations in maritime law ...................................................... 13 Changes introduced by the 1976 Convention ................................................................... 14 Time for a change? The case for abolishing limitation of liability .................................. 18 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 21 Chapter 3 Judicial Interpretation of International Treaties and the Common Law Legal System ................................................................................ 22 Definition and sources of international law ...................................................................... 23 Definition .................................................................................................................................. 23 Sources ...................................................................................................................................... 23 Some basic principles of a common law jurisdiction ....................................................... 24 Approach of English Courts to cases involving international treaties ............................. 27 Brief overview of the position of treaties in US law ........................................................ 31 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 32 Chapter 4 Domestic and Regional Laws – UK, EU, and the US ...................................................... 34 European Union ................................................................................................................ 34 Regulation 392/2009 ................................................................................................................. 34 Regulation 1177/2010 ............................................................................................................... 36 Disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility ........................................................... 36 Cancelations and delays ........................................................................................................ 37 Laws of the United Kingdom and the United States ........................................................ 39 Contract ..................................................................................................................................... 41 2 Negligence ................................................................................................................................ 41 Products liability ....................................................................................................................... 43 Jurisdiction and applicable law ................................................................................................. 45 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 46 Chapter 5 Cruise Ship Dangers and Passenger Implications ........................................................... 48 Passenger accidents and rights ......................................................................................... 48 Legal restraints imposed through carriage contracts ................................................................. 49 Accidents on board and on shore .............................................................................................. 50 Death ..................................................................................................................................... 51 Slips and falls ........................................................................................................................ 54 Disease .................................................................................................................................. 54 Shore excursions ................................................................................................................... 55 Intoxication ........................................................................................................................... 56 Other dangers ........................................................................................................................ 59 Passengers and the safety record of the cruise industry ................................................... 61 Crime ........................................................................................................................................ 61 The disaster -> regulation cycle ................................................................................................ 64 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 71 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 75 Chapter 1 Bibliography .................................................................................................... 75 Chapter 2 Bibliography .................................................................................................... 77 Chapter 3 Bibliography .................................................................................................... 80 Chapter 4 Bibliography .................................................................................................... 83 Chapter 5 Bibliography .................................................................................................... 88 Conclusion Bibliography .................................................................................................. 99 3 Introduction Over the past decade more and more people have been taking to the sea for a cruise ship vacation,1 with most of them not thinking twice about the legal implications of a cruise vacation compared to one on land. The aim of this thesis is to provide a basic overview of passenger rights and particularly the cruise lines liability towards passengers in the event of an accident or other occurrence aboard a cruise ship or during other activities2 connected with a cruise ship vacation. The thesis will also look into some of the problems that passengers can face when trying to make a claim for compensation, as well as certain areas where the cruise lines could do a lot more to protect passengers aboard their ships. Chapters one and four are going to cover the various legal regimes that can come into play when a passenger is trying to make a claim for an incident that occurred during a cruise voyage. Chapter one will look at the international law aspects under the Athens Conventions, comparing the 1974 regime with the updated 2002 Protocol provisions, while chapter four will consider the domestic and regional laws of the UK, US, and the European Union. Chapter two will expand upon the discussion from the first chapter further analysing the liability limitation regime in maritime law, particularly the aspects of it that have the greatest impact on cruise and ferry ship passengers, and discussing whether the prevailing mind-set of limiting liability is still desirable in the 21st century. Chapter three will provide an overview of judicial interpretation which is necessary to fully grasp the complexities of the whole system and appreciate the different aspects that ultimately affect how laws are interpreted and thus have an impact on both the passenger and the cruise line.3 This chapter will also provide an overview of the common law legal system and its main characteristics to support the later analyses under chapters four and five. The final chapter will go through the various accidents that can happen on cruise ships, looking at real life cases and highlighting possible dangers that anyone who plans to go on a cruise vacation should be aware of. The chapter will conclude with a brief discussion of some of the deficiencies that the cruise lines should address to better protect and serve the ever- growing number of people that are deciding to spend their holiday aboard
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