Some 17 million people in the U.S. go on cruises each year and return with suntans and tales of happ

She and her parents were aboard the cruise ship Costa Concordia , which began listing badly and taking on water shortly after scraping along a rocky reef off Italy s Tuscan las vegas discount hotels coast and gouging a bus-size hole in the port side just below the water line.
A year and half later, the silent child still makes a lasting impression on Georgia and Dean Ananias, a Downey, Calif., couple aboard the ship when it capsized on the night of Jan. 13, 2012. They were traveling with their adult daughters, Valerie and Cindy.
After trying to escape the ship for nearly five hours, the Ananiases believed they had only minutes left to live. They said their goodbyes las vegas discount hotels and steeled themselves for the inevitable. We knew we were going to die, says Georgia.
The Ananias las vegas discount hotels family describes being indelibly scarred by the thought of impending death and the screams of horror all around them. They are also haunted by the fact that they survived and at least 32 others didn t.
Their recurring nightmares are one reason las vegas discount hotels they hired Miami maritime lawyer John Hickey to sue the cruise line on their behalf. They say post-traumatic stress is every bit as troubling as the physical injuries they sustained. Besides numerous bruises las vegas discount hotels and abrasions, Dean blew out his knee jumping 20 feet onto a bobbing lifeboat.
Four Costa Concordia crew members and a Costa Cruises manager were convicted in July under a plea deal. But the ship s captain, Francesco Schettino, is being tried separately, as are numerous suits against him. CNN reported more than 250 civil parties are represented in court. Trial for a 20-client suit (including the Ananiases) las vegas discount hotels against the cruise line is expected to begin next year.
Even though the Costa Concordia is owned by Carnival Corp. based just outside Miami the case will be heard in Italy, and Italian las vegas discount hotels law will apply because the cruise ship flies under the Italian flag, the trip began in Italy and, perhaps most important, the ticket stated that any judicial matters would be heard in Italy.
One of our biggest gripes is that we entered into a contract here with them, Georgia says, ... and yet we have no rights to any kind of court in the U.S. because the contract specifically said you have to try this in Italy.
Even though she and her family have been on more than 60 cruises, and Georgia says they know the terms of a typical cruise contract, she explains how people can end up on a cruise not knowing that they waived their right to go to court in the United States.
The thing about this is when you buy a ticket to go on there, you don t get the contract, she says. You only get the contract if you [sent in] your money and it goes into effect. Then you get the contract a couple of weeks before you re leaving. So what are you going to do when you get your contract and you read all of that?
Though the ship began sinking some two hours after its launch, las vegas discount hotels it took an hour and a half before the captain issued an order to abandon ship. Up until that point, messages in various languages over the ship s public address system assured passengers all was well.
They started pushing kids, Georgia says. Adult men were pushing women and children las vegas discount hotels away so they could get on a lifeboat. Her husband las vegas discount hotels concurs: There was no such thing as women and children first. It was all for yourself.
It quickly became evident that the crew was not properly trained for such an emergency. And the officers apparently didn t stick around to help. At the beginning there were no skilled people, Dean says. There were waiters and galley las vegas discount hotels help. Officers were never seen.
At one point the Ananias family ended up in a lifeboat that was rendered useless because the ship was listing so badly. We went down but couldn t go down all the way, Dean says. So they winched us back up.
As an ex-Navy man, Dean knew that the ship was going to roll and that everything including the passengers would get thrown around. He looked for high ground so that he and his family could at least jump into the water to save themselves. Everywhere they looked the walls were too smooth to get a handhold.
A 20-degree tilt made their up-hill journey a fight against gravity. They formed a human chain so everyone could get to the stairwell on the promenade that runs down the center of Deck 4, where the lifeboats were. That s where they ran into a couple who had been on the lifeboat with them, the family with the speechless las vegas discount hotels curly-haired girl.
Take my baby! Georgia recalls him saying in English. las vegas discount hotels And of course, what do you do? Your instincts are you just grab the kid. ... So I grabbed the baby and I had to hold on with one arm ... with the other I held onto a railing, because you can t stand. ... And then I was holding this baby with my other. She was more like a toddler.
Some 17 million people in the U.S. go on cruises each year and return with suntans las vegas discount hotels and tales of happy times. They often have little experience with the flip side of a shipboard las vegas discount hotels vacation one that can lead to misery, monetary loss even death. And vacationers legal rights when they board a cruise las vegas discount hotels ship in essence amount to entering a foreign country based on the flag under which it sails. In most cases that s Bahamian, Panamanian or Liberian.
Being at sea is a dangerous business, says Charles A. Patrizia, who co-chairs the ABA s Maritime Committee and practices maritime law at Paul Hastings in Washington, D.C. Cruise passengers should be made aware there are inherent risks, las vegas discount hotels he says, adding that the question is who pays for those risks.
When you re at sea, you don t have all the backup that you do on land, Patrizia says, explaining why cruise ship ticket contracts are so onerous. When you read the stuff, it is scary. In some way it s a recognition that goes back a long way in maritime law. Being at sea is a risk.
Dealing with that risk comes down to cost. The ticket price goes up if the cruise line is expected to carry the risk. Or passengers have the option of buying travel or medical insurance to defray that risk.
The plaintiffs lawyers will say these are contracts of adhesion, he says a deal in which one side has all the power and writes the contract to its advantage. It is what it is. You don t get to line it out. From the industry s perspective, it s not unlike the railroads and shipping. It s the only way to control costs and risks. Go buy an insurance las vegas discount hotels policy, buy medical or travel insurance las vegas discount hotels if you want more protection.
I think it s a contract that defines the expectation of both parties las vegas discount hotels so that everybody knows what they are getting when they walk onto the ship, Maltzman says. I don t think it would be physically possible to negotiate different terms. They would spend all their time doing that. I honestly don t see it any different than when you check into a hotel, when you go on an airplane. It s like everything in life it defines the terms and conditions.
The most troubling aspects to a cruise traveler can be divided into three areas: mayhem las vegas discount hotels including murder (where the evidence, and the body, sometimes gets tossed overboard) and sexual assault, as well as piracy; medical when a shipboard doctor misdiagnoses a malady, including who is responsible and what can be done to help the injured party; and misadventure accidents las vegas discount hotels happen, but can you recoup when a ship stinks (like the Carnival las vegas discount hotels Triumph ) or sinks (like the ill-fated Costa Concordia )?
Perhaps las vegas discount hotels more than any other factor, the case of the missing groom helped las vegas discount hotels crystallize public opinion regarding safety aboard cruise ships. Before George Smith IV disappeared from Royal Caribbean s Brilliance of the Seas in July 2005, the cruise industry benefited from the romantic notion that passengers could cruise off into the sunset aboard the Love Boat . But the Smith case focused public attention not only on the potential for being thrown overboard but also on other unsavory acts, such as sexual assault and child molestation.
The sexual assault cases are legion and range from crew members French-kissing preteens las vegas discount hotels to forcible rape by stewards using pass keys to enter passenger rooms. Several websites are dedicated to these and other tragic las vegas discount hotels tales. For instance, las vegas discount hotels last year an assistant cruise las vegas discount hotels director on Norwegian Cruise Line s Norwegian Star pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. NCL authorities reported Senad Djedovic, a 29-year-old Bosnian, to the FBI after he bragged about having sex with a 16-year-old passenger and then persuading her to email him sexually explicit photographs of herself. Last October a federal judge in Tampa sentenced Djedovic to nine years.
And in June 2012, a federal judge in Baltimore handed down an 18-month sentence to a crewman aboard Royal Caribbean s Enchantment of the Seas after he admitted having sex with a 14-year-old passenger. Fabian Palmer, a 25-year-old Jamaican national, met the girl while maintaining the ship s pools and later lured her to a bathroom in the men s locker room for sex.
Roughly a third of all sexual assaults on cruise ships involve children, says Ross A. Klein, las vegas discount hotels a professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland who analyzes cruise ship crime data. His research reveals more bad news: You re 50 percent more likely to be sexually assaulted on a cruise ship than on land.
Klein believes the public should be fully informed about the risks before buying a ticket. At least you go forewarned, las vegas discount hotels he says. I would never tell people not to go on a cruise, but go on forewarned and protect the children.
las vegas discount hotels The lawyer, whose firm has offices in both Coral Gables, Fla., and Los Angeles, is a real advocate of the cruising industry, both as a cruise line defense attorney and as a supporter of that mode of travel las vegas discount hotels and vacation. He says he s legally represented nearly every carrier.
I worked on 19 cruise ships before I went to law school, he says. I was the equivalent of Julie McCoy s assistant on the Love Boat . I also worked as a kids counselor. And these days I cruise regularly with my wife and children and feel perfectly safe on any cruise.
In July, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., introduced th