Royal Caribbean Can’t Dodge Hurricane Harvey Class Action Lawsuit

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Royal Caribbean can’t dodge claims that the company put passengers at risk by not canceling a cruise during Hurricane Harvey soon enough.

After a year of back and forth, a magistrate judge has recommended to a Florida court that a Royal Caribbean class action lawsuit not be dismissed.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Andrea M. Simonton disagreed with an earlier decision to not allow the plaintiff to bring the class account lawsuit because of a contract she had signed with the company.

On Jan. 4, Judge Simonton said that the customer should be able to bring her claims forward and add 130 additional plaintiffs.

In September 2017, plaintiff Nikki McIntosh filed the hurricane cruise delays class action lawsuit against Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. claiming that the company put its customers at risk by not canceling a cruise departing from Texas soon enough when Hurricane Harvey hit.

McIntosh says that she purchased a ticket for a Liberty of the Seas cruise operated by Royal Caribbean Cruise that would take place between Aug. 27 and Sept. 3, 2017.

The Royal Caribbean class action claims that Hurricane Harvey had hit Texas at the time, and by Aug. 25, had strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane.

The plaintiff says by noon the next day, the Port of Galveston had closed to all vessels and many residents in costal Texas towns had started to evacuate.

She goes on to state that despite these conditions, Royal Caribbean refused to cancel the trip.

The Royal Caribbean Cruise class action states that the company notified passengers that the cruise would sail as scheduled.

According to the Royal Caribbean lass action lawsuit, the company made this decision even though it had rerouted two other cruise ships that were scheduled to arrive in Galveston on Sat., Aug. 26, and the National Hurricane Center had determined that the entire Texas coast was in danger of Hurricane Harvey.

Allegedly, the company notified passengers on Aug. 26 that the cruise would depart on Monday instead of Sunday.

The Royal Caribbean class account lawsuit states that the cruise company sent yet another email to passengers notifying them that that cruise would be canceled and that passengers would receive a full refund.

According to McIntosh, the company’s choice to not cancel the cruise until the very last minute effectively required customers to travel to Galveston in dangerous conditions for fear of losing the entirety of their purchase price for the cruise.

Royal Caribbean shot back at these claims by arguing that McIntosh had not sufficiently demonstrated that she was injured by this event because she herself did not travel to Galveston in advance of the ship’s scheduled departure.

In an attempt to have the Hurricane Harvey cruise class action lawsuit dismissed, the company also stated that McIntosh had signed a waiver barring her from being able to file class action lawsuits against the company.

In February, McIntosh amended her claims against the company to say that she and other passengers had not been notified that they would receive refunds if they decided to cancel their reservations due to weather.

On April 10, U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King stated that McIntosh was indeed barred from filing a class action lawsuit against Royal Caribbean, but could amend her claim to only bring forward individual claims.

However, Judge Simonton disagreed with Judge King’s determination, saying that she interpreted the court’s order in not “such a restrictive manner.”

Judge Simonton determined that the order only addressed the issue of “whether the class action waiver contained in the cruise ticket was enforceable,” as opposed to reading it as saying that McIntosh is only able to bring forward individual claims.

Based on this interpretation, Judge Simonton determined that McIntosh should be able to add 130 additional plaintiffs to her cruise ship class action lawsuit and stated that the claim would not be dismissed.

McIntosh is represented by Michael A. Winkleman, Jason R. Margulies and Marc E. Weiner of Lipcon Margulies Alsina & Winkleman PA.

The Royal Caribbean Cruise Class Action Lawsuit is McIntosh, et al. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Case No. 1:17-cv-23575, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.