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Published on: October 10, 2024

Following Social Media Couple’s Controversy on Cruise Ship, Royal Caribbean Banned this Baby Item. What to Know.

After TikTok couple Matt and Abby Howard received pushback from their millions of followers for showing themselves allegedly leaving their children in a cabin unattended while watching them on a baby monitor, Royal Caribbean updated its banned items list to include the devices.

“Baby monitors are not allowed to be used onboard our vessels as their radio signal could interfere with ship communication and/or navigation systems,” Royal Caribbean officials said in reporting from MSN Monday.

The controversy began when the couple, who regularly document their lives online as parents of two under 2 years old, showed a solution to the issue of attending dinner with two rowdy toddlers. The alleged solution appeared to online viewers as though the duo had decided to leave their boys asleep in separate cabins while they watched them on FaceTime and on baby monitors.

Published on: October 2, 2024

At Least 180 Passengers Fell Ill Aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Radiance of the Seas. What Happened to Them?

By Leesfield & Partners

Over 180 people were sickened with a suspected gastrointestinal illness while vacationing on a seven-day voyage aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Radiance of the Seas cruise ship, the Centers for Disease Control announced Monday.

As of Tuesday, the cause of an illness that led to 180 passengers becoming sick aboard the ship had not been released. A total of 2,172 passengers were on board at the time and the afflicted accounted for just over 8% of passengers.

Three of the over 800 crewmembers on the ship reported being sick. Since the illness was discovered, RCI and its working crew allegedly increased cleaning and disinfection procedures to combat the spread of the illness, made announcements to notify passengers of the outbreak and collected samples from the sick for testing.

Published on: September 30, 2024

Boy, 8, Evacuated from Cruise Ship in Medical Emergency This Week. Many Others Not So Lucky.

By Leesfield & Partners

An 8-year-old was, thankfully, evacuated from a cruise ship in a medical emergency this week after ship doctors determined he was suffering from appendicitis.

For many others who are suffering from medical emergencies such as strokes or heart attacks, a much-needed evacuation is not always on the docket. In many cases handled by Leesfield & Partners in its 48 decades of personal injury practice, many of these passengers are deterred from evacuation or denied altogether, resulting in further injury or death in entirely treatable situations.

What Happened?

Published on: September 18, 2024

Popular Tiktokers blasted online for allegedly leaving children alone in cruise cabins, monitoring them on FaceTime. Don’t be fooled, this isn’t a “parenting hack”

By Leesfield & Partners

Popular Tiktokers Matt & Abby Howard have come under fire for a video they posted to their millions of followers seemingly showing them leaving their toddlers in two separate cabins aboard a cruise ship so that they could enjoy dinner, child-free.

The video, posted to Abby Howard’s Instagram story which only appears for 24 hours before it vanishes, seemed to explain that the couple, who were on a seven-night cruise with family, was using FaceTime and baby monitors to check up on their boys, 1 and 2 years old, who they had allegedly left alone in two separate cabins.

“So we ended up taking them [to the cruise daycare] for 5 nights and it became apparent that they weren’t enjoying it and therefore we weren’t either,” Abby Howard wrote in the initial post. “So THEN we switched our dinner time to AFTER their bedtime and Facetimed the monitors while we ate. And that worked out muchhhh better for everyone.”

Published on: September 17, 2024

Boy Dies on Cruise Docked in Texas After Falling from Interior Balcony

By Leesfield & Partners

The FBI is investigating the death of a 12-year-old boy who plummeted to his death from an interior balcony aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.

The boy died on Sept. 7 while traveling on Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas for a seven-night cruise in the Western Caribbean. The ship was on its way to dock in Galveston, Texas, when the incident occurred. The boy fell into the ship’s Central Park area which the company describes online as a “gathering place” for passengers showcasing an array of plant life.

Investigators have not released any official details on how the boy fell.

Published on: September 5, 2024

Doctor mistakenly removes man’s liver instead of his spleen. Now, his wife is planning to sue.

By Leesfield & Partners

The wife of a man who died during a surgery where his doctor removed his liver instead of his spleen is planning to sue, according to reporting from local news outlets.

The incident began when the man complained of feeling pain in his side while he and his wife visited their Florida rental property from Alabama. At the hospital, the man was allegedly planning to return to Alabama to see his usual doctor but was instead persuaded by a medical team in Florida to go ahead with the surgery, according to the family’s attorneys. Doctors are said to have “persuaded” him by explaining the potential risks that could arise if he delayed surgery.

A surgical pathology report listed the organ that was removed as a “grossly identifiable” liver that was partly torn. When removing the liver, the doctor tore blood vessels that caused “catastrophic blood loss resulting in death,” the wife’s attorneys said in a statement to local news outlets.

Published on: August 30, 2024

From a ‘Massive Brawl’ to Financial Crimes: A Look at Recent Criminal and Dangerous Activity Aboard Cruise Ships

By Leesfield & Partners

Four passengers on a four-day cruise from Miami face charges and others aboard Carnival Cruise Lines’ Freedom were accused of fighting, according to news outlets.

Two fights broke out during one of Carnival’s Freedom voyages from Port Canaveral. The first alleged fight took place Saturday in the ship’s nightclub between at least four people. When the ship docked in Bimini the next day, all four were escorted off the ship with their parties.

The second fight happened on one of the upper decks of the ship and included several people jumping into the brawl. It is unclear what started either fight. In footage of the second fight, a security guard can be seen stepping in to stop any further violence after much of the group that was brawling had already separated.

Published on: August 23, 2024

Largest cruise ship in the world makes headlines, stuns online viewers. Should passengers be wary of ‘floating cities?’

By Leesfield & Partners

Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas continues to make headlines months after its inaugural sail and people are still talking about the enormity of it.

Though the ship has been sailing since the beginning of the year, a recent video featuring its arrival in Port Miami has gained traction online with many users asking “how does this thing manage to float?”

The answer can be found in most grade school science classrooms – buoyancy. When a massive ship such as the Icon of the Seas is hulking past seemingly without effort, it is because it is pushing aside water, displacing enough to equal its weight. Structural designs such as a U-shaped hull help the ship carve through the waves and displace water. The hull’s round edges reduce potential drag and keep the ship from rolling. When building the immense ‘floating cities’ we know as cruises today, engineers must take weight distribution into account. Ships that are bottom-heavy will sink while the opposite would cause the ship to be destabilized, increasing the probability it would topple over.

Published on: August 20, 2024

Hotel And Cruise Ship Security – How Responsible Are These Companies When It Comes To Protecting Their Customers?

By Leesfield & Partners

In the latest data for 2023, a year that saw “unprecedented” levels of tourists, nearly 140.6 million visitors were recorded visiting the state, breaking previous years’ records and displaying a 2.3% increase from 2022.

With that many visitors in Florida to take advantage of its year-round summers, long stretches of sunny days on the beach and the natural beauty of the state, comes an increase in hotel and short-term vacation rental usage.

With more people booking these accommodations than ever before, hotels and rental companies are watching their businesses boom and are likely overcome by the money coming in. Any good businessperson would see this as an opportunity to expand to bring in more revenue. If done incorrectly, however, this expansion and the fallout of a larger space may come to the detriment of the very people these companies aim to please.

Published on: August 14, 2024

Data shows cruise crime rates have dropped in the first half of 2024. Here’s a look at Leesfield & Partners’ experience with this growing industry

By Leesfield & Partners

The Department of Transportation has reported a decrease in crime on cruise ships compared to numbers from earlier this year, data shows.

The latest available data from the Department of Transportation shows there have been about eight assaults with serious bodily injury, one suspicious death, one missing person, nine sexual assaults and 16 rape cases aboard ships reported to authorities. These incidents are alleged to have taken place from April to June 2024. Cruise lines with ships sailing to or from the United States are required to report criminal activity to the FBI such as sexual assaults, missing persons, physical assaults, property crimes and other alleged criminal activity every quarter, per the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act.

A Look at the Numbers