Miami

Published on: February 26, 2025

Viral Video of Thrill-Seeking Cruise Ship Activity Leaves Viewers Skeptical. What do You Think?

A video showcasing a passenger testing out a new slide advertised as the “quickest way” to travel eight floors on a cruise ship has gone viral.

The video, which has over 460,000 likes, thousands of comments and has been shared nearly 60,000 times, shows a passenger getting inside a tube-like slide and securing himself in a sack. Once the passenger was loaded up, the tube door closed, and the floor vanished from underneath him.

The man can be heard yelling all the way down, his laughter echoing through the tube. The camera then pans to the side of the ship where the slide curves off the edge, suspended over the pool deck for a moment of adrenaline-spiking danger.

Published on: February 21, 2025

Over 100 Passengers Sick at Ship Docked at Florida Port. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

A norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship docked at Port Everglades on Friday left at least 169 people ill, according to reporting from local media.

Holland America Line’s Rotterdam ship was headed to the Caribbean, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica over a 12-day voyage when it reported the outbreak of norovirus, which causes gastrointestinal illness, to the Centers for Disease Control. There were over 2,600 passengers on board with more than 900 crew. At least 152 passengers and 17 crew members reported being ill during the voyage. Common symptoms of norovirus are vomiting and diarrhea but can also include headaches, muscle pain, cramps and fever.

Holland America officials reported that their crew increased cleaning and disinfection procedures and isolated the infected to mitigate the spread.

Published on: February 13, 2025

So, You Want to File a Cruise Ship Personal Injury Claim? Leesfield & Partners Has You Covered.

By Leesfield & Partners

Whether injuries take the form of slip and falls on the pool deck or refusal to evacuate amid a medical emergency, Leesfield & Partners is here to help you navigate the waters of cruise line personal injury cases.

Every year, thousands of cruise ship passengers are injured aboard ships for a wide array of reasons. And, every year, thousands of these passengers file personal injury claims against these cruise lines. Most of these claims fall under premises liability, where a cruise line fails to maintain a safe environment for passengers on its ship. However, Leesfield & Partners has extensive experience in this area of personal injury law and has encountered nearly every type of case imaginable. To date, the firm has secured over $40 million for cruise ship passengers injured due to that corporation’s negligence.

Shore Excursion

Published on: January 30, 2025

Cruise Ship Docked at PortMiami This Week Made Headlines. See Why.

By Leesfield & Partners

A new ship with the Cunard Line, a British shipping and cruise line owned by the Carnival Corp., docked in Miami last week, here’s a look inside the new ship on a line who will soon call South Florida home.

Queen Anne, which docked in PortMiami on Jan. 21, is Cunard’s first new ship in over a decade and precedes the South Florida move of Queen Elizabeth, its sister ship. That move is set to take place later this year, according to local media. The ship was docked in South Florida to give travel agents, tourism leaders and media a tour of the massive, 3,000-guest ship.

The ship is currently on a world tour, which began on Jan. 7, according to reporting from The Miami Herald. Locations already checked off the ship’s list include Hamburg, Germany, Mexico and Costa Rica. On Feb. 4, the ship will stop in San Francisco before continuing on to Honolulu.

Published on: January 14, 2025

Boaters, Dog Stranded After Cruise Ship Sinks Vessel in Florida. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

At least two people and their dog were left stranded, clinging to a buoy in the Tampa Bay over the weekend, officials said in a news release Monday.

The incident happened before 6 p.m. Saturday near Gadsen Point after a cruise ship caused a wake that made their boat crash and sink. Both boaters were injured in the incident and swam to the buoy to wait for help.

U.S. Coast Guard officials as well as deputies from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office found the trio at 6:11 p.m. Both people were taken to a local hospital.

Published on: December 26, 2024

Cruise ship worker accused with possessing child sex abuse material caught by police at Port Everglades, officials say

By Leesfield & Partners

A cruise ship worker who was accused of possessing child sex abuse material on his cellphone was found by police at Port Everglades, according to reporting from Channel 10 News.

Koen Leonard Eyck, 35, was charged with transportation and possession of child pornography. Eyck was working on Holland America Line’s Nieuw Statendam and has since been fired, according to reporting from Channel 10. There has been no official confirmation as to what role he fulfilled on board.

When the ship docked in Porty Everglades on Dec. 14, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents searched Eyck’s electronic devices. On it, they found his participation in a WhatsApp group chat dedicated to sharing the child sex abuse material and a $35 electronic payment allegedly used to pay for additional illegal material. When questioned, Eyck admitted to receiving the links for anywhere between five to 10 years.

Published on: November 18, 2024

Over 100 people sue after cruise ship illness. Now, the cruise line is being accused of downplaying the numbers.

By Leesfield & Partners

More than 100 passengers who traveled on P&O’s Ventura, a ship owned by Carnival Cruise Line, have filed suit after they say they got sick on board.

Attorneys for the passengers claim there were “repeated outbreaks” of illness on the ship between April and June. About 519 passengers reported for weeks about their symptoms of norovirus, a stomach bug that causes inflammation in the stomach and intestines and is highly contagious. The first outbreak allegedly took place in May during a two-week cruise around the Canary Islands.

In reporting from the BBC it was alleged that Carnival communicated that less than 1% of passengers experienced symptoms while Southampton health officials claimed the number was closer to 12% of passengers.

Published on: November 12, 2024

Hurricane-Force Winds Injure Cruise Ship Passenger. What Do These Companies Owe Their Passengers?

By Leesfield & Partners

Hurricane-Force Winds Injure Cruise Ship Passenger. What Do These Companies Owe Their Passengers?

A Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines passenger was injured after their ship was hit by forceful winds, according to USA Today.

The ship, Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas, “experienced sudden movement” on Nov. 7 as the ship headed to Miami, Florida, from Barcelona, Spain. The incident happened as the ship sailed through Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands. The passenger is being disembarked for additional medical attention, a cruise line spokesperson told reporters.

Published on: October 10, 2024

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

By Leesfield & Partners

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: 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.