Cruise Lines and Passenger Ships

A variety of people other and seamen and maritime workers may be lawfully present on a vessel. Every day, passengers board cruise ships, government officials inspect ships, and seamen receive visitors aboard vessels.

As a general rule, a shipowner is under a duty to exercise reasonable care toward persons lawfully present aboard the shipowner’s vessel. The standard of care is not dependent on whether the injured person is a “licensee” or “invitee” on the vessel.

Nevertheless, the duty to exercise reasonable care applies only where the injured person is lawfully present aboard the vessel. With respect to stowaways and other individuals who have no legal right to be or remain aboard the vessel, the shipowner is subject to a less demanding standard of care, a duty of humane treatment. In such situations a shipowner is only liable for its willful or wanton misconduct toward stowaways.

A shipowner is liable when it or its employee negligently causes an injury to a person lawfully present aboard the vessel. By statute, a shipowner is liable when a passenger is injured or a passenger’s property is damaged by “explosion, fire, collision, or other cause” if it happens through neglect, in violation of various safety measures, or through known defects in the vessel. Otherwise, a shipowner is only bound to exercise that degree of care as would be exercised by a reasonable shipowner under like circumstances. Specifically, with respect to medical care for passengers, a cruise ship operator is not liable for the negligence of the ship’s doctor, but liability would attach if the shipowner failed to exercise reasonable care to provide a reasonably competent doctor. The shipowner’s liability to passengers (non-maritime persons) is not limited to conduct that occurs within the confines of the ship. A shipowner may be absolutely liable for the intentional torts of its crew members.

Excerpts from Admiralty and Maritime Law by Professor Robert Force (Federal Judicial Center 2004).