Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Putting my mind at ease...

I was reading over the Ticket Contract for my upcoming cruise, and I would like to share a couple of things that I find to be a little disconcerting:


Royal Caribbean International Cruise/Cruise Tour Ticket Contract
(Does not apply to the Brilliance of the Seas)


Important – Passenger Cruise/Cruise Tour Ticket Contract 1
Read all clauses


Whether or not signed by Passenger, this ticket shall be deemed to be an undertaking and acknowledgement by Passenger that he accepts on behalf of himself and all other persons traveling under this ticket, all the terms and conditions set out herein.

    3. No undertaking or warranty shall be given or shall be implied as to the seaworthiness, fitness or condition of the Vessel or any food or drink supplied onboard.

    5. …In no event shall Carrier be liable for any accident or harm to Passenger which occurs off the Vessel or the Transport.

    6. Carrier may for any reason, at any time and without prior notice, cancel, advance, postpone or deviate from any scheduled sailing or port of call, or substitute another vessel or port of call, and shall not be liable for any loss whatsoever to Passenger by reason of cancellation, advancement, postponement, substitution or deviation.

    10. Passenger, or if a minor, his parent or guardian, shall be liable to, and shall reimburse Carrier for, any damage to the Vessel, the Transport or any property of Carrier caused directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, by any willful or negligent act or omission on the part of the Passenger; and Passenger, or if a minor, his parent or guardian, shall further indemnify Carrier, the Vessel and the Transport and each and all of their agents and servants against all liability which Carrier, the Vessel or the Transport or such agents or servants may incur towards any person or company or government for any personal injury, death or damage to property caused directly or indirectly, in whole or part, by any willful or negligent act or omission on the part of the Passenger.

    12b. No suit shall be maintainable against Carrier, the Vessel or the Transport for any claim, including but not limited to, delay indention, personal injury, illness or death of Passenger…

    12c. The Carrier hereby disclaims all liability to the Passenger for damages for emotional distress, mental suffering or psychological injury of any kind under any circumstances.

    14. …Carrier reserves the right to terminate a passenger’s cruise or RCT Land Tour or both at any time, at the risk and expense of the Passenger disembarked, where in the opinion of the Carrier, Passenger is believed to be a danger to himself or a disturbance or danger to others.

    16. Carrier has the exclusive right to include photographic, video and other visual portrayals of Passenger in any pictorial medium or any nature whatsoever for the purpose of trade, advertising, sales, publicity or otherwise, without compensation to Passenger, and all rights, title and interest therein (including all worldwide copyrights therein) shall be Carrier’s sole property, free from any claims by Passenger or any person deriving all rights or interest from Passenger.


So, basically, the Carrier, the Vessel, the Transport and their associated staff are responsible for nothing. The boat can sink, the food can be laced with poison, your bags can be thrown overboard, they can kill you – it doesn’t matter. They aren’t liable.

However, if you (i.e. the Passenger) hurt the ship, the cruise employees or, in the opinion of the cruise employees, create a disturbance, hurt the ship and/or the cruise employees, you can be held liable for those damages (not excluding death) and/or be forced to disembark at your own risk and expense.

In other words, they are responsible for nothing and you are responsible for EVERYTHING.

The Carrier also holds exclusive rights to any and all images that they take of you in any pictorial medium or any nature whatsoever, and the Carrier is free to utilize the photos in any way they see fit. This suggests that if they film you taking a shower and post it all over the Internet to promote their upcoming Playboy Playmate cruise, you can do nothing about it. They are not even liable for the emotional distress such a violation of privacy could incur.

I find all this to be comforting. I mean, obviously?!

Nothing like signing your life away in order to enjoy a week cruising around the Caribbean. Oh, wait...that's right! I don't have to sign my life away. I already accepted these terms and conditions when I first booked the cruise weeks ago.

Two words: Awe. Some.

8 comments:

The Runt said...

they are very clever...they must have figured that no one reads the fine print before signing.

Amstaff Mom said...

Two words - Cruise. Insurance.

Yep, we bought it. JUST in case. Thankfully, we didn't have to use it. It's really cheap on the internet. Might be worth your sanity.

Oh, and most of the pictures are optional. We opted for a couple but didn't end up buying any. They're always snap happy when you get on/off the ship, but you can just walk around them. Most of the other ones you have to stand in line for anyway.

No worries, mate.

Deals On Wheels said...

Yeah, my mother and I did buy the cruise insurance (I have a 95 1/2 year-old grandmother), but Trevor is kinda' S.O.L. in that department.

Grammy Pammy was supposed to go on a cruise with her husband and his parents back in early March. She bought the cruise insurance just incase (she didn't think at the time that she'd end up using it, but she wanted to be safe). Well, as it turns out, her husband ended up needing emergency back surgery a whopping two days before they were scheduled to set sail. Cruise insurance to the rescue!

Katie said...

so if by chance a random stalker was hired by said cruiseline and choose to stalk any unsuspecting cruise ship goer, then the csg (cruise ship goer) could not hold the cruise ship or employee (i.e. stalker) liable for any actions? hmmmmmm, interesting, I'll pack my stick horse

Katie said...

becasue I've decided if I must be labeled a stalker then I might as well embrace it, but then again I've been labeled other things and I don't always embrace them, but this is more fun than those things would be

Deals On Wheels said...

But won't you be easily identifiable as a crazy-stalker-person if you are "galloping" down the halls of the cruise ship on your stick horse (think Monty Python) screaming, "Come out, come out wherever you are"?!

Maybe I could hire Katie "The Bodyguard" to protect me from Katie "The Stalker"? That would be funny to watch. We could even import AM so she could chant, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" Maybe we could get Pay-Per-View to pick it up? That way, others would have the opportunity to witness clash of the two KT-titans on a cruise ship somewhere in the Caribbean. Oh, oh, oh! We can make T-shirts, too!

Tim Rice said...

deals on wheels and katie, you two are too much! ;) Have fun.

Lia said...

Some awe.

You never know what they stick in the fine print. Someone will start putting in things like "And you, the Purchaser, agree to start paying $10,000/month to the Seller for the duration of your life."

No one ever reads these things, so they'd probably get away with it the first couple of times. Until they started trying to enforce the clauses.

Just remember that often the courts side with the little guy. Sometimes, though, they really do stick with the letter of the law. Or in this case, the contract.