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Miami Cruise Ship Lawyers
Our Miami cruise lawyers have considerable professional experience in all areas of maritime law and personal injury. We’re here to help you with the legal advice and representation you deserve if you’ve been injured on a cruise ship or other vessel.
Regardless of where your cruise ship accident occurred – or where your live, you will likely need the help of cruise ship lawyers in Miami. This is because the major cruise line companies – Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and others – are based in the Miami area and require injury claims against them to be filed in greater Miami courts.
At Waks and Barnett, PA our Miami cruise ship attorneys are here to assist injured passengers and crew members fight the large cruise line companies and get compensation their injuries.
Help When You Need It
We Take Care of Our Clients
Your case gets our full attention. We understand the pain, frustration and uncertainty a personal injury can inflict. We’ve worked with injured clients for more than 35 years and their personal stories have become our stories. That is why we work so hard to protect the legal rights of everyone we work with.
Decades of Experience
Complete Representation
Proven Success for Clients
Over 70 Years
Combined Experience
Combined Experience
Proven Success
For Our Clients
For Our Clients
Complete Understanding
of Maritime Law
of Maritime Law
Achieved
Landmark Victories
Landmark Victories
Fighting for
Injured Passengers
Injured Passengers
Your Case Is
Not Our First Case
Not Our First Case
Miami Cruise ship inury Lawyers
Over 35 Years of Cruise Injury Experience
At Waks and Barnett, P.A., we make it a point to devote our full attention and resources to each of our clients. That begins with the first phone call and carries through until your case is resolved. This is the approach we’ve taken for over 35 years – and it’s served our clients well.
If you’ve been hurt in a cruise ship accident or because of the actions of the cruise line, it’s policies or employees, don’t hesitate to call us. We’d like to help you. When you call, we’ll provide a complete and thorough case review at no cost to you.
EXPERIENCE YOU NEED. RESULTS YOU WANT.
Miami Cruise Lawyers
If you’ve been hurt as the result of a cruise ship accident or any other accident while at sea, our Miami cruise attorneys should be able to help you.
Our clients, who are often the victims of terrible accidents or utter negligence by the cruise lines, benefit from our dedication to their cases and the compassion and understanding we provide to them.
Whether you were a victim of medical negligence on a cruise, a slip and fall, an accident while on a cruise excursion, or even sexual assault or rape, or Miami based lawyers can help you.
With our meticulous approach to casework and extensive experience dealing with personal injury claims, we can help you resolve your case in the most effective manner possible.
Cruise Ship Injury Lawyers in Miami, Florida
With Miami’s close proximity to the Caribbean and the ports of call within, the Port of Miami has long been the busiest cruise ship departure point in the United States. In fact, there were more than 6.8 million cruise passengers embarking on shorter round-trip cruises as well as longer island hopping vacations in 2019. *Cruise numbers have declined due to Covid-19 restrictions in 2020, 2021 and 2022 to date – though injuries still occur and hurt passengers and crew still require legal representation!
PortMiami is home to the headquarters and terminals of two cruise lines – MSC Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL). Other cruise lines with Miami terminals or home ports of call are Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Viking Ocean Cruises and Virgin Voyages.
Many other cruise lines also call PortMiami their port of call including Aida, P&O Cruises, Phoenix, Princess Cruises, Scenic Luxury Cruises, Seabourn, TUI Cruises and Windstar Cruises among others.
Most passengers will begin and end their cruise in Miami. And most of them will have enjoyed a wonderful and relaxing vacation. But some passengers will arrive back in Miami, the victims of serious accidents and with terrible injuries. It’s not unusual for hurt passengers to go directly from PortMiami to a hospital for further treatment. It’s at this point when accident victims are hurt, confused and unsure of what options they have if they were hurt through no fault of their own and believe the cruise line’s negligent actions may have played a role in their injuries.
We’re regularly contacted by cruise ship accident victims while they are still on the cruise – or while they’re in a local hosptial. They want a Miami cruise accident attorney to advise them what to do while they’re still on the boat and what to do as soon as they leave the boat. Our advice is to always seek proper medical care first and to seriously consider visiting a doctor soon after leaving the ship, whether in Miami or after returning home. Medical care on cruise ships can be less thorough and the care below standards of most U.S. hospitals.
We provide help to injured passengers and their families. Additionally, we provide support to cruise ship workers and other maritime workers and seamen.
Miami or Florida Venues for Cruise Injury Claims
Regardless of where you live and potentially where you sailed from or returned to, if you are filing an injury claim or suing a cruise line, you and your attorney will need to abide by the specifics of the individual cruise line’s passenger ticket. You were required to sign this document prior to your cruise and it outlines ‘what happens’ if you are injured and intend to bring a lawsuit against the cruise line. Ticket contracts can be confusing and generally require an experienced maritime injury lawyer to help you determine what steps need to be taken to successfully file an injury claim.
Carnival Cruise Line: You must file injury claims and lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, Florida. Carnival Corporation will work to limit it’s liability for accidents and injuries. Read the full passenger ticket contract here.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line: You must file injury claims and lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, Florida. Royal Caribbean (RCCL) will work to limit it’s liability for accidents and injuries. Read the full passenger ticket contract here.
Magical Cruise Company, Limited dba Disney Cruise Line: You must file injury claims and lawsuits in any court in Brevard County, Florida, or Federal Court in Orlando, Florida. Disney Cruises will work to limit it’s liability for accidents and injuries. Read the full passenger ticket contract here.
Norwegian Cruise Line: You must file injury claims and lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, Florida. Norwegian will work to limit it’s liability for accidents and injuries. Read the full passenger ticket contract here.
Celebrity Cruises: You must file injury claims and lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami, Florida. Celebrity Cruises will work to limit it’s liability for accidents and injuries. Read the full passenger ticket contract here.
Other cruise lines will require lawsuits be filed in different locations. For example, Holland America injury claims must be made in Seattle, Washington while Princess Cruises must be made in Los Angeles County, California. While those courts are outside of Florida, our cruise ship injury lawyers can help you with those claims as well.
Don’t Leave Your Case to a Local Attorney — Make Sure to Find a Miami Cruise Ship Injury Law Firm
It’s not uncommon for injured passengers to reach out to a local attorney first. However, most lawyers are not admiralty or maritime lawyers and are not experienced with cruise ship injury law. The cruise lines dictate within their ticket contract (which is the contract you signed before boarding the cruise ship) where injury claims must be filed. This clause is called the forum selection and for cruise lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean and many other larger lines, the location is in Miami.
Your hometown attorney may not know enough to file the claim within the correct court, within the correct city and within the time frame that is also dictated by the cruise lines. Attorneys like those at Waks and Barnett are experienced and knowledgeable regarding the correct procedures involved in bringing a lawsuit against the various cruise lines. Not only are we just 20 miles from PortMiami and the cruise ship terminals, we’re also just 20 miles from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami.
That experience comes from working with thousands of clients for more than 35 years. Being located in Miami allows our firm to provide the support and resources our clients need. It’s why you’ll find so many personal injury law firms in Florida who are focused on representing cruise ship victims.
That experience comes from working with thousands of clients for more than 35 years. Being located in Miami allows our firm to provide the support and resources our clients need. It’s why you’ll find so many personal injury law firms in Florida who are focused on representing cruise ship victims.
Am I Required to Find a Miami Cruise Lawyer to Help Me?
No. You are not required to use the services of a Miami or Florida based lawyer to help with your injury claim or lawsuit. However, most injured passengers will eventually work with someone in Miami. Either they’ve found them online through a Google search for ‘Miami Cruise Ship Accident Lawyer’ or their local attorney has referred them. A lawyer or law firm who has the experience and intimate understanding of maritime law will give their client more opportunity for success against the cruise lines and their attorneys.
Will I Need to Travel to Miami After My Cruise Accident?
Most injury claims filed against the cruise lines will not require the victim to travel to Miami. This is a great benefit to our clients who may be recovering from serious injuries after their cruise ship accident and whose injuries and trauma may prevent them from traveling. Our Miami based cruise lawyers will represent you throughout the entire process and will communicate with you by phone, email and the mail services as needed.
That being said, all cruise ship lawsuits are different. If you are required to travel to Miami, we will advise you of this far in advance. Additionally, upon first hearing about your specific case during our free case review, we should be able to let you know if travel will be required and when.
Years of Experience, Thousands of Cases
Your Case Is Not Our First Case
That’s an important point to make. Our highly experienced attorneys understand how to create effective strategies for successful representation of your injury. Cruise injury law is a specialized area of the law and one that your local, hometown attorney most likely won’t be able to handle. In fact, most attorneys end up referring their cases to cruise injury law firms like ours because of our specific experience dealing with these types of claims and lawsuits.
Don’t Wait to Call a Cruise Ship Attorney in Miami, FL
Waiting means potentially losing out on financial compensation for your injuries.
Cruise lines rely on the fact that many passengers will take a long time to contact an attorney and file and injury claim against them. But when passengers wait, it can make it very difficult or even impossible to make an injury claim.
Why is that? The cruise lines — in the passenger ticket contract that you signed before embarking on your cruise vacation — specified the time frames in which injured passengers and their lawyers can file a lawsuit. For most major cruise lines — Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean and others — notice of a claim must come within about 6 months of the injury’s occurrence and lawsuit filed within 1 year.
While 6 months or a year seems like a long time, for many passengers who were severely injured, the first few months are spent recovering from their injuries, dealing with surgeries and medical visits and beginning the long road to recovery.
The idea of filing a lawsuit (or even how to go about doing so) is more than they can handle. And when passengers reach out to the cruise lines for help, it’s not unusual for them to be stalled, stonewalled, mislead and misdirected. The cruise lines are very much aware that if they can push you past the time frame for filing an injury claim against them, they’ve essentially won…there is no fault accepted or compensation provided…even if the cruise lines were completely negligent and that negligence was responsible for your pain and suffering.
Some passengers are not even aware that a cruise line can be legally and financially responsible for their injuries! It often take the prodding of friends and family (or mounting medical bills) for them to contact an attorney.
EXPERIENCE YOU NEED. RESULTS YOU WANT.
Thank You for Considering Our Firm
Working with a cruise line to file an injury claim can be a complicated and frustrating process, especially when you try to do it alone. The best results generally come when an injured passenger hires a lawyer to help with their case. We help passengers by representing them, by using our knowledge of the laws and regulations surrounding cruise injury claims and by utilizing our specific experience dealing with cruise ship accidents
Many passengers don’t even realize they can sue a cruise line until the talk with a lawyer. We are available for consultation regarding personal injury claims and will speak with you even if you are unsure about whether you have a valid claim or not.
Thank you for considering Waks and Barnett, P.A. We’re here to help when you need.
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