Per a report on Fox News, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line will be temporarily shutting down its popular Sky Pad Bungee Trampoline attraction.
The reason? A $10 million dollar lawsuit filed against the cruise line in March by a passenger who broke his pelvis after a 20-foot fall on the trampoline.
The passenger, Casey Holladay, was traveling on Mariner of the Seas. During his jump on the Sky Pad his safety harness snapped. At the time, Holladay was 20 feet up in the air. When he landed, it was not on the trampoline, but on the hard surface adjacent to the trampoline. The fall resulted in Holladay undergoing multiple surgeries to repair a broken pelvis and treatment for a dislocated shoulder.
Reports say that he will face disability and permanent injuries related to the fall and has to use a walker and wheelchair for mobility. Holladay hired an experienced cruise ship injury law firm to represent him and a $10 million dollar lawsuit was quickly filed. Read more about the lawsuit filed against the cruise line here.
A lawsuit like this showcases the power of personal injury cases (and the legal system as a whole) to hold large corporations accountable for their actions, negligence, oversight and lack of commitment to safety. Royal Caribbean, which transports millions of passengers a year on its cruise vessels has the important responsibility of providing safe passage. They also have the responsibility of safely operating and maintaining onboard attractions that are part of their guest’s experience.
Whether directly or indirectly, Royal Caribbean decided to temporarily close the attraction while it reviewed the operation of the Sky Pad attractions.
As a Royal Caribbean official wrote online on Twitter in response to questions…
“We’re currently conducting a review as the safety as part of our commitment to safety for all of our guests. I’m very sorry for any disappointment this has caused.”
And…
“We are currently conducting a review of Sky Pad operations to ensure all the features on our ships are operated safely, professionally and responsibly, through training and regular inspections. We’ll make sure to advise our guests when they’ll be available to them.”
And…
“We’re currently conducting a review as the safety as part of our commitment to safety for all of our guests. I’m very sorry for any disappointment this has caused”
No SkyPad for a little while https://t.co/HiiWH2Xml2 #cruise #travel
— Royal Caribbean Blog (@theRCLblog) April 8, 2019
Royal Caribbean has closed its SkyPad bungee trampoline ride on 2 ships — including Miami’s Mariner of the Seas — after 25yo man broke his pelvis from a fall in Feb and sued the company in March https://t.co/tdP9DrPxKk
— Taylor Dolven (@taydolven) April 9, 2019
Hi, Becky. The SkyPad is temporarily unavailable. We’re currently conducting a review as the safety as part of our commitment to safety for all of our guests. I’m very sorry for any disappointment this has caused. -Alexis
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) April 7, 2019
Very simply, when passengers sustain injuries on cruise ships, they are able to hold the cruise lines responsible. Quite often, it takes the legal action of the hurt passenger and their attorney to insure that injury claims are not taken lightly. In example above, that certainly seems to be the case.
If you need to speak with a cruise ship injury law firm, please don’t hesitate. You can reach our office at 1-800-905-2891 today.