The Royal Treatment: Company Abandons Family of Five on Island

This should make for an interesting lawsuit. A Florida family of five bought and boarded a cruise on the Royal Caribbean. However, when their 7-month-old child became sick the ship gave the Cortes minutes to gather their stuff (in their pajamas) and abandoned them on the island of Nassau. It costs them thousands of dollars to make it home, but the Royal Caribbean has promised (you guessed it) to give them not their money back but a credit for another enjoyable trip on the Royal Carribbean.

The Cortes family boarded the Majesty of the Seas in Miami. When Zoie developed diarrhea and threw up, they went to the ship doctor who said she was dehydrated and had to go to a hospital. A security guard gave them 10 minutes to get off the ship despite the fact that they were in their pajamas. It turned out that she only had a cold, but the ship left them their without passports or tickets home. For emergency passports, plane tickets, and the hospital visit, they were out more than $3000.

The company insisted that they should have bought trip insurance. Is there a clause covering abandonment on islands? They sell insurance for trip “interruptions” here. Most probably do not realize that the ship itself can order such an “interruption” after you decline to pay extra for their insurance policy.

After what happened to his Cortes family, one can now understand why in 1519 Capitan Hernando Cortes burned his boats at the beaches.

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