DCL Being Sued By Passengers on March 2020 Fantasy Sailing Who Got Covid

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https://www.orlandosentinel.com/bus...0210308-5p7zmijk3fc3zkrizyhyhcngce-story.htmlPassengers were on March 7th, 2020 7-Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral which had port stops at Tortola, St Thomas and Castaway Cay

Disney Cruise Line is facing four federal lawsuits from Utah and Arizona tourists who claim they contacted the coronavirus while on board the Disney Fantasy ship last March, just before the cruise business docked during the pandemic.

The tourists said they contracted the virus while on board and began feeling sick, according to the four lawsuits filed March 2 in federal court’s Orlando division that each seek unspecified damages.
The lawsuits accused Disney of refusing to let passengers cancel or reschedule their cruises even if they had “autoimmune diseases and compromised health conditions,” so they were “left without any option” to go on their March 7-14, 2020 trip.

“Disney continued to allow passengers ... to eat in buffets settings, provide group entertainment activities aboard the vessel (such as dancing) and otherwise allowed passengers to fully participate in the subject cruise as if there was no COVID-19 outbreak or threat thereof aboard the vessel,” the lawsuits said.


After the ship returned, the lawsuit claimed, Scott and Jana Olson’s child was taken to a hospital intensive care unit on March 16, 2020, with a high fever and difficulty breathing.

The child, who had an unspecified autoimmune disease tested positive for COVID-19 on May 1, the lawsuit said. The parents also tested positive.

“Plaintiffs feared for their own lives as well as the lives of each other,” the lawsuit said.

One of Krystal Skinner’s children also had an autoimmune disease that wasn’t specified in the lawsuit and felt body aches, fever, chills and a cough on the cruise. Her other child, who has asthma, had migraines, a high fever and difficulty breathing, the lawsuit stated.

Both tested positive for COVID-19 on April 15, the lawsuit said. Their mother also felt sick on board and tested positive the same day as her children, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuits outlined a timeline early last year that showed how concerns that the highly contagious virus was a threat to cruise ships became public.

That timeline included Carnival’s Diamond Princess, which had a COVID-19 outbreak of nearly 700 cases in early February and quarantined for two weeks while anchored at Yokohama Harbor in Japan. The lawsuit said the incident was “an early, dire warning of how easily COVID-19 could spread on massive ocean liners” for Disney Cruise Line and the cruise industry.

On March 8, 2020, the day after the Fantasy left, the U.S. Department of State recommended Americans should not travel on cruise ships.
 
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It says it’s restricted subscriber only content
If you're using a laptop or desktop, refresh the page and quickly press escape to prevent the restriction screen from loading. While that doesn't always work, it worked for me today. Good luck!
 
If you're using a laptop or desktop, refresh the page and quickly press escape to prevent the restriction screen from loading. While that doesn't always work, it worked for me today. Good luck!

that does not work, this is what I see

Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.

Again, if you can access the page , PLEASE copy and paste the text
 

I can’t paste it because the ads are scattered through it. Well it seems like complete garbage because there are four families suing over not being able to cancel their March 7-14 cruise and therefore were “forced to go” by Disney and “felt sick onboard” and two of the families have kids that have autoimmune diseases and one was hospitalized two days after the cruise and the family tested positive for covid MAY FIRST??? That’s way way after then another family tested positive on April 15.....either there’s a ton of typos in the article or it’s going to get tossed out because the time frames don’t add up.
 
I can’t paste it because the ads are scattered through it. Well it seems like complete garbage because there are four families suing over not being able to cancel their March 7-14 cruise and therefore were “forced to go” by Disney and “felt sick onboard” and two of the families have kids that have autoimmune diseases and one was hospitalized two days after the cruise and the family tested positive for covid MAY FIRST??? That’s way way after then another family tested positive on April 15.....either there’s a ton of typos in the article or it’s going to get tossed out because the time frames don’t add up.
Thanks for the summery, but I would like to read it myself, can you please copy and paste the text, just copy into word, delete the ads, then paste the text
 
From the article

Disney Cruise Line is facing four federal lawsuits from Utah and Arizona tourists who claim they contacted the coronavirus while on board the Disney Fantasy ship last March, just before the cruise business docked during the pandemic.

The tourists said they contracted the virus while on board and began feeling sick, according to the four lawsuits filed March 2 in federal court’s Orlando division that each seek unspecified damages.
The lawsuits accused Disney of refusing to let passengers cancel or reschedule their cruises even if they had “autoimmune diseases and compromised health conditions,” so they were “left without any option” to go on their March 7-14, 2020 trip.

“Disney continued to allow passengers ... to eat in buffets settings, provide group entertainment activities aboard the vessel (such as dancing) and otherwise allowed passengers to fully participate in the subject cruise as if there was no COVID-19 outbreak or threat thereof aboard the vessel,” the lawsuits said.

it goes on to say

After the ship returned, the lawsuit claimed, Scott and Jana Olson’s child was taken to a hospital intensive care unit on March 16, 2020, with a high fever and difficulty breathing.

The child, who had an unspecified autoimmune disease tested positive for COVID-19 on May 1, the lawsuit said. The parents also tested positive.

“Plaintiffs feared for their own lives as well as the lives of each other,” the lawsuit said.

One of Krystal Skinner’s children also had an autoimmune disease that wasn’t specified in the lawsuit and felt body aches, fever, chills and a cough on the cruise. Her other child, who has asthma, had migraines, a high fever and difficulty breathing, the lawsuit stated.

Both tested positive for COVID-19 on April 15, the lawsuit said. Their mother also felt sick on board and tested positive the same day as her children, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuits outlined a timeline early last year that showed how concerns that the highly contagious virus was a threat to cruise ships became public.

That timeline included Carnival’s Diamond Princess, which had a COVID-19 outbreak of nearly 700 cases in early February and quarantined for two weeks while anchored at Yokohama Harbor in Japan. The lawsuit said the incident was “an early, dire warning of how easily COVID-19 could spread on massive ocean liners” for Disney Cruise Line and the cruise industry.

On March 8, 2020, the day after the Fantasy left, the U.S. Department of State recommended Americans should not travel on cruise ships.
 
If they were actually not allowed to cancel and receive a refund before the March 8th warning (even though Disney knew of outbreaks on other ships), I think they might have a case, especially with someone being placed in ICU. Just speculation though.
 
If they were actually not allowed to cancel and receive a refund before the March 8th warning (even though Disney knew of outbreaks on other ships), I think they might have a case, especially with someone being placed in ICU. Just speculation though.
Well I see the ICU date but the positive test date is six weeks later...amd the other positive test is four weeks after the cruise. Maybe typos? I’m not sure.
 
The dates are giving me pause too... but testing was so difficult to get at the beginning so I am unsure. 2 days later to have a child in ICU is interesting.
 
This is the cruise they were on March 7th, 2020 7-Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise from Port Canaveral port stops Tortola, St Thomas, Castaway Cay
 
No way they can prove they got covid on the cruise

likely they cannot prove that they got it on the ship but they can prove that Disney’s cancellation policy was dangerous considering the circumstances and the information they already had (if Disney was not allowing refunds at that time which honestly I can’t remember).
 
likely they cannot prove that they got it on the ship but they can prove that Disney’s cancellation policy was dangerous considering the circumstances and the information they already had (if Disney was not allowing refunds at that time which honestly I can’t remember).
I'm not a lawyer, but I agree. With information and testing so limited in the early days of the pandemic, and mix in the fact that you don't display symptoms for nearly two weeks after infection, the family will have the impossible task of proving that they weren't already infected before they boarded the ship.
 
If they were actually not allowed to cancel and receive a refund before the March 8th warning (even though Disney knew of outbreaks on other ships), I think they might have a case, especially with someone being placed in ICU. Just speculation though.
Since this was at the very start of the problem, the refund policy regarding COVID cancellations hadn't been set yet, so they were under the "normal" cancellation policy. At that time they would have a substantial penalty cancelling so close to the cruise. If they didn't purchase trip insurance that covered such things, that would have been their call.

They could have cancelled at any time, if they were so concerned. But there would have been a forfeiture of money, without insurance.
 
That would be a case for people that did cancel, lost money and didn’t receive a product/service. However these people made a decision and traveled, with immune compromised children, during a pandemic——and are blaming Disney
Edit bc autocorrect is awful
 
3 of my family members have tested positive for covid. All 3 were infected 2 days earlier. At separate times. From different people. Symptoms always started on day 2. Going on a cruise in early March and testing positive for covid in April and May? They got it somewhere else. Many days after leaving the disney fantasy.
 
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It seems there are pieces missing from the article posted above:
"The tourists said they contracted the virus while on board and began feeling sick, according to the four lawsuits filed March 2 in federal court’s Orlando division that each seek unspecified damages.
Disney Cruise Line spokeswoman denied the lawsuits’ allegations.
“We disagree with the allegations and will respond to them in court. No guests or Crew reported symptoms of Covid-19 while aboard the Disney Fantasy during the March 7, 2020, sailing,” Cynthia Martinez said in a statement. “Disney Cruise Line communicated health and safety information with guests in advance of and during their sailing and followed the guidance of public health officials available at the time.”
The lawsuits accused Disney of refusing to let passengers cancel or reschedule their cruises even if they had “autoimmune diseases and compromised health conditions,” so they were “left without any option” to go on their March 7-14, 2020 trip.
According to a Disney email sent to passengers, guests were allowed to change their reservation up until the day before embarkation to receive a 100% cruise credit.
“Disney continued to allow passengers ... to eat in buffets settings, provide group entertainment activities aboard the vessel (such as dancing) and otherwise allowed passengers to fully participate in the subject cruise as if there was no COVID-19 outbreak or threat thereof aboard the vessel,” the lawsuits said.
Disney said it stopped the buffet March 12."
 

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