Florida Cruise Ship Injury Lawyer

Injured on a cruise that left from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, or Tampa? The clock on your case is shorter than you think. Most cruise tickets give you just one year to file suit — not Florida's standard four years for personal injury — and the case almost always has to be filed in Miami federal court, no matter where you live. Kaiser Romanello has handled maritime and cruise ship injury claims for over 50 combined years. We know the playbook the cruise lines run, and we know how to beat the deadlines they're counting on you to miss.

Why Cruise Cases Are Different

If you slip and fall in a Florida grocery store, you have four years to file a claim under Florida law. If you slip and fall on the pool deck of a Royal Caribbean ship that left from Port of Miami, you may have only one year — and that one-year deadline isn't in any statute book. It's buried in the fine print of the cruise ticket you accepted when you booked.

Cruise ship injuries are governed by general maritime law, not Florida state personal injury law. That distinction changes almost everything about your case:

• Statute of limitations: Most cruise tickets contain a contractual one-year limitation period for personal injury claims. Many also require written notice of the claim within six months. Miss either deadline and your case is over, no matter how serious your injury.
• Venue: Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Disney, and most other major lines require lawsuits to be filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Miami). State court is not an option, and neither is your home state.
• Negligence standard: Cruise lines owe passengers "reasonable care under the circumstances" — not the heightened common-carrier duty some other transportation operators owe. They also must have had notice of the dangerous condition (actual or constructive) in most slip-and-fall cases.
• The Jones Act: A federal statute that protects crew members — not passengers. If you were working on the ship and were injured, your case follows a different (and in some ways more favorable) path than a passenger case.

Florida Tort Law vs. Maritime Law

Cruise Lines We Handle

Florida is the cruise capital of the world, and every major line operates from at least one of our ports. We handle injury claims against all of them.

Common Cruise Ship Injuries

Cruise ships are floating cities, and the injuries that happen on them range from the everyday to the catastrophic.

The 1-Year Deadline Trap

If you take only one thing away from this page, make it this: do not wait to call a maritime attorney.

The cruise lines write their ticket contracts to compress your window to act. A typical Carnival, Royal Caribbean, or Norwegian ticket gives you:

• 6 months to provide written notice of the claim to the cruise line, and
• 1 year from the date of injury to actually file a lawsuit in federal court.

Florida's general personal injury deadline is four years. The cruise contract overrides it. We've seen victims who waited 14 months — believing they had Florida's four-year window — only to learn their case was time-barred before they ever spoke to a lawyer.

Florida Ports We Cover

Our Florida practice covers passengers injured on cruises that departed from or returned to any major Florida port:

• Port of Miami (PortMiami): Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian, Disney, MSC, Virgin Voyages, Oceania
• Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale): Princess, Celebrity, Holland America, Royal Caribbean
• Port Canaveral (Cape Canaveral / near Orlando): Disney, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian
• Port of Tampa: Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Holland America
• Port of Jacksonville (JAXPORT): Carnival

Lawsuits against the major lines are still venued in Miami federal court regardless of which Florida port the ship sailed from — but local geography matters for evidence collection, witness availability, and getting to the port quickly to document conditions.

What to Do After a Cruise Injury

If you're reading this from your cabin, your hotel room after disembarking, or your living room a week later, here's what to do in order of importance:

Compensation You Can Recover

Why Choose Kaiser Romanello

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to file a cruise ship injury lawsuit?

Most major cruise lines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Disney) contractually limit you to one year from the date of injury to file suit, with a six-month written notice requirement before that. These deadlines override Florida's standard personal injury statute of limitations. Miss them and your case is almost always over.

Can I sue the cruise line in my home state?

Almost never. Major cruise tickets contain a forum selection clause requiring suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida — meaning Miami federal court. These clauses have been repeatedly upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court (Carnival Cruise Lines v. Shute). Even if you live in California or New York, your cruise case will likely be litigated in Miami.

What is the Jones Act, and does it apply to me?

The Jones Act is a federal law that gives crew members — not passengers — the right to sue their employer for negligence. If you were working on the ship when you were injured, the Jones Act may apply and your remedies are different (and in some ways broader) than a passenger's. If you were a passenger, the Jones Act does not apply to you, but general maritime law does.

The cruise line offered me a settlement. Should I accept it?

Almost always, no — at least not without an attorney review. Initial offers from cruise line guest relations are typically a small fraction of the case's actual value, and accepting them requires signing a release that ends your right to pursue further compensation, even if your injury turns out to be worse than initially diagnosed.

What does a cruise ship injury lawyer cost?

Kaiser Romanello handles cruise ship injury cases on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing up front and nothing unless we recover compensation for you. The case review is free.

What if the injury happened during a shore excursion booked through the cruise line?

This is one of the more complex areas of maritime law. The cruise line will attempt to argue the excursion operator is a separate, independent vendor. That argument doesn't always succeed — particularly when the cruise line knew or should have known the operator was unsafe, or when the cruise line marketed the excursion in a way that made it appear to be its own operation.

Do I have a case if I was injured during a private cruise or yacht charter, not a major cruise line?

Possibly yes. General maritime law still applies to non-commercial vessels in navigable waters, but the ticket-contract deadlines and Miami venue clauses are usually absent. A different set of analyses applies — call us and we'll walk through the facts.

What if my family member died on a cruise — can we still sue?

Yes. The Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) and general maritime law allow wrongful death recovery for cruise deaths, but the rules around recoverable damages are stricter than Florida wrongful death law. The deadlines are even more critical because surviving family often don't think about legal action until weeks after the death. Call as soon as you're able.