Louisiana Cruise Ship Accident Lawyers

Cruise Ship Injury Claims for Crew & Passengers Sailing From New Orleans

The Port of New Orleans describes itself as "the sixth-largest cruise port in the United States." Ships leave the city for the Caribbean, and river cruise ships head up the Mississippi. Each one carries a crew that lives and works on board, as well as passengers who trusted the cruise line with their safety.

When that trust is broken, Clayton, Frugé & Ward represents the people who were hurt. Call (225) 209-9943 or contact us online for a free consultation with our team.

If You Work on a Cruise Ship

Cruise ship crew members work long contracts in galleys, engine rooms, laundries, and on deck. If you are injured or become ill in the service of the ship, you are likely a seaman, and the Jones Act gives you rights that passengers do not have. You can bring a negligence claim against your employer. Additionally, as a qualifying seaman, you are owed maintenance and cure until you have recovered as much as you are going to. If unsafe equipment or an undersized crew caused your injury, you may also have a claim that the ship was unseaworthy.

Your employment contract may say where a dispute has to be heard and whether it goes to arbitration. Have a lawyer read it before you sign a release or accept a payment from the company.

If You Were a Passenger

A cruise line owes its passengers reasonable care. Most passenger claims come from a short list of failures: wet decks and stairs that cause falls, unsafe gangways and tender boats, shore excursions run by operators the line chose, medical care that missed a diagnosis or waited too long to send a patient ashore, and rails or supervision that failed to keep someone from going overboard. A drowning at sea is among the most serious claims we handle.

When Ships Collide

On December 20, 2019, the Carnival Glory, a ship based in New Orleans, struck another Carnival ship that was already docked in Cozumel. Guests were evacuated from dining rooms on two decks, and Carnival reported six guests with minor injuries. The company's chief executive said a sudden squall probably pushed the ship. 

On November 13, 2026, an Atlantic Asphalt tanker crashed into a docked American Cruise Lines ship at the Port of New Orleans. The cruise ship, the company's American Heritage, was actively unloading passengers when the collision occurred, with approximately 129 people still aboard. 

A collision does not have to happen at sea or at speed to hurt people on board. Our page on tanker accidents explains what the law presumes when a moving vessel hits a docked one.

Assaults & Other Crimes on Board

Federal law requires large cruise ships that take on or let off passengers in the United States to report serious crimes to the FBI, and the Department of Transportation posts the reports each quarter. A cruise line can be liable when one of its employees assaults a passenger or a fellow crew member, and when its lack of security or supervision allowed an assault by someone else.

What Your Ticket Can & Cannot Do

Cruise tickets are contracts, and they are written by the cruise line. They generally include three things that passengers should be aware of:

• Deadlines: Federal law lets a cruise line shorten your time to act, but it cannot require written notice of your claim in "less than 6 months" or require you to file suit in "less than one year." Without such a clause you would generally have three years.
• Where you sue: A ticket can name the court where a case must be filed. It is often in another state.
• Waivers of negligence: On voyages between U.S. ports, or between a U.S. port and a foreign port, a ticket term limiting liability "for personal injury or death caused by the negligence or fault of the owner" or its employees is void.

Keep your ticket, your booking confirmation, and anything the ship's staff gave you after the incident.

If You Lost a Family Member at Sea

When a death is caused by negligence more than three nautical miles from the U.S. shore, the Death on the High Seas Act lets the person's representative bring a claim "for the exclusive benefit of the decedent's spouse, parent, child, or dependent relative." Deaths closer to shore, in port, or on the river are governed by other law. Our wrongful death attorneys can tell you which applies and what your family can recover.

River Cruises on the Mississippi

Overnight river cruise ships are a growing part of what sails from New Orleans. Injuries on those ships raise their own questions, including what happens when a ship is struck at the dock and how casino boats are treated. We cover them on our Louisiana riverboat accident page.

Talk to Clayton, Frugé & Ward About Your Cruise Ship Injury

Cruise lines are large companies with claims departments built to pay as little as they can. Clayton, Frugé & Ward is a Louisiana trial firm with offices in Port Allen and New Orleans, and maritime law is a central part of our practice. We work on a contingency fee basis, so you owe us nothing unless we recover compensation for you.

Because your ticket may give you as little as six months to give notice, do not wait. Schedule your free consultation by calling (225) 209-9943.