New Legislation Protects Cruise Ship Passengers'
Health And Safety Issues Finally Resolved
Congress Fed Up With Abuses
The United States Passenger Act
Things have gone from bad to worst for passengers sailing the high seas on passenger ships. At last congress has addressed some horrific issues and written into law safeguards for passengers with the announcement of The United States Passenger Act (USPA)
The USPA applies to all passengers ship coming into the United State, irregardless whether the passengers involved are Americans. It's also said to apply to all ships, of any registry, from any nation, flying any flag, not just U.S. vessels, who call in an America port.
One of the most important issues of the act is the language that says crew are not permitted in passenger sleeping areas, unless specifically so directed to be there in order to provide specific services. The legislation of the law is lengthy, but on this topic it says:
". . . shall visit or frequent any part of the vessel provided or assigned to the use of such passengers, except by the direction or permission of the master of such vessel first made or given for such purpose; and every officer, seaman, or other person employed on board of such vessel who shall violate the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be fined not exceeding two thousand dollars, and be imprisoned not exceeding twenty days, for each violation; and the master of such vessel who directs or permits any officer, seaman, or other person employed on board the vessel to visit or frequent any part of the vessel provided for or assigned to the use of such passengers, or the compartments or spaces occupied by such passengers, except for the purpose of doing or performing some necessary act or duty as an officer, seaman, or other person employed on board of the vessel, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be fined not more than one hundred dollars for each time he directs or permits the provisions of this section to be violated."
This means that at minimum if a passenger can not get a conviction for a sexual assault, with other passengers and perhaps video showing the crew member in the passenger cabin in the middle of the night, going into or exiting from the passenger cabin, he will go to jail and pay a fine. It is a victory for female and child passenger victims, though there is much more ground to cover in this area.
Another section of the USPA covers denial of services such as food and beverages. It outlines that the ship must provide three meals a day, and at least one gallon of beverages a day.
"An allowance of good, wholesome, and proper food, with a reasonable quantity of fresh provisions, which food shall be equal in value to one and a half navy rations of the United States, and of fresh water, not less than four quarts per day, shall be furnished each of such passengers. Three meals shall be served daily, at regular and stated hours, of which hours sufficient notice shall be given. If any such passengers shall at any time during the voyage be put on short allowance for food and water, the master of the vessel shall pay to each passenger sixty dollars for each and every day the passenger may have been put on short allowance, except in case of accidents, where the captain is obliged to put the passengers on short allowance. Mothers with infants and young children shall be furnished the necessary quantity of wholesome milk or condensed milk for the sustenance of the latter. Tables and seats shall be provided for the use of passengers at regular meals. And for every willful violation of any of the provisions of this section the master of the vessel shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars, and be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months. The enforcement of this penalty, however, shall not affect the civil responsibility of the master and owners of the vessel to such passengers as may have suffered from any negligence, breach of contract, or default on the part of such master and owners."
This will put an end to passengers quarantined in their cabins with the Norovirus and not given a proper amount of nourishment to keep them hydrated, which has become a real problem in recent years. It also means when children are trapped in their cabins, and the crew refuse to get them out, the family will at least get compensation without a huge fight. With jail terms looming, ships and their owners will be forced into doing the right thing in unusual circumstances.
Also in recent years, passengers have complained about be denied services by the ship's medical staff, being turned away at clinics and left to fend for themselves. This too has been addressed.
. . . "there shall be properly built and secured, or divided off from other spaces, two compartments or spaces to be used exclusively as hospitals for such passengers, one for men and the other for women. The hospitals shall be located in a space not below the deck next below the main deck of the vessel. The hospital spaces shall in no case be less than in the proportion of eighteen clear superficial feet for every fifty such passengers who are carried or brought on the vessel, and such hospitals shall be supplied with proper beds, bedding, and utensils, and be kept so supplied throughout the voyage. And every steamship or other vessel carrying or bringing emigrant passengers, or passengers other than cabin passengers, exceeding fifty in number, shall carry a duly qualified and competent surgeon or medical practitioner, who shall be rated as such in the ship's articles, and who shall be provided with surgical instruments, medical comforts, and medicines proper and necessary for diseases and accidents incident to sea-voyages, and for the proper medical treatment of such passengers during the voyage, and with such articles of food and nourishment as may be proper and necessary for preserving the health of infants and young children; and the services of such surgeon or medical practitioner shall be promptly given, in any case of sickness or disease, to any of the passengers, or to any infant or young child of any such passengers, who may need his services. For a violation of either of the provisions of this section the master of the vessel shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one thousand dollars."
Where sanitation has been an issue, ships have been given warnings on inspections, but it has ended there. When toilets haven't work, and they spilled on to floors, left for days at a time, and the ship stunk of sewage, sometimes for entire voyages, this too has been dealt with.
. . . "The master of every such ship or other vessel is authorized to maintain good discipline and such habits of cleanliness among such passengers as will tend to the preservation and promotion of health, and to that end he shall cause such regulations as he may adopt for such purpose to be posted up on board the vessel, in a place or places accessible to such passengers, and shall keep the same so posted up during the voyage. The said master shall cause the compartments and spaces provided for, or occupied by, such passengers to be kept at all times in a clean and healthy condition, and to be, as often as may be necessary, disinfected with chloride of lime, or by some other equally efficient disinfectant . . . For each neglect or violation of any of the provisions of this section the master of the vessel shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five thousand dollars."
This law was passed in 1882. Due to narrow minded poliiticans who were short-sighted, the law only applied to those passengers who were considered steerage passengers, those bulk passengers in the lower areas of the ship, without cabins. The law was a major advancement for human rights for those coming to America. It covered many incidents that today, that would have resolved many issues at sea. All they needed to do was have made the legislation cover ALL passengers. Ask your legislator why the The United States Passenger Act Of 1882 was not amended to protect ALL passengers, and why they are working to amend that problem TODAY.
