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Sen. Schumer wants bill of rights for cruise ship passengers
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling for the cruise ship industry to adopt a "passenger's bill of rights."
The push comes after a series of high-profile incidents involving cruise ships becoming stranded at sea.
Schumer told reporters in New York that it was time to create protections for passengers whose cruise vacations are interrupted for reasons other than weather.
"It can be scary to watch the shore drift away as you’re hundreds of miles out to sea," Schumer said, according to New York radio station WCBS.
The rules Schumer is calling for are similar to provisions implemented for airlines passengers who endure long waits on airport runways or lost luggage.
The proposal follows the stranding of a Carnival Cruise Lines ship, named the Triumph, for four days in the Gulf of Mexico last month.
The ship was towed to Mobile, Ala. after losing power due to a fire in the ship's engine room.
Passengers on board the Triumph, which was carrying more than 4,000 people, complained to media outlets of squalid conditions on the ship, which they attributed to bathrooms malfunctioning and food spoiling without refrigeration.
More recently, a second Carnival cruise ship was stranded at a port in the Caribbean island nation of St. Maarten. Passengers on the second stranded ship, called the Dream, where flown back to the origins of their trips.
Under the proposal from Schumer, cruise ships would have to be equipped with backup power generators and their operators would have to maintain sanitary conditions in the event of delays.
Schumer's proposal also calls for medical personnel to be on board cruise ships in preparation for a possible emergency.
Cruise lines would also be forced to give passengers back their money if their cruises are aborted.
"If failures – mechanical, plumbing or otherwise – occur on these ships, passengers should get a full refund,” Schumer said, according to the radio station.
