A cruise ship off the California coast can be the perfect setting for a relaxing vacation on the water. However, it can unfortunately also produce many opportunities for hazardous, slippery conditions where passengers can fall and suffer serious injuries.
Cruise ships can harbor many dangerous circumstances for passengers, who regularly walk the corridors, stairways and decks of the ships to get from their room to the ship’s restaurants, pools, upper decks and other common areas. Passengers can suffer serious injuries after sustaining a fall due to:
- Wet decks or floors. Wet surfaces on cruises ships can be abundant, whether due to pool water, poor weather, cleaning supplies or more.
- Getting on or off tenders. Tenders, the smaller boats used to transport passengers to other destinations, can quickly become slippery and dangerous.
- Worn or ripped carpeting or rugs. Any torn or worn-down carpeting in your room or other areas on the ship can cause you to lose your footing.
- Excessive floor polish. While staff on cruise ships work hard to maintain a clean ship, excessive use of wax or polish can make surfaces too slippery to walk on.
- Lack of ‘wet floor’ signs. ‘Wet floor’ warning signs alert passengers to slippery areas. Without these, you could be unaware of upcoming hazards.
- Faulty staircases or railings. Slippery, broken or worn-down staircases or railings can pose serious dangers to passengers.
Depending on the nature of your accident, you could suffer serious injuries, including traumatic brain injury (TBI), broken bones, injuries to your neck, head or spinal cord and more.
What to do after a slip-and-fall accident
A serious fall may catch you off guard and leave you disoriented. Immediately after a bad fall, you should seek medical attention to assess the injuries you suffered. When or if you are able to, take photos of the accident scene, take notes of anything you recall leading up to the accident and talk to any witnesses to get their accounts of what happened.
Suffering an injury on vacation is never fun. Taking steps to prioritize attending to your injuries and documenting what happened can assist when you consider taking legal action to pursue compensation for your accident.
