Wheelchair User’s Dream Cruise Turns into a Nightmare

posted on Apr 28 by in the Advocacy, Disability Discrimination, Disability Law, Disability News, Health, Multiple Sclerosis, Wheelchair Accessibility category

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Jim Keskeny, 66, signed up for what he thought would be an unforgettable cruise with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines as a retirement present. Keskeny would indeed never forget the trip, but not with fondness; Keskeny was treated with appalling discrimination and was thrown off the cruise with the result of being left stranded on an island to find his own way home to Detroit, Michigan.

Keskeny took all the precautions he thought he would need to have a perfect 10 day cruise vacation of the East Caribbean. He paid $4,000 for his ticket to ensure he would even have a bigger stateroom that would accommodate his wheelchair and even paid extra to have the services of a butler since he would be traveling alone. He was assured he would have all the extra assistance he needed before he booked his trip. Keskeny was a seasoned traveler, having been on several previous vacations through the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation.

As he checked in, everyone was aware he was a wheelchair user and cruise line officials were aware he had paid for extra assistance if needed. As the ship left port on Valentine’s Day, the trip quickly turned into a nightmare. The day after the ship left port, the butler refused to assist Keskeny get his wheelchair over a non-ADA compliant lip to get into the bathroom of his stateroom. Unfortunately, this was only the first of a shocking list of discrimination and general intolerance to Keskeny’s needs.

After lunch that day, the manager of the tour company and two cruise line officials came to his stateroom to “talk.” After refusing to even sit down in his room so that Keskeny could speak with them at eye level, they informed him that they had no intention of even “touching his body.” Should Keskeny ask them to do so or lift him, he would be made to disembark the ship.

On the third day of the trip, Keskeny slipped off the toilet in his bathroom. After cruise line employees refused to assist him, he was assisted back to his chair by fellow passengers. After a $200 trip to the ship’s infirmary, Keskney was dropped off in the port of Quadalupe, taken to the airport, and left to fend for himself and find his own way home.

He spent a total of $1500.00 to get back home and endured dangerous stopovers in Haiti with a compromised immune system from the multiple sclerosis and none of the required vaccinations to be in such areas. After an overnight layover in Miami at a hotel paid at his own expense, Keskeny finally returned home to Detroit, scared at the possibility of being exposed to the diseases running rampant in Haiti since the earthquake.

Upon returning home, Keskeny began searching for a lawyer. Surely he would be able to recover extensive damages after being stranded at an island airport and left to find his own way home. The actions of the cruise line would horrify an able-bodied passenger, let alone a 66 year old man that uses a wheelchair and has multiple sclerosis. Keskney met Richard Bernstein, a blind attorney, that offered to represent Keskney pro bono.

Unfortunately, the event isn’t an open and shut case as one would think. At check-in, passengers are required to sign a ticket contract. This contract bends the conditions of resolving disputes between the cruise line and passengers. Bernstein was forced to go to Miami, Flordia for litigation of the case as the contract demanded. In addition, passengers that sign the contract agree to submit to binding arbitration (a 3rd party arbitrator that reviews the case and hands down a binding decision) making it impossible to bring the case into the court system.

The contract also prevents Bernstein from recovering any of his expenses to travel to Miami and any related court costs paid to represent Keskney. Bernstein will be unable to recover any punitive damages for the treatment Keskney endured. He said Keskney would be fortunate to recover the cost of his ticket and the money he paid to return to home after being stranded on Quadalupe island.

Source:

http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2011/04/11/news/doc4da32d48ded47415691288.txt

7 Comments

Carol, posted this comment on May 16th, 2011

I never heard of anyhing as awful as this. I also went on a short cruise out of Florida. The captain of the ship carried me where ever I need to go that was not accessible. I also Have M.S. and am in a scooter. I was thinking of a longer cruise but now I will be sure not to use this cruise line. God Bless you

Mary Hemby, posted this comment on May 16th, 2011

In defense of Royal Caribbean, I use a wheelchair and have enjoyed two wonderful cruises with them! Specific accessibility needs should be addressed before boarding. There are cabins without lips at the bathroom doors. If a person needs a personal aide, they should bring the aide along. Expecting a “butler” to do personal care is wrong. Disabled people who have unrealistic expectations ruin travel for the rest of us. Cruising is one of the most doable vacations for people using wheelchairs.

G Marble, posted this comment on May 16th, 2011

There could be more to this story than meets the eye. Apparently, this cruise was a nude one (see source below). I am just saying this little fact is good to be aware of before we get too reactionary. Perhaps this little fact changes nothing, but often a story looks a bit different once all the facts are known. Although the facts as reported are outrageous, the ommission of this nude fact, creates a credibility issue to the rest of the story. What other important facts might not be missing? There is other information out there in addition to this, but since I can’t vouch for the veracity, I am not mentioning them.

My sympathy level has dropped a bit.

My comment is not a direct criticism of AMS, who just reiterated the story, however, my source about the nude cruise came from same paper that AMS used. Perhaps caution is needed here.

My source is: http://www.dailytribune.com/articles/2011/05/06/news/doc4dc4073909099153480027.txt

Michelle, posted this comment on May 16th, 2011

this is totally sick. I will never in my life ever take a cruise on that line. Everyone of them should be ashamed of themselves for treating this man like that. Karma will take care of everyone of them

Linda S. Beck, posted this comment on May 16th, 2011

I am very sorry for this man. I, too, have MS and sometimes travel alone. Sometimes things go along okay but a slip or a fall, a distance from a telephone, all those things can be difficult. What this company did is unpardonable. I’m sorry you had a bad experience. I had one over a beach wheelchair so I understand but it did not cost me as much financially as it did emotionally. Thanks, Linda S. Beck

Lee Anne, posted this comment on May 17th, 2011

No one is safe on this cruise line. Having to sign away your rights at boarding is unconscionable duress for any travelers, but particularly disabled ones, who have arrived in Miami for the cruise with no alternate arrangements. Healthy people do get hurt on board boats! I would consider suing in the hometown not on the wording of the contract but in how and when it was presented, as not something a person got to freely consider before spending money and acting in reliance on the reservation. Those contracts did not hold up in my state when presented to people consenting to medical care.

The man tried suing civilly when he got home. If it ever happens to anyone else, I would suggest immediately calling the American embassy for assistance including filing a criminal complaint for abandoning a vulnerable person in a dangerous situation. This country must have an equivalent to states’ departments investigating negligence and abuse of children and disabled adults. Cruise lines must have to meet some licensing rules with some standards for passenger safety. To dump a passenger because he was unable to care for himself is just wrong.

Does the harsh second commentator work for RC?

This man made it clear he was disabled as he made his arrangements. He should not have been put in a suite with a bathroom that was not wheelchair accessible. It has been my experience that wheelchair accessible hotel rooms are often small, going on biased assumptions that disabled people have less money and do not have spouses. His mistake may have been paying extra for a larger room. How was he to know there was not a smooth floor into the bathroom? The cruise line was in a position to know that, and to tell him just what their butler does. We have all seen movies and television shows where the butler runs the bathwater and helps with the bath. Hands over the clothes to dress.

There is discrimination here, as I am sure the staff has no problem with the idea of
“touching the body” of all the older women on the dance floor or teaching them some of the on-board activities. It sounds like they abandoned him, not even doing things any decent human would do for another.

Even if the boat was full, they could have announced they were looking for a volunteer in one of the rooms without the lip in the floor to switch with a disabled person–perhaps the volunteer would have ended up with the bigger bedroom.

His first problem arose when he wanted help getting the wheelchair over the lip in the floor into the bathroom.

I can see at least three nicer ways the boat could have solved this. Switch him into an accessible room. Let him tell the butler how to handle a wheelchair over such a small barrier. Get someone to come down from the infirmary and help him, even if all that person did was teach the butler how to handle a wheelchair.

If he had an accessible bathroom with a level floor and some grab bars, and some help with things like laying out clothes and running the bath water, which might have worn him out–he might never have fallen. That the boat left it to other passengers to help him up is incredible. Would they have let him drown if the ship was sinking and he could not get into the lifeboat himself? Apparently yes.

Wheelchairs are designed with big wheels in back, and a set of bars that stick out behind. All a person has to do is understand the principle of leverage. Stand behind the wheelchair. Take hold of the handles. Step on one of the bars sticking out from inside between the wheels. There is no lifting involved in getting a wheelchair up a little step–just stepping down on one of the bars in the back with one of your feet. That will lift the little front wheels up. The wheelchair rotates on the center of the big wheel, which does the heavy lifting. You ease the small wheels over the lip, and then drive over it with the very big wheel. Just control the speed and ease the bumps

This is a bad story. I hope

Joy, posted this comment on Jun 15th, 2011

This whole story is appalling. I can’t understand how any entertainment outlet could treat anyone like that. We are already challenged in ways that many folks can’t fathom and then to have folks treat you horrendously is just sinful. Previously I wrote: a co-worker of mine told me I was luck to have a handicap sticker….. really??????

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