WASHINGTON — Sen. Charles Schumer yesterday unveiled a cruise ship “Bill of Rights” that would protect passengers from vacation catastrophes.
“Instead of being a Carnival Dream, they’ve been a Carnival Nightmare,” declared Schumer, referring to one of two ill-fated cruise ships to suffer power failures.
The worst incident was the Feb. 10 engine-room fire on the Carnival Triumph, which left it stranded in the Gulf of Mexico for four days with little air conditioning, few working toilets and dwindling food supplies.
Last week, a Carnival Dream cruise ship had problems with its generators in the Caribbean Sea and had to fly the ship’s passengers back to Florida.
Schumer’s bill would include guarantees of sanitary conditions, onboard medical care, backup power, the right to disembark from broken-down ships and full refunds for disrupted cruises.
“Passengers should not be forced to live in Third World conditions,” said Schumer,.