Fight over making ships fit for the disabled

The case, Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line, stems from a class-action lawsuit filed in 2000 by Douglas Spector and a group of other NCL passengers who allege that they were discriminated against during their cruise vacation because of their disabilities.

They say they were forced to pay higher fares, travel with a companion, waive any medical liability, and reside in a limited number of less attractive cabins, and were barred from participating in evacuation and other safety drills. In addition, they say there were no accessible public restrooms on the ship.

NCL officials say that the complaints relate to facilities on two of the cruise line's oldest ships. One has been decommissioned, and the second is slated to be taken out of service this summer, they say.

The cruise industry views disabled individuals as an important and growing market. That approach is reflected in newly constructed ships that are increasingly accessible to those using wheelchairs and other aids.

"By and large the industry is moving in the right direction," says David Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington who filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Paralyzed Veterans of America and other advocacy groups for disabled individuals. "The industry has decided there is no economic downside to making the vessel more ADA compliant in competing for a very large market of people with disabilities."

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line advertises a long list of special services and features designed to attract passengers with disabilities. They range from a wheelchair-accessible boat shuttle system between the ship and small ports to wheelchair-level slot machines and blackjack tables in the ship's casino.

Professor Vladeck says NCL is behind the industry curve on the issue. But NCL officials insist their ships are accessible.

"We construct our newer vessels as if the ADA did apply," says NCL's Warren. "For example, we have on our new ships electric hoists that lift someone out of a wheelchair and place them in a swimming pool or Jacuzzi. I don't know of a single hotel where you could find such facilities."

Cruise and shipping industry officials say the Spector case is important because an NCL defeat could undermine the existing international framework governing worldwide shipping.

"If the United States chose to apply its own accessibility standards to foreign-flagged ships entering its waters, many of the other 40 countries around the world with antidiscrimination laws might respond by attempting to apply their own unique - and divergent, if not contradictory - set of standards to foreign-flagged ships, including US ships," says Washington attorney Gregory Garre in a brief filed on behalf of the Bahamas Maritime Authority.

"International maritime commerce would run aground, as no vessel could possibly navigate such an unpredictable and stormy regulatory sea," Mr. Garre writes.

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