Posted on 04/16/2026 7:22:53 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Carnival Cruise Line must pay $300,000 to a former passenger after a federal jury in South Florida found that the company was negligent in serving the woman more than a dozen shots of tequila before she fell down some stairs and suffered a possible traumatic brain injury.
The Miami federal jury decided last Friday in favor of Diana Sanders, a 45-year-old nurse from Vacaville, California.
...
According to the lawsuit, Sanders was a passenger aboard the Carnival Radiance on Jan. 5, 2024, when was served at least 14 shots between approximately 2:58 p.m. and 11:37 p.m. She experienced a fall some time between 11:45 p.m. and 12:20 a.m. that caused her to suffer a concussion, headaches, a possible traumatic brain injury, back injuries, tailbone injuries, bruising and other injuries, the complaint said.
Aronfeld said jurors were presented with evidence of 30 minutes of missing surveillance video from the time Sanders left the Casino bar until she was found unconscious in a crew-only area.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
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Many of the cruises have drink packages for large drinkers.
I don’t suppose she was responsible?
14 shots in 8 1/2 hours?
That ain’t drinking. That’s sipping...
14 shots in 8 1/2 hours?
That ain’t drinking. That’s sipping...
The truth is that it’s all in picking the right jury, and if the plaintiff’s attorney does their job well, this is the sort of nonsense we can expect.
That was when Chuck was still on the show.
If she got the individual shots of tequila from different servers at different bars, between 3pm and 11:30pm (over 8 1/2 hours) how would Carnival have known how many she had, and in particular how many in a time frame closest to her fall. Surely someone drinking four shots of Tequila between 3pm and 5pm would have “recovered” from them before 11:30pm, unless what she did was “bar hop” around the different bars on the ship the whole time - which is what I believe she was doing.
Lightweight.
Carnival's drink package tops out at 15 drinks per day per individual. They can keep track because all purchases are made by way of the ship's ID card which is tethered to your credit card.
When I had a drink package, I still had to present my cruise card every time I ordered, so they do keep track of how many drinks you’ve consumed on board.
“That award should be reduced by her own share of the responsibility. Maybe 30% less.”
She was found 40% responsible.
“This fills me with anger. “
Tequila in that quantity fills me with anger. It is kind of strange. If I drink 500ml of tequila I get just angry, I realize that there is no reason to be aggressive and angry but I am anyway (I will not drink more than 375ml of tequila at any one time ever)
Unlike Tequila, Vodka does really nothing to me. The only problem with Vodka is that if I drink more than 750ml I have a headache the next day.
That said, this lady is an idiot and needs to take care of her own problems.
I’ve only been on one cruise, but they scanned my key card every time I got a drink. It should be very easy to know how much someone has been served during a set time period.
Reminds me of at DFW Airport they used to have a sign on the road in the airport telling which Terminal the flights were, which was very convenient (back before we had cellphones to do it).
Well, one idiot actually stopped his car in the middle of the road, to get out and read the sign, and there was an accident.
Well, bye-bye sign, after that.
Yes adult beverages can be tracked via the card.....however, anyone that’s been on at least one cruise ship can attest that very few crew members speak English.
And I also doubt bartenders are taking the time to check how much passengers are drinking at any given time period.
What most people don’t realize is when your on one of those boats your not in the US anymore and the crew couldn’t give 2 shits if a passenger is American.
I’ve experienced that one 1st hand.
But my BIL from Monahans does!
Well I suspect that will all change now.
“When I had a drink package, I still had to present my cruise card every time I ordered, so they do keep track of how many drinks you’ve consumed on board.”
You are right, and I did forget about that.
However, while I know the on board expenses are tallied on the card, I do not know what information is presented to the individual servers who scan the card to obtain the charge. I know retail clerks scanning a credit or debit card when I shop are only told that the charge was accepted - they do not get account information. I don’t know if the Carnival cruise line charge collection system is any different but I am told a server on a cruise ship cannot see your ship account information, such as other transactions; they see no more than a retail clerk sees in regular retail debit/credit transactions.
A later review of the account would show when and where the woman acquired the different shots of tequila, but her servers would not have known that unless she got them all at the same bar from the same server.
But I would think when they scan the card it comes up on the screen.
Well you can be damn sure if they didn’t do that before, they will now.
I was on that ship. Saw this lady being held down by crew. Had a funnel in face as they poured in shots of tequila. (s)
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