A solicitor who claims she was falsely imprisoned whereas on board a cruise ship has stated the expertise felt “like being in Guantanamo Bay”.
Caroline Fanning (49) is suing journey agent Trailfinders Eire Restricted within the Excessive Courtroom over occasions she alleges occurred whereas she and her 13-year-old daughter have been on a bundle vacation on a ship managed by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.
The cruise line operator was added as a defendant by Trailfinders, which has a registered workplace on Dawson Avenue. The defendants deny the allegations.
Persevering with her proof earlier than a jury on Wednesday, Ms Fanning of Foxrock Avenue, Dublin, stated the occasions she skilled on board the Oasis of the Seas in August 2015 have been an “assault” on her dignity and humanity.
The journey took a flip, she claimed, after she made a “sarcastic” remark about suicide whereas complaining on the telephone to a receptionist about her room. It was the nighttime of August 8/9, and, feeling very sea sick, she hoped she might transfer to a room much less affected by the movement.
The receptionist knowledgeable her there have been no rooms free that evening and stated somebody might solely be moved in a medical emergency, Ms Fanning stated. Believing the girl was being sarcastic, Ms Fanning stated she responded, sarcastically, by saying “there could also be one tomorrow” and “there could also be a suicide”.
The ship’s suicide prevention protocol was triggered and safety personnel arrived at Ms Fanning’s cabin, she stated. She repeated “again and again” that her remark was not severe, however the safety staff responded with a “mantra” that the “protocol was triggered”, she claimed.
She and her daughter have been dropped at a room on a decrease deck, she stated. Cutlery and hangers have been faraway from the room and a feminine safety guard was stationed outdoors, she stated.
At about breakfast time they have been twice dropped at and from the ship’s medical centre in view of “tons of” of different staring passengers, she added. Ms Fanning stated she was “stripped of my dignity” as they weren’t given a chance to vary out of their pyjamas.
Though she had been advised clearance by a psychiatrist would result in the protocol being stood down, she and her daughter weren’t free after the psychiatrist stated he could be recommending the protocol ought to finish.
She stated she was knowledgeable that the captain determined they’d be disembarked and he or she was given entry to a pc to ebook various lodging.
She stated she by no means obtained a refund for the €3,700 cruise vacation or the €640 for the last-minute various lodging, regardless of requests. She is a non-public one that didn’t wish to be sitting in court docket, she stated.
Below cross-examination from David Conlan-Smyth SC, for the defendants, Ms Fanning detailed earlier bouts of sea illness she had skilled, together with whereas travelling by ferry to Jersey when a younger grownup. She stated she didn’t really feel sick when on one other cruise ship in 2014.
Mr Conlan-Smyth requested if it could have made sense, given her historical past of sea illness, to have introduced sea illness tablets on the 2014 cruise. She responded that she had acted on the assurances of the journey agent with whom she had booked that cruise.
In response to a question a few nautical reference, Ms Fanning stated she wouldn’t say she was an knowledgeable in maritime legislation. Mr Conlan-Smyth requested her why her web site stated in 2019 that she was a specialist in maritime legislation.
Ms Fanning stated she needed to upskill herself to satisfy this case, however she by no means had any shoppers on this space. “I actually had plenty of information, however I used to be not, you understand – it was only a line on a web site,” she added. Her cross-examination will proceed on Thursday.
Ms Fanning is in search of damages for false imprisonment, assault and battery, defamation and breach of responsibility and contract. The court docket heard the declare for assault and battery pertains to a safety guard inserting a hand on her. The defendants deny all claims.
