Scenic River Cruises - class action in Australia

[helenandfrank]

 

A local news report ;

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-01/scenic-tours-river-cruise-passengers-planning-class-action/11560730

 

The article is FYI - I am not involved, and don't have a view one way or the other.

Edited September 30, 2019 by helenandfrank
error

[dogs4fun]

Interesting. Anyone know the outcome of the outcome of the 2016 class action?

[helenandfrank]

They lost in 2017, then had a partial win on appeal in 2018. I'm not sure what happened next, but there is an article dated 2019 which indicates the matter is now being considered by the High Court of Australia - so it is on-going.

 

The only winners would be the law firms involved.

 

https://cruisepassenger.com.au/scenic-could-face-payout-worth-millions-after-losing-appeal-over-floods/

 

Edit later .. I have found a more recent article. The matter is still before the High Court - which is being asked to rule on several issues (below). The matter was adjourned and there is no indication of a final outcome as yet.

 

On 17 May 2019, special leave applications for both Scenic Tours and Moore were listed for hearing.  The issues before the High Court were:

1. Did the Civil Liability Act apply to the assessment of damages for disappointment and distress?
2. Did the Civil Liability Act have extra territorial application?
3. What was the scope of the services that Scenic Tours had agreed to provide the plaintiffs?

Edited September 30, 2019 by helenandfrank
additional info

[djh1959]

I read this morning on a river cruise forum on Facebook that they have just lost the appeal.  This must have just been announced, and of course they are now being hit with another class action.  The new action is with the same law firm as the first one.

[dogs4fun]

While I realize that water levels are beyond the control of the cruise lines, my gripe is that they do not adequately inform their passengers in advance when they know that the river will be impassable. While those wishing for a cruise rather than a bus tour, this would probably be a small consolation - but high/low water levels are the risk that everyone takes when booking a river cruise and it part of the contract one agrees to when booking with the cruise line.

Our last river cruise on the Danube experienced low water levels - we were not informed until the night before embarkation that our ship would not be able to make it upstream to our embarkation port. My gripe is that they KNEW this well ahead of time as I was monitoring the ship online (cruise-ship-tracker) and it hadn't moved for days! Fortunately, we had a back-up plan to make it to our embarkation port (we had arrived in Germany a week before the cruise so cruise transfers were not a viable option for us).

A little more cruise line transparency might make the situation a little more palatable.

Edited October 1, 2019 by dogs4fun

[notamermaid]

travelweekly Australia has this report: http://www.travelweekly.com.au/article/scenic-breaks-silence-class-action-europe-droughts/

 

notamermaid

 

Edited October 2, 2019 by Host Jazzbeau
fixed link

[notamermaid]

@Host Jazzbeau

Thank you for fixing the link. Don't know what went wrong. Hope this one is okay. The latest: https://www.travelweekly.com.au/article/scenic-appeals-court-order-following-class-action-threats/

 

notamermaid