The best-known cruise marketing lawsuit is Charvat v. Resort Marketing Group, a $12.5 million class action settlement over prerecorded “free cruise” robocalls placed on behalf of Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian between 2009 and 2014. It is one of several cases in the past decade targeting how cruise lines and their marketing partners reached consumers, alongside a separate $76 million settlement involving Caribbean Cruise Line and, more recently, a multistate settlement with Norwegian over pandemic-era sales scripts.
The Resort Marketing Group Robocall Settlement
The case, Charvat v. Resort Marketing Group, Inc., et al. (Case No. 1:12-cv-05746), was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois before Judge Andrea R. Wood. 1Jacksonville.com. Cruise Call Compensation Real Philip Charvat, the named plaintiff, alleged that Resort Marketing Group placed unsolicited prerecorded telemarketing calls offering free cruise vacations on behalf of Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., and NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., without the “prior express written consent” the Telephone Consumer Protection Act requires. 2Money. Cruise Ship Class Action Spam Calls
The class covered anyone who owned or used a phone number in the defendants’ dialer databases and received one of the prerecorded calls between July 23, 2009, and March 8, 2014. 1Jacksonville.com. Cruise Call Compensation Real The settlement created a non-reversionary fund of between $7 million and $12.5 million, depending on the number of valid claims. Class members could claim $300 per call, capped at three calls per number, for a theoretical maximum of $900. 3Condé Nast Traveler. Free Cruise Lawsuit Settlement Offers Up to $900 for Robocalls The claims deadline was November 3, 2017.
Final approval came on October 28, 2019, with the fund set at $12.5 million. After $3.15 million in attorneys’ fees, $207,548 in expenses, and a class representative incentive award of $25,000 to Charvat, about $6 million remained for 274,851 valid claimants. That worked out to an average of just over $22 per claim. 4Bloomberg Law. Cruise Lines Get Final OK for $12.5 Million Robocall Settlement Checks began arriving on August 13, 2020, at roughly $25 per claimant. 5Top Class Actions. Carnival Cruise TCPA Settlement Requires Additional Information
Why the $900 Payout Never Materialized
The gap between the advertised $900 maximum and the actual $25 check came down to two things: the fund had to be split pro rata among valid claimants, and a massive number of fraudulent claims flooded the system. Over 2.7 million claims were submitted — nearly ten times what the settlement administrator ultimately deemed valid. 6Snopes. Cruise Robocall Lawsuit Update
In February 2018, Kurtzman Carson Consultants, the court-appointed administrator, told Judge Wood that a “substantial but unknown number” of claims were likely fraudulent. 7Snopes. Cruise Ship Lawsuit The court then required supplemental verification: claimants had to produce phone bills, directory listings, or other records confirming they owned or used the number tied to the claim. 8The Morning Call. Here’s Why You Haven’t Been Paid Yet From That Free Cruise Robocalls Settlement The verification deadline was extended to May 31, 2018. 6Snopes. Cruise Robocall Lawsuit Update Supplemental notice was sent warning class members that per-person payouts would likely be “several dollars” rather than hundreds. After verification, 274,851 claims survived, with another 37,673 flagged as deficient and given two weeks to cure. 9GovInfo. Charvat v. Resort Marketing Group Final Settlement Memorandum
Thirty-one class members filed formal objections, representing 0.001% of valid claimants. Judge Wood overruled every objection and found the settlement reasonable, noting that a settlement need not deliver the statutory maximum of $500 to $1,500 per call to be fair. 10GovInfo. Charvat v. Valente, Case No. 12-cv-05746
The Caribbean Cruise Line “Political Survey” Case
A separate and larger scheme involved Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc., which ran a robocall campaign averaging 12 to 15 million calls per day from October 2011 through July 2012. 11FTC. FTC, States Put Remaining Defendants in Massive Caribbean Cruise Lines Robocall Operation on Permanent Dry Dock The calls were disguised as political surveys. Recipients heard from “John from Political Opinions of America,” were told they had been “carefully selected” for a 30-second research survey, and were then offered a “free” two-day Bahamas cruise and transferred to live telemarketers pitching travel packages and upgrades. 12NBC News. Feds: Caribbean Cruise Line Made Billions of Illegal Robocalls
The FTC and ten state attorneys general filed charges in early 2015, alleging violations of the Telemarketing Sales Rule. Caribbean Cruise Line agreed to a $7.7 million civil penalty, most of which was suspended provided the company paid $500,000. 12NBC News. Feds: Caribbean Cruise Line Made Billions of Illegal Robocalls In 2017, the remaining defendants — including Fred Accuardi and his companies — were barred from future robocalling and illegal telemarketing under a settlement that included a $1.35 million judgment, suspended upon payment of $2,500. 11FTC. FTC, States Put Remaining Defendants in Massive Caribbean Cruise Lines Robocall Operation on Permanent Dry Dock
On the private side, the class action Birchmeier v. Caribbean Cruise Line, Inc. (Case No. 1:12-cv-04069) produced a $76 million settlement, one of the largest under the TCPA. Filed in the Northern District of Illinois before Judge Matthew F. Kennelly, the case covered calls made between August 2011 and August 2012, with class members eligible for $500 per call, subject to the fund cap. Final approval came on March 2, 2017, and the final distribution was approved by May 2021. 13Law360. Birchmeier v. Caribbean Cruise Line
Norwegian’s COVID-19 Sales Settlement
Cruise marketing complaints did not stop at robocalls. In 2020, the Florida Attorney General’s office opened an investigation into Norwegian Cruise Line after reports that management had given sales staff scripted responses designed to downplay COVID-19 risks. Examples cited in the investigation included telling customers that “the coronavirus only survives in cold temperatures, so the Caribbean is a fantastic choice for your next cruise” and that “the only thing they needed to worry about packing is sunscreen.” Sales agents were also allegedly pressured to push bookings to offset revenue losses from canceled Asian sailings. 14Aronfeld Trial Lawyers. Norwegian Cruise Lines Faces Consumer Protection Investigation
The investigation concluded in April 2026 with a $2 million multistate settlement involving 12 state attorneys general, including Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey, Texas, and Illinois. NCL is prohibited from disseminating deceptive sales statements and from incentivizing sales at the expense of consumer health and safety during disaster declarations. The company must train consumer-facing employees on proper sales communications and designate senior management to approve sales materials used during future emergencies. 15Office of Minnesota Attorney General. Attorney General Ellison Announces Settlement With NCL Bahamas NCL said it had “fully cooperated with authorities” and noted it had issued over $3 billion in refunds and future cruise credits to passengers between March 2020 and November 2025. 16AL.com. Cruise Line Paying $2 Million After Allegedly Misleading Passengers About COVID-19 Safety
The Princess Cruises Ad Campaign Case
A related pandemic-era dispute reached a Los Angeles court in June 2020. Tiffani Harcrow, a former associate creative director at Culver City advertising agency Omelet LLC, sued her former employer in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging she was fired on May 6, 2020, after refusing to work on a Princess Cruises marketing campaign she believed was “materially false, misleading, and dangerous.” According to the complaint, Omelet had instructed her in April 2020 to develop a campaign encouraging consumers to book cruise travel by June 30 of that year, while the CDC’s no-sail order was still in effect. 17NBC Los Angeles. Ad Agency Sued After Firing Employee Who Refused Project Minimizing COVID-19 Risk
Harcrow claimed a supervisor told her he wouldn’t put his own family on a cruise “for fear of catching COVID-19” but that it was “our duty to our client to instruct the public to do so.” After she refused the assignment, she said management told her she would not be staffed on future projects, and she was terminated without explanation. 17NBC Los Angeles. Ad Agency Sued After Firing Employee Who Refused Project Minimizing COVID-19 Risk Omelet denied the allegations and said Harcrow was let go as part of pandemic-related layoffs. 18Adweek. Former Omelet Employee Alleges Wrongful Termination Over COVID-19 Concerns The case settled in May 2022 and was dismissed. 19UniCourt. Tiffani Harcrow vs. Omelet LLC