A law firm seeks class-action status on behalf of about 5.7-million customers of the Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruise lines since spring 2001.
By Associated Press
Published May 18, 2003
MIAMI - Royal Caribbean Cruises and its subsidiary Celebrity Cruise Lines overcharged passengers by at least $150-million with fraudulent taxes, a lawsuit claims.
The companies levied "their own brand of taxes" to offset rising operational costs in an increasingly competitive travel industry, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
The Miami cruise lines violated Florida law because they engaged in deceptive trade practices since the spring of 2001 by collecting the hidden taxes without notifying customers beforehand in brochures or passenger invoices, according to the lawsuit.
"All they had to do was raise their cruise prices like any merchant," attorney Thomas Tew told the Miami Herald. "Instead, they buried an increased fare in a bogus tax."
Royal Caribbean would not address the lawsuit. "It is not our practice to comment on litigation," said spokeswoman Lynn Martenstein.
Tew's firm seeks class-action status on behalf of an estimated 5.7-million cruise customers, claiming Royal Caribbean charged each passenger $22 to $35 in taxes that varied with each cruise itinerary. The company, however, never broke down the taxes on customer financial statements, the lawsuit claims. The lawsuit accuses Royal Caribbean and Celebrity of appropriating $15 to $25 per passenger in fraudulent taxes.
The plaintiffs want to be reimbursed for the paid taxes and are asking that a judge stop the companies from imposing the allegedly unauthorized taxes.
The lawsuit says the companies were allowed to bill passengers three federal charges: a $3 excise tax, a $7 immigration fee or a $1.75 or $5 customs tax. Tew claims Royal Caribbean and Celebrity violated a 1997 agreement with Florida by charging taxes not owed to the government.
