As Lauren Barham and Matthew Urey spent their honeymoon on a cruise to New Zealand, they embarked on a guided excursion into centre of an active volcano.
Then the White Island volcano suddenly erupted, burning both severely, in addition to killing up to 21 people.
The couple are now suing the Miami cruise giant after suffering injuries for the incident.
The pair from the US state of Virginia are also suing ID Tours New Zealand, the company that took them on the shore excursion, in a lawsuit in the US federal court in Miami.
The litigation — filed by lawyers led by Jason Margulies of Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina & Winkleman — is pursuing both companies for negligence and other claims.
As a result of their exposure to the eruption, Urey suffered burns across 54% of his body, including extensive third-degree burns, according to the plaintiffs' lawyers. Barham sustained burns over 23% of her body, according to legal documents.
After their wedding in October of last year, Barham and Urey booked a December cruise on the 4,180-berth Ovation of the Seas (built 2016), part of the Miami cruiseship giant's flagship Royal Caribbean International fleet.
ID Tours' White Island Volcano Experience tour was offered in promotional materials both before the cruise and on board the ship, describing the mountain as one of the most active in the world.
But Barham and Urey's lawyers argue that the cruise line did not do enough to warn the couple of the dangers of the volcano. After all, an active volcano is defined as one that has erupted at least once in 10,000 years, but the attorneys alleged that White Island had erupted at least four times since 2000, and multiple times in the 1980s.
Growing risks
And two weeks before the ill-fated excursion, there was an earthquake nearby, heightening the eruption risk. And the lawyers alleged that the cruise line should have been aware of an increased eruption alert level issued by New Zealand authorities.
The New York-listed cruise company "failed to mention or warn of any risk of death or severe injuries whatsoever", wrote the lawyers at Lipcon, a law firm with a prolific record of filing cases against cruise majors.
Barham and Urey fared better than many of the 47 people on the island. The 9 December eruption of the volcano that is also known as Whakaari led to 19 confirmed deaths. Two people went missing and were presumed dead. Five of the deaths involved Royal Caribbean passengers.
Royal Caribbean spokesman Jonathon Fishman declined to comment on the lawsuit.
"We continue to support the needs of those affected by this tragic incident," he told TradeWinds.
TradeWinds has requested comment from ID Tours New Zealand.
Since the deadly eruption, Royal Caribbean has cancelled volcano excursions, according to the lawsuit.
"This action should have been taken before plaintiffs’ incident, especially considering that [Royal Caribbean] knew or should have known that the subject excursion was unreasonably hazardous before the subject incident occurred," the Lipcon lawyers said.
