Royal Seas calls offering free cruises don’t violate robocall law, CA court says
Royal Seas Cruises Ltd., a Fort Lauderdale-based travel agency, has successfully defended itself against claims it violated an anti-robocall law.
A federal judge in California sided with the company last month, dismissing a 2017 class-action lawsuit brought by two people who received automated calls from Royal Seas advertising free cruises. The calls were coordinated by a different company and placed by a call center called Prospect, meaning Royal Seas cannot be held responsible for them, ruled U.S. District Judge Cynthia Bashant for the Southern District of California. The class with 82,000 consumers sought around $123 million.
“There is no evidence that Royal Seas had actual knowledge that the calls Prospect made were placed without actually receiving an opt-in from the person being called,” the judge’s order said. The judge did not rule on whether the calls themselves were legal, only whether Royal Seas was responsible for them under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
Royal Seas has long faced consumer ire for offering “free” cruises that come with fees, and being slow to refund. Sometimes the calls offer the free cruise from the beginning and other times they begin with a survey. One plaintiff in the case said the person on the line said they were from Royal Seas offering him a free cruise for two on Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line’s Grand Celebration ship.
The plaintiffs, who argue that the calls violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and their privacy, have appealed the decision. Their attorney Abbas Kazerounian declined to comment while the appeal is pending.
Attorney for Royal Seas Jeffrey Backman, with the Miami law firm Greenspoon Marder, said the company took all the necessary precautions to avoid liability under the robocall law and still had to spend four years in court.
“The actual evidence in the case demonstrated conclusively that Royal hired a third party to only generate lawful, consent-based leads,” he said in a statement. “There was zero evidence to support any wrongdoing on the part of Royal.”
People who sign up for “free” cruises with Royal Seas and other similar cruise travel agencies have long complained about their practices to state and federal regulators. The company has a “C” rating from the Better Business Bureau because it “has failed to resolve underlying cause(s) of a pattern of complaints.”
Registered agent for the company Christine Heyden and company’s president Paul Heyden did not return requests for comment.
Christopher Elliott, a consumer advocacy expert, said the best way for consumers to protect themselves from unsolicited calls is to only answer calls from phone numbers they recognize.
“The court doesn’t think this is a robocall, but it sure feels like a robocall to consumers,” he said. “The robocall law has more holes than Swiss cheese. It’s not protecting consumers, it’s just protecting businesses. The fix has to come from the consumer side.”
If a deal sounds too good to be true, like a vacation for free, then it probably is, said Elliott.
“If someone is offering you extremely reduced rate cruises, then you should assume it’s not as good of a deal as they’re making it out to be,” he said.
