Carnival Cruise Line is facing a new lawsuit tied to a mobility scooter accident, adding another legal headache to an already turbulent year for the cruise giant.
According to AL.com, an Alabama woman named Etta Brock has filed a personal injury suit against Carnival Corporation, claiming unsafe conditions aboard the Carnival Valor caused her to crash while exiting the ship earlier this year. According to the complaint, Brock was disembarking on January 2, 2025, when a reconfigured gangway allegedly forced her mobility scooter into a sharp, unexpected turn, causing it to tip over.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in South Florida, argues that Carnival Cruise Line failed to properly warn passengers about changes to the walkway layout. Brock claims crew members had narrowed the exit route using crowd-control barriers, creating what her attorneys describe as a dangerous bottleneck for passengers using mobility devices.
Court filings state Brock had successfully used the same Deck 3 gangway multiple times during the voyage before the configuration was changed on the final morning. The complaint alleges there were no visible warnings or signs alerting passengers to the altered path and that other travelers blocked her view of the sharp turn ahead. Brock says she suffered physical injuries, emotional distress, and worsening of preexisting medical conditions after the scooter overturned.
Carnival Cruise Line has not publicly commented on the lawsuit.
The case comes days after another mobility scooter tragedy involving the company. Earlier this month, an elderly passenger died after driving her scooter off a pier at Celebration Key, Carnival’s private destination in the Bahamas. According to the cruise line, the woman fell into the water while the Carnival Celebration was docked on May 9. Crew members pulled her from the ocean and attempted lifesaving measures, but she did not survive.
At the time, Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement that its teams “successfully retrieved her from the water” and that local authorities in the Bahamas took custody of the deceased passenger. A witness later told local media the woman may have suffered a medical emergency before the incident, though officials have not confirmed that claim.
The back-to-back scooter incidents arrive during a chaotic run of headlines for Carnival Cruise Line overall. In recent months, the company has dealt with a fatal balcony fall aboard the Carnival Firenze near Catalina Island, federal assault citations tied to a fight aboard the Carnival Spirit, and backlash after a pricing glitch briefly allowed travelers to book deeply discounted cruises before the reservations were canceled.
