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U. MIAMI INT'L & COMP. L. REV. 
V. 23 
Cruise contracts are notoriously restrictive 
regarding the rights of passengers, and 
Costa's 6,400-word contract is no exception. 
The Costa contract sharply limits the kinds of 
lawsuits that can be brought, where those 
suits can be brought and how much the 
company can be made to pay. All such 
provisions have been upheld in the courts of 
the United States[.] Costa's contract states 
that the line will pay no more in cases of 
death, personal injury and property loss than 
about $71,000 per passenger. It allows no 
recovery for mental anguish or psychological 
damages. It bars class-action suits . . . For 
cruises that do not involve a United States 
port, the contract states, any litigation must 
be brought in Genoa, Italy, and be governed 
by Italian law. But when it comes to liability, 
the contract says the company can take 
advantage of any limits set by international 
treaties or the laws of the United States, 
which are very generous to owners of vessels. 
If there is a conflict among the patchwork of 
laws and treaties regarding liability, it says, 
"the Carrier shall be entitled to invoke 
whichever provisions provide the greatest 
limitations and immunities to the Carrier." 15 
By 2009, the former European Community, which 
ceased to exist with the entry into force of the Lisbon 
15 Schwartz, supra note 11, at A8.