WTSP 10 in Tampa reports on a cruise where Carnival disembarked a couple in Cozumel from the Legend after the husband had a “minor Alzheimer’s episode, leaving his stateroom alone at 4 a.m. for a cup of coffee.”
Carnival personnel claim that they found the husband disoriented and the ship doctor declared him to be a danger to himself, so the ship disembarked the couple off the ship at the next port.
But when the news station contacted Carnival, the cruise line “quickly admitted the situation was 
mishandled” and reimbursed the cost of the cruise and the airfare home.
Carnival claims that it initially provided a future credit for the unused days of the couple’s cruise. However, given the “specialized circumstances” in this case, Carnival said that it was proceeding with a full refund for the unused days of the cruise as well as reimbursement for their flights home.
The strange thing about the story is that neither the cruise line nor the passengers explained what the “specialized circumstances” were.
Cruise lines are legally entitled to remove a passenger from a cruise ship if the captain or ship physician determine that they present a risk to their own well-being or that of any other passenger or crew member.
We have reported on cases similar to this before. It sounds like Carnival handled the situation better than Celebrity Cruises did when it kicked an elderly couple off the Millennium and abandoned them after the wife exhibited signs of dementia.
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