The cruise industry is following a strategy pioneered by the airline industry in the 1990s, one that's increasingly common in class-action lawsuits over consumer products. In the airlines' case, nine carriers were accused of price-fixing in a 1990 lawsuit. The voucher settlement strategy isn't quite as absurd as, say, the idea of a tobacco firm settling its legal troubles by selling cigarettes at a small discount. It's a total perversion of the equal justice notion of our civil justice system. These settlements typically depend on approval from a judge, who can require better terms.
Consumers can also request exclusion from a class action.
The question, Lipofsky says, is whether you hold out for cash or settle for something less than cash. Lipofsky adds that some vouchers are far more valuable than others, depending on their restrictions. And, more importantly, you can sell them. But Wolfman at Public Citizen scoffs at the idea that anybody would pay much for such closely restricted coupons. The same port-fees pricing practices that sparked the Royal Caribbean suit were targeted in a flurry of lawsuits against other cruise lines by Florida's attorney general and others.