Cruise passenger Virginia Casady was sailing around the world on a 120-day cruise holiday when the incident occurred. After paying $ 80,000 (£63,000) for the holiday, she planned to spread her husband’s ashes in some of the countries they visited together before he died. However, two weeks into the four-month excursion, she was thrown against the elevator after the cruise appeared to hit something in the water. She was left bloodied and hurt and later found out had suffered from a fractured pelvis and nose.
She told legal advocacy organisation Elliot Advocacy: “While waiting for the elevator, the ship propelled me in the air.
“We must have hit a white cap.
“I hit the elevator side and grate. There was blood all over and people walking over me.”
Despite a doctor onboard checking her over, they didn’t find any broken bones.
She was unable to get further medical attention on land due to traveling through smaller islands without the correct healthcare.
It was only after another two weeks when they docked at New Zealand, she was taken to hospital on land.
It was then that her injuries were diagnosed, and she was told to rest onboard to recover.
Casady was forced to leave the ship a week later due to being in too much pain and flew home, missing the rest of her cruise holiday.
Thankfully, after booking travel insurance, she received $ 44,000 (£34,800) of her cruise booking money back.
Without travel insurance she may not have been able to receive any of her money back which she paid for her trip.
However she was able to claim the days and trip excursions back which she did not attend, with nearly three months left of the trip.
Hitting a wave can cause injuries if the ship is smashed by a large enough crest.
A video went viral after a large cruise ship could be seen heading towards the 100-foot wave.
The camera shakes after making an impact with the large wave.
