Cases involving injuries to cruise ship passengers may include injuries, deaths, missing passengers who apparently fell in the ocean, passengers being hit by falling objects, food poisoning, being thrown by rough seas due to the neglect of the captain and nearly every other conceivable type of injury possible on land can exist on cruise ships. Injuries also occur when passengers leave the ship to visit ports of call. Cruise ships arrange and promote tours, trips, scuba, fishing and other activities and sometimes they do not check out or monitor the safety of these companies that provide the services the cruise ship sells to the passengers.
Portsmouth is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan areas of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 100,565, and a 2008 Census estimate showed the city's population had slightly increased to 100,577.