BT booked a cruise via the internet with the travel agency SARL Travelsteps (Travelsteps). The cruise was organised by STE MSC Cruises SA (MSC) on the MSC Fantasia. During the cruise, BT fell. The experts concluded that she suffered a permanent functional deficit of 8% linked to residual stiffness of her left upper arm.

BT brought an action against Travelsteps and its insurer, Hiscox Insurance Espana (Hiscox), before the Grasse Tribunal of Grand Instance. The Tribunal found Travelsteps and Hiscox liable for the injuries suffered by BT following her fall on the MSC Fantasia on which she was cruising.

The Tribunal dismissed MSC's application to establish that the dispute should fall under the Athens Convention 1974, limiting the right to claim to a period of two years from the disembarkation of the passenger. This Convention, assuming it to be applicable, only governed maritime carriage contracts, and not maritime cruises which offer other transport services, and which correspond to a tourist package within the meaning of art L 211-2 of the Tourism Code. Therefore the Tribunal held that Travelsteps and Hiscox were subject to the five-year prescription period which had not expired on the day when MSC was added to proceedings.

Travelstops and Hiscox appealed.

Held: The Tribunal's judgment is reversed in its entirety. BT did not provide proof of any non-performance by the service professional provided for in the carriage contract.

There is nothing in the evidence to prove in which way the travel agent or the cruise line failed in the performance of the services which they were bound to provide. Indeed, no defects in the carpet are alleged, such as a notch on which BT could have tripped, no unevenness between the carpet part and the tiling part, no alteration, roughness, or abnormally slippery nature of the tiling around the carpet. Under these conditions, the fall may have originated from an imbalance on the part of BT, and without the intervention of any external element.