Carnival Cruises has lost an Australian court case and has been ordered to pay the medical bills of a passenger who caught Covid-19 on board one of its liners.

An Australian judge ruled the company misled passengers about safety risks, and should have cancelled a voyage by the Ruby Princess in March 2020 before it departed.

Court papers quote: 'I have found that the respondents by their conduct made misleading representations that it was reasonably safe for passengers to embark on the cruise, that the respondents would take reasonable care for the safety of passengers during the cruise, that they would implement increased monitoring, screening and sanitation protocols to protect the health of passengers, and that they would do all things reasonably within their ability to enable the passengers to have a safe, relaxing and pleasurable cruise.'

Some 900 Covid cases and 28 deaths were linked to an outbreak onboard.

Carnival is the world's largest cruise operator and this ruling could open the door to many more compensation claims.

Read the full court paper here