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When a ship is beyond the 12-mile limit, jurisdiction usually falls to the laws of the ship's registered country -- so a crime on a ship registered in the Bahamas would fall under Bahamian law. While cruise lines don't advertise their onboard policies or facilities for housing criminals, rest assured that every ship has a plan in place. It may involve house arrest in the offender's cabin with posted guards or actual incarceration in a specific cell.
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In fact, ports on your cruise can range from islands operated by the cruise line and for the enjoyment only of passengers to those that are completely independent of the cruise line. That can make it tough to give blanket statistics about crime in ports. If you’ve never taken a cruise before, you would be forgiven for wondering if it is a safe way to vacation. After all, if you only follow the industry casually, cruising might catch your attention when news stories covering negative events (passenger fights, illnesses aboard, or even passengers going missing) make the headlines. Furthermore, it’s not surprising that Carnival and Royal Caribbean see more incidents given that they also carry more passengers than any other cruise line. After all, you’d expect more total crimes in New York City than in Albany, based on population size alone.
New Bahamas Cruises – Old Ship

A man who went missing from the cruise ship Bahamas Celebration on April 27th has still not been recovered, and search efforts have been suspended. If you embark and disembark on a cruise ship in Miami—or anywhere else in the United States—it makes sense that you might think that the ship is an American vessel. Twenty years ago, a well known and highly respected journalist named Jim DeFede, then employed by the Miami New Times, wrote a series of articles in which he asked the question “Is Mickey A Greedy Corporate Pig? I have been cruising since 2004 and have sailed on dozens of cruises all over the world. As the creator of this website, I want to help families plan fun cruises free of stress and filled with adventure! At a minimum, apply at least the same vigilance about your surroundings and activities as you would at home.
Cruise Ship Sexual Assault Cases on the Rise, Report Shows - Miami New Times
Cruise Ship Sexual Assault Cases on the Rise, Report Shows.
Posted: Fri, 19 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Cruise Ships Itineraries: Departures & Destinations For U.S. Ports
Frankly, the chances of this happening accidentally are almost zero. Railings surround the entire ship and these railings are all at a considerable height. As for your physical health, accidents like slip and falls, and even some drownings have taken place on ships. To counter this, you’ll find measures handrails on every staircase, along with high-grip footing on treads.
Crime on Cruise Ships: Unpacking the Hidden Dangers at Sea
We’re talking about the stories that make national headlines, such as people falling overboard, ships breaking down in the open ocean, storms rocking cruise ships, and even a ship sinking. This quarterly report discloses eight different types of major crimes that have allegedly happened on cruise ships sailing from the United States. Once you’re sure you’re safe, report the incident to the authorities on board the ship. Next, you need to report the crime to the authorities in the port from which you departed. If the crime happened on land during one of the cruise’s scheduled stops, you should report the crime to law enforcement officials local to the area where the crime was committed.
The U.S. Department of Justice keeps an up-to-date list of international crime hotlines.
Carnival’s claims that its fleet is allegedly larger and it carries more guests is false and misleading. In fact, Carnival Cruise Line also has the same number of cruise ships as Royal Caribbean (each own 27 ships). But Royal Caribbean has larger cruise ships with greater capacity and carries more passengers than Carnival at any given time. The data also listed 16 assaults involving severe bodily injury and 14 thefts of over $10,000.
As of the time of publication, no 2023 reports have been published — meaning nine months of reported criminal activity are missing from the site. Norovirus and other stomach bugs are notorious for spreading through schools, offices, and yes, cruise ships. However, you likely have heard of them more due to reporting requirements from the federal government that aren’t in place for other entities. When it comes to being a victim of crime, statistics show that serious crime is relatively rare. That said, our opinion is that many people are safer on a cruise ship than in their hometown. When looking at the entire year, you can get a bigger picture of the trends in crimes reported aboard cruise lines.
Hurricane Season Is Starting – Is It Safe to Cruise?
Most disturbingly, statistics for July 1 through September 30, 2019 reveal a 67% increase in sexual assaults compared to the previous year (35 vs. 21), and a 35% increase since the previous quarter (35 vs. 26). They can travel the world and be at the center of the action out at sea. A cruise vacation is usually a time for relaxation, but with hurricane season in full swing, it’s understandable if you’re feeling a bit anxious and stressed instead.
Most people sign up for a cruise to escape the pressures of daily life. In this post, we’ll tell you how repositioning cruises could work for you. Taking in the ocean views during the day, and watching as the sky turns into a sea of stars at night. You embark on a cruise with high hopes of an adventure and time to unwind and reconnect with loved ones.
Be sure to throw your research a lifebuoy by subscribing to the HeinOnline Blog to receive all our latest research tips, tricks, content news, and more posts just like this one. PathFinder subjects will appear as one of the options to help filter down our search results. Relevant subjects users may want to choose from include Law of the Sea, International Law, and Maritime Law. Hickey, who is representing the passengers suing MSC, says the company needs more rigorous training and screening of employees. “I went right back to the kids’ club and I filed a report with the staff there,” the girl’s grandmother said.

He handles a wide variety of cases from serious injuries to the highest profile sexual assault and cruise crime cases. The fact cruise passengers are clearly more likely to be physically or sexually assaulted on a Carnival Cruise Line ship is obscured by misleading references to the total amount of people who cruise annually. It’s not an effective warning to talk about Carnival carrying 5.5 million passengers a year when the company’s per capita sexual assault rate is higher than the average of most U.S. states.
Cruises can be enjoyable vacation experiences, what with all that unending food and entertainment. But spending days or longer in an isolated vessel in the middle of the ocean is not diverting for all passengers. Sexual assault is the highest reported cruise ship crime, and the numbers are worsening. Many have also accused cruise companies of covering up incidents of sexual assault rather than protecting the crimes' victims.
All told, these statistics show a major crime occurs approximately once every other day across U.S.-focused cruise ships. Under a law known as “The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (CVSSA) of 2010” cruise ships that embark and disembark in the United States must report major crimes to the agency. Cruise ship accidents, injuries, crimes, disappearances, fires, and collisions on the high seas involve issues of maritime law. Jim Walker graduated from law school in 1983 and has been handling maritime law cases for the past thirty-five years.
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