The three major cruise lines have voluntarily posted on their websites the number of serious crimes reported aboard their ships — the first time this type of data has been publicly released.
Royal Caribbean Cruises, Carnival Corp. and Norwegian Cruise Line released the data in response to a Senate bill that would require all cruise lines that use American ports to report crime figures.
The statistics detail the number of suspicious deaths or homicides, assaults, rapes, kidnappings and thefts greater than $10,000 reported by passengers or crewmembers.
“In the spirit of transparency — and to remove all doubt about the low level of crime on cruise ships compared with comparable land?based venues — Carnival Corporation’s North American?based cruise lines have voluntarily agreed to post on our websites all allegations of crime and missing persons in the CVSSA crime reporting categories,” Carnival said in a statement. “It is important to note that these are allegations, the majority never substantiated as actual crimes.”
The company’s four North American?based lines are Carnival Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Seabourn Cruise Line.
In a two-and-a-half-year period, Carnival’s four North American lines carried some 65 million passengers and reported four alleged suspicious passenger deaths, four alleged missing U.S. nationals, 34 alleged rapes, 22 alleged sexual assaults, 26 alleged non-sexual physical assaults, and 16 reports of thefts of over $10,000, according to a report by CruiseCritic.com.
In the same period, Royal Caribbean International carried some 8.8 million passengers and reported two missing U.S. nationals, 23 alleged rapes (13 committed by passengers, 10 by crew), 23 alleged sexual assaults (seven by passengers, 16 by crew), 16 alleged non-sexual physical assaults (seven by passengers, nine by crew), and 23 reports of thefts over $10,000.
In the same time period, Norwegian Cruise Line carried some 3.8 million passengers and reported four alleged rapes (by passengers), six alleged sexual assaults (two by passengers, four by crew), two alleged non-sexual physical assaults (by passengers), and two reports of thefts over $10,000.
The proposed law that prompted the disclosures was introduced by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va. In response to the data, Rockefeller released a statement commending the cruise lines for posting some crime data. “But serious gaps still remain in the information they’re making available. I’m convinced the only way we’re going to make a meaningful difference for consumers is by taking legislative action.”
