Sex, murder, crime – the cruise industry exposed

In the second of our series, former travel agent David Duncan exposes the realities of life on high seas.

Duncan, a travel agent of 20 years, spent three months working on a Carnival ship, selling holiday memberships to the passengers onboard.

He has since written a book, EXPOSED – The Cruise Industry, published by Barnes and Noble (www.bn.com)

Here’s what he has to say on the subject of cruise crime:

"During the period between 1993 and 2005 the Cruise Lines reported 31 million passengers had taken a cruise. This year about 12 million North Americans will take a cruise vacation in one year alone. The growth is nothing but spectacular. Meanwhile, the Cruise Lines continue to report a low level of crime at sea with claims it’s safer than your home town. The difference is you are not sharing a house with every person in your home town.

The 15 largest Cruise Lines reported during the same period 149 sexual assaults, four robberies and a few people falling overboard. That’s right, only four robberies in 12 years.

One of the problems is that ships are governed under International Law and any investigation of crime is under the jurisdiction of the Cruise Lines, who have good reason to hide any threats to their business. The US Congress is pushing for a Maritime Police Force on the ships, but the lines are fighting this with every tool at their wealthy disposal. They will never let this happen.

Law suits are extremely difficult because the crime occurs on foreign registered ships with no jurisdiction for USA courts. Tracking evidence is onerous because crew and staff facing convictions will do anything they can to hide or tamper with evidence.

There is a report of a sexual attack on a Royal Caribbean vessel where a 38-year-old woman reported the incident to security. She was told to return to her cabin and gather evidence. She and her roommate had to face the crime scene as they collected up bed sheets and her clothes into plastic bags. She was told later there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute her attacker.

Most crime scenes are contaminated with no real Law Enforcement onboard the ships. Once at sea Admiralty Law applies, which means it is up to the Captain to investigate or not as he sees fit. The Cruise Lines employ young Security Officers from India or hire Filipinos with only minimal training. They would never get involved in a true crime or manhandle a passenger, which would surely mean termination and being sent home to your third world country. Crimes reported to the FBI include rapes by officers, crew or other passengers. Sexual assault is the most common type of crime. The Cruise Lines claim getting sexually assaulted is the same statistical chance as being struck by lightning.

What else would they say?
Cruise lines are not required to reveal crime statistics to the travelling public. They are required to report serious crimes to the FBI, which they normally do at the Captain’s discretion. Because of the increase in complaints, the FBI, the Coast Guard and the Cruise Lines all agreed in 2007 to standardize protocols for reporting crimes at sea. These reports are not mandatory though and include kidnappings, homicide, suspicious deaths, assaults, and theft greater than $10,000. Many of the crimes at sea are never reported or investigated."