Introduction
Picture yourself laying by the pool, drink in hand, not a
care in the world. You hear the music stop and the captain come on over the
intercom. He calmly tells everyone to go back to their rooms, someone has “fallen”
overboard. You look around, the dancing and laughing has stopped, everyone’s
face shows complete shock. Everyone quietly goes back to their rooms; no one is
close to the balconies. You sit in your room anxiously waiting for more news of
the poor person who has “fallen”. When you get back home you realize you have
not heard a single peep of anyone falling overboard on a cruise ship. You then
realize crime on cruise ship is more common than you would have thought and
most of the time is covered up.
History
Crimes on cruise ships have probably been around since the
beginning of cruising. In 2010, on Carnival Cruise alone there were two
suspicious deaths and 16 total crimes (“Cruise Line Incident Reports”). In 2013,
it dropped to 14 crimes reported. As of 2016, crime shot up to 40 crimes reported,
most being sexual assaults (1). 27 of the 40 crimes reported on Carnival
Cruises were sexual assaults (1).
Social
Effects/Examples
In April of 2015, a married couple was found dead in their
cabin room aboard Holland American Line (HAL) cruise ship (Walker). The cruise,
Ryndam, took off from Tampa, Florida, for a 2-week cruise across the Caribbean
(1). The two passengers were in their 50s and were from Cleveland, Ohio (1). The
couple was discovered after the crew had not seen them after a few days (1).
The police said there was some blood found in the room, but they did not know
what was used to kill them or why they were killed (1). The FBI took over the
investigation and said that it could be a possible murder-suicide (1). Even
though the FBI had not fully investigated and determined the cause of death,
HAL’s PR department came out and said that it was in fact a murder-suicide (1).
This left many people to believe that the man murdered his wife and then killed
himself (1). This effects their community because the people they lived with
and by had to reconsider how they saw and how they felt about the husband (1).
This assumption effects how they saw their relationship and makes them question
what their marriage was and if she was trying to reach out for help and no one
noticed (1).
Just last year, in 2016, a mother of four fell overboard
from on the railing of the Carnival Liberty (Baker). Samantha Broberg, 33, fell
overboard around 2 a.m. she was on a four-day cruise from Galveston to Mexico
(1). She was not reported missing until noon on Saturday, and the Carnival
Liberty did not report she was missing to the U.S. Coast Guard until around 5
p.m. after a boat wide search for Broberg (1). Surveillance video from the
Liberty showed Broberg falling off of the railing from the 10th
deck, and they are not certain if she was intoxicated or not (1). A woman that
was on the Carnival Liberty when the incident happened said that they found a
bloody knife and some blood stains on the 10th deck (1). She took a
picture of the alleged blood stain and posted it on her Twitter account, which
caused Carnival representative said that the picture was not blood, in fact
there was no blood or knife found on the scene (1). The spokesperson for
Carnival said they do not suspect any foul play was involved (1). The FBI
called off their search for Broberg at around 8:15 p.m. on Sunday after 20
hours of search (1). The FBI said they searched 4,300 square miles of the Gulf
of Mexico and did not find anything (1).
In May of 2016, two crew members were involved in an onboard
crime on the Celebrity Constellation (Walker). A 31-year-old Jamaican man was
arrested in Italy after trying to stab a 38-year-old Indian head chef with a
large knife (1). The Jamaican, the cook, stabbed the head chef in the stomach
which was so serious they had to seek emergency medical care at the Salerno
hospital where the chef was in critical condition (1). According to the report,
when the cook came in for his 5 a.m. shift he was intoxicated and got offended
by the chef’s instructions (1). This affects the society around it because when
a crew member creates serious bodily injury to another crew member it makes the
ship unseaworthy (1). Because it is unseaworthy, this makes it so that the
company is losing money and the people who had had booked their cruise and were
going to be next of that boat no longer get to go on their relaxing vacation (1).
Just a couple of months ago in April of 2017, a man, Rico
Scott, and his new wife, Angelijica Scott, were on their honeymoon cruise on
the Carnival Liberty (“Reco Scott Missing Passenger…”). They had a cabin on the ninth floor with a
beautiful balcony (1). According to a witness, they observed Rico jumping from
his balcony on the ninth floor (1). Although his death is still being
investigated, it has not been ruled a suicide, and they have not yet determined
if foul play was involved (1). They have not ruled it a suicide because it
could have been an accident (1). The United States Coast guard looked for Rico
for 29 hours over 1,064 square miles; unfortunately, he was never found (1).
This again effects Carnival’s business because although this story was not as
big of a story as Samantha Broberg, the Texas mother who fell overboard after
sitting on the railing, people who really look into everything before going on
vacation are even more hesitant (1). If this case is ruled that there was foul
play involved, it will make the people who are hesitant about cruises and ships
never want to go on a cruise, not only would that effect Carnival but all other
cruise lines as well (1).
In the fall of 2015, a 15-year-old girl was coming out of
Carnival Breeze’s onboard teen club, Club 02, to get ice cream on another floor
(Lipscomb). She said that there was a
group of five drunk men who had been kicked out of the alcohol-free teens club
when they were told they were too old (1). The girl said that the drunk men
then pushed her into the elevator and dragged her all of the way down the hall
into one of the men’s cabins where she was forced to preform sexual acts (1).
The girls’ mother has filed a lawsuit against Carnival cruises since then (1).
When looking into the surveillance video from that night, they can see the men
dragging the 15-year-old girl down the hallway and into the cabin room (1). According
to the lawsuit, they are saying that the cruise line is negligent because the
cruise did not provide the safe and comfortable environment that passengers
assume that they when they board a cruise ship (1). The mother has said that
Carnival should better monitor their surveillance cameras to stop things like
rape onboard their cruise line (1). Carnival has one of the most reported
crimes at sea and has one of the largest numbers for sex crimes while at sea
(1). This again effects the way that people see Carnival because they have done
nothing to make the men pay for what they did to a 15-year-old girl who is more
than traumatized (1). Crimes on cruise ships happen every day, most of which are
not reported.
Solutions
Cruise ship crimes will always
be a problem, just like crimes on land. We have many solutions to help lower
the amount of crimes committed on a cruise that are reported to the FBI. In
2014, legislative passed a law that requires all serious crimes to be reported
to the cruise (Republic). The Federal Bureau of Investigation will make it so
that the victim of the crime can get in direct contact with a federal agent
while on the ship (1). Rep. Doris Matsui sponsors crime ship safety in
legislation, she wants justice to be brought to criminals on the high seas (1).
In 2016, Matsui introduced an additional cruise ship safety provision into
Congress (1). The Cruise Passenger Protection Act will make it so that cruises
have a four-hour time limit to report crimes to the FBI (1). The Cruise
Passenger Protection Act (CPPA) would also allow victims access to the
surveillance from on the ship (1). About
three years ago if you were to ask the FBI what they were to do if someone got
raped on a cruise ship, they would have said they would do nothing, but now
with the CPPA they are starting to do something (1).
Something that would help find a solution to all of the
crimes would be if all of the cruise lines gave out their statistics on how
many crimes do happened and how many are alleged to have happened. According to
Jim Walker, a Miami attorney devoted to helping victims of cruise ship crimes
get justice, the security onboard is private security and are only there to
patrol the ship (Cerullo). In one case, someone got assaulted by one of the
hired security guards, and this person then had to report it to the security
department who were not driven to do anything (1). “When American citizens
board a cruise ship, they expect a peaceful escape,” Rep. Poe explained; “But
the reality is that crime does not disappear simply because people are on
vacation” (Ogintz).
This quote really puts into perspective of vacation and how just because you
are on vacation doesn’t mean you could be completely unaware of the risk.
The CPPA could possibly not work because there would have to
be a consequence if the cruise ship does not report the crime within four
hours, like getting fined a large amount of money. Another problem with the
CPPA would be the cruise lines having to hire more people to constantly be
watching the surveillance cameras. People should also be more aware of the
amount of crimes that go on the cruise line they are looking at; there could be
a link on its website about it or something of that nature.
Camus
and Absurdity
Camus wrote absurd fiction, “It also looks at the
range of human responses to meaninglessness, including escapism, religiosity,
and the conscious construction of a personal purpose” (“Absurdist Fiction”). Camus also grew up in a very poor family;
after his father died in World War I, his mother, older brother, and himself
moved into a 3-bedroom apartment with no running water, no bathrooms, and no
electricity (Simpson). Growing up like this Camus would have thought that
people spending thousands of dollars to go on a cruise would be absurd (1). At
the same time, Camus thought that suicide was absurd and believed that people
should live their lives to the fullest (1). Because he believed that people
should live life to the fullest, he would think it is amazing people are going
on these cruises and creating new experiences and memories (1). His would think
that people are going on these cruises and having fun, and people are killing
and dying on these cruises would be absurd (1). To Camus, the thought that
someone would kill themselves alone is absurd but, people killing themselves on
a ship that was designed to have fun would be ridiculous (1).
While in college, Camus was contributing
articles to Sud, a monthly literary newspaper/magazine (1). While writing these
articles he was looking forward to a career in journalism (1). Because of his
journalism background, Camus would have appreciated the journalist who did
write about theses cruise ship crimes (1). He would be the journalist to dig
deep enough to find more information about these crimes (1). He would have
thought it is absurd that the government holds back so much information about
these crimes and how many are really committed (1). In his college days, Camus
would have been the journalist to find out all of the information that people
want to know, and he say everything everyone else is too afraid to find out or
to say (1).
Conclusion
The
amount of suspicious deaths on cruise ships is the same as the crime in Miami,
Florida, which is about 19 for every 100,000 people (How Safe Is Your…). The
number for rapes/sexual assaults is much higher, which is about 60 people for
every 100,00 people (1). This number is higher than in Detroit, Michigan, by
about 5 people which is a huge number especially for a city known for crime
(1). These numbers were from 2014 and have gone up significantly in the last 3
years, and some crimes do not get reported to cruise line. If you were on a
cruise, would you really be able to lie next to the pool without a care in the
world? The number of crimes on cruises keeps going up, and most people are not
caring enough to do anything about it.
Works
Cited
“Absurdist Fiction.” (161 Books), Goodreads Inc, www.goodreads.com/list/show/24776.Absurdist_Fiction.
Baker,
K.C. “FBI Investigates Death of Texas Mom Who Went Overboard on Carnival Cruise
Ship.” PEOPLE.com, Time Inc, 16 May 2016,
people.com/celebrity/fbi-investigates-death-of-texas-mom-who-went-overboard-on-carnival-cruise-ship/.
Accessed 20 July 2017.
Cerullo,
Megan. “Sexual Assault Victims on Cruise Ships Are Often Minors.” NY
Daily News, 30 June 2017,
“Cruise
Line Incident Reports.” US Department of Transportation, United
States Department of Transportation, 12 Nov. 2015, www.transportation.gov/mission/safety/cruise-line-incident-reports.
Accessed 25 July 2017.
“How
Safe Is Your Cruise? Crime on Cruise Ships Compared to U.S. Cities.” Cruzely.com
| Everything Cruising, Laisman Publishing, 2 Dec. 2016,
www.cruzely.com/how-safe-is-your-cruise-crime-on-cruise-ships-compared-to-u-s-cities/.
Lipscomb,
Jessica. “Mom Sues Carnival After Daughter Is Raped Outside Ship's Teen Club.”Miami
New Times, 28 Apr. 2017,
www.miaminewtimes.com/news/mom-sues-carnival-after-daughter-is-raped-outside-ships-teen-club-9055829.
Accessed 25 July 2017.
Ogintz,
Eileen. “Congress Introduces Legislation to Protect Cruisers' Safety,
Rights.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 28 Apr. 2017,
www.foxnews.com/travel/2017/04/28/congress-introduces-legislation-to-protect-cruisers-safety-rights.html.
“Reco
Scott Missing Passenger Cruise Ship Death Carnival Carnival Liberty.” Cruise
Ship Deaths, 7 Apr. 2017,
www.cruiseshipdeaths.com/2017/04/07/reco-scott-missing-passenger-cruise-ship-death-carnival-carnival-liberty/.
Accessed 25 July 2017.
Republic,
Robert Anglen The Arizona. “Travelers Can Now Get 1st Comprehensive Reports of
Cruise-Ship Crime.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information
Network, 7 Oct. 2016,
Simpson,
David. “Albert Camus (1913—1960).” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
DePaul University , www.iep.utm.edu/camus/#H1.
Walker, Jim. “Police
Arrest Cook for Attempted Murder of Chef on Celebrity Constellation.” Cruise
Law News, Jim Walker, 31 May 2016, www.cruiselawnews.com/2016/05/articles/crime/police-arrest-cook-for-attempted-murder-of-chef-on-celebrity-constellation/.
Accessed 24 July 2017
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