Cruise Ship Crimes by Elijah Baetz

Prepared for a week of fun and relaxation on a lavish cruise, an unfortunate few experience anything but. While these luxury vacations at sea are designed as an escape from the dreary day-to-day lives of its passengers, the most evil elements of the real world occasionally sneak onto the ships with ill-intentioned vacation-goers. Crime, especially sexual assault, runs rampant on cruises. Worse yet, the legal convolution of international waters often leaves victims with long-lasting emotional trauma while perpetrators go unpunished. From 2001 to 2006, 28 people simply disappeared from commercial cruise lines and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened more than 300 cases of crimes committed at sea (Weiner).

Many people have either been on a cruise or have close friends or family who have. The amount of unpunished and unreported crime on cruise ships affects everyone, and it is our responsibility as citizens of a free nation to ensure the safety of all, even those of us traveling abroad. This epidemic of crime on commercial cruise ships is an avoidable problem that vigilance by citizens and legislators can cure. A lack of preventative action now could put you and your loved ones at risk in the future.

Like most leisure and vacation industries, cruises are a relatively new form of entertainment. While maritime history dates back millennia, only within the last two centuries have seafaring vessels opened their decks for relaxation. Beginning in 1844, the Pacific and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) offered excursions for wealthy passengers throughout the Mediterranean (The History of Cruising and Cruise Ships). At this time, P&O was primarily a trading company, but they soon realized the economic viability of leisure excursions. Within the coming years, vast improvements to comfort and safety along with an expanded list of available ports made cruise lines the pinnacle of pre-Great Depression luxury (The History of Cruising and Cruise Ships).

Now relatively affordable and accessible to a wide range of people, cruise lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean are wildly lucrative businesses, with ships often described as “floating cities” equipped with streets, restaurants, bars, casinos, and clubs (Kozlowska). Micky Arison, the CEO of Carnival, is the richest man in Florida with a net worth of 9.7 billion dollars (Micky Arison). However, a darker side of the industry, riddled with scandal, corruption, and bribery, lies hidden beneath the thin façade of a comfortable and safe vacation alternative.

Not only has Carnival been accused of tax evasion, the company is registered in Panama to further avoid governmental investigation by the United States (Walker).

While cruise lines offer a brief reprieve from day to day life, they cannot guarantee a suspension of man’s inhumanity to man, and the increased affordability of cruises has allowed a greater diversity of people to attend. As a wider subset of the population is loaded onto enormous boats to sail for days at a time, the darker facets of society are bound to follow. Crime onboard cruise ships does not occur at a higher rate than on land, but it does occur. This, certainly, is not the cruise line’s fault. Where the issue lies, however, is in the cruise line’s ineffectual, and sometimes underhanded, methods of dealing with such issues (Walker).

Crime onboard commercial cruises has a direct effect on those onboard, as well as their friends and families. To ignore matters of policy regarding these companies is to put future vacation-goers in harm’s way. A large portion of sexual assault on board cruises involves female minors who, due to international laws, can drink alcohol in many port cities (Kozlowska). However, due to the circumstantial nature of cases of sexual assault and the markedly lower international age of consent, these crimes rarely see justice (Kozlowska).

However, the implications of what cruise lines can get away with have wide-reaching implications in international law, including the legal jurisdiction of the United States. The FBI’s jurisdiction is affected by “the location of the vessel, the nationality of the perpetrator or victim, the ownership of the vessel, the points of embarkation and debarkation, and the country in which the vessel is flagged,” as well as the jurisdiction of other nations (Crimes against Americans on Cruise Ships). However, if the crime occurs outside US jurisdiction, it is the responsibility of the local government to investigate. These governments are often stretched thin with domestic problems, rarely investigating matters involving citizens of other nations (Kozlowska). These matters of international and maritime law extend far beyond commercial cruise lines. Private boat owners, maritime companies, oceanic oil operations, and international travelers are all affected by decisions largely influenced by the cruise industry.

In 2016, 4 suspicious deaths, 6 missing persons, 6 thefts of more than 10,000 dollars, 14 assaults with serious injury, and 62 sexual assaults were alleged onboard US cruise ships (Cruise Line Incident Reports). These numbers are likely higher than have been reported (Kozlowska). Many victims, especially of sexual assault, do not report the crimes in the first place. Those that do often find reporting a case through the proper channels difficult onboard cruise ships. Private security is the first line of authority in dealing with crime and, due to their financial ties with the cruise lines, are often hostile to and uncooperative with victims (Walker). Cruise lines also offer significant sums of money to victims to ensure that the crime goes unreported, saving the company’s reputation in the process (Walker).

A prime example of the difficult nature of these cases allegedly occurred on July 29, 2015 on Norwegian Cruise Lines. A 17-year-old American girl, who wishes to remain anonymous, was allegedly raped by a male passenger. After hours of questioning on the ship, followed by medical tests and prescriptions for noxious anti-STD medication, the girl and her family were sent back to New York, where they met with the FBI (Another Teenage Rape Victim). Due to the “he-said, she-said” nature of the case and the FBI’s lack of jurisdiction in Europe, the family was told that no legal action would be taken against the perpetrator.

While these reports have never been confirmed or denied by the FBI or Norwegian Cruise Lines, the fact remains that incidents like this are entirely possible. Additionally, there is no legislation that requires cruise lines to release incident reports to the FBI if the cruise doesn’t dock in US territory, adding another level of complexity to the already convoluted situation surrounding international cruises (Another Teenage Rape Victim).

The adversarial and callous nature of cruise lines in the face of tragic circumstances is once again evident in the case of Larry and Christy Hammer. On April 10^th, 2016, Larry and Christy’s cabin onboard a ship owned by International Explorations caught fire, filling their room with poisonous smoke and killing them both within minutes. Their family has not received official times of death and were forced to hire private investigators to uncover the circumstances of their loved ones’ deaths (Lankford and Malott).

It has been discovered that the power-strips in the cabin lacked surge protection and that there were no smoke detectors on board. Security footage revealed that crew members took nearly twenty minutes to rescue the couple, despite strict regulations on emergency training for employees. The ship had been deemed safe to sail despite these glaring breeches of safety protocol and was again declared safe to sail less than a day after the fire occurred, despite the cause of the fire having not yet been determined. Despite the company’s registration in the United States, International Explorations has taken no legal responsibility in the case and has offered no compensation for the tragedy (Lankford and Malott).

Due to the complex nature of crime on board cruise ships and the convolution of international maritime law, this criminal epidemic is a difficult problem with no clear or easy solution. While extensive background checks for potential cruise customers as well as increased isolation for passengers in port cities would vastly improve overall safety, these reforms would dramatically reduce the volume of passengers and likely put cruise companies out of business

due to plummeting profits. Similar solutions would be difficult to mandate and enforce due to

cruise lines’ foreign registration.

While security forces are currently present on cruises, their salaries come directly from the cruise line, and are frequently biased against, and occasionally hostile toward, victims (Weiner). A potential solution for this social epidemic would be to have competent and well-trained security forces on all cruise ships, funded by a neutral third party. An international cooperation between port countries and the United States would be able to regulate such a complex matter. Such an organization would also have jurisdiction in every place necessary to conduct a comprehensive investigation.

In addition, the screening process for cruise line employees should be conducted by a neutral third party and made more extensive via federal law. Presently, the background check required by cruise lines consists only of a certificate ensuring that they are not criminals

provided by the employee’s home country (Walker). Many of these countries have far less sophisticated crime-reporting systems than the United States, and these certificates have proven

to be easily forgeable (“Crime on Cruise Ships”).

In the face of immense public pressure, recent developments in federal law have extended the reach of the United States in the investigation of crime committed against American citizens on cruises. However, the FBI still does not have explicit jurisdiction in other countries and cannot infringe on the rights of other nations in their pursuit of foreign criminals (“Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010; Implementation”). Current federal law can only improve passengers’ ability to report crime through the proper channels by stationing American authorities onboard. The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (CVSSA) improved reporting standards on cruises and made steps in the right direction toward passenger safety, but such laws have proven to be difficult to enforce on vessels in international waters (“Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010; Implementation”).

Since criminal investigations are primarily left up to underfunded and understaffed governments throughout the Caribbean, another possible solution to this epidemic is to improve these investigations (“Cruise Line Incident Reports”). This solution would be ideal, but would take by far the most time, money, and effort. Raising the standard of living in port countries would decrease crime and take pressure off their governments, allowing for more resources to be allocated to international investigation. In an ideal world, each country would work together to bring every perpetrator to justice, aided by well-trained crew members and sophisticated on-board security. However, cruise lines must make a profit and not all governments are well enough equipped to handle a complex international investigation.

Albert Camus, French-Algerian novelist and philosopher, believed strongly that what makes us human is our paradoxical struggle to find meaning in a meaningless universe (Simpson). His fundamental question of whether to have coffee or to commit suicide is a shocking and revealing representation of his philosophy, which has become known as Absurdism. This absurd paradox surrounds us every day, and those that embrace it are forced to constantly evaluate their actions and the motives behind them (Simpson). The lack of accountability within the cruise industry and subsequent tragedies are no exception to the permeation of the Absurd into daily life. Camus, although a dreary and depressive person throughout his life, would certainly not have rejoiced in seeing the pain of those suffering on cruises (Aronson). On the contrary, Camus’ extensive political activism implies that the author would be a strong advocate of cruise law reform.

However, Camus would be able to find a silver lining to the epidemic: that people have begun to challenge authority and to effect change in society. These people are fighting for justice in a random and chaotic universe, thereby accepting the absurd without succumbing to the helplessness it implies. He would be glad that people are angry about the state of the world and

want to change it, just as he did in his politically active and turbulent youth.

There is a high probability that you or a loved one will go on a cruise and be directly affected by the maritime jurisdiction of the United States. Furthermore, the laws governing cruise lines affect international relations and maritime law, which have enormous implications in the daily lives of everyone on the planet.

These wide-reaching effects permeate into all aspects of life, including international trade and private maritime leisure activities (Walker). It is our responsibility as citizens of a democracy to ensure the safety of all, even those travelling abroad. Therefore, the burden of this social epidemic falls on us all to cure, to petition our lawmakers and affect change in our society.

Works Cited

Aronson, Ronald. “Albert Camus.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 10 Apr. 2017, plato.stanford.edu/entries/camus/.

“Another Teenage Rape Victim.” Another Teenage Rape Victim, International Cruise Victims, www.internationalcruisevictims.org/LatestMemberStories/Another_Teenage_Rape_Victim.html

“Crimes against Americans on Cruise Ships.” FBI, FBI, 27 Mar. 2007, www.archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/testimony/crimes-against-americans-on-cruise-ships.

“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.

Kozlowska, Hanna. “Why Cruise Ships Have a Sexual Assault Problem.” Quartz, Quartz, 6 July 2017, www.qz.com/1022245/why-cruise-ships-have-a-sexual-assault-problem/.

Malot, Jill, and Kelley Lankford. “Larry and Kristi Hammer.” Larry and Kristi Hammer, www.internationalcruisevictims.org/LatestMemberStories/Larry_and_Kristi_Hammer.html

“Micky Arison.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, www.forbes.com/profile/micky_arison/.

Simpson, David. “Camus.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/camus/.

“The History of Cruising and Cruise Ships.” Traveling with the jones RSS, www.travelingwiththejones.com/2014/06/26/the-history-of-cruising-and-cruise-ships/.

Walker, Jim. “Cruise Crime Cover Up: Cruise Lines Report Only Small Fraction of Crimes to the Public.” Cruise Law News, Walker and O’Neill Maritime Lawyers, 27 Feb. 2014, www.cruiselawnews.com/2014/02/articles/crime/cruise-crime-cover-up-cruise-lines-report-only-small-fraction-of-crimes-to-the-public/.

Walker, Jim. “Do Cruise Lines Conduct Background Checks of Crew Members?” Cruise Law News. Walker and O’Neill Maritime Lawyers, 9 June 2013, www.cruiselawnews.com/2013/06/articles/rape-1/do-cruise-lines-conduct-background-checks-of-crews-members/.

Weiner, Eric. “Cruise Ship Crimes in International Waters.” NPR, NPR, 8 Mar. 2006, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5251675