Tonight on INSIDE EDITION

[Aunu]

Tonight on the TV show Inside Edition they are doing a segment about women on cruise ships

 

"In the next three years nearly 30 million Americans will take a cruise vacation. But for female passengers, there may be more onboard action than just sun and swimming. Inside Edition has a hidden camera investigation about a danger on the seas that most cruise passengers are not aware of."

[Host Caroline]

I don't usually watch that but might.. unfortunately I often think they go for the "sensational" side of a story and not the real thing so this should be interesting.... I've been on over 15 cruises with women friends and 20+ with my housemate and have friends in Britain, Jamaica etc. that are former crew -- we've talked about this sort of stuff a lot -- most were bar staff so they really see it all. I've never personally known anyone who had a problem except in one instance and to be honest with you, the chick was, well, to put it delicately, so obviously "on the prowl" and when things didn't go her way she put up quite a sensational show... :rolleyes:

[Bequia]

From the Inside Edition website:

 

An Inside Edition investigation has found dozens of cases alleging sexual assault against female passengers by ship employees, including rape, molestation, and fondling, despite the fact that cruise lines have strict guidelines and policies in place regarding employee fraternization with passengers.

 

“We get a call once every two weeks from someone who’s been victimized on a ship,” Miami attorney Jim Walker tells Inside Edition. He says cruise lines often try to make sexual assault claims disappear, even offering free cruises to the victims.

 

Walker says his firm alone has handled more than 40 lawsuits in the past five years involving claims of sexual assault by crew members against passengers on major cruise lines, including Carnival Cruises, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines. He tells Inside Edition that passengers should really have a heightened sense of security on a cruise ship.

 

Inside Edition interviewed a woman who agreed to appear on camera only under the condition that her name not be revealed in the report. She says during a three-day cruise, a ship bartender who had been flirting with her and her friends, slipped a powerful date-rape drug into her drink when she was sitting alone at the bar.

 

“He got me to a remote place, a bathroom, but not a public bathroom…and he assaulted me. He sexually assaulted me,” she says.

The woman sued and, as part of her settlement, she is prohibited from disclosing the name of the cruise line or the terms of the settlement.

She’s speaking out for the first time to Inside Edition to warn women that a dream vacation can easily turn into a nightmare if female passengers aren’t cautious. “Initially, I didn’t want to live. When you go through trauma like this, it hits you pretty hard. What happened to me was wrong,” she says.

 

A security expert for the cruise industry, who has worked on a number of large cruise ships where it was part of his job to investigate sexual assaults, spoke to Inside Edition on the condition that he not be identified in the report. He agrees that cruise lines try to pacify some alleged victims with offers of free perks. “An upgrade, another cabin, champagne, wine, possibly a free cruise…anything to appease her, anything to make her happy, anything to make it go away,” he says.

He claims many crew members try to see how far they can go with the female passengers. “It’s a running joke [amongst cruise employees] to see who can score with a passenger.” He continues, “If there are single women on the ship they’re being targeted from the minute they came on the gangway.”

 

Inside Edition sent two female producers on two Royal Caribbean cruise ships, Empress of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas. In both cases, they were repeatedly subjected to lewd come-ons and propositioned by crew members for dates. One crew member even requested a secret rendezvous in a producer’s cabin. Another crew member told a producer he’s, “Looking for the right lady to give her [his daughter] a brother,” and propositioned her by asking, “Is it a possibility?”

 

Royal Caribbean, in a statement released to Inside Edition, said “Royal Caribbean International’s highest priority is to ensure the safety and security of all our guests and crew members. Our company maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy on crime, and all allegations are immediately reported to law enforcement officials. Our company also maintains strict policies that prohibit fraternization with guests.”

 

http://www.insideedition.com/ourstories/reports/story.aspx?storyid=46

[Nitemare]

From the Inside Edition website:

 

 

“We get a call once every two weeks from someone who’s been victimized on a ship,” Miami attorney Jim Walker tells Inside Edition. He says cruise lines often try to make sexual assault claims disappear, even offering free cruises to the victims.

One every two weeks is terrible, but how many women cruise each week out of US ports? 10,000? 25,000? More?

 

And 40 lawsuits in 5 years when there have been 130 calls (5 years x every other week), suggests the total may be lower.

 

Again, any assault is a horrible thing. But this is sensationalism at it's worst/best, but that's what gets ratings.

[Bequia]

Bottomline is that is shouldn't happen at all.

[momofmeg]

Back in 2000 my daughter's friend,( on our Fascination, southern caribbean cruise out of San Juan) had a crush on our assitant waiter-she made plans to go to the beach with him in Martinique-which they did-the next thing we knew-he was no longer our assistant waiter and was up working in the Lido restuarant the rest of the cruise.

 

I was afraid he may even had been fired once the cruise was over. I felt bad-this was a nice decent 23 year old kid and this girl had a boyfriend at home-so she was not really interested in him.

 

So I DO know the cruiselines frown on this and they DO discipline their employees who break the rules. At least they did on Carnival Fascination that cruise.

[Nitemare]

Bottomline is that is shouldn't happen at all.

Well duh, Mean people suck, everyone should love kittens, and no one should go hungry, but we don't live in a Utopia, and Cruising is safer than driving to the grocery store. The point is, the show is Sensationalistic, with a goal of insipiring unnecessary fear in people.

[Bequia]

The point is, the show is Sensationalistic, with a goal of insipiring unnecessary fear in people.

 

self deleted...not worth it :rolleyes:

[lisiamc]

The point is, the show is Sensationalistic, with a goal of insipiring unnecessary fear in people.

 

These shows irritate me because the usual line is that women should be afraid, should not travel anywhere without a man, should stay home, etc. It always strikes me as a "Women, know your place!" and "Men, protect your women by keeping them at home!" sort of thing. I exaggerate, but I do hear a hint of that sometimes.

 

I might feel better if occasionally there was a show that concentrated on what awful things might happen to a man travelling without a woman, but somehow I think most men would just shrug it off.

 

I don't mean to say that women don't get assaulted by crew members sometimes - life is never completely risk-free - but the breathless way it's sensationalised just annoys me.

 

Lisa

[samtig]

Just a reminder that women cannot drop their guard anywhere, even on a cruise. Also a reminder if we get an uneasy feeling, it's usually correct & should be reported immediately. We have a tendency to think we are imagining or misinterpreting situations because we want to believe the best in people. There are weird people everywhere!

[eman30342]

I don't usually watch that but might.. unfortunately I often think they go for the "sensational" side of a story and not the real thing so this should be interesting.... I've been on over 15 cruises with women friends and 20+ with my housemate and have friends in Britain, Jamaica etc. that are former crew -- we've talked about this sort of stuff a lot -- most were bar staff so they really see it all. I've never personally known anyone who had a problem except in one instance and to be honest with you, the chick was, well, to put it delicately, so obviously "on the prowl" and when things didn't go her way she put up quite a sensational show... :rolleyes:

Sorry you are way out of bounds...there is NO sensational side to rape!

 

Unfortunately since many of these crimes occur in international waters or outside of the territorial waters of the United States there are no uniform crime statistics (UCR) on how many times this occurs.

 

It would also be near impossible to get accurate numbers from a victimization study since these are vacations and there is no way of getting victim addresses for survey.

 

A similar article ran in the New York Times about two years ago.

 

Sad but even on a vacation you can be a crime victim.

 

By the way most victims of sexual assualt don't share thier ordeal. You may go on 1500 cruises and never hear of one....but does that mean it didn't happen?

[peggyy]

Of course women can never drop their guard but, as a solo cruiser, I feel much safer on a cruiseship than I can imagine anywhere else. Several comments: My understanding of the date rape drug is that you have no recollection. Why did this woman remember exactly what and where this alleged molestation took place? What were the reporters from Inside Edition doing? Were they just sitting there enjoying thier drinks and were accosted. I doubt it. I'm reasonably sure they were hotties and looking for a story. I agree with nitemare, total sensationalism.

 

I'm sure there are such things happening on cruise ships but I'll still take my chances alone on the high seas than alone in town on one of the islands or anywhere else for that matter.