As part of Royal Caribbean's agreement with a congressional hearing last week, crime data aboard its cruise ships, broken down by quarter, has been posted to the official Royal Caribbean website.
The data, which goes back to October 2010, is posted following a promise by Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein that he and his colleagues at Carnival Corp and Norwegian Cruise Line, will post their crime data voluntarily.
Royal Caribbean is posted the total number of incidents that were reported by passengers or crew in each category that is specified in the 2010 Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act. Those include sexual assault, theft greater than $10,000, tampering with the vessel, assault with serious injuries, kidnapping, missing U.S. nationals, suspicious death or homicide. The cruise lines are reporting rapes and other sexual assaults in two separate categories, though the government uses only a single category.
As an example, between April 1 and June 30, 2013, there 6 total crimes reported on Royal Caribbean ships.
- Theft of more than $10,000 (3 by crew, 1 unidentified)
- Rape (1 by crew, 1 by passenger)
“With the growing criticism about how effectively the government website is communicating our onboard rates, it just made good sense to try and take the argument out of the realm of ‘Gee, we wish we knew’ and really share very openly what the incident rates are,” said Gary Bald, a senior vice president at Royal Caribbean Cruises who oversees safety and security.
It is important to note that the statistics provided by Royal Caribbean are only allegations, not proven crimes. Allegations alone are not proof that the incident actually occurred.
