A Royal Caribbean guest is suing the cruise line and its former crew member, alleging she was filmed by a hidden camera in her stateroom bathroom.
The class action lawsuit was filmed on behalf of the guest in the Southern District of Florida this Tuesday, as first reported by the Miami Herald.
The guest was only identified as Jane Doe, but the lawsuit was also filed on behalf of "all other similarly situated passengers."
In August, former crew member Arvin Joseph Mirasol was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
He was found guilty of filming guests, including children, with hidden cameras while they were naked, in addition to hiding under cabin beds on Symphony of the Seas.
Federal authorities found images of women and children undressing on his electronic devices, "numerous videos of naked females," as well as child sexual abuse material.
During a post-Miranda interview, Mirasol admitted to pleasuring himself while watching the videos. He told authorities he "wants to control it...but can't."
Mirasol was also charged with six pending counts of video voyeurism in Florida state court after the Broward Sheriff’s Office interviewed him.
According to the lawsuit, Mirasol captured images of Doe "while undressed and engaging in private activities" during a February cruise.
The guest, Jane Doe, also alleges that Mirasol uploaded images of her to the Internet, including the dark web.
“Upon information and belief, Mirasol transmitted and/or uploaded images of the Plaintiff while undressed and engaging in private activities, to third parties and/or to the world wide web, including, but not limited to, the dark web, without Plaintiff’s prior knowledge or consent,” the complaint states.
As a result, she has suffered extreme emotional distress, including physical symptoms like insomnia and dizziness.
The lawsuit places the blame on Royal Caribbean for failing to provide sufficient security, training, or supervision to prevent sexual assaults.
The cruise line did not warn guests about such crimes and allegedly did not notify passengers who stayed in cabins served by Mirasol.
According to the lawsuit, there may be up to 960 impacted passengers, who stayed on Symphony of the Seas between December 1st, 2023, and February 26th, 2024.
Royal Caribbean “knew or should have known sexual assaults were reasonably foreseeable considering the prevalence of sexual assaults aboard RCCL’s cruise ships," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit referenced a 2023 incident on Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas in which passenger Jeremy Froias installed a hidden camera on a 7-night sailing from Miami, Florida.
Froias was arrested after placing a hidden WiFi camera in the public bathroom between the FlowRider and a bar.
His camera, which was up for 24 hours before security removed it, allegedly depicted more than 150 individuals in various states of undress, including minors as young as four and five years old.
The number of sexual assaults onboard cruise ships rose in 2023, according to the US Department of Transportation.
Onboard cruise ships embarking and disembarking in the United States, 131 sex crimes were reported to the FBI in 2023.
This is a significant increase from 2022, which saw 87 alleged sexual assaults.
However, the actual numbers could be even higher.
According to the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, more than two out of three of all sexual assaults are never reported.
Of these alleged sex crimes in 2023, 75% were committed by cruise ship passengers (98 in total), and only 27 crimes were committed by crew members. Six of the incidents had an "unknown" perpetrator.
Jason Margulies, an attorney with Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, P.A., in Miami Florida, is representing the plaintiff in this case.
Margulies addressed the allegations that Royal Caribbean hasn't been informing affected guests who sailed on Symphony of the Seas.
“If you're a company that's looking out for the best interest of your passengers, and aren't acting in your own financial interests, then you would certainly be telling all these people that they could be potential victims, right?"
"I mean, that's the humane thing to do.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, including punitive damages, and a jury trial.
Royal Caribbean emailed a statement to USA TODAY: “The safety and privacy of our guests is our highest priority, and we have zero tolerance for this behavior."
“We immediately reported this case to law enforcement and terminated the crew member. As this is pending litigation, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
