Forbes Asks: Is Cruise Ship Crime Still Climbing?

For years cruise ship travelers and the general public had no idea exactly how much crime was being committed aboard cruise ships. This was because regulations governing the reporting of cruise crime allowed cruise companies to put off reporting the incidences almost indefinitely.

But changes to the regulations have given cruise passengers a truer look at the rate of crime aboard the ships, and the results were stark: the rate of cruise ship sexual assault far outpaces the rate of all other crimes combined.

Last month magazine Forbes asked if cruise crime continues to rise. The piece cites a quarterly report which showed that cruise ship sexual assault in the third quarter of 2019 had increased 35% from the second quarter of 2019, and represented a 67% increase over the same period in 2018. The total reported sexual assaults in the third quarter of 2019 were 35. 

Just as disturbing as the number of sexual assaults was the proportion that sexual assault represented of total reported crimes. Forbes reports that there were a total of 46 total crimes reported, meaning that sexual assault represented approximately 76% of all reported crimes aboard cruise ships.

Though many cruise lines are included in the reporting, Carnival was far and away the worst offender. 20 of the 35 sexual assaults were reported as having occurred aboard Carnival cruise ships.