Woman Sues Following Rape on Carnival Cruise Ship

In late February 2014, Dana Hastings was a passenger on board a Carnival Cruise ship together with her two children, Ramsey and Trey. They were all sharing a cabin as the children were minors.

The ship was sailing off the coast of Florida when Hastings claims that an employee of the cruise ship, who she believes was the pit boss of the onboard casino, followed her back to her cabin and sexually assaulted or raped her. Her two children were also present in the cabin at the time and were witness to the event.

Hastings has now filed a federal lawsuit against the cruise line employee in Miami Federal Court. Tellingly, she also claims that she reported the incident soon after it happened, but that on board security officers insisted that she confirm in writing that she would not go ahead and press charges against her supposed attacker.

In the lawsuit, Hastings states that there are an alarming number of both rape and other sexual assaults onboard Carnival Cruise ships, yet the company does nothing to prevent their crew members from engaging in this antisocial type of behavior. She claims that the cruise lines do not provide additional security for passengers nor do they provide training or supervision of their staff. In addition, she says that they do not warn potential passengers of the dangers and increasing frequency of rape and sexual assault while on board their cruises, due to the fact they do not want to deter potential bookings.

Hastings is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for the rape and sexual assault, negligence, and several other counts of negligent infliction of emotional distress.

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