.c The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Carnival Cruise Lines has disclosed that its crew members were accused of sexual assault 62 times in a five-year span ending last summer - or just about once per month, The New York Times reported today.

The number, included in court papers filed Tuesday in Miami, is the first such public disclosure by a cruise line, the newspaper said. Such ships are often registered aboard and safety figures aren't reported to U.S. authorities.

Carnival, the world's largest cruise company, said it had investigated the 62 incidents, ending last August, but did not release details. The alleged attacks involved passengers and employees.

A lawyer for the cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation in Miami, said the accusations were taken seriously.

``Any allegation would be taken seriously, but do these statistics suggest that Carnival ships are unsafe? Absolutely not,'' said Curtis Mase, the lawyer.

In November, Carnival responded to accusations that it covered up assault claims by saying it is ``at least 10 times more likely for a sexual assault to occur in a small town in America than on a cruise ship.''

Accused crew members are sometimes put ashore at the next port with air fare to get home, the Times reported, and industry lawyers are flown to the ship to question accusers. The cruise lines aggressively contest lawsuits and insist on secrecy as a condition of settling.

There are also jurisdictional disputes and questions.

The papers are part of a lawsuit against the company by a former employee who said she was attacked by an officer aboard a Carnival ship last August.

The man has been indicted on aggravated sexual assault charges, the Times said, but he remains in Italy.

While I have absolutely no information on the lawsuit, I would like to comment on this article. To put the figure into context, it should be considered that the 62 allegations (and, keep in mind it is a list of allegations, not necessarily substantiated incidents) included everything from sexual harassment complaints by crew members to an unwanted kiss to
matters of a more serious nature.

Also, please keep in mind that 62 allegations over the course of 5 years (where we carried over six-and-a-half million guests and tens of thousands of crew members) is not indicative of an unsafe environment and in fact statistics bear out that you're much safer aboard a Carnival ship than in most anywhere in America. Of course, using common sense is good advice when traveling anywhere.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sexual crimes by their very nature are some of the most underreported crimes out there.

If there was admission to 62 incidents that means that was out of a much smaller number reported overall. These crimes by their very nature tell us (not surprisingly) that this admission of 62 incidents would only be representative conservatively speaking of 10% of the whole.

For you to come on here as a "Online Representative" of CCL and to attempt to insult the intelligence of those here for the greater good of the employer you represent does not play out very well by its very nature.

To downplay and trivialize the admitted incidents is in poor taste at best. Believe me this is a group of people who have a true love for this Industry. We would love to have had this incident not have to surface, but perhaps CCL could make efforts to take a higher road in this admission. To somehow turn this blight into good. In an attempt to bring even higher standards to the rest of the Industry as a whole.

But to come online and downplay the admission is smacking of libel, and your best rights exercised would perhaps be that of silence or better yet the higher road I am speaking of. The courts have this issue now. To simply pull out statistics of the cruise ship being much safer than any place in USA is one of the most insolent statement I have ever heard. I would honestly hope so! It is CCL's job in its efforts to keep it that way.

I would admonish you, as a representative of CCL to encourage CCL to take that higher road. The Cruise industry can only be the better for it. To assure the public CCL is being straightforward and honest concerning this problem as they have been by the initial admission. (Which you and I know is Industry wide, and not isolated to CCL.) And to follow through with its public admission to vow to setfort new and higher standards industry wide. That would have been a much better response both here and AOL than to come with obvious attempts to downplay the incidents in the name of CCL.

I would encourage you to copy and send this post to your employers. As someone in the legal profession for over 39 years this would be the best counsel I would give you. It would turn the negative press upon CCL into an attempt to set new standards industry wide. This would incite more confidence and respect in CCL as a true leader in the cruise industry world wide. Take that higher road.

Sincerely,

However, in any controversial issue, is it important for both sides to be presented in their full context and many of the media reports have not fully presented Carnival's side of the story. Therefore, I feel it is entirely appropriate for Carnival to express its position on message boards and anywhere the issue is being discussed. One of the greatest appeals of the Internet is freedom of expression and flow of information, is it not?

As for the 62 allegations that have been made over the past 5 years, it is important to remember that these ships are, essentially, floating cities. Therefore, I feel comparisons between our ships and towns in the United States are completely appropriate. It is no coincidence that you are 40 times less likely to be a victim of crime on a ship than you are on land in the United States. I believe these statistics demonstrate that the personnel onboard have done an admirable job of creating a safe environment.

Joel Yanovich
Internet Specialist
Guest Relations Department
Carnival Cruise Lines

Sincerely,

The bottom line is this: I really think the cruise lines should crack down on these problems of the crew and staff getting so drunk seemingly every night, that would solve a lot of problems. The staff would appear more friendly and healthy, as opposed to having a hang-over all the time. Crew and staff wouldn't be late for their shifts as often. There must be other alternatives to rewarding the crew rather than having a big drinking bash for them every so often. Another problem is when you mix the alchohol, with the many different nationalities and cultures, you can really run into conflicts and the drinking related problems are exasperated. There are many cultural difficulties that arise too regarding sexual improprieties. The Greeks are notorious for thinking that they are God's gift to women, and many of these Greek officers, because of their culture think of women as objects for their enjoyment. The Italians are also known for being very romantic, so women passengers are drawn to this and if they (female passengers) are not careful, this can get them into trouble. It is a difficult problem to try and solve, but I think the strongest solution would be to crack down on the intake of alchohol among the crew members, and have a more strict policy on 2nd and 3rd offenders of problems related to being intoxicated. Sorry I rambled but I was alway very frustrated with these issues when I worked on the ships.

Barryboat, your emphasis was upon alcohol as a the greatest factor of the problems upon ships. I admit alcohol is a factor, but many of these acts cannot be discounted simply upon the use of alcohol. Although alcohol may be a factor utilized and may also be accredited to exacerbating the problems which have come to light. Alcohol should not be made the scapegoat for the root of all ills at sea. We each as individuals are personally responsible for our actions be it with or without the presence of alcohol. The blame can only rest upon the lack of personal control by the individual themselves. Lack of control which may be in turn accentuated by and exemplified by alcohol abuse.

Hopefully this is the beginning of the bringing of these improprieties out into the light so as to take a stand against this sort of activity as being accepted as normality. For the cruise industry to continue to grow and increase market share and gain the HUGE untapped market there is a needed crack down on these things for greater quality control. To simply downplay these activities and deny the problem only will create greater problems which can't help but resurface again in greater intensity and frequency in the future. This sad admission is an opportunity to be seized and turned into good to clean up the industry to make it better for future generations of cruisers.

[ 03-23-2003: Message edited by: desirod7 ]

quote:

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In "all" cases it is male against female assault

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Not true...I was working onboard a ship when security had to separate two men. They were both drinking, and one man tried to kiss a male passenger...the male passenger who was also drinking, got angry at the pass and started throwing his fists.

Another incident on the mv Empress, two male crew members, one was an Officer and one was a Purser. The male purser inappropriately touched the male officer, and there was a fist fight. The officer was repremanded, the purser was dismissed.

quote:

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Originally posted by annnthony:
I'm new, but, why, a "post" for a topic that's had no discussion exchange for 3 years, 7 months, 22 days, 23 hours, and 55 minutes???

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Well spotted annyhony!

If someone finds an old post and creates a new reply, the post becomes active once again!