This August marks the first anniversary of a voluntary initiative by the cruise industry to improve the reporting of crime occurrences on board ships. At a US Senate hearing on August 1st of last year, the leaders of the three largest cruise companies committed to making public all criminal allegations on board their ships, going back to 2010, when the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act was passed.
True to their word, cruise operators Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian have been publishing crime statistics on their corporate websites.
Findings
The first thing that one notices when looking at the crime statistics is just how low criminal activity is on a cruise ship.
Last summer, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) released data compiled by criminologist James Alan Fox, PhD, of Northeastern University. The numbers, which covered 90% of all North American cruise operators from 2010 to 2012, showed that crime on ships is incredibly low compared crime in general. For example, the general rate of aggravated assault during those years was about 249 per 100,000 people. The rate of assaults with aboard cruise ships, however, was a mere 3.8 per 100,000.
The latest data released by the cruise lines bears this out. Norwegian, for example, reported only a single criminal incident in the entire first quarter of 2014. During the same period, Royal Caribbean noted just two serious allegations, while Carnival (the largest cruise operator, with several subsidiaries, including Princess and Seabourn) reported only 12 incidents across all its brands.
It is important to note that these are reports of allegations only. Even if an investigation eventually showed an allegation to be unfounded, the incident is still reported in the statistics. This means that the true crime rate on cruise ships might be even lower than the statistics suggest.
Relax and Enjoy Your Cruise!
These numbers prove that there is little need to worry about crime on a cruise ship. While it is always important to be alert while travelling, you should feel free to kick back, relax, and enjoy your ocean vacation, safe in the knowledge that the ship’s crew is diligently looking after you and your family.
