Cruise ship crime reaches 2-year high, casting dark cloud for travelers: expert

Crime rates aboard cruise ships leaving the US have reached a two-year high, and one expert says this creates a “dark cloud” for travelers.According to data from the Department of Transportation, allegations of 48 crimes were reported onboard cruise ships from Jan.1, 2025, to March 30, 2025.Twenty-three incidents were reported rapes, 10 were sexual assaults and seven were assaults, which all reportedly happened on cruise ships.Robert McDonald, a former Secret Service special agent and criminal justice lecturer at the University of New Haven, told Fox News Digital crime negatively affects the cruise industry.McDonald has coordinated security for various dignitaries around the world.“Sometimes, the cruise lines don’t want to report this information on the front end, depending upon, again, what type of crime it is, which brings unfortunate attention to them, just as it would when we have airplane situations or the delays in airplanes that we’re having now,” McDonald said.“All of that negative vibe and negative information puts a dark cloud over the industry, an industry that wants people to come to it and wants them to be comfortable spending their money.”McDonald said cruises are more prone to crime because of the number of people packed in a tight area.“I think anytime we get large numbers of people together, whether it’s at a Super Bowl game or at a World Series game or an NBA Finals or graduations or whatnot, whenever we get people together, whenever there’s alcohol involved, whenever there are people being able to let loose a little bit from their normal personality, I think that exacerbates the ability for numbers to rise in that regard,” he said.“Anytime we get together, those numbers are going to go up, whether that’s at a resort, whether it’s on a cruise ship.”On March 21, two illegal immigrants were arrested after allegedly molesting a minor while onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise that set sail from Miami.Jose Prudencio Diaz, 3...