Passengers Call for Stricter Government Oversight of Cruise Industry Marianne LeVine - The Los Angeles Times
go to original July 27, 2014

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) has pushed for nearly a year to pass the Cruise Passenger Protection Act. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Angry former cruise ship passengers, including one who said she was raped by a ship employee and a woman who blamed inadequate shipboard medical care for her mother's death, are calling on lawmakers to impose tighter restrictions on the industry to protect travelers from what they called undisclosed criminal activity.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) has pushed for nearly a year to pass the Cruise Passenger Protection Act, which would increase the Department of Transportation's role in ensuring passenger safety and require cruise ship companies to publicly disclose crimes that occur on their ships. The bill also would simplify language in ticket contracts, which passengers say are hard to read and understand.

"In spite of the evidence that crimes, fires, mechanical failures, drownings and mishandled medical emergencies occur with disturbing regularity on cruise ships, the industry continues to deny it has a problem," said Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, during a hearing on the legislation last week.

Laurie Dishman told the committee that she was raped by a ship employee while on a trip to Mexico. She said outside experts had concluded that sexual assaults occurred frequently on ships, despite claims by cruise lines that such crimes were rare.

Representatives for cruise lines did not participate in the hearing. But in a statement, the Cruise Lines International Assn. said crime was rare on cruise ships.

Read the rest at The Los Angeles Times

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