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As the popularity of cruise travel has grown, so has the size of the ships. For example, when I first started cruising in 1989, the cruise ship only had a passenger capacity of 1,262. Today, the industry’s newest ships are truly floating cities. The Icon of the Seas from Royal Caribbean is the largest cruise ship in the world, with a maximum passenger capacity of 7,600 and a crew capacity of 2,350 aboard a single vessel.
To put that into context, the US Census considers a midsize city in the Northeast to be any incorporated area with a population of 5,000 but less than 10,000. Of these incorporated areas, 76% of the population lives in areas with less than 10,000.
Unprecedented Growth and Passenger Capacity
This unprecedented growth and cruise ship size also bring new problems and challenges. It’s now very common to see drug-sniffing dogs in the cruise terminal and onboard many of today’s large ships. With the rise of passenger capacity, criminal complaints and incidents have also risen accordingly.
A recent Fox News report claims that data from the Department of Transportation shows allegations of 48 crimes were reported onboard cruise ships from January 1, 2025, to March 30, 2025. Of these cases, twenty-three were reported as rapes and ten were considered sexual assaults and seven were assaults. All of the reported incidents happened aboard a cruise ship. The article also raised concerns over the reported numbers of reported cruise ship crimes have reached a historical two-year high, and we have not even reached the middle of 2025, which is a very concerning trend.
Things can and do happen like any small town population of over 10 K. With alcohol plentiful and inhibitions lowered, the reported crimes have increased so much on ships returning to the Port of Galveston that the FBI has had to assign a full-time special-agent agent to keep up with the weekly number of complaints on returning cruise ships. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, is responsible for investigating all reported crimes that may have occurred during the previous cruise, when the ship returns to a US port.
Violent Headlines Have Become Common
We too have noticed more reports and headlines of violence onboard with recent articles such as “Man Violently Beaten Unconscious After Requesting Teens Stop Jumping In Elevator” and “Massive Brawl Breaks Out In Cruise Terminal After Caribbean Cruise” has raised awareness and visibility of some of today’s challenges both port’s and cruise lines face.
Attorney Calls On Industry To Address Safety Issues
We spoke with Attorney Tom Scolaro, the founding partner of Scolaro Law in Miami, who specializes in personal injury and has handled many cruise and maritime cases. We asked him to share his thoughts on this recent trend.
Scolaro told Cruise Addicts, “The rise of onboard crime, assaults, and worse aboard cruise ships is entering epidemic territory. These should be fun-filled, relaxing family vacations, and not a place where passengers should be worried about getting attacked or violated. The cruise ship industry at large has proven itself both indifferent and incompetent in curbing the rise of violent crime aboard its ships. The industry is on notice—it is high time it took this safety issue seriously.”
Public Calls For Strict Enforcement
Unsurprisingly, cruise travel fans have flooded article comments and shared their thoughts on Facebook Groups and Forums, calling for all past offenders to be permanently banned from cruising.
As the cruise industry grows, I am confident it will prioritize safety and satisfaction. If I had to predict the future, I wouldn’t be surprised if passengers were subject to stricter screening, implementing a possible “no cruise list,” or other government intervention such as “Cruise Marshals.”
This is all just speculation, but I do know that the cruising public expects a safe and reasonable environment while traveling, especially with families.
So, it’s not a question of if but when changes are implemented to enhance the safety and security of passengers in ports or onboard cruise ships.
