A passenger on a cruise ship that sailed from PortMiami says she was raped twice in her cabin, each time by a crew member.
The 44-year-old woman, from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, filed a criminal report with Miami-Dade County police on Dec. 7, the day the ship returned to port.
A Miami-Dade police spokesman said the department is investigating the complaint, but refused to discuss the case or release the report. The cruise company, in a statement, acknowledged a “serious allegation.”
The passenger was on the Seascape of MSC Cruises, a Geneva-based company with an office in Miami.
“They treated me like I was an animal,” said the passenger, who the Miami Herald isn’t identifying because of allegations involving a sex crime.
The woman also complained about the way the case was handled on board the ship after filing a report.
“I feel like they were punishing me for reporting it,” she said.
Her lawyer, Jason Margulies, who met her on board Dec. 7 as she spoke to Miami-Dade police, told the Miami Herald the passenger filed a criminal complaint at that time for two charges of rape. He was told the case is in the hands of the state attorney’s office.
“I think she’s incredibly credible,” said the attorney and partner at Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman. He said he found her “visibly shaken, crying and upset” when he went to the Miami port. She was on the ship for seven hours after it docked.
“A serious allegation was made on board by a guest that involved two crew members,” MSC Cruises said in a statement to the Miami Herald. “We immediately contacted the relevant law enforcement authorities, while providing every assistance for the guest’s well-being, and have fully supported the investigation.”
The cruise departed PortMiami on Nov. 30 and returned the next week.
The passenger, traveling by herself, said she was taking anti-anxiety medication and then made the mistake of drinking rum punch. She remembered she became wobbly. She said she then went to the buffet to get some food to bring back to her room and then go to sleep.
A waiter spotted her and took her plate to her room. Rather than the waiter dropping the food off and leaving, the passenger said he stayed. She said he then pulled down his pants and forced himself on her.
The next day, a crew member at the top of a ship staircase spotted her. She said she told him what room she was staying in.
“I just thought he was asking me normal questions,” she said.
She then heard a knock on the door. It was the second crew member. She said he then raped her.
She reported the two incidents to ship security.
In an email interview, her husband, who was not on the trip, confirmed his wife’s account.
“She was raped by two crew members,” he said Dec. 6, while she was still aboard the ship. “They have treated her as a criminal.”
