A Royal Caribbean passenger is suing the company over hidden cameras that were placed in bedrooms by a former employee.
A class action lawsuit was filed on Tuesday on behalf of the passenger, identified only as Jane Doe, “and all other situated passengers” against Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd. (RCCL) and Arvin Joseph Mirasol in the Southern District of Florida.
Mirasol, a former bedroom attendant on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas ship, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in August after pleading guilty to producing child pornography.
Mirasol “taped a video camera containing a memory card” in the plaintiff’s cabin bathroom and “captured images of the Plaintiff while undressed and engaging in private activities” during a cruise on the Symphony of the Seas in February, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that Mirasol “transmitted and/or uploaded images of the Plaintiff while undressed and engaging in private activities, to third parties and/or to the world wide web, including, but not limited to, the dark web, without Plaintiff’s prior knowledge or consent.” The passenger has suffered from severe emotional distress as a result, the lawsuit states.
A Royal Carribbean spokesperson told Newsweek: “The safety and privacy of our guests is our highest priority, and we have zero tolerance for this behavior. We immediately reported this case to law enforcement and terminated the crew member. As this is pending litigation, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Royal Caribbean “knew or should have known sexual assaults were reasonably foreseeable considering the prevalence of sexual assaults aboard RCCL’s cruise ships.”
The lawsuit cited an instance aboard the cruise line’s Harmony of the Seas ship in April 2023, where a passenger was arrested after allegedly hiding a camera in a public bathroom on the ship and filming more than 150 people, including children.
It said that 26 sexual assaults and rapes were reported on Royal Caribbean cruises last year, and 22 the year before, citing data maintained by the Department of Transportation.
It also noted that sexual assault allegations on cruise ships rose last year, with 131 reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation—up from 87 in 2022 and 101 in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the cruise industry.
Royal Caribbean “failed to take adequate steps and/or provide adequate security and/or training and/or supervision to prevent such sexual assaults, including video voyeurism, to occur aboard its cruise ships,” the lawsuit states. “Furthermore, RCCL failed to warn its passengers of sexual assaults, including video voyeurism, occurring aboard its cruise ships. RCCL’s motive for failing to warn its passengers is financial in nature.”
The lawsuit says after his arrest, Mirasol “revealed that he has been placing cameras in bathrooms since he started working on Symphony of the Seas in December 2023.”
It alleges that Royal Caribbean didn’t notify all passengers who stayed in cabins attended to by Mirasol between December 1, 2023, and February 26, 2024, and his victims may include up to 960 passengers.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages and a jury trial.
Michael Winkleman, an attorney representing the plaintiff, said in a statement provided to Newsweek that the case is an “extremely important” one.
“Sexual assaults, including voyeurism, aboard cruise ships is at an all time high and needs to be addressed,” he said. “Royal Caribbean became aware of this problem in March of 2023 when a hidden camera was found in a public bathroom on the pool deck of one of its ships, yet it has seemingly done nothing since then to protect its passengers from reoccurrences—like these instances which went on for nearly 3 months, over the course of 12 cruises, and involved up to 960 passengers including many children.”
“Who knows how many countless numbers of pornographic images of these unsuspecting passengers will circulate on the Internet forever because Royal Caribbean failed to protect their privacy and allowed Mirasol to make these passengers victims?”
