A cruise vacation promises open water, warm sun, and a break from routine. But every ship at sea is also its own small city, one that also comes with crime. When something happens miles from shore, there is no local police department to call, no independent witness pool, and often no clear answer about which country’s laws even apply. For passengers and crew alike, understanding what crimes actually happen aboard cruise ships, and how often, is the first step toward knowing what protections exist if the unthinkable occurs.

At Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, P.A., our cruise ship injury attorneys have spent decades reviewing the federal data that cruise lines are required to report, and we use it to hold negligent operators accountable. Founded in 1971, our firm has recovered well over $500 million for injured and victimized clients, and two of our named partners have been recognized as “Lawyer of the Year”® in Admiralty and Maritime Law by US News & World Report®.

How the CVSSA Tracks Crime at Sea

Under the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (CVSSA) of 2010, cruise lines operating vessels that carry 250 or more passengers and that embark or disembark from a United States port must report certain alleged crimes to the FBI. The Department of Transportation then compiles that data into quarterly reports. Every category the law tracks, from sexual assault to theft over $10,000, gives us a rare, if incomplete, window into what actually happens aboard these ships.

The reporting requirement only captures a narrow slice of onboard incidents. Crimes against non-U.S. nationals, most crew members, and lower-dollar theft never make it into the federal count, and in our opinion, the real volume of onboard crime is considerably higher than what gets reported.

The Most Common Crimes Aboard Cruise Ships

The federal data for 2025 shows a clear hierarchy of crime types by frequency. Of the 181 total incidents reported across the cruise industry last year, the breakdown looked like this:

• Sexual assault and rape: 131 incidents (51 sexual assaults and 80 rapes), roughly 72 percent of all reported crime
• Assault with serious bodily injury: 22 incidents
• Theft over $10,000: 19 incidents
• Missing U.S. nationals: 7 incidents
• Suspicious deaths: 1 incident
• Homicide: 1 incident

No other category comes close to sexual offenses in sheer volume, and that pattern has held across nearly every year the DOT has published data.

Sexual Assault and Rape Remain the Leading Threat

Sexual crimes make up nearly three out of every four reported incidents aboard cruise ships, and the numbers have climbed steadily since the industry resumed full operations after the pandemic. Our cruise ship sexual assault attorneys have represented survivors assaulted by fellow passengers, crew members, and shore excursion staff, and we have seen firsthand how isolating these situations can be. Victims often face pressure from onboard security, who work for the cruise line rather than for them, along with confusion about which country has jurisdiction.

In our opinion, the discrepancy in how cruise lines report crime compounds the problem, since two ships carrying similar passenger counts can report wildly different totals depending on how aggressively their security staff investigates and forwards complaints to federal authorities.

Assault and Missing Persons Round Out the List

Assault with serious bodily injury is the second most common category, though it trails sexual offenses by a wide margin. These cases typically involve fights between passengers, often fueled by alcohol, or altercations with crew. Unlike sexual assault, physical altercations are more likely to be witnessed by other passengers, which can make these cases easier to document even though they remain difficult to prosecute across international jurisdictions.

Missing U.S. nationals represent a smaller but uniquely troubling category. Someone can go overboard or vanish from a ship with hundreds of security cameras and thousands of witnesses, and still leave investigators with more questions than answers. Families often need independent legal help to get answers the cruise line will not volunteer.

How These Cases Are Handled Once Reported

When a passenger reports a crime, the cruise line’s security team is typically the first point of contact, followed by the FBI if the ship falls under U.S. jurisdiction. The CVSSA requires ships to keep sexual assault evidence collection kits onboard and to provide victims access to medical care, but enforcement varies by cruise line. Knowing what to do immediately after an incident can materially affect the outcome of any later legal claim, since evidence and witness statements can disappear quickly once a ship makes its next port call.

Cruise Lines Have Deadlines on Your Right to Sue. Contact Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, P.A. Today

If you or someone you love was the victim of a crime aboard a cruise ship, you deserve attorneys who already understand how these cases unfold. Our attorneys across 7 offices nationwide handle assault, sexual assault, and missing persons cases on a contingency-fee basis, meaning you owe us nothing unless we recover for you, and we have appeared on national television hundreds of times to advocate for maritime crime victims.

Cruise ticket contracts often carry deadlines as short as one year, so time matters. Contact us online or call 877-233-1238 to speak confidentially with a member of our team.