Does anyone know what happens if there is a crime on a cruise ship???

Question

Basically I was on a cruise a while ago and there was a fight that kicked off. We didn't hang around to see what happened but is there security on these ships? What kind of protection do they carry? What law do cruise ships abide by in International waters etc? Do they have any facilities to detain people etc? It's quite worrying to think that a ship with 2000 people could be at sea for days with some mad man on board!! It only takes 1 person to go crazy afterall and they could cause a lot of damage & hurt a lot of people

Answer 1

yes they have there own laws because there at sea.  they can hold passengers and have cells. if there is a crime it is all recorded and passed to port authorities

Answer 2

i guess people go overboard ...

Answer 3

Yes, it is a worry, and there have indeed been allegations of serious crime, possibly even a murder, committed on cruise ships and not properly investigated. While some cruise liners have security officers aboard, there are problems:

If they report the matter at the next port of call, will the authorities want to know? In the UK for example, I am sure the matter would be investigated, but other countries may not be so keen. Also, the ship's owners won't be keen to have their vessel detained while detailed enquiries are carried out.

Technically, if the matter happens in international waters, I believe that legal responsibility lies with the ship's country of registration. But as you know, many ships are registered under flags such as Bahamas, Liberia, Panama, and what chance of those wanting to investigate something that happens in (say) the Mediterranean?

So it must be tempting for a ship just to dump suspects ashore and say nothing. Not that I'm saying that's what often happens, but .....

Answer 4

well don't like to worry you, but did you read all the publicity in the papers a couple of weeks ago about the spate of rapes at sea? The article basically said that the cruise ships just covered it all up coz they didn't want the publicity...... stick to dry land!!!

Answer 5

On a ship the captain has the authority to detain an individual(s) if necessary.

Security on cruise ships is very tight,.

Answer 6

Yes, just as they have a kind of hospital on board, they also have places to detain people pending docking, when the police will pick them up.

Answer 7

For major crime they will request assistance from the Us or UK police who (for a price) will fly out and take over. For less serious crimes the on-board security officers take over and use their cells it required. On my last cruise a passenger was caught shop lifting from the ship's boutique and was kicked off, with his passport and luggage, at the next port of call.

Answer 8

Cruise ships have excellent survelliance and when someone screws up on a cruise ship, they won't come into port until they can identify the guilty person and place them in custody... then turn them over to port authorities.

Just WHERE do you think you are going to get away if you do something really STUPID on a cruise ship.?

Answer 9

They leave the perpetrator at the next port of call.