Inside the Magic (“ITM”) published an article yesterday titled “Passengers Catch Cruise Line Employee Filming Women In Children’s Bathroom” about a male MSC crew member caught filming women in what was described as a “woman’s bathroom near the Kid’s Club” on an unidentified MSC cruise ship. The article explains:

“One passenger, Saja, shared a TikTok video of the moment she and other passengers confronted an MSC Group employee for hiding in a women’s bathroom stall near the Kid’s Club and recording them:

Saja alerted a housekeeping employee, who knocked on the door of the stall the man was in and attempted to lure him out. But the man remained silent. It wasn’t until a brave female passenger stood up, said, ‘Okay, why don’t we do this?’ and knocked loudly, imitating housekeeping, that the man opened the door.

‘I was wrong,’ the man said. He was wearing an MSC employee uniform.

‘You need to call security because he’s an employee’,” the woman told the housekeeping staff member.

‘I didn’t know; I just saw a camera pointing at me,’ Saja explained.”

The passenger later explained that after the crew member (wearing his name tag) was reported to ship security, he was eventually “deported.”

@sajac4

This man was in the women’s restroom located at the kids club. Please don’t leave your children unattended on any vacation & be aware of your surroundings at all times. #cruise #cruiseshipcrew

♬ original sound – Saja 🇵🇸

Although the passenger who posted the TicToc video was quick to state that she had a “great experience” on the cruise and did not wish to embarrass MSC Cruises, she wanted to warn women to be “be aware of their circumstances at all times, vacations included.”

After seeing this video, here are a few observations worth considering:

Sexual voyeurism occurs on cruise ships just like in other public accommodations (hotels, bathrooms, etc.). 18 U.S. Code § 1801 (“Video Voyeurism”) states that it is a crime to have “the intent to capture an image of a private area of an individual without their consent . . .” (and the individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy).

Several years ago, a couple and their 10 year-old child went on a three-day cruise on the Carnival Fantasy out of Mobile. On the last evening of the cruise, to their shock and horror, they discovered a small video camera hidden in the bundled cables, behind the television in their cabin, which pointed toward their bed. When they reported the presence of the recording device to ship security, Carnival down played the incident, after disassembling the device, and did not timely notify either the FBI or state law enforcement.

When crew members commit crimes like this, there is rarely criminal accountability. The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) rarely arrest the perpetrator. The cruise line usually terminates the crew member’s employment and flies the ship employees home after the crime.

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Image credit: Saja on TicTok

March 3, 2023 Update:

Crew Center reports that the incident occurred on the MSC Meraviglia cruise ship.

The New York Post was one of several newspapers which covered this story. The TicTok video reportedly has been viewed over ten millions times to date.