Disney Cruise Line built its reputation as the safest, most family friendly vacation at sea. The data tells a different story.
According to U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), sexual assaults and rapes on Disney Cruises have exploded over the past three years.
From 2019-2022, Disney had just one-to-three incidents reported each year. Those numbers surged to 19 in 2023, 21 in 2024 and a projected 22 in 2025 (based on data from first 6 months of 2025). A graph showcasing this drastic increase is below.
Disney Cruise Line Sexual Assault and Rape Incidents by Year
Reported sexual assaults have increased seven fold starting in 2023 compared to the previous four years. Highlighting this surge, Disney had more sexual assaults and rapes in the 4th quarter of 2024 (11), than in the four year period from 2019-2022 combined (10).
And the numbers only get worse.
With just 6 ships, Disney’s fleet size is a fraction of its competitors. Its passenger capacity is less than 25% of Royal Caribbean and Carnival. When normalized for fleet size, Disney reports 75 sexual assaults or rapes per 100,000 passengers and crew in the past year of available DOT cruise crime data (July 2024 – June 2025). This is the highest per-capita rate among the major U.S. reporting cruise lines.
Reported Sexual Assaults & Rapes per 100,000 Passengers and Crew (Jul 2024 – Jun 2025)
| Cruise Line | Fleet Capacity | Sexual Assaults / Rapes | Rate per 100,000 |
| Disney | 30,814 | 23 | 75 |
| Carnival | 128,800 | 38 | 30 |
| Royal Caribbean | 157,094 | 32 | 20 |
| NCL | 83,454 | 13 | 16 |
Crime data from U.S. DOT CVSSA incident reports; Fleet capacity includes passengers and crew; Fleet capacity data from Cruise Market Watch and Cruise Fever; Rate per 100,000 calculated using total alleged sexual assaults & rapes ÷ fleet capacity × 100,000
Disney Cruises’ per-capita sexual assault and rape rate is nearly double the United States per-capita average of 41.4. Compared to individual states, Disney is second only to the state of Alaska.
The number of child sexual assault victims on Disney ships is unknown due to the cruise industry lobbying Congress not to disclose when victims are minors during the creation the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010. This was done to hide the large percentage of victims who are minors. Cruise experts agree that sexual assault victims are often children and teenagers, especially on cruises like Disney that cater to families with kids.
Cruise lines also lobbied Congress to not report crimes on ships which call on ports outside of the U.S. or involve non-U.S. victims or assailants and to not report crimes such as the possession and transportation of child sexual abuse material. Furthermore, not all crimes are reported to the FBI and subsequently to the DOT as we wrote last week.
This means Disney Cruises’ sexual assault rate is most likely higher and doesn’t include predators like Tirso Anthony Neri, Amiel Joseph Trazo, and Alvin Gonzalez who were arrested for the possession of child exploitation materials in 2024.
Disney Dream (upper left), Alvin Gonzalez (upper right), Tirso Anthony Neri (lower left), and Amiel Trazo (lower right).
Over my 24 years representing passengers and crew, many people have asked what cruise line would I recommend. I routinely answered “a Disney Cruise” for three reasons. One Disney pays and treats its crew members better than most other cruise lines. Two, Disney pollutes the air and water less than perennial polluting cruise lines like Carnival. And three, Disney historically has had low rates of crime on its ships.
But in light of having an extravagantly high sexual assault and rape rate, which is higher than forty-nine out of fifty states in the U.S., I cannot in good faith recommend Disney Cruises to anyone.
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Image credit: Disney Dream – ajmexico from Melbourne, USA – CC BY 2.0 commons/wikimedia.