Cruise Crime Report — Q1 2026: Royal Caribbean Leads All Cruise Lines With 14 Crimes

By Jim Walker on April 23, 2026

Oasis of the Seas (Baldwin040 / Wikimedia Commons)

The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported 43 crimes across all cruise lines in Q1 of 2026 (January 1 – March 31, 2026). Royal Caribbean led all cruise lines in reported crimes for the second straight quarter.

The DOT publishes the cruise crime data by the quarter they were reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) pursuant to the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (CVSSA) of 2010.

Crime by Cruise Line

Royal Caribbean led all cruise lines with 14 reported crimes. Carnival Cruise Line came in second with 11 — a significant rebound from its unusually low 3 crimes reported in Q4 2025.

A full breakdown of reported crimes by cruise line is below:

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line: 14
Carnival Cruise Line: 11
Norwegian Cruise Line: 5
MSC Cruises: 4
Princess Cruises: 4
Celebrity Cruises: 2
Virgin Voyages: 1
Disney Cruise Line: 1
Margaritaville at Sea: 1

Crime by Incident Type

Sexual crimes were the most prevalent crime category with 37 incidents reported — 24 classified as “Sexual Assault-Rape” and 13 classified as “Sexual Assault.” Together they represent 86% of all reported crimes for the quarter.

Royal Caribbean led all cruise lines with 12 sexual crimes while Carnival Cruise Line had the second most with 11 sexual crimes. Sexual crimes accounted for all reported crimes for Carnival.

No assaults with physical injuries were reported by any cruise line.

A full breakdown of reported crimes by alleged incident is below:

Sexual Assault-Rape: 24
Sexual Assault: 13
Theft>$10,000: 5
Firing or Tampering with Vessel: 1
Assault with Serious Bodily Injury: 0
Death-Suspicious: 0
Homicide: 0
Missing U.S. National: 0
Kidnapping: 0

Crime Data is Artificially Low

The total crimes published by the DOT are systematically underreported for several reasons. The first and primary reason is cruise lines themselves determine what crimes they report to the FBI and subsequently to the DOT. No third party audits cruise ships’ crime logs or holds the cruise lines accountable for not reporting crimes. The CVSSA, which mandates cruise ship crime reporting, has no penalties or fees for cruise lines that are not compliant with their reporting.

Last quarter, only three crimes were reported by Carnival, despite 5 publicly reported crimes occurring on Carnival ships during that period.

Secondly, only crimes involving U.S. nationals are included. As a result, crew on crew crimes are mostly excluded from the data since the majority of crew members are non-Americans. Furthermore, crimes involving foreign passengers do not qualify for the DOT’s cruise crime data.

Lastly, the CVSSA has narrow crime classifications. For example, cruise lines are required to report physical assaults only if there is a “serious bodily injury.” The CVSSA does not define what a serious bodily injury is, leaving the interpretation up to cruise lines. Furthermore, the CVSSA excludes some crimes completely, such as drug smuggling, video voyeurism, and the possession of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).

The 43 crimes reported by the DOT this quarter represent the floor, not the ceiling of crimes on cruise ships. Our law firm, Walker & O’Neill, has represented numerous passengers in cases that meet every CVSSA reporting criterion and never appeared in this data.

Historical Cruise Crime Data

Last year, the DOT reported a total of 181 crimes on all cruise lines, the most ever. Cruise lines have experienced a nearly twofold increase in reported crime since 2016, as seen in the graph below.