The Dark Side of Luxury Cruises

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Skillshare for supporting the channel and now on to the show information comes back to us so what investigations found out and that's the first eight inside that we face really and that's partly because of the problems of where the ship was registered Rebecca Cory M was just twenty four years old and employed as a crew member on the Disney wonder cruise ship a job that just a year prior took her from her native England all the way to the US where she would begin her training to most this probably sounds like a dream a chance to work a non-traditional job surrounded by Disney magic all while being able to travel to beautiful locations such as the Bahamas on company dime but this of course was not all there was to the story in March of 2011 Rebecca was once again out at sea aboard the Disney Wonder it was business as usual until Rebecca didn't show up for her shift something that on a normal day most would assume could only be explained by her accidentally sleeping in or losing track of time curious the staff tried calling her through the PA system to no avail they even checked her room but she was nowhere to be found Rebecca had vanished to this day Rebecca hasn't been found and everyone involved in the investigation from Disney all the way to the authorities have been widely criticized for not conducting what people consider a proper search of course Rebecca's case is not unique which we'll get into more later and it's even reasonable to say that the criticism of this case was also augmented by the fact that the cruise industry has what's become known as its dark side however credible or not something that certain pockets of people are aware of but the mainstream stay generally oblivious to for most going on a luxury cruise of any kind is the stereotypical idea of a perfect getaway vacation in fact according to Forbes accom 2017 saw a whopping 26 million cruise passengers and by 2018 that number had jumped to 28 point five million according to maritime executive comm needless to say the industry is currently experiencing a boom but as business continues to grow so do questions surrounding onboard safety and liability the main point of contention for many would be these statistics it's estimated that anywhere between 200 and 250 people have gone overboard from various cruise ships since the year 2000 and many suspect foul play in the cases that remain unsolved some liken this phenomenon to similar a seemingly connected disappearances in US national parks a conspiracy theory dubbed missing a41 one but is it really safe to say that all of these cases are connected at a single point the theories behind what happened to Rebecca vary widely some say she was swept away by a rogue wave something many others challenged due to the sheer height of the ship others note that the night for Rebecca disappeared she could be seen via CCTV having what appeared to be an upsetting conversation on these ships internal phones there is of course only speculation over what was really going on in Rebecca's life before she vanished but rumors state that she's been going through a rough time with a romantic partner something that's been used sir the theory that Rebecca voluntarily jumped from the ship to end her life opposers of this theory include Rebecca's own family who point out that tickets to Disneyland Paris had been found amongst her belongings and on top of that Rebecca had spoken to them about plans for the future to them this theory just didn't make any sense the speculation continues and varies based on who you ask some will say it was human trafficking others will say it was murder and some assume that she simply fell off the ship by accident while playing around these theories mirror the ones people prescribed to the wider phenomenon of people disappearing at sea and surely to some degree they have to be correct there are for example people who have been murdered on cruise ships take one mickey connie sake who was killed by her ex-husband during a 2006 cruise she was at first reported missing but her strangled body washed up two days later likewise accidents of course have also happened this was how Sarah Kirby intended on celebrating her 30th birthday but after having several drinks while on a cruise she fell overboard fighting for her life I just prayed to God over and over please don't let me die out here surveillance video captured a cruise line terror I just remember leaning over the balcony to look at the side of the ship and the next thing I knew I was in the lock each case is its own isolated event and without looking into every single one of them in painstaking detail and without witnesses we can't say for sure what happened to the victims looking at this phenomenon and trying to connect it to a single evil entity or crime ring is maybe the wrong angle maybe the question isn't about what we don't know but rather what we do know there is only one thing that solidly connects anyone who goes missing from cruise ships and that would obviously be these ships themselves unfortunately missing persons cases aren't actually the only stain on the cruise industry's reputation all kinds of crimes take place aboard cruise ships since they are after all essentially floating communities and although isolated they do a mirror their land-based counterparts according to business inside and the Department of Transportation sexual assaults are the most common crime to occur on cruise ships with eighty-two alleged incidents in 2018 in second place from that year with 22 reported incidents was a theft exceeding $10,000 the details going forward tell us very different stories depending on who you ask while all of these crimes are absolutely inexcusable the cruise industry argues that overall their ships are still relatively safe when compared to crime statistics on land cruising org a site maintained by the cruise aligns international association or clia claims that crime on board is not only overstated but actually rare so much so that cruise ships are supposedly according to them anyway 25 times safer than an average American city according to this infographic on their site they also claim that cruising is the safest way to travel and know that the presence of onboard security and medical personnel while this might all sound promising for many it still isn't enough statements like these tend to be met with criticism from those who feel that the industry is sidestepping and deflecting from the questions at hand as if to say well crime happens everywhere else so why single us out maritime lawyer Jim Walker is especially vocal about the issue and points out an interesting the legal conundrum that most don't even consider when stepping aboard a cruise ship the chances are very slim that this is going to come to a successful investigation and conclusion there are lots of factors that come into play in a situation like this this particular cruise line Royal Caribbean cruises is the Liberian corporation they registered their business and a Monrovia Liberia in the continent of Africa this particular ship the brilliance of the Seas is registered in the Bahamas we have a potential crime occurring in international waters between Greece and Turkey it's it's pretty much in in a no-man's land right now like you just heard the issue of jurisdiction is a huge one when it comes to crimes that take place at sea and one of the biggest criticisms of the industry has been the fact that such risks seem to not be properly disclosed to customers if an incident were to occur however big or small most customers are under the assumption that they're subject to US law or laws of wherever they boarded from this was actually the crux of Rebecca Corey m's case and if you'll recall she was a British national working on a ship that was assumed to be American in reality however the Disney Wonder was registered in the Bahamas for tax reasons and thus Rebecca's case was passed on to the Royal Bahamas police force now despite this the ship was based at the Port of Los Angeles which meant that law enforcement had to fly in from the Bahamas to meet the ship upon its return according to the Guardian only one detective would show up one person tasked with a massive undertaking of investigating an entire cruise ship with a capacity of thousands to top this off the detective had only been on site for a single day it should be noted that in 2010 the crews of vessel security and Safety Act went into law making it a requirement that all cruise lines report incidents involving US citizens to the FBI but as we know Rebecca wasn't actually American the law also outlined new safety requirements for cruise ships such as peepholes on doors to allow for easy identification for passengers along with a 42-inch requirement for all ship rails something that would hopefully help quell the man-overboard incidents despite this they would of course continue and according to The Washington Post in 2018 there was a total of 19 deaths from overboard incidents out of 23 known cases setting aside foul play the CLIA claims that Man Overboard incidents in general are extremely rare and almost always the result of what they call intentional or reckless acts while this may be true the issue of liability is still up for debate featuring two main schools of thought let's turn back to Sarah Kerby the woman who got intoxicated two fell off a cruise ship and survived the comments pretty much entirely consist of people mocking Sarah for getting intoxicated enough to fall in the first place many of course support the idea of personal responsibility and think it's common sense to not get drunk in a possibly dangerous environment on the other side of the coin have those critical of what could be called booze cruise culture it's no secret that drinking is a large part of the appeal of cruise vacations and it's undoubtedly part of the marketing gimmick since this is the case some argue then the cruise companies are well aware that their customers are likely to get heavily intoxicated and possibly act recklessly many also point to this as a possible cause for sexual assault being the most frequent crime during cruises still is there anything more that cruise lines can actually do to prevent tragedies some people think so and point out land-based parallels that take such precautions like barriers on bridges or locked hotel room windows to prevent people from either falling or intentionally jumping in the case of alcohol it should actually be noted that there are things called dram shop laws that can vary from state to state in the US but in general they make it possible to hold establishments such as bars or restaurants liable for the actions of a customer who was served additional alcohol while already visibly intoxicated overall the darker side of cruising is a messy complicated plane to traverse and many who look into it are often left frustrated at the murky image formed by the limited data available to the public statistics can be unreliable especially when you're relying on a business to report incidents a business that's hyper protective of its fun luxury family-friendly image keep in mind while Cruise Lines are now required to make reports to the FBI there is a gap in time before their boots are on the ground and until law enforcement shows up it's really just the cruise line themselves who can do anything to help you the burden of crime-scene preservation something integral to any legal case falls upon the cruise company while going on a cruise getaway is in most cases safe it's probably best to still be mindful of the reality at hand and the possible nightmare that could occur if something were to go wrong as mentioned earlier Rebekah was never found and at this point it's unlikely that her body will ever be located her family unfortunately won't be getting any closure hey everyone it's me I'm off script first of all thank you so much for watching forgive me if I sound a little bit wrecked in this video I am really really really tired right now but anyway it is time to thank the patrons for this episode Lance Joel T Gorman O'Connor H Andrew L Ben shards of glass Connor M Trixie be no no no no no Nick V Krista s Jeremy P Raphael see mark a Shelby SS / Nick's Eric H year may M I cannot I'm never gonna be able to pronounce your name I'm so sorry Keith Z Julian F of Akkad Rose Q of EHS squid J shadow rain danielle g m-- @ j & sir i thank you all so much for your support and thank you to everyone even if you're just watching and you're not a patron or anything like that i still super appreciate you tuning in and with that said I'm gonna get off this mic now because I'm horrible off script and I hope you all have a nice day I'll see you all again next time

Channel: ReignBot

Views: 1,148,316

Rating: 4.9013157 out of 5

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Id: 7TgDxr2ORxo

Length: 14min 33sec (873 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 23 2020