Carnival Cruise Line’s Ban on Sex Offenders does Little to Protect Passengers
Carnival Cruise Lines has banned registered sex offenders from cruising aboard its ships. A move that we maintained is unnecessarily discriminatory and has caused families to miss out on vacations.
But more often than any incident caused by a registered person on one of Carnival’s ships is the occurrence of passengers finding hidden cameras in their rooms.
This FoxNews Report describes one couple’s experience aboard a Carnival Cruise, but apparently the problem is not isolated!
Perhaps Carnival needs to stop masking the problem by pointing fingers at the boogeyman and start looking in the mirror?
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Hmm. Seems like people with contagious diseases like flu and coronavirus are potentially way more dangerous than so called sex offenders. Just saying.
Does anyone know how Carnival gets its info? I’m a RSO not on the federal or state websites. Booked a cruise for next year that leaves and enters the same port so I dont need a passport. I’ll let my registering officer know before the 21 days, but I’d rather not notify carnival. If they go off public notifications, i wont be listed, therefore may not be flagged. Just wondering if anyone has any info. Thanks.
The US Marshals will send a notice to the cruise line.
So heres my dilemma:
Two night cruise to puerto rico from fl
Two night stay and fly back to fl
How could i register?
Im nowhere for three days and not leaving the country, im on no supervision.
Response from LE is best not to try to not get in trouble.
Same people that made me come back from the NE (fly on my own dime) to complete an address verification when i had scheduled travel for 4 months and was recorded.
Im kind of not really accepting that.
Why try to register an itinerary that does not require registration?
We need to resist the temptation to be cowed by law enforcement officers that warn people “not to get into trouble” and leave people guessing what that means. They are exceeding their authority, and the best defense is to know the registration law.
I see nothing in the above itinerary for which the statute requires registration.
I agree yet am getting told the best is not to To avoid “trouble” by the leo. Granted this may he above him but again i was forced to fly back from the NE when the address verification happened to be in the midst of my registered travel of yhree mo nths. Everyone tosses warrant warrant warrent. The vcso office also keeps telling me i need to provide iteneraries but im not inder supervision: when i drive to ny they add the driving time so even if im only there two days (as usual) it takes a day to go and another to come so they tell me its 4.They tell me i cant stop and stay on the way but that would only be a n overnight. They never got the idea its where you stay not the total travel time. They get confused when they see i dont have a residency restriction sometimes too and that gets unnerving. If THEY dont know how am I supposed to. I think i can get off this list with my time and the fact ive been officially off my homestate list. Honestly afraid to even start as i do t hear if any successes and my family is worried about any consequences.
Anyone here know whether there’s ever been an arrest for ‘failure to register time away from home,’ ‘failure to register driving time,’ or ‘failure to register domestic travel itinerary?’
I keep seeing these stories about VCSO, and it concerns me and probably you. Do we know whether these attempts at intimidation are idle threats or have they actually acted on them?
Probation I can understand, but I see that they are demanding this information for people off supervision.
Any other counties doing this? Highlands comes to mind.
Highlands, specifically.
Also those legally eligible for FL registry removal should contact attorney Ron Kleiner who has handled a number of these (see FAC attorney referral page).
me and my wife just came back off a 7 day western carribbean cruise with carnival cruise line from 11/30/2019 to 12/07/2019 we went to grandcayman island, hondrus ,belize and cozumel mexico had no problems getting off at any ports.until i came back was pulled out of line taken to custom bags was search and was on my was process took about 5 minutes officers was very nice polite and respectful.
Davis,
Glad you a great time and allowed on! Was your offense minor related, do you have to register currently, and did you notify authorities ahead of time regarding international travel? Seems every case is s hit as mad miss.
Tom It was a sex offense happen 27 years ago yes notify the authorities had no problem
Davis,
This is the same cruise that I booked for the family. Same stops. Glad to hear you had a good time. I am nervous about potential embarrassment upon return if singled out in line to go to secondary. I took a carnival cruise to Mexico back in 2010, but it was before IML and Carnivals ban.
I’m assuming you aren’t publicly listed, which is why Carnival didn’t hassle you. I hope all goes well. I booked it early December, hoping they’d let me know in a timely manner and not 3 days before boarding.
If you have any other info you’d like to share, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.
We’re you able to cruise?
Are you on a registry? Did you inform 21 days prior? Did you use birth certificate or passport to board the ship?
Would love to talk with you. We have been denied for a cruise next year October. Flat out nope.
We been on 3 carnival cruises in 2 different ports in 2021 and no issues for lifetime registrant.
Did you use a passport or your driver’s licenses?
My partner, who is an RSO, and I are scheduled to cruise out of Fort Lauderdale on Holland America with no issue. This will be our second Year in a row cruising with them.
Regarding Royal Caribbean, I read a few months ago on one of the cruise boards that I am on, that a man got a letter from the security department of Royal stating he was Not going to be allowed to board and that a refund was going to be provided to him. Apparently he is on the registry as well.
update: we just returned from a cruise on Holland America out of FLL. There were no issues at all during any part of this vacation. He went on Grand Turk, Half Moon, St. Thomas and San Juan needing nothing more than his license and ships card to leave and return to ship from each island.
Yuck RSO should be in jail not a cruise
You can be put on the register for peeing in public.
what if you a rso and just take a chance and go on a cruise wat r your chances of sailing
Seriously? You want to go back to prison because you trying to get over on the system. Few months ago I would have said go for it and some other crazy thing because I feel certain people should be more punished than others.and would have laugh if you went to jail. But remembering something about a divided house will fall. Honestly, you are an adult, your decisions to make I rather suffer on the streets than suffer behide the walls. if you want to chance it it is your freedom you playing with. I wouldn’t chance it at all.
Cruise line will not allow RSO to board, IF policies of that cruise line bar RSOs. Security team will match passenger name to registry prior to departure. Hopefully they will notify the RSO prior to departure so they don’t waste a trip. Passengers’ names will be listed on manifest.
Yes, they will. I still have all the email correspondence that was sent to me by a one-cruse liner. Yes, they did issue me a refund, but the overall discrimination that I suffered was humiliating and emotionally exhausting. The ironing of the complete registry system is that the registrants on the system are not the ones harming citizens, it’s the ones that aren’t on the list.
Amen to that!
My husband has been out of prison for 30 years and we still feel like he is looked down on…..geeees ev1 has done something wrong in life they just didn’t get caught….and they want to condemn!!!!!
I don’t believe you will even have the opportunity to “take a chance”. they do registry checks,not full background checks. You can have a felony and cruise (obviously as long as there is no warrant on you) but you cannot be a RSO misdemeanor or felon, there is no difference to them.
My wife is a RSO from many years back, got into a bad situation with her ex husband and here we are. We have taken 3 cruises with Carnival with no issues until this year, she has been placed on the no sail list. She is classified as low risk and for the most part can go anywhere including the school where our youngest daughter attends. I applaud the cruise lines for their commitment to passenger safety but I believe if they find a RSO on their list they should look to see what class they are and decide what to do then. To many good people are loosing out over this
Can a registered sex offender sail
Not on certain ships
I called Carnival this morning and she told me no to sex offender’s.
Not a chance. That requires ‘real’ investigative work. These letters come from a ‘security team’ who simply follows policy. They are not going to check any further than the flag that hits on your name – if you’re flagged, that’s it. Happened to me Dec 2023. It’s a blanket policy by Carnival and, from what I hear, Royal Caribbean.
Does anyone know if there are any cruise lines that a registered offender is able to sail on without a problem?
Reach out to Paul at RegistrantTAG.org
he has his pulse on registrant travel issues.
I tried to reach out to him at that email address but it was sent back saying the address was not correct
Hmmm… there’s a contact form and a phone number on the site.
http://registranttag.org/contact/
So here is a cruise line incident Report from 2010-2023 from US Department of Transportation. https://www.transportation.gov/mission/safety/cruise-line-incident-reports
And your right that policy of banning RSO does nothing to protect guest.
Herein lies the problem. What Federal law or Constitutional Right does providing truthful information of a felony conviction to a foreign government by the US Government infringe or violate?
Then, it must be asked, does this sovereign foreign Government have the lawful right to deny the convicted felon from entering their Country?
Further, can a foreign Government then deny a Cruise ship port privileges if after being notified by the US Government a RSO on is board? or detain a RSO debarking a plane?
Personally I believe this extraordinary step, basically a warning by the USA about dangerous individual traveling to said foreign Country, does violate due process. But so far no Court of law agrees so.
NCL doesn’t check but Royal and Carnival does
Is this good Information or just from what you’ve heard ?
My husband is a registered sex offender and we were able to travel this past January 2018 on a Carnival Cruise ship from Miami along with my two teenage boys. He is a Tier 1 from PA but living in Florida since January 2017. Coming back to Miami he was held up as a “random” security check where they went thru his luggage and cell phone pics.
Before traveling I tried doing my own research and decided to just take the risk. I was able to speak to someone at Carnival who explained to me “off the record” that yes Carnival is banning RSO’s from traveling however, it depends on the crime “she thought” and that all passenger names are run thru an outsourced security system and that if I haven’t been called that I might have a chance to get on. It was a very stressful couple of months but luckily we traveled with no problems.
Ma’am I am also a RSO and I have been on 2 cryises since this law was put into play and never had a problem till today. My wifr tried to book us for our 7th cruise and we were denied because of my RSO. I committed my offense when I was 18 and now I am 46 and I know without a shadow of a doubt I am not that kind of a person. Cruising is like medicine to me and it allows me to feel like I belong in society. Don’t get me wrong I applaud Canival and Royal Caribbean for making sure passengers are safe but I wish they would do it by a case by case because all of RSO are not a violent as others. I made a mistake in life, paid the crime and feel like I should be able to enjoy my family by vacationing on cruises.
I totally agree with this. Murderers are among everyone and don’t get singled out. And no registration needed.
Yes, that’s true!
1500 bucks takes you off. That is avg lawyer fee ones done no more issues i was denyed and took care of it..good luck
Do you have the name or phone number, of the person you used?
$1500 is definitely not a lot of money for such a life-changing thing
I’d also like to know Tee who this attorney is that gets you off the registry for $1500???
I would also like to know
Are you able to help share information to this lawyer please ty
What is the name of this atty?
This is simply NOT TRUE.
$1500 is definitely a false statement.
I have been told by numerous different attorneys that my case is a perfect opportunity for the Romeo & Juliet law.
After being told that, they inform me that it will be a MINIMUM of $7500 and still no guarantees to get my name removed
In which county are you?
Tee,
I live in the State of Virginia. I was told that you cannot have your name removed from the registry ever. Please send me info to my email on how to get in touch with this attorney or any steps that you know of that would lead me in that directions. Thanks.
What lawyer did you use?
Does not matter if you are removed from the Registry; FLORI-DUH will always have your name posted on the top of every Search Engine; that is what they do; in most other State Jurisdictions your name is vanished; however it still can be extracted from NCIC at any time!
Once your name and status is stained by a government agency it will always be stained!
Yes. Holland America. I went with my partner who is a RSO. No problems on the ship nor any of the islands. This was in December of 2018 out of Fort Lauderdale.
Just called Norwegian Cruise Lines for a Mediterranean cruise and the rep asked her supervisor and got the answer: if name is on http://www.nsopw.gov , travelerer will not be allowed to cruise.
I just got the same response from Norwegian Cruise Lines for a Carribean cruise and the rep asked her supervisor and got the answer: if name is on http://www.nsopw.gov , traveler will not be allowed to cruise.
Yes, holland America. They do not check the registry. My partner is an RSO and we are going on our third Cruise with this cruise line out of Fort Lauderdale.
I know that Royal Caribbean is on a case by case.
They have you submit a letter explaining what your charge was and the situation around it.
They then make a determination from there.
I also think that MSC allows RSO on
Yes I do believe MSC and Holland America are the two cruise lines that will not check the registry however I believe you have to leave from a Us Port. I do not believe that Royal Caribbean gives any consideration to people on the registry from my understanding.
Deb,
Have you checked this lately? Is it still the same?
Having been on 22 cruises, I am a self professed cruise addict. I worked with a cruise agent for the 1st 10 years of my cruise life and befriended her. We still remain closely in touch. I visit many cruise boards and keep up with the latest and greatest, in addition to what my cruise agent friend knows. Holland and MSC appear to still be the only possibilities of sailing out of a United States port. I cruise with my RSO next month on Holland and will be trying MSC next fall.
I would like to know I want my husband go on a cruise, but he is low risk sex offender? Which cruise line he can go on? He has not been in trouble for 20 years,