13 year old Boy Victim of Sexual Assault on Royal Independence of the Seas.

[ExpatCruise]

Came across this case on a legal site I was checking. It happen in 2015 the child was in the library at 2 am, which I do have a problem with that fact. He was assaulted by a man over a comment made while the mans two friends watched. The criminal case already went to court and is over the adult attacker was convicted of lewd and lascivious behavior with a child under 16 and is serving a three years. His two friends who watched are serving 2 years for prison sentence for child abuse. So the criminal justice system seems to have worked here. But it is not over.

The family sued Royal in Federal Court it seems the security cameras saw everything but no one watching them, also the line had a curfew for children but did not enforce, so drunken guests from bars came in contact with the young boy.

I find Royals answers to be very troubling, and this is a quote from the filing:

“plaintiff attempts to impose an absolute duty upon Royal to monitor and protect passengers–such a duty simply does not exist.”

Really is is not Royals or any lines first duty to absolutely protect guests? I'm sorry but the first thing a cruise line should do is to absolutely protect guests. The judge has rules the case will go forward.

Here is the case if you would like to read it  Link

Edited June 25, 2018 by ExpatCruise

[Shari2]

So very sad that something like this happened , and to a young boy.  I can't imagine why he was in the library at 2 AM.  I didn't read all of the case info, but I do wonder where his parents were, but also why the ship had the curfews but they weren't endorsed, and security cameras and not watched.  I imagine a lot of people were sleeping at that time and not watching, or following the rules.  My number one thing to say is that parents need to keep a close watch on their children.  Even I have a story about my first cruise, and I was 31 years old then.  Cruises are mostly very safe, but, there is a lot going on that people aren't aware of, and they should always know where their children are at all times.  I'm not saying that the Cruise Lines  were innocent of this, but it has to be pretty hard to keep track of thousands of people; my child would never be alone at 2AM in the morning.  I have suggested on here a few years back to young women cruising alone to always stay together, and watch how much you drink, and keep an eye on your drink at all times.   My heart goes out to this young man.  

[ExpatCruise]

Shari

Yes I know curfews are hard to enforce. A few years ago I had a friend take his first cruise, with his wife and kids. He is a retired Navy Chaplin, he add two cabins, one his wife and him, the other his 19 ear old  daughter and then 17 1/2 year old son. Both kids rock solid good kids.  Any ways 2:30  am knock on his cabin door security on Royal bring the son to the father's cabin, would not return him to his cabin with sister, they wanted the father to know. So Royal does follow the rules sometimes. 

And what bad thing was the 17 1/2 year old doing? He was on deck 6, at the forward observation area taking night pictures of the ocean and sky.... Nothing wrong but not allowed based upon his age and on the Mariner of the Seas the bridge looks down on this area. So seeing someone sitting in a dark area 2:30 am was a flag to security.  Does this make him a bad kid are the parents bad? No, just Royal following the rules they have in place and should follow.

[Shari2]

_{Good to know that Royal was doing a good job here.  This young man was almost 18, too...would be hard to keep kids that age in the cabin...I did see some young kids on Carnival once running up and down the hallways at night, and also some very young girls riding the elevators up and down.  I wondered where their parents were since they were very young girls and it was in the evening.  There is so much "trafficking" children these days that I would sure not want to let mine go alone like that.  I can see an 18-year old wanting to take some great evening pictures, but glad that Royal did the right thing that night.  I'm not one to judge others but I do think that some parents think that it is great to go on vacation and all will be fun and safe.  It isn't always that way, sadly.  We took our youngest daughter on two cruises with us years back.  On one cruise she was 15-years-old, and on formal night she was dressed up all pretty.  We had two young college guys sitting at our dinner table with  us, and they were sure giving her the eye...she is tall, and looked much older.  I had to laugh at hubby, he made sure the guys heard him say how old she was.  LOL He was definitely watching out for her...LOL}