Royal Caribbean faces lawsuit after passenger finds hidden camera in cabin

Published Oct 21, 2024  •  2 minute read

Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines Symphony of the Seas ship during voyage. Photo by Royal Caribbean International /Facebook

A New Hampshire woman is suing Royal Caribbean Cruises after allegedly discovering a hidden camera in the bathroom of her cabin.

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The passenger, who has not been identified, was on a Symphony of the Seas cruise in February when she alleged that her cabin attendant, identified as Arvin Mirasol from the Philippines, accessed her room and taped a video camera containing a memory card in the bathroom, Fox News reported.

“(The camera) captured images of the plaintiff while undressed and engaging in private activities, without plaintiff’s prior knowledge or consent,” according to the lawsuit.

The woman allegedly discovered the camera and reported it to the ship’s security, according to the outlet.

Mirasol was arrested when the ship returned to its port in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

He pleaded guilty to producing child pornography after posting images and videos of children between two and 17 years of age “in various stages of undress” online and on the dark web, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida said in a press release.

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Mirasol was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The woman claims in her lawsuit that she “suffers from severe emotional distress, which manifests physically, causing the plaintiff physical sickness, sweating, nausea, insomnia, dizziness, crying, and physical pain, thereby causing physical impact to the plaintiff.”

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The lawsuit also states that the cruise line “knew about or should have known sexual assaults were reasonably foreseeable” due to previous reports of sexual assaults aboard its ships.

Royal Caribbean has the second highest frequency of reported incidents, according to the lawsuit, which noted there were a total of 26 sexual assaults and rapes reported on their cruises in 2023, and 22 sexual assaults reported in 2022.

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The cruise line could now face a class action after the lawsuit alleged that it did not inform other passengers in rooms serviced by Mirasol between Dec. 1, 2023, and Feb. 26, 2024, noting that nearly 1,000 passengers could have been filmed.

“Royal Caribbean became aware of this problem in March of 2023 when a hidden camera was found in a public bathroom on the pool deck of one of its ships, yet it has seemingly done nothing since then to protect its passengers from reoccurrences — like these instances which went on for nearly three months, over the course of 12 cruises, and involved up to 960 passengers including many children,” Jason Margulies, an attorney with Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, P.A. which is representing the plaintiff, told Fox News.

“Who knows how many countless numbers of pornographic images of these unsuspecting passengers will be circulating on the internet forever because Royal Caribbean failed to protect their privacy and allowed Mirasol to make these passengers victims.”

Royal Caribbean Cruises did not respond to The Toronto Sun’s request for comment.

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