Historic Cruise Safety Bill Passes Senate

Greenwich Post, Friday, June 11, 2010

An historic bill requiring tighter security and transparency on cruiseships was passed by the United States Senate last night after a five-year fight that began after George Smith of Greenwich went missing from his honeymoon cruise. The bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in October, and is expected to be signed into law by President Barack Obama, according to Ken Carver, chairman of International Cruise Victims (ICV).

“If one family can be spared the torment that our family has experienced in our battle for answers and justice for George, then our efforts have not been in vain,” the Smith family said, in a statement.

After Mr. Smith went missing from his cruise ship in July, 2005, then U.S. Rep. Chris Shays (R-4th) held hearings into cruise ship safety and the unregulated, $38-billion-a-year cruise industry at the request of the Smiths. At the hearings, the Smith family met Mr. Carver of Arizona, whose daughter Merrian had gone missing on an Alaskan Royal Caribbean cruise in 2004. The Smiths and Mr. Carver then formed ICV, which has lobbied for improved safety and transparency regulations on cruise ships.

“Hopefully with the passage of the Cruise Safety Bill, the voices of the victimized and missing from cruise ships, as well as their families, will no longer be ignored and silenced,” said George’s sister Bree Smith, acting as a spokesperson for her mother Maureen and her father George.

The bill was co-sponsored in the U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Rep Jim Himes (D-4) and in the U.S. Senate by John Kerry (D-Mass.).

“The Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act of 2009 requires cruise lines to report all crimes aboard cruise ships plus take other actions to protect the victims of crimes on cruise ships,” said Jamie Barnett, president of ICV. “The first measure of its kind, the approval of this legislation represents a historic step toward securing all passengers the safety and security they need and deserve.”

Mr. Carver described the battle to pass the bill as a David and Goliath story, with the handful of citizens taking on the powerful cruise industry. “We applaud this first measure of its kind,” he said. The approval of this legislation represents an historic step toward securing all passengers the safety and security they need and deserve.”

In his address to Congress, Mr. Himes acknowledged the work of his predecessor, Mr. Shays. “I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to mention my predecessor, the Honorable Christopher Shays, and the fight he began to improve safety on cruise ships and protect cruise ship passengers years ago.”

Ms. Smith also thanked Mr. Shays, saying, “We will never forget that Mr. Shays brought the need for reform of the cruise industry to the national spotlight and was a crusader for George, our family and all the other cruise crime victims that had been silenced for so long.”

Mr. Himes said the bill is aimed at protecting the more than 12 million Americans who will take a cruise vacation in 2009. He said the bill will help them to “have an inadequate understanding of their potential vulnerability to crime.” This bill, he said, will provide those who may be victimized “the information they need to understand their legal rights or to know who to contact for help in the immediate aftermath of a crime.”

“Cruise ships, which operate under foreign flags of convenience, are not required under U.S. law to report crimes that occur outside of U.S. territorial waters,” Mr. Himes said.

The new bill would make crime reporting mandatory, and “will lead to more enjoyable, safer trips and better results for victims of crimes,” Mr. Himes said.

Ms. Barnett said ICV now has “members and friends in more than 20 countries, represents victims of crime on cruise ships, their families and friends, and individuals concerned about the problems of victimization and disappearances on cruise ships.”

In their fight to pass the bill, ICV has participated in “countless meetings with members of Congress, and four Congressional hearings,” she said. Along with Mr. Shays and Mr. Himes, “the hearings were held at the urging of U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Ca.), with the support of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).”

The new law stipulates that owners of cruise vessels must “upgrade, modernize and retrofit the safety and security infrastructure on their vessels.” It will require cruise lines to install peepholes in passenger doors, raise standard ship railings, install security video cameras and limit access to passenger rooms.

Crew members must be trained in “the appropriate methods for prevention, detection, evidence preservation and reporting of criminal activities.”

Ms. Matsui said the bill was needed. “Current law doesn’t pass the test of providing common-sense security measures to the travelling public to help protect them from crimes committed aboard ships or to adequately prevent individuals from going overboard,” she said. “Moreover, current law does not provide the support victims and their families need in the event of a disaster. This legislation is critical to providing the security and safety measures that all Americans need and deserve, no matter if they are on land or at sea.”