It has been a rough legal week for Royal Caribbean as the cruise line has been fined by the Environmental Protection Agency and now faces a class-action lawsuit over a crew member hiding a camera in passenger cabins.
Doug Parker broke down both stories on the Dec. 18 edition of Cruise News Today.
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Royal Caribbean fined by the EPA
"Royal Caribbean has been fined over $470,000 for violating environmental regulations at its Galveston, Texas terminal. Now the EPA found that the cruise line failed to accurately report and describe the waste offloaded from its ships between 2017 and 2024," Parker said.
Essentially, Royal Caribbean (RCL) committed a paperwork violation.
"This is required by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The EPA noted that at least one ship offloaded more waste than reported. Royal Caribbean claims it was a paperwork error, paid the fine, and agreed to improve waste management procedures to prevent future violations," he added. "Now to be clear, Royal Caribbean was not caught dumping.:
In fact, Royal Caribbean was caught dumping in 1999 and was fined $18 million.
Royal Caribbean faces a class-action lawsuit
While Royal Caribbean most certainly did not know that it had a crew member hiding a camera in passenger rooms, the cruise line still holds responsibility for it, according to a new lawsuit.
A Royal Caribbean passenger has filed a class-action lawsuit against the cruise line and a former crew member for allegedly hiding a camera in her cabin bathroom. The lawsuit, filed in Florida on behalf of the guest, Jane Doe, "claims that the former stateroom attendant secretly recorded her and other passengers while they were undressed on Symphony of the Seas back in February," Parker shared.
A class-action lawsuit allows other parties that fell victim the to same crime to join the lawsuit.
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The cabin attendant, Arvin Joseph Marisol, pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and is now now serving a 30-year prison sentence for this act. "The suit accuses Royal Caribbean of failing to prevent such incidents, citing prior hidden camera cases and increasing reports of assaults on its ships," Parker added.
The lawsuit seeks punitive damages and a jury trial.
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