Cruise Crime Report — Q2 2026: Carnival Leads All Cruise Lines as Crime Data Remains Underreported

The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported 50 crimes across all cruise lines in Q2 of 2026 (April 1–June 30, 2026). Carnival Cruise Line led all cruise lines in crimes with 20.

The DOT publishes the cruise crime data quarterly, pursuant to the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (CVSSA) of 2010. The law requires cruise lines to report certain crimes on ships sailing to or from an American port to the FBI, which then shares the data with the DOT. The crimes are published by the quarter they were reported to the FBI, not necessarily when they occurred.

Crime by Cruise Line

Carnival led all cruise lines with 20 reported crimes. Carnival was previously the industry crime leader for three years from April 2022 to March 2025 until Royal Caribbean took the top spot in Q2 2025.

Royal Caribbean reported just 7 crimes after leading all cruise lines in the previous two quarters with 14 and 16 reported crimes during those periods.

Although Carnival and Royal Caribbean have the same number of cruise ships in their fleet (29), Royal Caribbean carries far more passengers. Carnival operates 29 ships offering around 94,000 berths. At any given time, the line typically carries between 75,000 and 120,000 guests, depending on whether the ships are at standard double occupancy or sailing at full maximum capacity. Royal Caribbean carries between 115,000 passengers at double occupancy and 142,000 at maximum capacity at any given time. For Q2, this results in Carnival reporting 65% more crime than Royal Caribbean.

A full breakdown of reported crimes by cruise line this quarter is below:

Carnival Cruise Line: 20
MSC Cruises: 9
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line: 7
Norwegian Cruise Line: 6
Margaritaville at Sea: 2
Celebrity Cruises: 2
Virgin Voyages: 1
Disney Cruise Line: 1
Holland America: 1
Princess Cruises: 1

Crime by Category Type

Sexual crimes were the most prevalent crime category with 44 incidents reported — 25 classified as “Sexual Assault-Rape” and 19 classified as “Sexual Assault.” Together, they account for almost 90% of reported crimes.

Carnival led all cruise lines with 17 sexual crimes while MSC Cruises had the second most with 7 sexual crimes.

Only 1 assault with serious bodily injury was reported.

A full breakdown of reported crimes by alleged incident is below:

Sexual Assault-Rape: 25
Sexual Assault: 19
Theft>$10,000: 4
Assault with Serious Bodily Injury: 1
Death-Suspicious: 1
Firing or Tampering with Vessel: 0
Homicide: 0
Missing U.S. National: 0
Kidnapping: 0

Crime Data is Underreported

The crime data published by the DOT does not capture all of the crimes occurring on cruise ships.

Limited Reporting Requirements

The CVSSA requires cruise lines to report only the above crime categories to the FBI. The CVSSA does not have reporting requirements for crimes such as drug smuggling, video voyeurism, and the possession of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). These crimes happen frequently on cruise ships but are not published on the DOT’s cruise crime data reports.

Furthermore, the CVSSA is written so that crimes involving non-U.S. nationals are generally not included in the cruise crime data. With the majority of crew members being foreign nationals, this means most crew-on-crew crime is not included in the data. Any crew-on-foreign-passenger crime or vice versa would also not be included in the data.

Self-Regulation

The other and arguably larger reason crime is underreported is cruise lines themselves determine what crimes to report to the FBI. Cruise lines, who have an incentive to promote an image of safety on their ships, have sole discretion in deciding if a crime should be reported to the FBI.

In Q4 2025, Carnival reported only 3 crimes to the FBI, despite there being 5 publicly reported crimes occurring on Carnival ships during that period.

The underreporting of crime goes against the spirit of the CVSSA which was drafted and passed in 2010 so that U.S. citizens could understand the dangers of going on a cruise. The CVSSA states, “It is not known precisely how often crimes occur on cruise vessels… because cruise line companies do not make comprehensive, crime-related data readily available to the public.”

Solution

The CVSSA should be amended so that the crime categories are expanded and that cruise lines do not self-report crimes. Instead, the FBI, DOT, or another agency should report crime data based on crime logs maintained by cruise ships.

The CVSSA already requires cruise ships to keep a log of all crimes that occur on the ship. This includes the crime categories listed above, thefts over $1,000, and “all complaints of other crimes.” The law states the log must be available upon request to the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other law enforcement.

A comprehensive crime log is already maintained by cruise lines and available to the FBI. This information should not be underreported at the discretion of the cruise lines. The U.S. public deserves to know the true risks and crime statistics on cruise ships.

Historical Cruise Crime Data

Last year, the DOT reported a total of 181 crimes on all cruise lines. Through six months of this year, 93 crimes have been reported, on pace for 186 for the year.