Allegation of aboard a Seabourn ship by Assistant Cruise Director

[SLSD]

This is a bit unsettling.  The complaint arises from a situation aboard Sojourn.  You can read about it here:  https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/seabourn-cruise-passenger-files-complaint-alleging-being-drugged-and-raped-by-assistant-cruise-director-aboard-the-sojourn-301053391.html?fbclid=IwAR3TtuKqi0Hops_YulTNLTRV5YVnOdPgOwZeOuLUpMH39NN272-WKJGRye8

 

I obviously bungled the title of this thread which should read:  Allegation of rape aboard a Seabourn ship...

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by SLSD

[saminina]

Name that tune.  Or, who plays trivia?   I haven't a clue.

[cruisr]

If this is true it is very unsettling.   Have no idea who the ACD was in March 2019 and if it happened as described there have to be medical records.  An incident report should have been filed and the ship’s security officer would have/should have been involved also.  There may also be video footage of the parties in question going to the suite.  

Scary thought that this could happen on a place which one feels safe on.

 

[johng75370]

Wow!  Not unthinkable that something like this could happen, but almost. I’m surprised this was filed at the end of March, and only getting press attention now.  

[sfvoyage]

19 minutes ago, johng75370 said:

I’m surprised this was filed at the end of March, and only getting press attention now.  

The lawsuit was filed end of March 2019.

 

I meant to say that the incident happened at the end of March 2019 

Edited May 6, 2020 by sfvoyage

[johng75370]

2 minutes ago, sfvoyage said:

The lawsuit was filed end of March 2019.

That's a typo in the article; the pdf of the filing shows it was filed on 3/30/20.  The alleged assault happened at the end of March 2019.

[sfvoyage]

9 minutes ago, johng75370 said:

That's a typo in the article; the pdf of the filing shows it was filed on 3/30/20.  The alleged assault happened at the end of March 2019.

 

I meant to type that the incident happened at the end of March 2019.

 

I guess it takes a while for the lawsuit to be filed.

 

Actually I was on the Sojourn in January and again April and May 2019. Presumably the accused ACD would have been promptly offloaded after the incident was reported, since the plaintiff went to see the ship's medical doctor soon after the incident took place.

 

Anyone on the ship at that time and recall who the ACD was?

[norm2002]

1 hour ago, sfvoyage said:

 

Anyone on the ship at that time and recall who the ACD was?

 

I know this is what social media has come to but it would be wrong to name him. There is a reason why he is not named in the lawsuit. There is presumably also the possibility of criminal proceedings. Just as the alleged victim is entitled to anonymity at this stage, so is the alleged assailant.

[TRIPACIAN]

We were on this cruise.  There were two assistant CD’s I do not remember their names.  The cruise ended in Singapore on April 10th.
 

 I remember that it was announced towards the end of the cruise that one of the two assistants was promoted to be a cruise director on another ship.  They made a real positive/pubic ceremony making this announcement so I highly doubt that he was involved in any way in this incident.  The other assistant was very visible throughout the cruise and performed in several of the shows.  Both of these two assistant CD’s were always available and did a lot of interacting with the passengers during the entire 36 day cruise.

 

 If either of these assistants was under any suspicion of being involved in this incident they certainly would have been removed from the ship immediately at the next port.  Incidentally on March 28th, we were in Colombo, Sri Lanka and the following day we were in another port in Sri Lanka.  
 

In my opinion the claim that this rape occurred, while possible,  just doesn’t make sense to me. If it happened in Sri Lanka waters they would have brought in the local authorities immediately.  

Edited May 6, 2020 by TRIPACIAN
Delete name

[sfvoyage]

58 minutes ago, norm2002 said:

 

I know this is what social media has come to but it would be wrong to name him. There is a reason why he is not named in the lawsuit. There is presumably also the possibility of criminal proceedings. Just as the alleged victim is entitled to anonymity at this stage, so is the alleged assailant.

 

While you made  a valid point, according to the article:

 

"John Doe, however, is asking for help from the general cruising public or crew aboard the SOJOURN about the Assistant Cruise Director, whose previous employers include: Royal Cruise Line, Sitmar Cruise Line, Cunard, American Hawaii, Radisson Seas and Paul Guaguin Cruises. "

 

(While alleged victims are and should be subject to privacy protection, many reputable news sites do identify alleged perpetrators.)

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by sfvoyage

[Covepointcruiser]

Just spoke with my husband and he is very surprised that a drug he takes twice a day for  severe trigeminal neuralgia is considered a date rape drug!   He has taken it for over 10 years and does drink alcohol.  He has never felt that he was out-of-it.

 

When did the ACD become a ship’s officer?   Thought that was only for the ones with stripes.   Sounds to me like another lawyer looking for money.

 

[Nachosdelux]

5 hours ago, TRIPACIAN said:

In my opinion the claim that this rape occurred, while possible,  just doesn’t make sense to me. If it happened in Sri Lanka waters they would have brought in the local authorities immediately.  

 

not if the company mishandled the situation, which it sounds like they initially did, based on the allegations in the civil complaint.  

 

BTW the case sounds pretty convincing to me, based on the evidence detailed in said complaint.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Nachosdelux

[westmount]

Usually one has to fight the criminal case prior to winning an expensive civil case, but it’s hard to tell where that stood . Bring the evidence to a criminal court and the civil case becomes easier. The plaintiff seems to have been travelling solo, and while not socially acceptable to ask the question, if gay will have a difficult case and if straight will win in every court. 

[TRIPACIAN]

17 hours ago, Nachosdelux said:

 

not if the company mishandled the situation, which it sounds like they initially did, based on the allegations in the civil complaint.  

 

BTW the case sounds pretty convincing to me, based on the evidence detailed in said complaint.

Lawsuits almost always sound convincing at first glance.  We were on the ship and there was just too much positive interaction between the two assistant cd’s and the passengers on a daily basis for me to believe there was something going on behind the scenes.  
 

I have been on a previous cruise where an unfortunate incident occurred and everyone on the ship was aware that something happened.  coincidentally that incident was also on the Sojourn and on a small ship word spreads fast.

[johng75370]

6 hours ago, westmount said:

if gay will have a difficult case and if straight will win in every court. 

 

If the victim was drugged and raped, and it can be proven, then sexual orientation should not matter at all.  

[westmount]

I was not insinuating anything differently. i guess i've seen too many Law and order Special victim episodes. 

[Mauzac]

2 hours ago, TRIPACIAN said:

Lawsuits almost always sound convincing at first glance.  We were on the ship and there was just too much positive interaction between the two assistant cd’s and the passengers on a daily basis for me to believe there was something going on behind the scenes.  

 

 

 

We were on this cruise too, and we dined with both Assistant CD's on their hosted tables.  I have no idea about any of this, we just found them both great company at the time.

Both they and the CD made it one of the best cruises we've been on.  

Disappointing to hear this.  

 

[TRIPACIAN]

1 hour ago, Mauzac said:

 

We were on this cruise too, and we dined with both Assistant CD's on their hosted tables.  I have no idea about any of this, we just found them both great company at the time.

Both they and the CD made it one of the best cruises we've been on.  

Disappointing to hear this.  

 

I agree all three of the cd’s were great and it was a great cruise!

[yeah!!!]

Since there are some posts in this thread stating authorities would have been brought in, or the assailant would be removed from the vessel, or that cameras would assist in the investigation, I included some sections of the the complaint filed in UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE, WASHINGTON  (You can certainly go online and obtain the entire compliant.  It is 56 pages in length.  I added the bold and underscoring to the text below.

 

 

 - the assailant continued to work, interact with passengers, and freely walk through the vessel for a day and half after the incident was reported.

 - the head of the Consular Section of the U.S. Embassy (Myanmar) advised Plaintiff that the Vessel’s Head of Security, “Alex,” had told the head of the Consular Section that the Vessel was ill equipped with CCTV cameras compared to any other cruise ship he worked on and that, if the Vessel had better CCTV cameras, they would have been able to
obtain vital video evidence leading up to Assailant’s sexual assault and rape of Plaintiff. Plaintiff
was further advised that Assailant would be allowed to disembark the Vessel despite the sexual
assault and rape he committed. 

Pursuant to the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (“CVSSA”), 46 U.S.C. § 3501
et seq., SEABOURN &/or HOLLAND AMERICA are required to report all incidents of crimes,
including “sexual assaults” onboard their cruise ships to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”).
The reported incidents are then collated into chart form (known as a “Cruise Line Incident Report”)
and published on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s website and are available at:
https://www.transportation.gov/mission/safety/cruise-line-incident-report-1-apr-30-jun-2019.
3.42

 

As indicated above, the sexual assault and rape of Plaintiff occurred on or about
March 28, 2019 onboard the Vessel. However, the Cruise Incident Reports from January 1, 2019
through June 30, 2019 reveal that SEABOURN &/or HOLLAND AMERICA failed to report this
incident of sexual assault and rape to the FBI as required by the CVSSA. Copies of the Cruise Line
Incident Reports for the relevant time period are attached as composite

Edited May 7, 2020 by yeah!!!
to correct formatting issues

[Mauzac]

11 hours ago, TRIPACIAN said:

I agree all three of the cd’s were great and it was a great cruise!

 

I recognise you both I think,  I am sure my husband and I joined you for cocktails in the Obs Bar!  (more than once, and more than one cocktail 😁)  We're the couple from UK and my husband was at Bridge every opportunity. 

 

I wrote a review after the cruise on CC saying how it was such a happy ship and the staff just made it magical for us.  

 

 

[rols]

11 hours ago, TRIPACIAN said:

I agree all three of the cd’s were great and it was a great cruise!

we were on the next cruise afterwards and the CD and ACDs didn't change between those two cruises. 

The allegation in that complaint is completely impossible. 

[sfvoyage]

According to my friends who were on the Sojourn at end of March, CD Ross was assisted by 2 ACDs, one of whom left the ship on April 2nd in Rangoon.  (Ross had announced on April 1st that this person had been promoted to CD and was moving to another ship.)

 

The date and place of departure details were also mentioned in the lawsuit PDF provided in the article link at the top of this thread; other details also correspond to information that can easily be gathered on social media about this person - that he's from Southern California and had worked on Paul Gauguin and Radisson Seven Seas, etc.

[Covepointcruiser]

Was the ACD older.   Radisson  has been gone for many years, unless that is the parent company for Regent.   On Seabourn I also saw the ACDs as being on the younger side not that the CD is old.

[sfvoyage]

54 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

Was the ACD older.   Radisson  has been gone for many years, unless that is the parent company for Regent.   On Seabourn I also saw the ACDs as being on the younger side not that the CD is old.

 

Based on his Linkedin CV/profile and an video interview elsewhere, he has to be in his 50s (or 60s).  He was CD for many years on other lines and had just joined Seabourn in early March; an ACD position must be the open one available at that time, since he should have otherwise been hired as a CD based on his experience and positive online reviews.

Edited May 8, 2020 by sfvoyage

[saminina]

Never knew there was a spot in The Club CCTV did not cover.  So ACD is on board for a month and found the spot.   I've been looking for seven years and have failed.   If there is one, that is where I will do my drinking.    One of my peeves is CCTV coverage on SB ships.