Blumenthal: Cruise Ship Bill Would Protect Passengers
By Ken Borsuk of greenwichtime.com
Standing with the family of a Greenwich man who disappeared a decade ago while on his honeymoon on a Royal Caribbean ship, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal vowed new legislation would make the cruise ship industry more accountable for passenger safety.
“Since January 2015 alone, 12 passengers have fallen overboard while on cruise ships,” Blumenthal said.
“What happened to George Smith is only one of numerous criminal assaults and other crimes that happen to Americans every year at sea,” he said. “The reason is many cruise ships are simply lawless, abandoning passengers from the law enforcement that protects them on land.”
Blumenthal, who is co-sponsoring the Cruise Passenger Protection Act of 2015 in the Senate, appeared Tuesday at Greenwich Town Hall to introduce a bill he said would help keep cruise passengers from being victimized while on board ship.
A 2010 federal law required cruise ships to report homicides, suspicious deaths, missing U.S. nationals, kidnapping, assault with serious bodily injury, firing or tampering with the vessel, theft of money or property in excess of $10,000 and certain sexual offenses to the FBI.
