By Malcolm Maclachlan, Capitol Weekly staff reporter
Thursday, April 10, 2008

Cruise ships conjure up happy visions of the Love Boat and the sun-kissed South Pacific. But a crime-victims advocacy group says there's a lot going on that people don't know about--and that passengers often are at risk.

The state Department of Justice would be required to place a law enforcement officer on any cruise ship that docks in California, under legislation carried by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. Simitian's SB 1582 easily emerged from the Senate Public Safety Committee on a 5-0 vote on Tuesday, despite objections from the industry-backed Cruise Lines International Association. Simitian said that he was pushing to bill to ensure safety of passengers and the accountability of cruise lines.

Right now, there are no guarantees whatsoever," Simitian said. "It's an honor system. The cruise lines say ‘Trust us.'" The bill is supported by the International Cruise Victims Association, an advocacy group that claims there is far more crime happening on vacation cruise ships than most potential customers are aware of. A co-founder of the organization, Kendall Carver, testified at the Public Safety hearing on Tuesday. His daughter, Marian Carver, disappeared two days into a seven-day cruise operated by Royal Caribbean from Seattle to Alaska in 2004. According to the Carver, a ship steward reported to the ship's management that Carver was missing for several days, but Royal Caribbean was slow to report her disappearance, then later ignored a subpoena and destroyed a surveillance tape that might have shed light on what happened to the 40 year old.

"They gave her personal items to charity," Kendall Carver told the Capitol Weekly. "They didn't call us or the FBI." He added: "Cover up is the standard operating procedure."

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