Royal Caribbean Guests Sue Cruise Line After Disgusting Act by Former Crew Member

A dozen Royal Caribbean passengers are suing the cruise line after a former crew member filmed guests in their staterooms while they were naked, including children.

The new lawsuit comes just five months after Arvin Joseph Mirasol, 34, a former employee of the ship, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to producing child pornography.

He is once again named in the recent 30-page lawsuit that was filed on behalf of the 12 plaintiffs – each of them a US resident – in the Southern District of Florida in Miami on Thursday. USA Today reported.

“The plaintiffs in this case have suffered physical pain, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental and nervous disorders,” wrote Aronfeld Trial Lawyers, the firm representing the plaintiffs.

“These injuries are permanent and ongoing in nature,” he added. “We demand a judgment for all recoverable damages under the law, including punitive damages and a jury trial.”

The plaintiffs, identified as John, Jane or Junior Doe, had sailing dates in both December 2023 and January 2024.

They became victims of a disturbing crime while staying in cabins staffed by Mirasol when she worked on the company’s Symphony of the Seas ship before her arrest in March 2024.

The lawsuit states that Mirasol was responsible for uploading and/or transmitting images and videos of the victims while they undressed and engaged in private activities.

A dozen Royal Caribbean passengers filed a new lawsuit against the cruise line on Thursday in connection with a former crew member who was arrested in March 2024 for filming guests, including children, in their staterooms while they were naked.

The new lawsuit comes just five months after Arvin Joseph Mirasol, the 34-year-old former employee, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to producing child pornography.

Additionally, the lawsuit claimed that he shared the disgusting images on the Internet, including the dark web, all without the guest’s knowledge or consent.

“The fact that many of the victims we represent still do not know if and how their images have been used or circulated is incredibly disturbing,” Spencer Aronfeld, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said in a news release Tuesday. .

“Some of the plaintiffs are children and once an image is on the Internet, it stays there forever.”

Mirasol, who is a Filipino citizen, also faces up to 15 counts of video voyeurism in Broward Circuit Court. CBS News reported.

The 34-year-old worked for Royal Caribbean from December 1, 2023 to February 26, 2024 as a stateroom attendant, regularly cleaning passenger rooms, replenishing towels and changing sheets.

Stateroom attendants on the ship are assigned to a section of 16 to 20 passenger cabins, each room accommodating two to four passengers.

On one of the trips, a girl found a small camera pointed at the shower when she was looking for toilet paper under the sink while on a cruise with her older sister and mother to Aruba and Curacao, according to the Miami Herald.

The family proceeded to call customer services, which alerted ship security about the incident.

The lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs have suffered ongoing problems – including physical pain, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental and nervous disorders – since Mirasol committed his crimes while working on the Symphony of the Boat. seas

Mirasol allegedly admitted to entering passengers’ rooms and hiding under the bed to record naked people before retrieving the images and “pleasuring himself.”

Mirasol was then detained until the ship docked at Port Everglades in Florida a week later, where he was arrested on March 3, 2024. CBS News reported.

Authorities then confiscated their electronic devices, including a USB flash drive, and found several videos of women undressing in their bathrooms.

A video “clearly shows the defendant installing the camera” in the bathroom, prosecutors said. “The camera points towards the shower.”

Another video appeared to show a 10-year-old girl entering the shower, the reported the New York Times.

“The video focused on the children’s genital areas,” charging documents state.

According to prosecutors, there were numerous other videos of children between the ages of two and 17.

Mirasol later pleaded guilty to producing child pornography and admitted to entering passengers’ rooms and hiding under the bed to record naked people.

“If I like who’s in that room, I put it up,” he allegedly told investigators regarding his hidden cameras.

The 34-year-old worked for Royal Caribbean from December 1, 2023 to February 26, 2024 as a stateroom attendant, regularly cleaning passenger rooms, replenishing towels and changing sheets.

Following Mirasol’s arrest, authorities confiscated his electronic devices, including a USB drive, and found several videos of women undressing in his bathrooms.

He then said that after filming, he would retrieve the cameras and watch the videos while “pleasuring himself,” federal prosecutors alleged.

Mirasol also acknowledged that he knew that videotaping underage girls was illegal and that he attempted to target women ages 16 and older.

But in a forensic analysis of his devices, Homeland Security Investigations found at least 11 children in his videos, according to the Miami Herald.

“I want to control it, but I can’t,” Mirasol reportedly stated.

He was ultimately sentenced on August 28 to 30 years behind bars, the maximum possible sentence he could receive after pleading guilty.

Immediately after his arrest, authorities notified at least 23 people who had been captured in Mirasol’s photographs and videos.

One of the victims proceeded to file a separate class action lawsuit in October 2024, seeking damages for passengers aboard the ship who were unknowingly photographed and filmed during the February cruise.

The unnamed passenger who filed the lawsuit in October said she suffered severe emotional distress – including insomnia, physical pain and dizziness – when she discovered she had been photographed.

A separate class action lawsuit was filed in October 2024 after law enforcement notified at least 23 people who had been captured in Mirasol’s photos and videos while in the privacy of their own cabin.

Both lawsuits argued that Royal Caribbean “knew or should have known that the sexual assaults were reasonably foreseeable considering the prevalence of sexual assaults aboard RCCL cruise ships.”

The lawsuit argued that Royal Caribbean “knew or should have known that the sexual assaults were reasonably foreseeable considering the prevalence of sexual assaults aboard RCCL cruise ships,” pointing to a previous incident with a hidden camera on another ship in the fleet, the Harmony of the Seas, in 2023.

The lawsuit also claims the company failed to provide sufficient security, training or supervision to prevent sexual assaults, and failed to notify passengers who stayed in cabins served by Mirasol, noting that its victims may include up to 960 passengers.

It was determined that throughout his time working on the ship – approximately 12 cruises – he recorded a video camera with a memory card in the cabin bathrooms.

The passengers are seeking damages, including punitive damages and a jury trial, in the new filing.

There were a shocking 131 sex crimes on cruise ships embarking and disembarking guests in the US that were reported to the FBI in 2023, USA Today reported.

Disturbingly, that number has risen from 87 alleged sexual assaults in 2022 along with 101 in 2019 before the industry shut down during the pandemic.