Margaritaville at Sea passenger files lawsuit saying she was raped in Bahamas hotel
A Margaritaville at Sea passenger is suing the cruise line’s parent company Classica Cruise Operator claiming she was sexually assaulted by an employee of the hotel booked by the company, according to the lawsuit filed last week.
The hotel has a history of sexual assault allegations, and the cruise line was liable to warn about and protect passengers from the hotel’s “dangerous conditions,” said the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
“We want to make people aware,” Alex Perez, the passenger’s attorney from the maritime and admiralty law firm Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, P.A., told USA TODAY. “These things happen in foreign ports. I know you’re on vacation but you have to be careful. This can help people make informed decisions.”
The passenger, named “Jane Doe” in the case, is a Missouri resident who went on a two-day cruise from West Palm Beach, Florida, to the Bahamas and back in August 2023.
According to the complaint, Classica had arranged for the passenger to stay at the Viva Fortuna Beach by Wyndham, located in Freeport in the Bahamas because the ship did not have cabins available for her.
Resources and laws: What to know if you're sexually assaulted on a cruise
The lawsuit states that the passenger left her room at night to get water when an employee forced her into the control room of the resort’s theatre, locked the door and raped her.
This isn’t the first allegation of rape at the Viva Fortuna Beach by Wyndham. In 2016, a TripAdvisor user who went to the resort to get married wrote a review saying she was gang raped by staff when a security officer opened her door while her husband was out. The general manager had responded to the review by saying the resort takes “allegations of violence very seriously.” The investigation hit a dead-end when no evidence was found.
Resort employees have a “practice” of encouraging alcohol to the guests “with a motive to sexually assault and/or rape them if they became vulnerable,” according to the complaint.
“Prior to the subject incident, (Classica and Wyndham) knew or should have known that the resort was not reasonably safe and/or employees at the Resort had a proclivity for sexual misconduct,” the lawsuit said. However, Classica neglected to warn the passenger or provide her with security during her stay there.
Margaritaville at Sea and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts did not respond to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
Jane Doe is suing the resort for damages for the physical injuries and pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, “mental anguish,” “loss of enjoyment of life” and medical expenses among other things she experienced from the assault.
The lawsuit will help “prevent any of this happening to anyone else,” Perez said. “That’s step No. 1. I’m not here to make the cruise lines look like the bad guy. I have a sister, a mother, there’s women in my life, and I don’t want anything like this to happen to someone.”
This is the latest in a string of sexual assault incidents involving Margaritaville at Sea Cruises. Last year, two women aboard the Margaritaville at Sea Paradise cruise ship said they were raped by a bartender who snuck into their room at night, ultimately impregnating one.
Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at kwong@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Second Margaritaville at Sea passenger sues cruise, hotel for rape
