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Bar Harbor's cruise ship passenger cap upheld in federal court ruling

A federal judge has ruled that Bar Harbor is within its rights to cap cruise shipping traffic/passenger visits at 1000 per day without violating federal laws regarding interstate commerce.

The decision, made by Judge Lance Walker on Thursday, February 29, supports the limits imposed by Bar Harbor voters in November 2022. The town implemented these restrictions following pressure to mitigate the impact of cruise ships during peak tourist seasons.

In response, a coalition of local businesses, pier operators, and tour companies filed a lawsuit against the town in 2023, alleging that the restrictions violated federal maritime law and certain aspects of the U.S. Constitution. The group, known as the Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods, argued that the limits would negatively affect their businesses.

In a detailed 61-page ruling, Judge Walker determined that the reduced limits did not amount to protectionism by favoring local businesses over out-of-state interests, which would have violated federal law.

“They have engaged in the exercise of imposing a restriction based on their first hand experience of the relative deleterious impact of high-volume disembarkations at the waterfront while remaining open to the entire world’s visitation,” wrote Judge Walker. “In both purpose and effect, they have acted only to limit the extent to which Bar Harbor must be victim to its own success, while continuing to welcome travelers from every corner of the world.”

Judge Walker also clarified that federal law mandates the town to grant access to and from their vessels for seafarers (excluding cruise ship passengers) from the town’s waterfront. Any attempt by the town to use the cruise ship passenger cap to restrict seafarer access could potentially violate federal law.

Bar Harbor officials expressed satisfaction with Judge Walker’s ruling, stating that the town council would issue a public statement regarding the decision after consulting with legal counsel on March 4, 2024. They reiterated the town's commitment to defending its home rule authority to enact and enforce reasonable regulations for the benefit of its citizens.

Attorneys representing the local business group have declined to comment on Judge Walker’s decision, stating that they were still reviewing it.

LEGAL NEWSLINE

Thursday, June 27, 2024

Lawsuit filed against Bar Harbor's limit on cruise ship passengers

PORTLAND, Maine (Legal Newsline) — Business owners in Bar Harbor, Maine, are alleging a town ordinance limiting the number of persons disembarking from cruise ships is unconstitutional. 

Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods, B.H., Piers LLC, Golden Anchor LC and others filed a complaint Dec. 29 in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine against Town of Bar Harbor, alleging violation of the Commerce Clause of the United States and other claims. 

The plaintiffs claim in their class action that Bar Harbor's Special Use Ordinance Amendment passed in November of 2022, which limits the number of persons allowed to disembark from cruise ships, is unconstitutional. Specifically, they allege the ordinance's 1,000-person disembarkation limit, including passengers and crew, is a "comprehensive federal regulatory scheme" that "impermissibly" bars cruise ships and maritime facilities from their operations in the Port of Bar Harbor. 

They also allege the ordinance prevents them from engaging in their federally approved operations. The plaintiffs claim the ordinance will also have impacts outside Bar Harbor and Maine and cause a disruption to cruise ship commerce across the Eastern Seaboard. 

T hey also claim Bar Harbor's ordinance discriminates against interstate and foreign commerce as well as having an economic impact on Bar Harbor's restaurants, retail and tour-based businesses. 

The plaintiffs seek monetary relief, interest and all other just relief. They are represented by Timothy Woodcock, P. Andrew Hamilton and Patrick Lyons of Eaton Peabody in Bangor. 

U.S. District Court for the District of Maine case number 1:22-CV-00416-LEW

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Bar Harbor businesses sue town over limit on cruise ship visitors

The ordinance adopted by voters in November puts a 1,000-person cap on the number of passengers who can come ashore daily.

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A seaside view of Bar Harbor, with a small cruise ship at the dock. Mount Desert Islander file photo

A group of businesses is suing the town of Bar Harbor, claiming that its new cap on the number of cruise ship passengers coming ashore is unconstitutional and will hurt the local economy.

The ordinance, which went into effect Dec. 8 following a November referendum , limits the number of passengers disembarking in Bar Harbor each day to 1,000. The cap was proposed in response to complaints about downtown congestion during Bar Harbor’s cruise season, when more than 150 ships – some carrying thousands of passengers – typically visit.

The cap “immediately renders the town an unviable destination port-of-call,” a complaint filed last week in Bangor federal court said. The plaintiff is a group representing Bar Harbor businesses, the owners of two piers that receive passengers, and the operators of three vessels that ferry passengers between the town and the cruise ships. The complaint asks that the ordinance be overturned but doesn’t seek any damages.

Bar Harbor has for years tried to promote itself as an attractive destination for cruise ships. The complaint notes that ship itineraries are planned years in advance and claims that the limit will lead cruise lines to shift their stops to other ports.

Bar Harbor struggles with cruise ship limits, and Portland could be next

But residents said the number of ships and their passengers is overwhelming for the small town and only a small number of businesses benefit from the influx. The town last fall worked out an agreement with cruise lines to limit the number of ships that come into town.

Town Manager Kevin Sutherland said the agreement would cut the number of cruise ships in Bar Harbor during September and October – the two busiest months – by about 30%. Sutherland said the agreement, which would take full effect in 2024, would result in 22 days when there would be no cruise ships in town. Advertisement

Sutherland said town officials were skeptical about enforcing the referendum’s limit on passengers, largely because they disembark ship tenders at privately owned docks where the town’s harbor master doesn’t have access. Sutherland also said there was much uncertainty about what town officials can do if the limit is violated.

Pier Pressure: Cruise ships are altering the Maine coast. Are they worth it?

However, the town’s official opposition didn’t stop residents from putting the 1,000-passenger cap on the fall ballot. The town’s planning board and the warrant committee, which oversees referendums in Bar Harbor, both urged voters to reject the measure, but it passed, 1,780-1,273.

OPPOSING VIEWS

Timothy Woodcock, a lawyer representing the businesses that sued the town, said the ordinance limiting the number of passengers disembarking violates federal law because it runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution by limiting freedom of movement.

The town cannot restrict how people get to Bar Harbor, he said, and maritime operations are primarily under federal control with few circumstances for local regulation.

Portland City Council sends 5 referendums, including cruise ship restrictions, to voters

A similar referendum went on the ballot last fall in Portland , proposed by the Maine Democratic Socialists of America. But that organization withdrew its support a few months before the vote after reaching an agreement with labor groups on steps to reduce cruise ship pollution and to increase waterfront jobs and pay. Advertisement

That referendum also sought to limit disembarkations to 1,000 passengers a day, but voters rejected the proposal by more than a 2-1 ratio.

The Bar Harbor lawsuit also seeks an injunction against enforcement of the new cap because, Woodcock said, it would likely cause cruise lines to avoid Bar Harbor this year. He said cruise lines are reluctant to reschedule and if they drop Bar Harbor because of the cap, they’re unlikely to change back even if the lawsuit succeeds.

Group behind referendum restricting cruise ships is no longer supporting it

If the cruise lines were forced to steer past Bar Harbor, the complaint said, “it could take years to reestablish cruise line confidence in calling at the port of Bar Harbor.”

The Bar Harbor Town Council was scheduled to discuss the lawsuit in executive session Monday night.

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Judge Finds for Bar Harbor in Cruise Ship Case

BAR HARBOR—Bar Harbor has won a federal court case about cruise ship disembarkation limits in its town.

Bar Harbor issued a statement, Thursday afternoon, along with the filing, writing, “The Town is pleased with the outcome of the lawsuit. The Council will provide a public statement concerning the decision after it assembles and meets with legal counsel in executive session on March 4, 2024.  The Town remains committed to defending and exercising its home rule authority to enact and enforce reasonable regulations to protect the health, well-being, and happiness of its citizens.”

In November 2022, Bar Harbor’s voters passed a citizen’s petition by Charles Sidman and several other residents, 1,780 to 1,273.

That petition restricted cruise ship passengers coming ashore each day to no more than 1,000 without fines. Some businesses involved with the cruise ship industry and the Penobscot Bay Pilot’s Association all objected to the decision and brought the case to federal court in December 2022. It went to trial in July 2023. BH Piers and Golden Anchor, Bar Harbor Whale Watch; and the Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods, a nonprofit of Bar Harbor business owners were a part of the suit. Sidman was also involved as an intervenor.

Federal Judge Lance Walker wrote in the February 29 ruling,

“Based on my consideration of the evidentiary record, the arguments of counsel, and the law, judgment will enter in favor of the Defendant Town of Bar Harbor on every count but one, and even as to that one count, judgment will enter partially for the Town, as only limited declaratory relief is awarded in recognition of a partial preemption problem, without affording Plaintiffs and Plaintiff-Intervenor the relief they are seeking.”

The plaintiffs had argued that the new rules, violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution; Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, and violated the Maine Constitution by interfering “with the Maine legislatures’s comprehensive and exclusive regulatory scheme for state pilotage” and that it “frustrates the purpose of Maine’s economic and community development statues.”

Walker disagreed with the plaintiffs fully on most arguments and partially about the Supremacy Clause, writing in his conclusion,

“As for the Supremacy Clause claims stated in the first counts of the Plaintiffs’ Complaint and the Plaintiff-Intervenor’s Complaint in Intervention, judgment will enter IN PART for the Town of Bar Harbor, as Plaintiff and 41 Cf. Nat’l Pork Producers Council, 598 U.S. at 382 (plurality opinion) (describing that weighing out-of state producers’ costs of compliance against the moral and health interests of California’s residents as “a task no court is equipped to undertake” and stating that in “a functioning democracy, policy choices like these usually belong to the people and their elected representatives”). Plaintiff-Intervenor fail to demonstrate cause to invalidate the Ordinance insofar as it operates as a restriction on passenger disembarkations, and IN PART for Plaintiff and Plaintiff-Intervenor, as they have demonstrated that the Ordinance is partially preempted in relation to seafarer shore access, although it is by no means self-evident that any material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties has thereby been achieved.”

In July 2021, there was a monthly cap of 65,000 visitors. In the fall of 2022, prior to the petition passing, the town created memorandums of agreement with the cruise lines, which lowered the daily passengers from 5,500 to 3,800 in May, June, October, and September and the monthly cap of 65,000.

Now, those disembarkations are limited to 1,000 a day with a $100 minimum penalty. Since the ordinance passed in November 2022 (the changes are a part of the town’s land use ordinance), town staff has been working on plans to implement those changes.

Walker wrote, “Although cruise ship passengers account for a limited portion of the total number of annual visitors to greater Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island, they arrive at a destination that is already blessed and burdened by land-based tourism and at a waterfront of rather limited area. Cruise ship passenger traffic also has a pronounced impact on and near the waterfront, including the eastern portion of West Street and the northern portion of Main Street.”

He also noted in his background that tendering has “become a more efficient operation.”

“For some, the expansion of tourism resulted in a return on planning and investment. For others, it resulted in a growing disaffection with municipal life. Increasingly, town leaders heard from constituents who were experiencing this disaffection. Then came COVID. During the visitation-hiatus brought about by COVID quarantine orders—which restrictions impacted both land and sea visitation to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park—some residents of Bar Harbor were reminded that there are measures of a municipality’s success other than its volume of business,” Walker wrote.

Congestion was cited as a primary issue for many residents feelings about cruise ships. Others worried about the cruise ships’ environmental impact. In a 2021 town survey, 55% of the 1,400 responding said cruise ships took away from Bar Harbor’s image and negatively impacted the town. Cruise ship supporters pointed to cruise ship fees that supported some town services as well as the income that passengers brought to businesses.

Walker wrote, “A variety of details remain for purposes of sorting out the best approach to implementing the Ordinance. These include proposed rulemaking to exclude crew from the 1,000-person limit (for reasons that will be explained shortly), determining how best to monitor passenger volume, and determining how to proceed in the event the limit is disregarded by the Pier Owners.”

Walker also spoke to the congested nature of Bar Harbor’s downtown waterfront, which he said was “empirically exacerbated by the regular morning and afternoon pulse of cruise ship passengers and the tour busses and other vehicles that cater to them.”

Walker believes that the ordinance’s impact will likely “reduce passenger visitation volume by a significant percentage, likely north of 80 and possibly as high as 90 percent (in the short term) compared with the peak numbers experienced in 2022 and 2023.”

LINKS TO LEARN MORE

Bar Harbor statement.

To read the court's decision in full

This story was updated at 5 p.m., February 29 to include background information and more from Judge Walker’s ruling.

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Town Council Authorizes Town Attorney To Mediate Cruise Ship Lawsuit Injunction

Councilor asks for people to send opinions not insults.

BAR HARBOR—The Town of Bar Harbor is looking to mediate an injunction in a lawsuit against the town’s new cruise ship caps. The injunction would pause the new rules.

After an executive session during its regular Town Council meeting Tuesday night, the Bar Harbor Town Council has released a statement via the town’s Communications Coordinator Maya Caines.

The council unanimously approved the town’s attorney for a proposed mediation of the preliminary injunction on January 26. The statement in whole reads:

The lawsuit in question is  APPLL et. al vs. Town of Bar Harbor,  which opposes the citizens’ referendum that caps daily cruise ship disembarkations to 1,000 before fines are incurred.  

The original group’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court,  Association to Preserve & Protect Local Livelihoods aka APPLL (a recently formed nonprofit) and includes the Golden Anchor L.C. (Harborside) and Bar Harbor Pierce, LLC as plaintiffs, alleges that the cap on disembarkations is not constitutional. It also states that Bar Harbor’s economy will suffer. The plaintiffs also include BH Piers/Harbor Place, BHWW (Bar Harbor Whale Watch),  495, 493,  and 492 (ferry/cruise ship tenders).  The suit speaks to how the change would impact the harbormaster’s duties as well. 

The petitioners wrote that, “Although not expressly stated, the Initiative’s purpose―and actual effect―is to bar virtually all cruise ships that have safely visited Bar Harbor for decades and to bar the passengers who patronize those cruise ships from entering the Town.”

The plaintiffs argue that the ordinance violates three provisions of the United States Constitution:

1.  Supremacy Clause

2.  Commerce Clause

3.  Due Process Clause

The plaintiffs are asking for a declaratory judgement that it violates federal law and asks the town not to enforce it. The plaintiffs also filed a motion to temporarily keep the town from enforcing the changes. The town had 21 days to respond regarding the injunction, but that time could potentially be extended. The town has 60 days to answer the complaint, which means filing a document with the court that presents the town’s defenses.

According to US Legal, home rule is,

“Home rule is the power of a local city or county to set up its own system of self-government without receiving a charter from the state. Home rule is allowed under some state constitutions. The authority to act in local affairs is transferred from state law to a local charter, adopted and, as need be amended, by the voters through referendum. Home rule shifts much of the responsibility for local government from the state legislature to the local community. A county that adopts a home rule charter has the ability to amend its governmental organization and powers to suit its needs. A home rule charter is, in essence, a local constitution.”

Maine has a home rule law.

Charles Sidman, lead petitioner for the town’s cruise ship disembarkation petition and initiative, sent a letter to the Bar Harbor Town Council and Warrant Committee yesterday prior to the scheduled executive session.

At the time of his letter, his GoFundMe was showing approximately $13,800. Sidman verified that the GoFundMe has also inspired personal checks bringing that total to the amount mentioned in his letter. APPLL also has a crowdsourcing opportunity.

The letter ends with Sidman writing, “We the voters will be carefully scrutinizing your decisions and rationale on all of the above, and if necessary, are fully prepared to campaign to replace any or all councilors who continue to employ and support a manager thumbing his nose at the citizens and town that employ him, and then to take under a new Council the actions necessary and requested above.”

Sidman also called on the council to censure Town Manager Kevin Sutherland for speaking about the lawsuit during a public town meeting

The council was scheduled for an executive session about Sutherland’s performance evaluation last night. Sutherland was hired approximately a year ago to the top staff position for the town. Sidman asked for the council to either terminate Sutherland, suspend him from involvement in the town’s cruise ship litigation or “do not remove him from the initial probationary period of his employment.”

Sidman’s request comes from Sutherland’s update at t he Cruise Ship Committee  meeting January 5 where the committee requested an update on the law suit against the town and the new cruise ship disembarkation limits. Sutherland explained at the meeting that the town council had not yet determined its course of action. Also during the discussion, he said that what Bar Harbor does impacts other towns up and down the Eastern coast of Canada and the United States.

Sidman wrote that Eben Salvatore, Warrant Committee and Cruise Ship Committee member, was employed by a plaintiff in the lawsuit. He is also a board member of the newly created APPLL, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Sidman also asked for Salvatore to be suspended from both committees. Salvatore is the cruise ship tender ops representative on the committee, which has certain requirements shown below:

During the time designated for individual councilor remarks during the Tuesday night Town Council meeting, Councilor Erin Cough commented about the amount of daily vitriol councilors were receiving .

“To get emails calling us cowards, calling us stupid, calling us immoral people?” Cough said was not helpful and inappropriate. She asked that people send opinions but stop the disrespect and insults. Stressing that she is all for freedom of speech, she said that councilors spend hundreds and thousands of hours to research issues, talk to residents, and read emails. She said the councilors literally have stacks and stacks (of paper) to go through.

As of press time, there has been no response about the town manager’s evaluation. Because evaluations of town employees are personnel matters and discussed in executive session, there may not be any information released.

LINKS TO LEARN MORE

https://ecode360.com/35066980

http://barharbormaine.gov/268/Cruise-Ship-Committee

https://ecode360.com/8371816

PILOTS ASSOCIATION ASKS TO JOIN LAWSUIT AGAINST BAR HARBOR’S CRUISE SHIP CHANGES

Town Manager Expects Lawsuit Over Cruise Ship Changes

Lead petitioner for daily cruise ship cap crowdfunds to help Bar Harbor fight lawsuit

https://www.mdislander.com/news/third-parties-seek-to-intervene-in-bar-harbor-cruise-ship-suit/article_582c712a-95d3-11ed-a47a-1fce7c54fcc1.html

You can see the filing to U.S. District Court  

here,    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ajLq2XsSGMq11d2PIgx5x5amUOwfYJLn/view

For more information you can visit the APPLL website at  www.appllbh.org

For our earlier story on the lawsuit,  click here.

To check out the “Protect Acadia From Cruise Ships” fundraiser on GoFundMe,  click here.   

To check out APPLL’s crowdfunding site,  go here.

To see the council agenda,  click here.

To watch the meeting which begins at 6:30,  click here.

https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/1/title1sec405.html

Our story  on the Cruise Ship Committee meeting.

https://definitions.uslegal.com/h/home-rule/

https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/30-A/title30-Ach111sec0.html

Bar Harbor Story is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Thank you for being here with me and please (though passions run high) try to refrain from any direct insults of other humans. I really appreciate it and you.

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Margaritaville cruise settles 2 lawsuits after bartender snuck into women's room, raped them

Two passengers aboard the margaritaville at sea paradise cruise ship accused an employee of sneaking into their room and raping them while they slept..

WEST PALM BEACH — Two women who said they were raped by a bartender on a Jimmy Buffett-themed cruise ship have agreed to settle their lawsuits against the company for undisclosed amounts of money.

They accused a crewmate of sneaking into their room aboard the  Margaritaville At Sea Paradise ship and raping them while they slept. One woman, identified in a December lawsuit only as Jane Doe, said she became pregnant as a result and "was forced to terminate the pregnancy, from which she then suffered serious complications."

Her cabinmate, identified in a separate lawsuit as HB, said bartender Hoobesh Dookhy pocketed one of their room keys while serving the women drinks aboard the Bahamas-bound ship and used it to enter their room after both women fell asleep.

Doe said she woke to find Dookhy caressing her face and  sexually assaulting her . She told FBI agents that she demanded he leave, but he moved to HB's bed and began to assault her, too.

Doe recorded the assault and reported it to cruise-ship security the following morning. According to court records, investigators found the women's room key in the pocket of Dookhy's work vest and a photo he took of HB, naked and asleep, on his cellphone.

Bartender's conviction: Server aboard Margaritaville cruise ship pleads guilty to sexually assaulting passenger

Margaritaville At Sea Paradise bartender got two-year prison sentence, must register as sex offender

Dookhy admitted to having sex with HB but told investigators that their encounter was consensual. Faced with the possibility of life in federal prison on a sexual-abuse charge, he pleaded guilty to one count of abusive sexual contact in October — forgoing his right to a trial by jury but cementing a deal with prosecutors to have the worst of the two charges against him dropped.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon sentenced Dookhy to two years in prison — one year more than federal sentencing guidelines advised and exactly what prosecutors asked for. He is scheduled to be released before his 28th birthday. According to court records, he will remain on supervised release for five years and must register as a sex offender.

Neither charge against him stemmed from the rape Doe described in her lawsuit. She was classified as a witness to her cabinmate's sexual assault rather than as a victim to her own, but her attorney, Spencer Aronfeld, said Dookhy's conviction and the subsequent media attention surrounding HB's lawsuit convincedher to file one, too.

"We reached an amicable resolution," Aronfeld said this month. "She's pleased with the result."

Aronfeld said that as part of the agreement, Doe "can't tell her story to anyone." He declined to say more about the confidential settlement but added that, generally speaking, no amount of money can heal the wounds of sexual assault victims. He said the value of a settlement is in closing the case and allowing victims to move forward.

Sexual assault on the high seas: How to keep you and your family safe on vacation cruises

HB's attorney, Carissa Peebles of the law firm Morgan & Morgan, declined to comment, and Aronfeld said he did not know whether her settlement was identical to Doe's. In an earlier interview, Aronfeld called the two lawsuits "considerably different" in terms of the damages reported by both women — the most notable being Doe's pregnancy and abortion.

During the earlier interview, Aronfeld said his client did not undergo a paternity test to determine who fathered the child but said Doe intended to testify that she and her husband were not sexually active before or after the alleged rape.

Missouri woman latest to file sexual-assault lawsuit against cruise line's owner

Doe and HB belong to a long list of passengers and crew members who say they were victimized aboard cruise ships. More than 500 sexual-assault reports were documented between 2010 and 2022 on 13 major cruise lines, according to data published by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

A Missourian woman, identified only as Jane Doe, filed a new lawsuit against the Margaritaville at Sea cruise and its parent company Classica Cruise this month. She said Margaritaville arranged for a sea-side hotel in the Bahamas for guests to stay. According to the lawsuit, when she left her hotel room at night to get a glass of water, a hotel employee forced her into the hotel's theater control room, locked the door and raped her.

She is suing the hotel in addition to the cruise line. The alleged rape happened in August 2023. Margaritaville at Sea did not return a request for comment.

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at  [email protected] .

Margaritaville at Sea passenger files lawsuit saying she was raped in Bahamas hotel

• A passenger on a Margaritaville at Sea cruise 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.
• 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.
• This is the latest in a string of sexual assault incidents involving Margaritaville at Sea cruises.

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.

Learn more: Best travel insurance

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 [email protected] .

The Key Points at the top of this article were created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and reviewed by a journalist before publication. No other parts of the article were generated using AI. Learn more .

Woman sues Margaritaville at Sea cruise line after she was 'forced into room,' attacked during Bahamas trip

A cruise passenger was allegedly raped in the same Bahamas hotel that Margaritaville at Sea used in 2016, when there was evidence a different passenger was sexually assaulted, according to a federal lawsuit.

While docked in Freeport, Grand Bahama, the cruise line arranged for the victim to stay in a Freeport Wyndham because there were not any rooms available on the ship, WLFX Fox 29 reported . 

"She left her room at night to get a drink of water," the lawsuit says, according to WLFX, and a hotel employee allegedly forced her "into the control room for the resort's theater, locked the door and then raped (her) ."

Her lawyer, Alex Perez, told the local news outlet that Margaritaville at Sea should have warned his client, so she could make "informed decisions."

EXCLUSIVE: MOM OF AMERICAN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED IN BAHAMAS RECALLS TERRIFYING TEXT: ‘WE’VE BEEN RAPE'

The lawsuit says the cruise line failed to warn women of the dangers in Freeport before they stayed in a hotel in August 2023. 

READ ON THE FOX BUSINESS APP

"Between 2018-19, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for the Bahamas, specifically including Freeport , warning that violent crime, including sexual assault, is common," the lawsuit says, according WLFX. 

FBI WARNS CRUISE PASSENGERS ABOUT NEW HIGH IN SEXUAL ASSAULTS

Margaritaville at Sea did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Three months earlier, on May 5, 2023, a different woman was raped by the ship's bartender while aboard the vessel. 

The bartender, later identified as Hoobesh Kumar Dookhy, snuck into a West Virginia woman's room while she was sleeping and woke her up by caressing her face before raping her, WPTV reported.

She was forced to terminate the pregnancy, according to the local news outlet, based on a December 2023 lawsuit against Margaritaville at Sea.  

NURSE WHO SAVED AMERICANS IN BAHAMAS SEX ATTACK WAS ‘SCARED’ BY WHAT SHE SAW

Dookhy was ultimately arrested by federal law enforcement and charged with a federal crime. He pleaded guilty and is currently serving time in a Miami federal prison. 

Earlier this year, two Kentucky women were allegedly raped by staff at a Freeport resort. The resort denied the allegations . 

Frankie King, a mom of one of the survivors, said her daughter texted her, "Call us now we’ve been drugged and raped ," during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital in February. 

"It's a parent's worst nightmare," King said. "Your child is in trouble, in danger and scared, and they're 300, 500 miles away, or whatever, across the water, and I can't get to them."

The Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a Feb. 4 statement that two men — ages 54 and 40 — were arrested in connection with the alleged sexual assault. Their names were not released. 

WATCH: INTERVIEW WITH NURSE WHO HELPED AMERICAN SEX ASSAULT SURVIVORS IN BAHAMAS

As Perez alluded to the State Department's travel to the Bahamas in the most recent lawsuit that specifically mentioned sex crimes and violence in Freeport. 

The two women who alleged they were raped in February came forward to warn other female cruise passengers about their experience, and said they should have been warned about the travel advisory. 

"These are very sensitive issues," Perez told WFLX regarding the most recent lawsuit. "Once there's a reason to know the danger, you have to inform the passengers." 

Original article source: Woman sues Margaritaville at Sea cruise line after she was 'forced into room,' attacked during Bahamas trip

Margaritaville at Sea passenger files lawsuit saying she was raped in a hotel booked by the cruise line

• A Margaritaville at Sea passenger is suing Classica, the cruise line's operator, for damages.
• She alleges rape by an employee of a Bahamas hotel that was booked by the cruise operator.
• The woman is seeking damages for physical injuries, PTSD, and medical expenses.

A Margaritaville at Sea passenger is suing its parent company, Classica Cruise Operator, claiming she was raped by an employee of a hotel booked by the company.

According to the lawsuit filed this month in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Missouri woman stayed at Wyndham Viva Fortuna Beach in the Bahamas during her round-trip cruise from Florida to the island.

The complaint said that Classica arranged for the passenger, referred to as "Jane Doe," to stay at the hotel in early August 2023.

According to the lawsuit, on August 6 last year, a Wyndham employee tracked and followed her as she left her room at night to get a drink of water.

The lawsuit alleges that the employee then forced her into the control room of the hotel's theater, locked the door, and raped her.

The lawsuit referenced another allegation of rape in a 2016 TripAdvisor review of the hotel, in which a woman claimed she was gang-raped by staff a day after getting married.

According to The Tribune, police investigations concluded that there was no evidence for the incident.

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But the lawsuit asserted that the resort and the cruise operator "knew or should have known of this prior incident."

It accuses Classica of failing to warn her of the prior allegation, investigate the resort, and ensure a reasonably safe environment.

The lawsuit also accused the resort of a failure to provide reasonable security and to adequately investigate its employees.

Jane Doe is seeking unspecified damages from the cruise operator and resort for physical injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder , and incurred medical expenses, among other things.

"If there's one objective it is to shed light so that people have information about how this happened or how this could happen, and they can make informed decisions," the woman's attorney, L. Alex Perez of Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, said.

Wyndham Hotels and Classica Cruise Operator did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

This isn't the first time Margaritaville at Sea has been connected to sexual assault.

Last year, a bartender pleaded guilty to a count of abusive sexual conduct after two women said he snuck into their room at night.

Business Insider reported last year on a growing number of passengers reporting incidents of sexual assault at sea.

BI reviewed 11 lawsuits. filed between 2014 and 2023, which revealed the extent of allegations made on cruise ships.

Watch: Cruise ship captain breaks down 8 cruise ship disasters in movies and TV

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Bar Harbor businesses appeal decision in cruise ship lawsuit

A group of Bar Harbor business owners are appealing a district court decision allowing the town to limit cruise ship visitors.

Residents approved a petition two years ago to limit the number of cruise ship passengers who can disembark to 1,000 a day.

The referendum passed with 58% of residents voting in support.

Eben Salvatore is a member of the Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods, which sued the town over the ordinance.

"Well, we hope to just get back to a place where we can discuss and decide as a community, what's best for everybody," he said. "This particular action was what was best for a very certain narrow group. It's harmful to so many people."

Town Council Chair Valerie Peacock says the town was not surprised by the appeal, but will defend the court's decision. Rules for the 1,000 person daily limit are in the works.