By: Olivia Gluski
Cruise Ship Crimes
What are cruise ship crimes and why do they seem to be getting worse? While cruise ship crimes seem to be happening more often, the chances of it happening to you are 1 in 88,000, out of the millions of people who go on Cruises each year. (Bower, J.A “Crime on Cruise Ships: What to Know Before You Sail 1”. The most common crimes on a cruise ship are usually going to be theft and murder since the chances of someone getting caught or charged with anything on a cruise are very small. Some cruises will not even consider helping you if the stolen item was under a certain amount of money. An important factor in crime on cruise ships is how the police system is made. When boarding a cruise in Galveston, Texas, if a crime occurs, it is not the Galveston police that deal with it. Most of the time it will be a department in a completely different country that will deal with the crime. Cruise ship crimes seem to be increasing and getting worse over the years, but there are ways to prevent them.
Crimes on a cruise ship are going to happen and are not one hundred percent preventable, but there are several ways some of these crimes can be prevented. For example, more security and police officers on a cruise would help exponentially. The chances of someone getting assaulted or robbed would greatly decrease if more security kept an eye out for all the passengers. Another solution would be to change the law on cruises. When a different country is in charge of the crimes that happen to Americans it causes lots of confusion, therefore it is easier for someone to get away with assault or theft. If other Countries allowed different police systems on board there would be a lot fewer problems. The final solution would be to ensure that the cruise ship line is required to report any accident that happens while cruising. Cruise ship lines many years ago were not required to report accidents that occurred on their ships, which cause all sorts of problems for passengers.
While theft and assaults are more common, Homicide is still possible. It is usually in sporadic cases. The chances of death on a cruise ship are about 1 in 6.25 million. (Bloom, Laura Begley, “Is Cruising Safe”) which is not that high since about 2-4 million people board a cruise ship per year. On average 200 out of 30,000,000 yearly cruise ship passengers die meaning 3.75 deaths happen weekly. (Teace, Emma Le, “Cruise Ship Deaths 1”). A very well know crime happened in 2018 when a couple took a cruise from Flordia to the Bahamas. (“Cruise Ship Passenger Admits to Killing Girlfriend on-Board1”). Eric Newman age 55 and Tamara Tucker age 50 were taking a cruise when they got into an argument late at night (1). Eric Newman strangled his girlfriend and threw her over their deck on the 13th floor; she fell to the 11th floor and died due to the impact of the fall (1). Eric Newnan later admitted to killing his girlfriend and faced the charges.
Another case similar to Eric Newman and Tamara Tucker's case is the Kristy and Kenneth Manzanares crime. Kenneth Manzanares age 43 and Kristy Manzanares age 39 were taking a cruise with their 3 daughters to Alaska when Kenneth and Tamara Manzanares got into an argument and Tamara told Kenneth she wanted a divorce. (Sederstrom, Jill, “Utah Man Convicted of Beating His Wife to Death on Cruise Ship Found Dead in Prison Cell 1”). Kenneth proceeded to beat Kristy to death when Kristy’s father and two brothers came to find Kenneth dragging Kristy’s body to the balcony (1). One of the brothers grabbed Kristy’s leg and pulled her back into the cabin in hopes of saving her (1). Later they would find out Kristy died due to the trauma Kenneth caused (1). Kenneth was arrested in 2017 and pleaded guilty to killing his wife in 2020, and later Kenneth would die in his cell due to unknown reasons (1).
As shown above many of the crimes committed on cruises happen between couples or someone that the victim knows. In an article by Hilary Shenfeld:
U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui of California says crimes at sea are an unfortunate reality, and she co-authored a bill in 2010 to expand protections to passengers after hearing from victims. “This issue is very personal to me,” she tells A&E True Crime. “A constituent approached me and shared that she had been a victim of sexual assault on a cruise ship. As I looked into how we could help her and others who are victims of an assault at sea, I realized the law at the time did not adequately protect passengers.”( Shenfeld, Hilary, “Cruise Ship Violence: Murders and Other Crimes at Sea 1”).
Many passengers don’t realize that they can prevent some of these accidents. Passengers need to stop telling others what room they are staying in even if they think it is someone they can trust. Being alert is another big deal when it comes to crimes. Drinking on a cruise for many adults is not uncommon and can be a problem when drinking irresponsibly. In a more recent story, a passenger was drinking at one of the bars on a Carnival Cruise when he went to the restroom and never returned. (Jones, Charlie “Cruise Ship Passenger Who Fell Overboard Miraculously Found Alive 15 Hours LaterC 1”). According to Lieutenant Seth Gross, "He realistically could have been in the water for 15+ hours before we were able to successfully rescue him"(1). Many adults drink on cruises causing them to lose a sense of things around them like where they put their wallets or what their kids are up to. While cruises do have a limit on how much alcohol they can sell everyone's alcohol limit is different so to prevent an accident, passengers need to drink responsibly. The last step to cruising safely would be to always have a partner or a buddy. Traveling in groups is always a good idea. Going on a cruise would be a lot safer if everyone had a partner they could trust. The chances of someone assaulting you goes down exponentially when you have a friend or family member near you at all times.
Cruises can be fun and should be enjoyed. The chances of an accident happing to a random passenger are very small, but should not be taken for granted. Just because crimes happen on cruises does not mean they should be avoided. If more passengers practice safe cruising habits, such as not bringing important items of high value, or drinking responsibly, fewer robberies and assaults would occur. Being alert and aware of your surrounding is also a big deal. Making sure no one is following you or your kids could make a huge difference in passengers' safety.
Work Cited
Bloom, Laura Begley, “Is Cruising Safe? 10 Things to Know After Child Dies on a Cruise Ship.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 8 Jan. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2019/07/10/cruising-safe-tips-after-child-dies-cruise-ship/.
Bower, J.A., “Crime on Cruise Ships: What to Know Before You Sail.” Cruzely.com, 14 Dec. 2019, https://www.cruzely.com/crime-on-cruise-ships-what-to-know-before-you-sail/.
Jones, Charlie. “Cruise Ship Passenger Who Fell Overboard Miraculously Found Alive 15 Hours LaterC.” Mirror, 25 Nov. 2022, https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/drunk-cruise-ship-passenger-who-28588202.
Kumar, Kalyan, “The New York Times International - Breaking News, US News, World News, Videos.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Dec. 2019, https://www.ibtimes.com/cruise-ship-passenger-admits-killing-girlfriend-board-pushes-her-over-balcony-2889280.
Sederstrom, Jill, “Utah Man Convicted of Beating His Wife to Death on Cruise Ship Found Dead in Prison Cell.” Oxygen Official Site, Oxygen, 20 July 2021, https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/kenneth-manzanares-beat-wife-kristy-to-death-on-cruise-ship-found-dead-in-prison-cell.
Shenfeld, Hilary, “Cruise Ship Violence: Murders and Other Crimes at Sea.” A&E, 19 May 2022, https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/cruise-ship-violence-murders-violent-crimes-at-sea.
Teace, Emma Le, “Cruise Ship Deaths - Annual Statistics, Causes and Real Examples.” Emma Cruises, Emma Cruises, 1 Aug. 2020, https://emmacruises.com/die-on-cruise-ships/.
Alfred Hitchcock
What would Alfred Hickcock think about cruise ship crimes, and how they have affected our world? Alfred Hitchcock was an English director born in London, England August 13, 1899 (Biography.com Editors, “Alfred Hitchcock Biography 1”). Alfred Hitchcock grew up in a very strict and harsh household with catholic parents (1). Hitchcock was also bullied for most of his childhood due to his obesity (1). Later in Hitchcock's life, he started to attend Jesuit St. Ignatius College in London and London's School of Engineering, and he would later begin to work as a draftsman at W.T. Henley's Telegraph Works Co (Wulfhorst, Ellen, “Alfred Hitchcock: The Life Story You May Not Know 1”). In 1920 Hitchcock began making movies and would eventually make his first full movie about murder (1). About 25 years later Alfred married his close friend and work partner Alma Lucy Reville who was a writer and editor (1). Later in 1928 Hitchcock and Alma would have a daughter named Patricia Hitchcock who acted in several of Hitchcock's movies (1). So how would Alfred Hitchcock feel about cruise ship crimes and may he have solved them?
Alfred Hitchcock was a writer and producer of several movies that were huge successes, but if Hitchcock had not had such a successful career he once told interviewer Roger Ebert in 1969 that “I think I would have preferred to have been a criminal lawyer.” The one thing stopping him, Hitch went on to reveal, was an innate and incurable phobia of the police. “I have such a dread of the law,” he said. “I did not drive a car for eleven years after coming to this country for fear of being stopped and given a ticket.” (Kemp, Sam, “Alfred Hitchcock's Obsession with Dead Bodies: ‘If I Did Cinderella, They Would Be Waiting for the Body to Turn up’ 1). Hitchcock's father may have played a big part in why he was afraid of law enforcement. When Alfred was five his father would have a police officer look him up for 5 minutes as a punishment. So if Alfred was afraid of law enforcement would he have wanted more police officers on a cruise for the safety of the passengers? In many of Hitchcock's movies, the mother figures are either dead or not present in the main character's life. Hitchcock had an interesting relationship with both of his parents but his relationship with his mother seems to come up more often in his movies. At night Alfred's mother would make him stand at the foot of her bed and have him tell her everything he did wrong that day, then lecture him for long periods of time (Climans, Kyle. “Chilling Facts about Alfred Hitchcock, The Dark Genius” 1). Along with having strict and harsh parents, Hitchcock went to a very rough school called St. Ignatius where the priest would beat him at the end of the day and there he would genuinely learn about fear and his passion for the scary content he would late create (1).
There are many strange conspiracies against Alfred Hitchcock including an actress he worked with for a while. Tippi Hedren worked with Hitchcock for several years and later she would go on and tell news companies about strange things Hitchcock did to her. Tippi claimed that Hitchcock told other cast and crew members not to talk with or touch her and that if a man were to talk to Tippi Hitchcock would get jealous and upset (Evans, Alan “Tippi Hedren: Alfred Hitchcock Sexually Assaulted Me”1). She also claimed that Alfred Hitchcock threw himself on top of her and tried to kiss her when they were in his limousine together (1). If these allegations were true then how would Alfred Hitchcock have felt about assaults and crimes on cruises? Alfred was and still is considered to be a strange man who grew up with a strange childhood. Maybe he would think that crimes on cruises are inevitable and that this epidemic is not as big a deal as many are making it. In the movie “Psycho” it is clear that the mother and son relationship is wonky and maybe even unhealthy. In the movie, the main character is told by his mother that other women are not good and she is the only woman he should care for, but later on, the main character finds a woman he is interested in and the mother gets jealous. The same general incident occurs in the movie “ The Birds” where the main character lives with his mom and sister, when he meets a woman the mother thinks she is disgusting and improper, and that her son should only care about her and the little sister. With the lack of nice parental figures, Alfred seems to have in his life he more than likely would not say having a parent or someone to watch over children while cruising is very important if he was constantly beaten and ridiculed by his parents his whole childhood.
Tippi Hedren had said in a memoir that Alfred Hitchcock had been assaulting her and that she even tried to get help from Alfred's wife at the time as she said “Tippi, I’m so sorry you have to go through this”(Monahan, Patrick “What Tippi Hedren Learned from Alfred Hitchcock's Repeated Harassment”1). Alfred Hitchcock would continuously tell Tippi Hedren that if he did not have a wife he could love and be with Tippi and that she was his dream girl as he said “You’re everything I ever dreamed of, Tippi, you must know that. If it weren’t for Alma (his wife)”(1). When Tippi was making another movie with Alfred Hitchcock he had put his hands on her in perverted and weird ways so as Tippi said in the memoir “I am not going to live this kind of a life and I want to get out of my contract she insisted, and never talked to him after that”(1). What Tippi Hedren had gone through was horrific and awful in her memoir she wanted to inform the young woman that are acting “Don’t let a situation get to the point where you can’t control it. Ever”(1). As she was referring to her situation with Alfred Hitchcock and the assault she went through.
Alfred Hitchcock had a dark outlook on most of the things he did. All of his movies were intended to scare the audience, and most of his movies show what type of trauma he went through as a young child. With the lack of a truly caring parental figure Hitchcock had, and the way he was afraid of the police, cruise ship crimes may have been an epidemic Alfred Hitchcock thought was ridiculous or relatively unimportant. Along with other strange allegations against him treating women poorly Alfred himself might not have been as concerned about these crimes. As it seems Alfred Hitchcock may have been a bad man, but that does not mean he would think the crimes and assaults happening on the cruise ships were a good thing.
Work Cited
Biography.com Editors. “Alfred Hitchcock Biography .” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 3 Apr. 2014, https://www.biography.com/movies-tv/alfred-hitchcock.
Climans, Kyle. “Chilling Facts about Alfred Hitchcock, The Dark Genius.” Factinate, 12 May 2022, https://www.factinate.com/people/creepy-facts-alfred-hitchcock/.
Evans, Alan. “Tippi Hedren: Alfred Hitchcock Sexually Assaulted Me.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 31 Oct. 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/oct/31/tippi-hedren-alfred-hitchcock-sexually-assaulted-me.
Kemp, Sam. “Alfred Hitchcock's Obsession with Dead Bodies: ‘If I Did Cinderella, They Would Be Waiting for the Body to Turn up.’” Far Out Magazine, 18 Feb. 2023, https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/alfred-hitchcocks-obsession-with-dead-bodies/.
Monahan, Patrick. “What Tippi Hedren Learned from Alfred Hitchcock's Repeated Harassment.” Vanity Fair, Vanity Fair, 4 Nov. 2016, https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/what-tippi-hedren-learned-from-alfred-hitchcocks-harassment.
Wulfhorst, Ellen. “Alfred Hitchcock: The Life Story You May Not Know.” Stacker, 4 Aug. 2022, https://stacker.com/celebrities/alfred-hitchcock-life-story-you-may-not-know.
Reflective Essay
During this semester I have learned lots of valuable information. I enjoyed writing all the essays, but my favorite topic was my Project 2 essay. During that essay, I learned a lot about Alfred Hitchcock and his very interesting lifestyle. When I started the project 2 essay I had a certain view of Alfred Hitchcock and by the end of my essay, I learned lots of interesting facts about Alfred Hitchcock and how different he actually was from how I perceived him to be. However, I did seem to struggle with getting direct quotes for all of my essays, especially during my Project 1 essay. In the begging, I struggled to find information and quotes for my essay but after lots of time researching I found all of the information I was looking for and was happy with the outcome of my essay. I loved learning about crimes and problems on a cruise ship because that was a topic I had always been curious about. I learned that many people are not paying attention to the world around them and that can lead to lots of problems for them later down the line. Writing the Project 1 essay has taught me to be more careful and always to be looking around at my surrounding, so with Projects 1 and 2 I have not only learned how to write amazing essays, but how to keep myself safe in many strange situations. I have gained lots of great information from this course and have enjoyed it. I think that the way this course is set up is absolutely amazing, it has made it so easy to access all of my assignments and I have gotten to correct the mistakes I have made and that has made this class so enjoyable.