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Clark Howard's Tips

Cruise crime remains a persistent problem

June 23, 2008

The cruise lines are covering up crimes -- robberies, assaults and even murders -- that take place onboard. Unfortunately, they're not required to report crime statistics.

Meanwhile, the industry is fighting tooth and nail in California over a bill that would put police officers onboard every cruise in the Golden State. A $3/person passenger fee is being eyed to fund this proposal.

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But dirty money speaks in legislative halls. Just look at the 2 U.S. senators who got Countrywide's so-called Friends of Angelo VIP loans -- a reference to Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo. One of those senators is Christopher Dodd, who is now expected to help determine the path of possible foreclosure rescue legislation for our nation.

With the Dodd scandal we're talking about money, but with the cruise lines we're talking about passenger safety. Congress has dawdled for years on the issue of enforcing basic crime reporting on the cruise lines.

Up until now, the cruise companies haven't had much incentive to reduce crime on their ships. But if crime stats were published, then people would take notice and avoid those lines with severe problems. That would force them to clean up their act.

So the next time you hear or see a news story about cruise crime, that's your signal to not go on a cruise until the industry takes concrete steps to make it safer. If the cruise lines think they've been painted unfairly, Clark invites someone from CLIA -- the official industry trade organization -- to come on the show and rebut his comments.

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