Symphony of the Seas passengers sue after worker convicted of voyeurism
MIAMI - Several passengers onboard the Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Sea are suing the Miami-based cruise line after one of the company's workers was convicted of placing hidden cameras in their guest rooms.
Aronfeld Trial Lawyers filed the 30-page lawsuit in the U.S. Southern District of Florida in Miami on Thursday on behalf of 12 plaintiffs, all U.S. residents.
Arvin Joseph Mirasol, a citizen of the Philippines, was convicted in August in Fort Lauderdale. U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian sentenced him to 30 years in prison. He is named in the lawsuit.
He also faces up to 15 counts of video voyeurism in Broward Circuit Court.
In October, two young sisters and their mom also filed a class action suit in Miami federal court against Royal Caribbean and Mirasol by the Miami firm Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman.
Mirasol was a stateroom attendant on the Symphony of the Seas. He was arrested on March 3 when the ship arrived at Port Everglades.
For approximately 12 cruises from Dec. 1, 2023 to Feb. 26, Mirasol taped a video camera containing a memory card in the passenger cabin bathrooms, capturing images of the plaintiffs while undressing and engaging in private activities without their knowledge or consent, according to the lawsuit.
Mirasol later revealed that he had been placing cameras in the bathrooms since he started working on Symphony of the Seas. While the guests were taking a shower, he would enter the rooms and hide under the bed while recording them naked with his cellular device.
"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. Some of the plaintiffs are children - and once an image is on the internet it is there forever," the plaintiffs' attorney Spencer Aronfeld said in a news release Tuesday.
"We hope that RCCL will take full responsibility for the heinous and reprehensible conduct of its crewmember. And we hope that this lawsuit will motivate RCCL and the other major cruise lines to spend more effort screening their crewmembers so that this type of assault never happens again."
After the incident was reported, Royal Caribbean issued the following statement, "We have zero tolerance for this unacceptable behavior. We immediately reported this to law enforcement and terminated the crew member, and we continue to fully cooperate with authorities."
A Royal Caribbean stateroom attendant is assigned to a section of 16 to 20 passenger cabins, which sleeps two to four passengers.
Mirasol's total number of victims may include up to 960 passengers, according to the plaintiffs.
"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," the law firm said. "These injuries are permanent and continuing in nature. We demand a judgment for all damages recoverable under the law, including punitive damages, and a trial by jury."
Symphony of the Seas originally offered weeklong cruises from Port Everglades.
Symphony of the Seas, which is now homeported at PortMiami, had its maiden cruise in 2018. It has a capacity of up to 6,680 passengers and 2,200 crew. Until January 2022, it was the largest cruise ship in the world.
The ship now offers four-night and six-night cruises to the Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean.
