MIAMI – A group of former cruise passengers has filed a new lawsuit against Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises stemming from the actions of a former cabin steward convicted of placing hidden cameras in guests' bathrooms, recording victims that included children as young as 2.
Coral Gables-based law firm Aronfeld Trial Lawyers filed the 30-page suit in Miami federal court on behalf of a dozen plaintiffs — hailing from Arkansas, Texas, Missouri and Georgia — on Thursday. They publicly announced the suit Tuesday.
The firm says they're representing passengers who stayed in staterooms served by Arvin Joseph Mirasol, 34, on the Symphony of the Seas in late 2023 and early 2024. They're seeking monetary damages.
Broward Sheriff's Office deputies arrested the Filipino national at Port Everglades in March and he later pleaded guilty to producing child sexual abuse material in federal court, earning him a 30-year prison sentence in August.
Their case is one of multiple suits filed against Royal Caribbean over the Mirasol case. In October, Local 10 News spoke with a Hawaii woman suing the company. She said it was a "crushing, devastating, terrifying feeling" to learn from a BSO detective that she was one of Mirasol's victims.
The latest lawsuit accuses Royal Caribbean of failing to notify passengers affected by Mirasol's acts, claiming it "conceal(ed) the information from its passengers in order to prevent them from filing a civil suit" against the cruise line.
In the suit, the passengers said they've experienced distress over the possibility that footage of them may have ended up online.
The plaintiffs accuse the cruise line of failing to prevent Mirasol's behavior.
"RCCL was aware of prior instances of sexual assaults, including video voyeurism occurring aboard RCCL cruise ships in the immediate year prior to the subject incident," the lawsuit reads. "Yet RCCL failed to take adequate steps and/or provide adequate security and/or training and/or supervision to prevent such sexual assaults, including video voyeurism, to occur aboard its cruise ships. Furthermore, RCCL failed to warn its passengers of sexual assaults, including vieo voyeurism, occurring aboard its cruise ships."
Spencer Aronfeld, the plaintiffs' lead attorney, commented on the action in a news release Tuesday.
"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," Aronfeld said. "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."
Local 10 News contacted Royal Caribbean Tuesday seeking comment on the lawsuit and had not heard back as of this article's publication.
Federal prison records indicate that Mirasol was incarcerated at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami as of Tuesday.
Read the lawsuit:
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