Margaritaville at Sea Cruise Passenger Files Lawsuit After Allegedly Being Sexually Assaulted By Bahamian Hotel Employee

A former Margaritaville at Sea cruise passenger has filed a lawsuit against the cruise’s parent company, Classica Cruise Operator, alleging that she was sexually assaulted last year by a Wyndham hotel employee at a lodging booked for her by the company.

According to USA Today, the unidentified accuser, known as Jane Doe, is a Missouri resident. Her filing specified that in August 2023, she ventured on a two-day cruise from Florida’s West Palm Beach to the Bahamas. The lawsuit states that the Wyndham employee forced her into the hotel’s theater control room and raped her. The assault allegedly happened while she’d stepped out of her room to get water to drink.

Her filing claims that the hotel Classica Cruise Operator booked for her to stay at had a history of sexual assault allegations raised against it. The parent company supposedly booked her stay at Wyndham’s Viva Fortuna Beach location in Freeport—the main city in the Grand Bahama isle—because there were no cruise cabins to accommodate her.

Jane Doe is suing for damages regarding her physical injuries, post-traumatic stress, medical expenses, and more. Since the incident, she claims she’s suffered “mental anguish” and “loss of enjoyment of life.”

What Else Is There To Know About The Lawsuit?

The woman filed her suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in late June. Her filing reportedly claimed that there was a resort “practice” of encouraging guests to drink alcohol “with a motive to sexually assault and/or rape them if they became vulnerable.”

The lawsuit argued that “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.”

According to Cruise Radio, Jane Doe’s filing cited a 2016 TripAdvisor review wherein a woman said Wyndham employees raped her during an incident the day after her wedding. A June 2024 Palm Beach Post report noted that Margaritaville settled two lawsuits regarding two female cruise cabinmates who claimed they were sexually assaulted by a bartender who trespassed into their room. One of the women became pregnant following the assault and “was forced to terminate the pregnancy, from which she then suffered serious complications,” according to a December 2023 lawsuit.

“We want to make people aware,” Alex Perez, the Jane Doe’s attorney, told USA Today. “These things happen in foreign ports. I know you’re on vacation but you have to be careful.”