{"id":469920,"date":"2026-02-10T05:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T05:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/469920\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T05:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T05:18:10","slug":"exploitation-claims-have-been-levelled-against-cruise-ship-company-carnival-heres-what-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/469920\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploitation claims have been levelled against cruise ship company Carnival. Here’s what we know"},"content":{"rendered":"

A major cruise ship docked in Darwin was boarded by investigators from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on Monday, following claims of worker exploitation.<\/p>\n

The maritime union said details reported to them were “horrifying”, and included allegations workers were being forced to live in overcrowded conditions<\/a> with no access to safe, free drinking water while earning as little as $2.50 an hour.<\/p>\n

The Carnival Cruise Line maintained it had “nothing to hide” and claimed “no deficiencies” were found by investigators onboard the ship.<\/p>\n

Here’s what we know so far.<\/p>\n

How did this start?<\/p>\n

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) said they had received hundreds of complaints about the international cruise line over the past six months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MUA Sydney branch organiser Shane Reside said a whistleblower reached out to the union late last week, with further “horrifying” reports about about living conditions on the Carnival Encounter cruise ship.<\/p>\n

\"Mortlake<\/p>\n

Shane Reside says Carnival Encounter employees have been forced to work while unwell and often for as long as 10 hours a day. (
\n ABC News: Declan Bowring
\n )<\/p>\n

The reports allegedly came from crew, which detailed extremely poor living and working conditions conditions.<\/p>\n

To investigate claims, Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) boarded the Carnival Encounter cruise ship while it was docked in Darwin on Monday.<\/a><\/p>\n

What are the claims?<\/p>\n

There have been serious concerns raised, including allegations crew members were living in cramped conditions leading to high incidence of skin infections.<\/p>\n

According to the maritime union, the only free water available to workers was potentially harmful and crew were being forced to work while suffering from serious illnesses, including gastro.<\/p>\n

Luxury cruise ship conditions under investigation<\/a><\/p>\n

The maritime union says crew members of a luxury Carnival cruise ship allege they are being made to sleep in crowded rooms, lack access to safe free drinking water, and that some are earning as little as $2.50 an hour.<\/p>\n

Mr Reside told the ABC the whistleblowers claimed crews were working sometimes in excess of 10 hours a day for more than 30 days consecutively, and were paid as little as $2.50 an hour.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got reports from these whistleblowers that when the company doctors on board are approached so that they can report sickness, the doctors have been putting them under a lot of pressure to return to work, even while they are still sick,” he said.<\/p>\n

The MUA also alleged Carnival used loopholes to employ foreign crew members excluded from Australian employment laws.<\/p>\n

What does Carnival say?<\/p>\n

Carnival said it had “nothing to hide” and welcomed the “oversight”.<\/p>\n

“We respect this process, and we hold our shipboard team members in the highest regard,” a spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The maritime safety regulatory’s investigation into the Carnival Encounter cruise ship was prompted by union worker complaints. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

“We welcome AMSA’s oversight as an important assurance mechanism for our crew and our operations.”<\/p>\n

What did AMSA find during the inspection?<\/p>\n

Carnival said AMSA “found no deficiencies during its inspection”, with “no follow-up action required”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has yet to confirm the outcome of its investigation into Carnival Encounter. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

In a statement, AMSA said it “concluded our inspection of the vessel and a\u00a0report of inspection has been provided\u00a0to the\u00a0captain.”<\/p>\n

It’s not clear what recommendations \u2014 if any \u2014 had been made by investigators.<\/p>\n

Who owns Carnival cruises?<\/p>\n

Carnival Cruise Lines is an international cruise line, founded by businessman Ted Arison in 1972.<\/p>\n

It’s now owned and operated by Carnival Coproration & PLC, with more than 90 ships in its fleet.<\/p>\n

A release from Carnival Cruise Line in December stated the company made a net income of $2.8 billion in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Carnival Encounter cruise ship can accommodate 2,600 guests and 1,100 crew members. (ABC New: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

The ship investigated in Darwin, the Carnival Encounter cruise ship, had about 1,100 crew members onboard.<\/p>\n

The ship can carry up to 2,600 guests and travels year-round from Brisbane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major cruise ship docked in Darwin was boarded by investigators from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,239986,94496,99,1162,239984,239985,184846,239987,170917,239450,29790],"class_list":["post-469920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-cruises","tag-australian-maritime-safety-authority","tag-business","tag-carnival-cruise","tag-carnival-cruise-news","tag-carnival-cruise-ships","tag-carnival-cruises","tag-cruise-employees","tag-luxury-cruises","tag-maritime-union-of-australia","tag-workers-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}