Kendall Carver Appearing Before U. S. Senate’s Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Subcommittee

Testimony of KENDALL CARVER

International Cruise Victims Association, Inc

704 228th Ave NE – PMB 525

Sammamish, WA 98074

Office 602 852 5896 – Cell 602 989 6752

E-Mail kcarver17@cox.net

Appearing Before U. S. Senate’s

Surface Transportation and Merchant MarineSubcommittee

“Cruise Ship Safety: Examining Potential Steps for

Keeping Americans Safe at Sea”

HEARING SCHEDULED

Thursday, June 19, 2008 – 10:00 a.m.

Russell Senate Office – Room 253

I would first like to thank the Chairman and members of this committee for giving me the opportunity to participate before this committee. I am here today both as a victim and as President of International Cruise Victims (ICV), an organization formed by people who have experienced tragedies on cruises and who have been treated poorly by cruise lines. My prior working experience was to serve as President and CEO for 18 years of an insurance company in New York City.

As a victim, I have personally felt the pain, not only of losing our daughter, Merrian Carver, but also having to struggle with the cover-up by a major cruise line of the facts concerning her disappearance. She had been a passenger on a Celebrity Cruise Ship, which is owned by Royal Caribbean.

Each member that has joined ICV since it was founded in January of 2006 has had similar painful experiences. Having listened to the stories of these other victims, I feel that I now know something about what counselors must feel when they hear the tragic stories from their patients. (See Attachment III)

I would first like to review quickly the tragic events of our daughter's

disappearance. We were first made aware of a problem when our granddaughter called to tell us that Merrian was not returning her calls. We then started to search for Merrian, and contacted the police in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she lived.

The police found out three weeks later through credit card records that she had booked the cruise, and we contacted the cruise line. After a couple of days they confirmed that she had been on a Celebrity Cruise ship. Only after we contacted them did they make a report to the FBI one week later. This was five weeks after she disappeared. Moreover, we found out that the cruise line had previously disposed of her property without attempting to contact her family or the FBI.

A brief summary of the facts concerning her disappearance are as follows:

The cruise line failed to report that Merrian was missing to the FBI until five

weeks after she went missing and only after we contacted the cruise line.

They disposed of her property by giving most of it away to charity despite

their protocol, which calls for property left on a ship to be held for 90 days.

When we asked about video records, which could show things relevant to

Merrian’s disappearance, they told us they had no records and there had

been no review concerning Merrian. However, in January, 2008, three years

after we had asked for and subpoenaed information concerning these video’s, one of their senior personnel admitted in writing that we had been lied to concerning the surveillance tapes; their retention and review by ship´s personnel. (See Attachment II)

They made a report to the FBI indicating that nothing had happened on the cruise. Their internal documents show that during the third week in

September their officials were coordinating a cover-up of the disappearance. (See Attachment II)

They told our Detectives that the cabin steward had made no reports

concerning Merrian, but we later learned through the depositions that he had reported her missing from her cabin for five days during the cruise and was told by his supervisor to “forget it and just do your job”.

The cruise line would not permit an interview with the steward or the security officer responsible for the surveillance system. We had to hire private investigators, two law firms, take court action in two states and spend over $75,000 over 4 ½ months in order to have our lawyers depose the steward – an effort that many families of victims would not have been able to make. Only after this court ordered deposition on January 16th and 17th on 2005 did we realize that they had been lying to us from the beginning.

In Congressional Hearing in December of 2005 and again in March 2006,

under oath the representatives of Royal Caribbean indicated that they

cooperated with the family as soon as they were aware of her disappearance. In fact, they really began the cover-up of her disappearance starting the third week of September 2004 and cooperated later only in response to court orders. (See Attachment II) However, even to this day, we have not received items that were requested and subpoenaed in 2004-2005.

In July of 2005, I read a book, "The Devil in the Deep Blue Sea" by Kristoffer Garvin. On page 246 he wrote, "An examination of sexual cases found a pattern of cover-ups that often began as soon as the crime was reported at sea, in international water where the only police are the ship's security officers." I realized that our treatment fell within this pattern. (See Attachment II)

After the first Congressional hearing in December of 2005, I concluded that we needed to organize a group of victims in order to have a chance to get changes made in the practices of the cruise industry. I contacted other known victims, and together, we decide to form International Cruise Victims. After 28 months ofexistence, this group now has members in 16 different countries with a separate chapter in Australia. Members of this subcommittee and their staff members can review the stories of these victims on our website at:

www.internationalcruisevictims.org. (See Attachment III)

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