As the “#MeToo” movement continues to gain momentum throughout the United States, cruise ship passengers are feeling empowered to do the same as reports of sexual assaults increase on some of the world’s most popular cruise lines. In fact, there have been 76 incidents of sexual assaults reported on commercial cruise lines in 2017, a 23-percent increase over the previous year, according to FBI statistics.

The increase in reported crimes can be partly attributed to stricter reporting criteria the government imposed in 2016 regarding any alleged criminal activity on board cruise vessels, which has resulted in more extensive data being reported. Prior to the new law, any alleged crimes were only reported to the public after the FBI had completed investigating the incidents. Many times, these incidents were never counted or reported, which is concerning since sexual assaults are traditionally already underreported.