H.R. 4857: Cruise Passenger Protection Act of 2025

H.R. 4857, the Cruise Passenger Protection Act of 2025, rewrites the federal rulebook for large cruise ships that pick up or drop off passengers in the United States. It applies to vessels built to carry 250 or more passengers with overnight accommodations for that many. Government and state-owned vessels are exempt.

The biggest change is the crime-reporting clock. Today, the law gives operators loose timing to alert the FBI. This bill sets a hard limit: once a crew member is notified of an incident, the owner has 4 hours to contact the FBI. If the ship is heading to or sitting at a U.S. port, the call has to happen before it departs or within that 4-hour window, whichever comes first. If a U.S. citizen is involved, the operator also has to reach the U.S. consulate at the next port within 4 hours of arrival, and incident records have to be shared with the state fusion center nearest the port.

Evidence rules get a major stretch. Security video that operators currently must keep for just 20 days would have to be retained for 1 year after the voyage ends. Other incident records would be kept for 5 years. Ships would also have to run electronic systems that log the date, time, and identity of every crew member who enters a passenger stateroom.

The bill builds a victim-support operation inside the Department of Transportation. Within 30 days of enactment, the Secretary has to name an interim Director of Victim Support Services, with a permanent appointment and outreach plan due within 180 days. The department would run a 24-hour toll-free hotline and publish a public website, updated at least monthly, listing incidents by cruise line — including whether the accused was a passenger or crew member, whether the victim was a minor, and how many people went overboard.

There are new medical and family rules too. A ship's physician would need to be an MD or DO with either 3 years of post-graduate experience or board certification in emergency, family, or internal medicine. If a U.S. citizen dies on board and the next of kin asks for the body to come home, the operator has to grant it and cover the transportation cost unless foreign law blocks it — and if the ship won't reach a U.S. port for 21 days or more, it has to arrange another vessel.

To back it up, the bill gives the government leverage at the dock: Homeland Security could withhold or revoke a ship's clearance, and the Coast Guard could deny it entry to U.S. ports, if an operator breaks the rules or skips a penalty.