The US government is required to publish reports of criminal activity on cruise ships every quarter. They haven't all year.

• The US is required to update data surrounding criminal activity on cruise ships once a quarter.
• The data, organized by cruise line, includes alleged sexual assaults, theft, and homicides.
• The data hasn't been updated on the Department of Transportation website all year. 

The likelihood of becoming a victim of a crime is probably the last thing on your mind when booking a cruise vacation — but it happens more often than you may think.

In 2010, Congress determined cruise passengers had an inadequate understanding of the potential for crime on ocean voyages.

To help remedy this, it passed the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act. Among other mandates, the law requires cruise ships that embark and disembark in the US to report certain crimes alleged onboard the ship to the FBI.

Alleged crimes — including sexual assault, theft, homicide, kidnapping, suspicious death, and missing person cases — are then put into a database published on the Department of Transportation website.

The CVSSA requires the data to be updated at least once a quarter, identify the cruise line involved, and specify if the alleged crime was committed by a cruise passenger or employee.

Cruise lines "continue to provide relevant data as part of the CVSSA," a spokesperson for the industry trade group, Cruise Lines International Association, told Insider.

The Department of Transportation website currently lists cruise line incident reports from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2022. As of the time of publication, no 2023 reports have been published — meaning nine months of reported criminal activity are missing from the site.

"The result is the public is now being kept in the dark again," Jim Walker, a maritime lawyer who represents passengers and crew members injured or assaulted on cruise ships, wrote on his website Cruise Law News.

Asked why three quarters of data appear to be missing from the website and when it would be updated, a DOT spokesperson said "the FBI compiles the data on cruise line incident reports that we publish on DOT's website."

An FBI spokesperson said the agency is "unable to comment on behalf of another agency or why another agency's website has not been updated."

Have a tip or story to share about crimes on cruise ships? Email this reporter at htowey@insider.com to share your story.