How do you get the cruise line's video and other evidence before it disappears?

Last updated October 4, 2026.

Ask for it in writing, as early as you can. Federal law requires large cruise ships that embark or disembark passengers in the United States to keep a video surveillance system and to retain recordings for at least 20 days after the footage is obtained (46 U.S.C. 3507(b)). The law does not require ordinary footage to be kept longer, so a written request to preserve it, sent in the first days after an injury, can decide whether the video still exists.

Video can show the hazard, how long it was there, whether crew walked past it and exactly how the injury happened. That often makes it the most useful evidence in a cruise injury claim. Here is what the law requires of the ship, what you can ask for and what to do first.

How do you get the video, step by step?

1. Report the injury on board and note the cameras. Ask for the incident report and look for cameras near the spot. Write down the deck, the area and the time.
2. Send a written preservation request within days. The ship only has to keep ordinary footage for 20 days after it is recorded, so the request should go out as soon as possible, ideally while you are still on board or right after you get home.
3. Send the written notice of claim your ticket requires. It can go with the preservation request or soon after, within the ticket's deadline.
4. File the lawsuit in the court your ticket names. For most injuries, this is when you get a formal right to see the footage.
5. Serve a formal request for the video. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34, a party may ask another party to produce electronically stored information, including recordings and images, described "with reasonable particularity." The cruise line must respond in writing, usually within 30 days after being served.
6. Ask the court for help if footage is missing. Rule 37(e), explained below, covers video that should have been preserved and was lost.

Which ships have to keep video?

The video rules are part of the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, codified at 46 U.S.C. 3507. Under subsection (k), they apply to a passenger vessel that is authorized to carry 250 or more passengers, has overnight accommodations for 250 or more passengers, and is on a voyage that embarks or disembarks passengers in the United States. Our page on the federal safety rules for cruise ships covers the rest of that law.

What does the law require the ship to do with its video?

Two points follow from the text. First, the 20 days is a minimum counted from when the footage is recorded, not from when you ask. Second, the statute's right to a copy on request is limited to video that may show a sexual assault. For other injuries, such as a fall, a burn or a medical emergency, the statute gives no right to a copy on request, and the footage usually comes out through the formal exchange of evidence after a lawsuit is filed. That is why getting it preserved early matters so much.

What happens if the cruise line lets the video disappear?

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e) covers electronically stored information, including video, that should have been preserved in the anticipation or conduct of litigation and is lost because a party failed to take reasonable steps to preserve it. If it cannot be restored or replaced through other discovery, the court may order measures no greater than necessary to cure the prejudice to the other side.

Stronger measures need more. Only if the court finds that the party acted with the intent to deprive the other side of the information may it presume the lost information was unfavorable, instruct the jury that it may or must presume so, or dismiss the action or enter a default judgment. A written preservation request does not promise any of these results, but it puts the cruise line on notice, on a date you can prove, that a claim is expected and that the footage matters.

What should a preservation request ask for?

Send it to the cruise line's claims or legal department, using any address your ticket contract lists, by a method that proves delivery, and keep a copy. It can go out with, or before, the written notice of claim your ticket requires. Ask the cruise line to preserve:

• All video from every camera covering the place where you were hurt and the routes to and from it, for a generous window before and after the time it happened.
• The incident or accident report, any statements taken and any photos the crew made.
• Cleaning, inspection and maintenance records for the area, and records of earlier similar incidents there.
• The names and positions of crew members who responded or were on duty nearby.
• Your records from the ship's medical center.
• For anything that happened in or near a cabin, the electronic record of crew entry to the stateroom. An amendment signed on December 18, 2025 (Public Law 119-60, section 7343) requires the ship's crew-access procedures to include a system that electronically records the date, time and identity of each crew member who enters each passenger stateroom (46 U.S.C. 3507(f)).

Be specific: the ship's name, the sailing dates, the deck and location, and the date and approximate time. A vague request is easier to answer narrowly.

What evidence can you save yourself?

Your own evidence does not depend on anyone else. While you are still on board, photograph the spot from several angles before it is cleaned, and photograph your injuries as they develop. Write down the names and cabin numbers of witnesses. Keep the shoes and clothing you were wearing. Ask for a copy of the incident report, and do not sign a statement that does not match what happened. Our checklist on what to do after an injury on a cruise covers these first steps. Our page on slip and fall injuries on board explains why records of earlier incidents often matter in fall cases. Video showing how long a spill sat on the floor can also help prove what the crew knew; see whether you have to prove the cruise line knew about the hazard.

Video also matters when the cruise line says the injury was your own fault. It can show what you were wearing, how you were walking and whether a warning sign was posted. See what if you were partly at fault for your cruise injury.

What is different after a sexual assault?

The rules are stronger. On written request, the ship must provide a copy of relevant video to the survivor or a legal representative for a civil case, and footage the FBI finds relevant to a reported incident must be preserved for at least 4 years. The ship must also treat information from a sexual assault examination as confidential: no medical information may be released to the cruise line or its legal representatives without the patient's prior written approval, apart from narrow exceptions such as information given to law enforcement (46 U.S.C. 3507(e)). Our page on assault and onboard crime explains these claims. For the medical care the ship must provide, see what a cruise ship's medical staff must provide after a sexual assault.

What changes the answer?

The kind of incident

For most injuries, the statute's main protection is the 20-day minimum. The stronger rules, the 4-year preservation and the right to a copy on written request, are tied to listed crimes reported to law enforcement and to sexual assault. A fall, a burn or a medical emergency usually depends on an early preservation request and, later, discovery.

How fast you ask

Because the 20 days run from when the footage is obtained, a request sent in the first week has a far better chance of reaching the recording than one sent a month later.

Whether a camera covered the spot

The law requires a surveillance system, not a camera on every square foot. When there is no video, other proof carries more weight: your photos, witness names, the incident report and the cleaning and inspection logs.

Whether the ship is covered at all

The 3507 rules apply to ships carrying 250 or more passengers with overnight accommodations on voyages that embark or disembark passengers in the United States (3507(k)). A small ship or a voyage that never touches a U.S. port may fall outside them.

Whether a crime was reported

The ship must also keep a log book of complaints of listed crimes, thefts over $1,000 and other crimes, and make it available on request to the FBI, the Coast Guard and investigating law enforcement officers (3507(g)(1)). The statute does not give passengers a right to that log, but a report to law enforcement starts a separate record.

What does this look like in a real situation?

For example, imagine a passenger who slips on a puddle of melted ice beside a drink station on the second night of a cruise from a U.S. port. She photographs the floor, gets the names of two passengers who saw it, and asks the crew for an incident report. The next morning she emails the cruise line's claims department, using the address in her ticket, asking it to preserve all video of that area from two hours before the fall until an hour after, plus the cleaning logs and the names of the crew on duty. She keeps the email and the reply.

Months later, after notice and a lawsuit filed within the ticket's deadlines, her lawyer serves a Rule 34 request describing the same cameras, dates and times. In this scenario the footage was preserved because the request arrived well inside the 20-day window, and it shows how long the puddle was there before she fell. Had the footage been erased after her request, Rule 37(e) would give the court tools to address the loss.

This example is hypothetical. It is not a past case or a result, and every claim turns on its own facts.

What mistakes do passengers make?

• Asking only out loud. A request to a guest services desk leaves no proof. Put it in writing and keep a copy.
• Waiting until the trip is over and the swelling goes down. The 20-day minimum may already be close to running out.
• Being vague. "Any video of my accident" invites a narrow answer. Give the deck, place, date and a generous time window.
• Assuming the incident report includes the video. The report and the footage are separate records. Ask for both.
• Relying on the cruise line's video alone. Your own photos and witness names cannot be overwritten. Collect them anyway.

What should you do this week?

1. Write down the ship, sailing dates, deck, exact place, date and time of the injury.
2. Send a written preservation request to the cruise line's claims or legal department by a method that proves delivery, listing video, the incident report, statements, photos, maintenance records and crew names.
3. Save every photo and video on your phone to a second place, such as a computer or cloud account.
4. Make a list of witnesses with their phone numbers and email addresses.
5. Ask the ship's medical center for your records.
6. Check your ticket's notice and lawsuit deadlines and put both dates on your calendar.

Frequently asked questions

Can the cruise line refuse to show me the video before I sue?

For most injuries, yes. The statute gives a right to a copy on written request only for video that may show a sexual assault. For other injuries, footage usually comes out through discovery after a lawsuit is filed, which is why preserving it first matters.

Is there a deadline to send a preservation request?

No statute sets one, but the ship only has to keep ordinary footage for 20 days after it is recorded. Treat that as your deadline.

Who should the request go to?

The cruise line's claims or legal department, at any address your ticket lists for claims. If your ticket names an address for the notice of claim, use it for the preservation request too.

What if the cruise line says there is no video?

Ask in writing which cameras cover the area and how long their recordings are kept. In a lawsuit, those questions can be asked under oath, for example of the crew in charge of security, and the answers can matter under Rule 37(e).

Do my own phone photos and videos count as evidence?

Yes. They are often the only record of the scene before it was cleaned. Keep the original files, because they carry the date and time.

What if a crew member's act caused the injury?

Video can identify the crew member and show what they did, which matters because a claim about a crew member's own carelessness is framed differently. See whether the cruise line is responsible for a crew member's careless act.

This page is general information, not legal advice. Deadlines and rights depend on your ticket and the facts of your case. Contact a lawyer about your specific situation.