# Cruise to Nowhere Prostitution.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487 "2010-04-17T22:23:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/21 "2010-04-18T07:48:34Z")
(Tried to edit my own post, but ran afoul of the 5-minute act 😃 ) Answered my own question - possibly. Looks to me as if the Mann act doesn’t make it a problem for guys to cross state lines or even leave the country lookin’ for sex - it refers specifically to ‘transporting females.’ So Nevada brothels are okay because the girls live in the state. On the other hand, the sex cruise would be different because you also have to get the would-be prostitutes out into international waters - you can’t have them live out there full-time. Does that sum up the legalities right? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/22 "2010-04-18T09:49:36Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Gives a whole new meaning to “thar she blows”. > [@jtgain](#): > > Damn.. I knew I missed an obvious one.. 🙂 Isn’t “that she blows” a quotation from _Moby Dick_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/23 "2010-04-18T10:48:52Z")
You’d want the boat to have other amenities on it too, like a Long John Silver or something. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/24 "2010-04-18T11:04:43Z")
Would they charge extra to go up the poop deck? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/25 "2010-04-18T11:43:13Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Those willing to fight against the current prostitution laws would much rather make the fight for legalized prostitution within our **boarders**. Heh. All aboard for the Crab Island Cruise… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/26 "2010-04-18T12:15:51Z")
Just three miles out? So much for going around the world. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/27 "2010-04-18T12:29:54Z")
The cost wouldn’t justify it. Usually always it’s the prostitutes that bear the arrest and fines. They just consider it a “cost” of doing business. A sex industry worker isn’t likely to be that conserned about jail time or a felony conviction record. It’s just easier all the way around to accept the risk. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/28 "2010-04-18T13:26:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Answered my own question - possibly. Looks to me as if the Mann act doesn’t make it a problem for guys to cross state lines or even leave the country lookin’ for sex - it refers specifically to ‘transporting females.’ So Nevada brothels are okay because the girls live in the state. From what I’ve read, many of them don’t. They live in other states and commute in to work. Which raises an interesting question. The Mann Act states: > [@](#): > > Whoever knowingly transports any individual in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, with intent that such individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. Which makes me wonder if an ambitious prosecuter could charge some airline with a RICO violation. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/29 "2010-04-18T14:31:23Z")
Presumably the out-of-state Nevada hookers are transporting themselves to the whorehouse. Could you be convicted of transporting yourself? As to the OP – how about a ship more or less permanently stationed offshore, like pirate radio ships? You go out and back on a speedboat, or for the high rollers, a helicopter. Throw in a good restaurant and bar, and maybe you got something. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/30 "2010-04-18T14:36:46Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Thread from ten years ago asking the same question: > [Could one provide legal prostitution on a cruise ship? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=28548) Thanks. But from reading that thread, there was no final answer agreed upon. I agree that a “prostitution only” cruise would be a poor business venture, but you could couple it with the gambling, buffets, entertainment, fishing, whatever. I can’t see where the Mann Act would apply. First, the customer is not transporting these women, the cruise ship is transporting them. And if they got the idea of prosecuting the cruise ship company, the prostitution that would take place out to sea would not be the illegal variety (unless another law would apply which is the point of this thread) that is covered under the Mann Act. So I guess that if you could find that this is otherwise illegal, then the Mann Act would apply. Also, I don’t think for a second that if this were tried that the legislature wouldn’t meet in special session to outlaw it. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/31 "2010-04-18T16:14:21Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Having read up on this (in reliable popular references) a while ago, the key point to the sex tourism laws is that they make it illegal to leave the country _for the purpose of engaging in sexual conduct that would be a crime if committed within the U.S._ That’s the trick – it’s not that you’re going somewhere where it’s legal, it’s that you’re leaving the U.S. to commit one particular form of “illegal behavior,” that being shorthand for “behavior that would be illegal if done in the U.S.” The crime consists in leaving the country with that particular intent. Should you go to, say, Helsinki\* to buy Finnish crafts for your chain of variety stores, and incidentally pick up a prostitute while there, you haven’t left the country for the purpose of sex. But if you leave with the intent of sex, you’ve broken that law. So a cruise to nowhere would fall afoul of that. (Note that it doesn’t apply to gambling, etc., just to sex.) > > \*I’d originally intended to use Thailand for my example, but I decided Bangkok was probably covered by the no-unnecessary-punning prohibition of the OP. If that is in fact the case (at least in the US), how do people not get arrested or prosecuted for traveling to places like Viking’s Exotic Resort and other “Adult Travel” packages? ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/32 "2010-04-18T16:31:43Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > … basically a whorehouseboat on a treadmill. Will the whore be able to take off? > **[Plane on a Treadmill - SOLUTION](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=361386)** > > MODERATOR EDIT: Please note that this thread was started in 2006, has been revived several times since. Please be careful about what you’re responding to, since it could be way (way!) old. This thread is in response to this Straight Dope column and... ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/33 "2010-04-19T00:51:05Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > I’m curious about one thing. Does this mean that though prostitution is legal in Nevada, actually GOING to Nevada for the purposes of visiting a brothel is in violation of the Mann act? Just to make sure every one is clear, prostitution is not legal throughout Nevada, and it is explicitly not legal in Clark County, home of Las Vegas. Brothels are legal and heavily regulated in a handful of rural counties. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/34 "2010-04-19T03:33:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > From what I’ve read, many of them don’t. They live in other states and commute in to work. Which raises an interesting question. The Mann Act states: > > > [@](#): > > > > Whoever knowingly transports any individual in interstate or foreign commerce, or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, with intent that such individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both. > > Which makes me wonder if an ambitious prosecuter could charge some airline with a RICO violation. I think the words ‘knowingly’, ‘intent’, and, possibly, ‘common carrier’ all combine to make this scenario a non-starter. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/35 "2010-04-19T13:52:10Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:19, topic:536487”] Would a whorehouse on a treadmill fly? [/QUOTE] once. for 20 minutes. (sorry, but somebody had to do it) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/36 "2010-04-19T16:07:59Z")
> [@](#): > > I think the words ‘knowingly’, ‘intent’, and, possibly, ‘common carrier’ all combine to make this scenario a non-starter. Both sex laws and RICO forfeitures have encouraged ridiculously loose interpretations of the law. But realistically the words “high-paid corporate law firms” would make it a non-starter. One of the main weapons DA’s have used in cases like this is their ability to overwhelm the defendants with greater resources and that wouldn’t work here. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/37 "2010-04-19T17:07:04Z")
> [@Dragwyr](#): > > If that is in fact the case (at least in the US), how do people not get arrested or prosecuted for traveling to places like Viking’s Exotic Resort and other “Adult Travel” packages? I always make it a point to visit a [museum](http://www.annefrank.org/content.asp?pid=1&lid=2) when I go to Amsterdam. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/38 "2010-04-19T18:25:47Z")
ObSimpsons: The [monkey knife fight](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNh3Wvu0_LM&feature=related) outside the 3-mile limit. (video) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/39 "2010-04-19T18:43:10Z")
For another take on the situation: If the cruise ship in question was inhabited by prostitutes from Canada or Mexico, then the Mann Act wouldn’t apply, right? The ship could load up on customers in San Diego or Seattle, head to an international port to pick up the girls, then go into international waters. > [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Will the whore be able to take off? > [Plane on a Treadmill - SOLUTION - Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=361386) Only 13 posts late! ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487/40 "2010-04-19T19:44:53Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I agree that a “prostitution only” cruise would be a poor business venture, but you could couple it with the gambling, buffets, entertainment, fishing, whatever. But most people are not going to want to take their significant other or family along on a cruise that includes prostitutes. They might take them along on a cruise that offers gambling, buffets, or fishing but not prostitutes. Not everybody would be cool with knowingly sharing a cruise ship with prostitutes. Of course, not everybody’s OK with gambling or fishing (a vegan might object to a fishing cruise), either, but I suspect more people would be uncomfortable with prostitutes than would be uncomfortable with gambling or fishing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cruise-to-nowhere-prostitution/536487.md?page=1)