The Cruise Passenger Protection Act of 2025 aims to significantly enhance consumer protections and safety standards for passengers on covered vessels. It establishes an Office of Maritime Consumer Protection (OMCP) within the Department of Transportation, tasked with overseeing consumer issues, processing complaints, investigating violations, and enforcing new regulations, including developing standards for passage contracts to ensure prospective passengers receive clear summaries of key terms like undisclosed costs, liability limitations, and arbitration clauses before they become binding. These summaries must be prominently displayed on cruise line websites and promotional materials, and the statute of limitations for lawsuits against vessel owners must be clearly stated as no shorter than three years. To empower consumers, the Act establishes a toll-free hotline and an online complaint system for passengers to report issues like cancellations, delays, and onboard conditions. The OMCP will maintain a public, statistical compilation of these complaints, aggregated by vessel and updated monthly, while also invalidating pre-dispute arbitration clauses and class action waivers in passage contracts, allowing arbitration only with post-dispute consent. For victims of crimes on board, the legislation creates a Director of Victim Support Services within the OMCP, serving as a primary federal point of contact. This director will coordinate immediate, free, and confidential support services, including assistance with reporting incidents, mental health counseling, and advocacy during criminal proceedings, and will develop a written summary of rights for victims. The bill significantly strengthens crime reporting and prevention measures on cruise vessels. Owners must notify the FBI within four hours of being informed of certain incidents and make all vessel log books available to law enforcement, with prompt notification to U.S. consulates for incidents involving U.S. nationals at the next port of call. Enhanced video surveillance is mandated for exterior decks, with footage retention increased to one year for general recordings and five years for incident-related footage. The Coast Guard will establish standards for video retention, and vessels must implement independently certified technology to detect passengers falling overboard. The legislation also updates medical standards , requiring sufficient qualified medical staff on board and basic life support training for all crew members, with passenger-facing crew demonstrating basic English proficiency. In cases of a U.S. citizen's death onboard, the vessel owner must facilitate the return of the body to the U.S. if requested by next of kin, covering transportation costs, unless specific foreign jurisdiction rules apply. Finally, the bill grants the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard new enforcement powers , including the ability to withhold vessel clearance or deny entry for owners who violate these provisions or fail to pay penalties, and applies limitations on nonpecuniary damages, similar to those for commercial aviation accidents, to cruise ship voyages.