Photo albums are often brimming with vacation photos because they illustrate some of the best times in our lives. Traveling can lead to discovering a cave filled with glittering crystals, a hilariously awkward photo (or 20), or finding a new furry friend.
And if you’re traveling by cruise, it could also lead to tragedy.
That’s right. Just like the movie “Titanic,” traveling the high seas in a luxury vessel is not all winding staircases, romantic romps, and a young and significantly more dashing Leonardo DiCaprio yelling: “I’m the king of the world!”
It’s more akin to elusive unsolved crimes, creepy crews, and lots of death.
In fact, an 84-year-old passenger just went missing from a cruise ship east of Sydney yesterday and has not been found, even after a 24-hour air and sea search. Sadly, this is just another body count for the hundreds who have mysteriously disappeared from cruise ships since 1995.
And that’s not all that happens on these floating beasts of disease, pollution, and fire.
Here are 25 terrifying facts about cruise ships that will make you rethink your next nautical adventure. And if you are planning a getaway with someone soon, make sure to SHARE this article with them, so you're aware of the dangers and your rights.
#1. The poop cruise
On February 10, 2013, one of Carnival's vessels, Triumph, wasn't very triumphant when it lost power after its engine room caught fire, leaving passengers stranded in the Gulf of Mexico. The situation stunk, but not as much as the raw sewage that began to back up all over the boat, causing people to create a tent city away from hazardous areas. Hey, sometimes ship happens.
#2. The modern-day Titanic
In January 2012, Italy suffered its worst maritime catastrophe since World War II when the ship Costa Concordia hit rocks three hours into its trip off the coast of Tuscany. Its captain, Francesco Schettino, fled the vessel as it slowly sank while dozens of passengers and crew members died.
#3. Fogs lead to collisions
In March 2012, on a foggy night, passengers on a luxury cruise ship were awakened by the vessel's foghorn alarm. They ran to their windows and watched in horror as the ship collided with a container ship about five miles from the coast of Vietnam.
#4...And WHALES are just as bad as fog!!
In May of 2014, a poor 45-foot whale was found belly-up in New York Harbor after it collided with a Norwegian Cruise Line ship.
#5. A young woman was sold into sex slavery
On March 24, 1998, 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley went missing on the Royal Caribbean cruise, Rhapsody of the Seas, close to the coast of Curaçao, Antilles. Since her disappearance, there have been a few "sightings" of Bradley in Curaçao: one at a beach, which cited all of her distinctive tattoos, and another in a brothel where she allegedly told an American sailor her name and asked for help.
#6. A married couple of 50 years went missing
In May of 2005, Hue Tran, 65, and her husband of half a century, Hue Pham, 70, boarded the Carnival Cruise ship Destiny after she received tickets as a Mother's Day gift from her children. No one knows what happened to the couple, but family members noticed their disappearance when they found their shoes abandoned on deck.
#7. In fact, a shocking number of people have disappeared on cruise ships
The Cruise Victims Association reports that since 1995 approximately 165 people have gone missing. Other sources claim it's closer to 200.
#8. Just 16% of murders aboard cruise ships lead to convictions
Not to mention the very low rate of sexual assault, which is only 7%. Because cruises are in international waters, the laws are very loose and often cruise lines do not want to take responsibility for wrongdoings.
#9. Kids' lives are considered worthless
The Death on the High Seas Act was created in 1920 to provide recovery to the wife of a sailor when he died at sea. It is how spouses today recover money when their loved ones die on a commercial cruise line, yet it is very difficult to obtain and doesn't cover pain, suffering, grief, or bereavement. It does not provide any kind of recovery if a child or retiree dies due to the negligence.
#10. Somewhere, on every cruise ship, there's a morgue
On average, 200 passengers die aboard cruise ships every year, hence the need for a place to store the dead bodies.
#11. On average, you gain a pound a day
According to John Primeau, a spokesman for Holland America who used a longtime adage of cruise professionals, the typical cruise-goer gains a pound a day on a 7 to 10 day trip.
#12. And you are what you eat!!
Where does all that food for a cruise come from? Most likely the food you're eating has been aboard the ship for as long as you have. This is explains why you feel as fresh as a fruit buffet during the beginning of your trip and as stale as an old danish towards the end.
#13. Something horrific known as the norovirus runs rampant
Norovirus,sometimes caused by food poisoning, runs rampant on cruises. This highly contagious stomach bug includes vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps. An outbreak on the Crown Princess got 129 people sick in April of 2014. Then again, ON THE SAME ship, 172 people got sick in October of 2014.
#14. Say hello to actual pirates
In 2009, pirates successfully completed 200 attacks on cruise ships. They made 30 million in Euros on stolen goods and ransoms.
#15. Crew members can be even scarier than pirates
In April of 2014, Disney Cruise Line employee, Ahmed Sofyan, was arrested after he lured a 13-year-old passenger into an unoccupied cabin and touched her inappropriately against her will.
#16. Cruise ships emit a ridiculous amount of pollution
Cruise ships are massive. Take the amount of pollutants your car emits and multiply it by 37493274298 gazillion. The 48,920-ton QE2, for instance, required about 100 gallons of fuel to move a single mile. That's 433 tons of fuel per day.
#17. They also dump a ton of sewage into the sea
What are we forcing sea creatures to swim in? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a cruise ship carrying 3,000 passengers generates approximately 210,000 gallons of raw sewage throughout the course of a week. And as long as a ship is three miles from the shore, it's allowed to dump as much sewage and chlorine as it likes.
#18. Ships become MASSIVE chunks of litter as well
The abandoned ship, World Discoverer, has been beached on a remote bay in the Solomon Islands since 2000.
#19. What's even CREEPIER? An abandoned ship has been on the loose for years!!
The Russian ship, Lyubov Orlova, was abandoned in January of 2013 and has been roaming international waters since.
#20. Coming soon: The Titanic 2!
An Australian billionaire is funding the creation of a new Titanic cruise ship, which will embark from England in 2016. Because why not give one of the world's greatest tragedies a do-over?
#21. The bigger the ship, the higher the fire risk
The largest cruise ship in the world, Oasis of the Seas, uses enough electrical wiring to stretch across America, coast to coast, which sounds extremely safe considering the wiring's close proximity to endless water.
#22. In fact, between 1999 and 2011 there have been 79 fires on cruise ships
And the number of fires in cruise ships per year has doubled since 2006, according to Dr. Ross Klein, a cruise enthusiast and professor at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada.
#23. There's no blood if you need an emergency transfusion
You would think with all the accidents, injuries, and murders that occur on cruise ships, crews would be prepared with blood for transfusions. They have a morgue for crying out loud! But they don’t carry blood stocks on board, and solely rely on passengers and crew members if there's an emergency.
#24. Cruise lines dodge laws with a loophole called "Flags of Convenience"
Cruise lines register their ships to foreign countries like Panama and Liberia so they're not regulated by U.S. laws. This allows cruise lines to use cheap labor, pollute the environment, and slack on preparation for accidents.
#25. The ship isn't going to wait for you
Did you get stuck in traffic and miss the boat? Tough. Cruise captains never wait for late passengers and will leave you at the port. The worst part is that if you do miss the boat, you are responsible for getting to the next port on your own.
It gets even crazier…trust me!
