Shocking news from aboard a Holland America cruise ship, the MS Nieuw Amsterdam, which sailed from Florida earlier this month set for the Caribbean: A ship worker reportedly confessed that he’d raped, beat and strangled a passenger before trying to throw her overboard from her balcony on Feb. 14, federal authorities say. [More]
cruise ships
CDC: Bug That Hit Cruise Ship Is A Newer Strain Wreaking Havoc On Stomachs Everywhere
By 2.7.14
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed yesterday that the bug that sickened almost 700 people on a Royal Caribbean Cruise last week and cut their trip short is a new strain of norovirus that is becoming troublesome for stomachs everywhere, by land and by sea. [More]
Live Dispatches From Royal Caribbean’s Barf Cruise: Passenger Takes To Reddit
By 1.27.14
Earlier today, we shared with you the news that a Caribbean cruise out of the port of Bayonne, N.J. has become a plague-wracked hellscape instead of a vacation. Well, maybe that’s overstating it a little, but things on board are unpleasant. According to the Centers for Disease Control, so far 19% of the passengers and 4% of the crew have the mysterious gastrointestinal illness. One passenger who isn’t sick (yet) took to Reddit to answer random strangers’ questions. [More]
Cruise Ship Cutting Journey Short Because It’s No Fun When 600 People Are Vomiting
By 1.27.14
The ghostly specter of the Poop Cruise is out haunting again and this time it picked a Royal Caribbean cruise ship to mess with: The Explorer of the Seas will cut its 10-day trip short by two days after more than 600 people on board succumbed to an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness. [More]
Italy Doesn’t Want Giant Cruise Ships Anywhere Near Historic Venice
By 11.6.13
For passengers aboard the ginormous floating pleasure rides we call cruise ships, the chance to see the historic Italian city of Venice draws spectators to the decks, so they can revel in a fantastic, panoramic view. But then there are those tourists strolling by the canals of the old city who could be shaken out of their reveries by the appearance of a monstrous giant sailing by. Only one group gets to enjoy the Venice views. [More]
Cruise Ship Passengers Help Rescue Three People Stranded At Sea
By 10.11.13
While one might hope that a cruise ship — or any other vessel nearby — would help people stranded at sea, that’s not always the case. Which makes it altogether refreshing and heart-warming that the captain of a luxury cruise ship listened to his passengers when they reported hearing cries for help in the water. [More]
My Dad Dies During Celebrity Cruise Excursion; Crew Throws Out Our Stuff
By 7.23.13
What was supposed to be a happy Alaskan getaway on a Celebrity Cruise ship turned into a tragedy for Consumerist reader Melissa when her father suffered a cardiac incident while on an excursion then passed away two days later in the hospital. Now Celebrity is telling Melissa that it discarded hundreds of dollars worth of clothing and other items that were left on the ship while she tended to her father. [More]
Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Catches Fire, Toilets Continue To Work
By 5.28.13
If you had been considering a cruise vacation because nothing has gone terribly wrong on any major ships in at least a couple of weeks, maybe you should reconsider. Passengers on their third day of a Royal Caribbean cruise were dragged out of bed in the wee hours of the morning and told to put their life vests on because of a fire on board. [More]
Carnival Triumph Tow Rope Breaks, Prolongs Passengers’ Misery
By 2.14.13
The passengers of the Carnival Triumph (probably) never imagined that they’d get to extend their trip by several days. They certainly didn’t picture themselves living like 19th-century steerage passengers, if 19th-century steerage passengers had cans of Pringles and defecated in plastic bags. [More]
Cruise Ship Disaster Rescue Efforts May End Soon
By 1.20.12
The death toll in last week’s Italian Costa Concordia cruise ship crash had climbed to 11 as of Thursday night, and officials say they’re considering when to call off rescue operations. There are 21 people still missing. [More]
T-Mobile Charges $5 For Every Failed Call From Cruise Ship
By 9.29.11
Kayla left her phone off and safely stowed away during her Caribbean cruise, where it couldn’t run up roaming charges high enough to ruin any vacation. When she learned that there had been a minor earthquake and a hurricane back home, she decided to eat the roaming charges and pay the high per-minute prices to check in with her loved ones. Everyone else on the ship evidently had the same idea, and it was difficult to get a call through. When her bill came, Kayla learned the hard way that T-Mobile, at least, imposes that $4.99 per minute roaming charge on calls that don’t complete. [More]
Cruise Ship Passenger Who Drunkenly Dropped Ship's Anchor "Guilty Of Felony Stupidity"
By 7.22.11
If you were lurking around the Consumerist pages last November, you may remember the tale of a drunken cruise line passenger who thought it would be hilarious to release the anchor (it wasn’t). Now that the issue has come before the courts, the passenger’s lawyer is pulling the honesty card and calling his client out for being a rich moron. [More]
Cruise Ship Passengers Mutiny After Being Stranded For 3 Days
By 5.17.11
After the electricity failed, passengers on the MSC Opera luxury cruise ship found themselves stranded at sea for three days, reports The Daily Mail. The toilets stopped working, there were blackouts, water was in short supply and at one point, passengers were only given rolls to eat. Then they rebelled. [More]
Cruise Ship Crashes Into Ice In Alaska, Keeps On Cruising
By 5.13.11
An obstacle described as a “large piece of ice” wasn’t enough to send a Holland America cruise ship in Alaska the way of the Titanic. After the ship barreled into the ice, it just kept chugging along on its schedule with only a small indentation in the hull. [More]
Getting Drunk And Releasing The Anchor On Your Cruise Ship Is Not Hilarious
By 11.30.10
Drunken antics aboard a cruise ship are nothing new. But some intoxicated chicanery goes beyond trashing your stateroom after a few too many tequila sunrises on the Lido deck. Take for example the moron aboard a Holland Cruise ship who thought it would be all laugh-tastic to release the ship’s anchor while the vessel was cruising in international waters. [More]
Carnival Cruise Ship Stranded Off Mexico Coast After Fire
By 11.9.10
Like something from a ’70s disaster movie, 3,300 passengers on board the Carnival Splendor found themselves stuck out to sea off the coast of Mexico after a fire in the engine room. [More]
For Your Next Vacation, Try Norwegian's Exciting All-Upsell Cruise
By 10.13.10
Jarrod tells Consumerist that his father-in-law recently traveled to Alaska with Norwegian Cruise Line. His biggest gripe was that everything a passenger could do on board, including purchases in the gift shop, carried an automatic 18% gratuity. This would be acceptable if the service were good enough to justify a tip at all. But Jarrod notes, “[Room stewards] knew they were getting an automatic 18%, so why work for it?” [More]
Passengers Tossed Like Ragdolls Inside Storm-Stricken Cruise Ship
By 9.17.10
CCTV video has recently resurfaced showing what happened inside a Pacific Sun cruise ship during a severe storm. Passengers smack to the floor and locomote from port to sideboard and back again like ragdolls on ice, cling desperately to anything they can get a hand on, and try to dodge the piles of furniture caroming around. Cruise ships can be fun, but out there on the open seas Mother Nature can have her own ideas about what constitutes a good time. [More]
