Cruises Gone Wrong
Around 24 million people board cruise ships each year to vacation at sea. And while the majority of those cruises provide luxurious experiences without incident, it doesn’t mean that the unthinkable doesn't happen.
From tipping over while docked, to on-board fires and sewage backups, these are 10 of the worst cruise ship disasters in history, often resulting in a disturbing number of fatalities.
Costa Concordia
The Costa Concordia was a huge cruise ship with 3,229 passengers on board when it ran aground on a reef off the coast of Italy in 2012.
Cezary Piwowarski, CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Costa Concordia: Casualties
The Costa Concordia actually tipped over after it took on water. There were a reported 32 fatalities, 64 injured and one person missing and never found.
Costa Concordia: Cost
Not only was this accident tragic, it was costly too. It took over a year and a half to bring the ship upright, where it was then taken to port and dismantled. All in all, its recover cost upwards of $1.5 billion.
But that’s not all.
Costa Concordia: Cause
The accident was a result of the ship’s captain purposely sailing too close to shore to impress tourists. The navigation system was disarmed at the time.
And then the captain committed the ultimate maritime sin…
Robert Lender, CC-BY-SA-2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Costa Concordia: Captain
The captain abandoned ship in the middle of the disaster, leaving more than 300 passengers on board. He was charged and convicted for the fatalities.
Rvongher, CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons
RMS Titanic
Likely the most famous cruise ship disaster of all time, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 was said to be “unsinkable.”
Then on its maiden voyage, it struck and iceberg and down it went.
Francis Godolphin Osbourne Stuart, Wikimedia Commons
RMS Titanic: Casualties
This massive cruise ship was ill equipped and only had enough life boats for 30% of the passengers. That, along with an isolated position in frigid waters, resulted in over 1,500 fatalities.
National Archives and Records Administration, Wikimedia Commons
RMS Titanic: Recovery
Unfortunately, the Titanic was never recovered. A recovery of that magnitude would be extremely complex and even more costly than anyone could imagine.
Even still, some extremely valuable artifacts (ie. artwork worth millions) will remain forever on the sea floor.
NOAA/Institute for Exploration., Wikimedia Commons
S.S. Eastland
Three short years after the Titanic’s tragedy, in 1915, the S.S. Eastland rolled over on its side while still docked in the Chicago River.
Don...The UpNorth Memories Guy... Harrison, Flickr
S.S. Eastland: Casualties
At the time of the accident the cruise ship was filled with Western Electric employees celebrating an event. The tragic rollover resulted in 844 fatalities.
Don...The UpNorth Memories Guy... Harrison, Flickr
S.S. Eastland: Significance
The accident is known as the largest loss of life from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes. Even though it was docked, people became trapped inside, and some were crushed by furniture.
SHIP SS EASTLAND - WORKING TO RAISE THE SHIP STEAMSHIP DISASTER - 1915
S.S. Eastland: Cause
There are speculations that the ship was top heavy after adding more lifeboats after the Titanic tragedy. As well, the new owners had replaced hardwood floors with concrete, making the upper texts even heavier.
The captain, along with the owners of the ship were held responsible for the fatalities.
SHIP SS EASTLAND - WORKING TO RAISE THE SHIP STEAMSHIP DISASTER - 1915
Seabourn Spirit
In 2005, the Seaborne Spirit, a luxury cruise ship, was attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. Two pirated boats neared the ship and open fired with heavy artillery and rocket propelled grenades.
Ivan T., CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Seaborn Spirit: Casualties
The cruise ship was carrying 115 passengers at the time, none of whom were injured in the attack. However, the ship’s master-at-arms was hit by shrapnel while he attempted to fight back.
Piergiuliano Chesi, CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Seaborn Spirit: Defense
The master-at-arms used a long-range acoustic device (LRAD) while repelled the pirates by basting a powerful sound wave, and successfully stopped the attack.
Orlovic, CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Seaborn Spirit: Heroes
The master-at-arms, along with the security officer on the ship, were both awarded for their bravery by Queen Elizabeth II.
Scottish Government, CC-BY-SA-2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Seaborn Spirit: Recovery
The ship altered its course and docked elsewhere for repairs and then continued on with their scheduled route. It was later renamed, Star Breeze.
Windstar cruises, CC-BY-SA-4.0, Wikimedia Commons
MS Royal Pacific
In 1992, the MS Royal Pacific was struck by a Taiwanese fishing trawler in the Straits of Malacca off southern Malaysia.
John Ward, CC-BY-SA-4.0, Wikimedia Commons
MS Royal Pacific: Casualties
There were 530 passengers on board at the time, of which 30 lost their lives and 70 were severely injured. Most passengers were asleep at the time of the collision.
John Ward, CC-BY-SA-4.0, Wikimedia Commons
MS Royal Pacific: Further Problems
At the time of the accident, the ship’s PA system wasn’t functioning, and apparently the crew worried more about their own safety than that of the passengers—resulting in the numerous causalities.
MS Royal Pacific: Witness Accounts
Survivors recall the grueling experience, tossing small children into the frigid waters, swimming and drifting for hours before even reaching the rubber dinghies, and waiting for lifeboats to arrive.
All while the crew abandoned them on the only available rubber dinghies.
Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons
MS Royal Pacific: Sinking
The collision caused a six-foot hole beneath the water line of the hill. The ship remained above water for about 2 hours after the collision before sinking around 3 a.m.
193 people were rescued by other ships.
Henry Reuterdahl, Wikimedia Commons
Star Princess
In March of 2006, the Star Princess, a massive cruise ship carrying 3,100 passengers was sailing from Fort Lauderdale toward Jamaica when a fire broke out on one of its decks at 3 a.m.
Star Princess: Casualties
The fire, which broke out in one of the guest suites, took the life of one passenger, and injured 13 others.
Blake Handley, CC-BY-2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Star Princess: Cause
The cause of the fire was a smoke that was left unattended and left burning, which had become hot enough to melt the plastic polycarbonate balcony divides.
The fire caused scorching damage in up to 150 cabins, and smoke damage in at least 100 more.
Carnival Triumph
The Carnival Triumph “poop cruise”, as it’s called, occurred in 2013 when a fire broke out in the engine room of the 2,700-passenger cruise ship.
Scott Lucht, CC-BY-SA-4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Carnival Triumph: Incident
The fire was put out without any harm to passengers or crew, but the damage left the ship without power or propulsion for four days.
Dennis MacDonald, Shutterstock
Carnival Triumph: Consequences
This resulted in no air conditioning or working toilets—so they piled the human waste in bags on the decks.
Carnival Triumph: Blame
After investigation, documents showed that the cruise line was aware that the engine fire was likely but continued to operate the ship anyway.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Wikimedia Commons
Carnival Triumph: Witness Accounts
Passengers described disgusting scenes of carpets soaked in more than two inches of raw sewage—which lasted for four days as the ship was towed to safety.
Whiskey5jda, CC-BY-SA-4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Celebrity Mercury
Owned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, the Celebrity Mercury experienced a sudden illness in 2010 that affected 413 passengers.
Moosealope, CC-BY-SA-2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Celebrity Mercury: Illness
Nearly one out of every four passengers fell ill with the Norovirus—which is accompanied by vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping.
Stan Shebs, CC-BY-SA-3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Celebrity Mercury: Outbreaks
A Norovirus outbreak is common on cruise ships, but this was one of the worst cases at the time. The incident made headlines as this was not this particular ship’s first (or recent) outbreak.
The following scheduled cruise was delayed so the ship could receive extra sanitizing.
Gillfoto, CC-BY-SA-4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas
In January of 2014, the Explorer of the cruise also experienced a sudden illness on board, causing them to actually return to port with a staggering number of violently ill passengers.
Explorer of the Seas: Passengers
According to the CDC, it was the largest known number of people sick on a cruise, with 630 passengers and 54 crew extremely ill.
It is estimated that numbers were actually much higher but passengers did not report it in fear of being confined to their cabins.
S.S. Morro Castle
In 1934, the S.S. Morro Castle, carrying 549 passengers and crew, was returning from Cuba to New York when numerous things started to go wrong.
Antonio Jacobsen, Wikimedia Commons
S.S. Morro Castle: The Captain
First, the captain went to his cabin with an upset stomach and ended up passing from a heart attack.
And then only a few hours later tragedy struck again.
S.S. Morro Castle: The Fire
A few hours later, in the middle of the night, a fire started in one of the storage lockers. The crew failed to properly distinguish the blaze, which began to consume the vessel.
International News Photos, Inc., Wikimedia Commons
S.S. Morro Castle: Abandon Ship
Just like in other similar cases, the crew abandoned ship without addressing the passengers, leaving them to be awoken by smoke, dazed and confused, which resulted in some of them leaping to their demise from the blazing ship.
International News Photos, Inc., Wikimedia Commons
S.S. Morro Castle: Casualties
An estimated 86 passengers and 49 crew lost their lives. Many passengers made it onto lifeboats which were managed by other Good Samaritan passengers, and some were rescued from the water by other boats.
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