In August 2018 the Norwegian Star was making its way from Croatia to Venice, when 46-year-old Kay Longstaff fell from the seventh deck of the ship. Tumbling into the sea just after midnight – 60 miles off the Croatian coast – friends raised the alarm. But despite the ship doubling back, Longstaff was in the water (luckily a balmy 20°C/68°F) for 10 hours before being rescued by the Croatian coastguard. It's believed she used her yoga practice and singing to herself to avoid feeling the cold.
Sadly when people fall overboard there isn't always such a happy ending. In May 2016 Samantha Broberg went missing from the Carnival Liberty while it sailed through the Gulf of Mexico. CCTV footage showed her climbing onto the railings and falling backwards, but there has been no trace of her since.
Merrian Lynn Carver boarded Celebrity Cruises' Mercury in August 2004. But when she went missing on the second night of the cruise, nobody reported her disappearance. Merrian's clothes were still on board at the end of the cruise and her cabin was apparently unused. There have been no answers about what happened to her since.
For the two women who boarded a cruise ship from Canada to Australia in 2016, with a haul of cocaine worth £12 million ($16m), their cruise turned out to be a relaxing pre-prison getaway. By the time the pair were caught they had visited 11 countries, all while Instagramming their adventures. However, Australian police had been tracking them for a while and were waiting to arrest them when the ship docked in Sydney.
Staying with crimes at sea, one cruise ship heading to Melbourne had to make an emergency stop at New South Wales after a huge family brawl broke out. The fight had apparently been brewing for days and as many as 30 people were involved, all believed to be part of the same family.
Even if you're really close to land, we certainly don’t recommend jumping off a cruise ship. One man pulled this stunt from a Carnival Cruise ship just off Grand Turk Island in the Caribbean. After swimming to shore, police were waiting for him. They took him back to the boat, where he was ordered to disembark, ending his holiday.
In 2016, a teenager decided to climb over the railings of the 110,000-tonne cruise liner Carnival Liberty off the coast of Texas, while his friends filmed the stunt. The children later posted the clip of the foolish act on YouTube with the caption “Let’s get this viral”.
Life at sea can be unpredictable and sometimes the weather takes a turn for the worse, which is exactly what happened on the Norwegian Breakaway on New Year’s Eve, 2017. Sailing from New York to the Bahamas, the ship encountered a "bomb cyclone" leaving passengers terrified and with severe sea sickness and the boat's decks covered in snow.
Speaking of seasickness, Royal Caribbean passengers had a horrible time when hundreds of them fell ill in 2017. Bugs and sickness aren’t uncommon on cruise ships and germs can spread quickly, but it was unusual in this case because the illness was across two different ships within a few weeks of each other.
In 2013, a Carnival Cruise ship had to be towed into the harbour at Mobile, Alabama, after almost a week stranded at sea, due to an engine fire. Passengers reported vile conditions, including human waste running down hallways because the toilets were so backed up, earning the ship the nickname the “poop cruise”.
When you book a cruise, you’re probably hoping for sunshine and calm seas, so it’s probably not a good sign if passengers are struggling to even board a boat. In 2017, Carnival Cruise crew had to don life jackets and help lift passengers onto the ship because the seas were so rocky. No one was harmed, but the event was filmed and the cruise line was criticised for not postponing boarding.
Passengers on a Carnival Dream cruise in May 2018 were surprised to find that their ship had flooded. A break in the fire suppression system caused 50 staterooms to flood and the water flowing down corridors was ankle-deep. The 100 passengers affected by the flood got a full refund and a discount on their next cruise.
Travelling in serious storms happens fairly frequently but the Carnival Spirit hit such rough seas that it tipped to an almost 90-degree angle. Plates and glasses smashed and passengers were terrified that the ship would capsize.
Although cruise ships are built to survive storms, they’re still in danger of being struck by lightning. The Croisières de France cruise liner was filmed in Genoa being struck and catching fire during torrential weather. Amazingly no one was hurt.
In 2016, passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise were forced to cancel their holiday plans after a freak wave hit the ship, flooding cabins and breaking the windows. The Rhapsody of the Seas was sailing to Corsica when the wave hit and passengers were woken by their cabins being filled with water.
We’re all for taking safety seriously while onboard, but Cruise Critic reported that one regular cruise-goer spotted a family who refused to take off their life jackets for the entire trip. That might be taking things a little too far.
One passenger on a cruise onboard the Navigator of the Seas kept spotting the same woman on her trip. She was easy to identify because for the entire journey she wore her pyjamas and a pair of fluffy animal slippers. It brings a whole new meaning to the term cruisewear.
The Achille Lauro has been dubbed the “cruise ship from hell” with valid reason. Throughout its history, it saw several fires, collisions and explosions, but its worst disaster happened in 1985 when sailing to Israel. The ship was hijacked, an event which ended with the murder of a pensioner. The next year the Achille Lauro caught fire again and this time it sank.
In 2014, the MV Lyubov Orlova cruise ship vanished at sea. She bobbed around in the water until 2017 when she returned to shore, washing up on a beach in California. The only passengers onboard? Hordes of cannibal rats...
In 2012, a passenger on the Silver Shadow watched as the huge ship collided with a container ship off the coast of Vietnam. The cargo ship reportedly nearly capsized, but the cruise ship is said to have only suffered minor dents and continued on its journey into Ha Long Bay.
A tricky manoeuvre and a tight turn isn’t easy with a cruise ship that’s 593 feet long and after miscommunication between Azamara Quest crew, the ship crashed into rocks. No one was harmed but officials stated that the turn was “set up to fail”.
Cruise ships don’t come into contact with many obstacles when they’re out at sea but the captain of the Disney Dream somehow managed to crash into a pier in the Bahamas, prompting a camera-wielding tourist to comment “Goofy’s driving the boat today”. No one was harmed during the incident.
On its way to Coco Cay in the Bahamas, the 916-foot cruise ship the Grandeur of the Seas caught fire. Although the boat didn’t need to be evacuated, it took the crew two hours to stop the fire.
Ever spotted a goth on a cruise ship? One regular cruise goer reportedly found themselves on holiday with a goth convention. There’s a frequent occurrence of unusual gatherings on cruises. You can even join an annual zombie-themed Walking Dead cruise.
Love cats? Want to share how much you love cats with other people? You can join a cat cruise around the Bahamas. The strange part? There are absolutely no felines on board. Just a lot of cat people showing you their cat photos.
You might be the type to plan your holiday wardrobe in advance, but some cruise-goers prefer the natural look. Nude cruises are becoming very popular although thankfully, clothes must be worn while you’re having dinner.
Wondering what New Kids On The Block are doing now? It turns out that the band reformed in 2007 and they host an annual four-day cruise with performances and a full boy band itinerary of events. Despite the fact the band haven’t had a chart hit for years, the event is said to be the fastest selling cruise in history.
Shipmates was a game show that paired singles up on a blind date and then sent them on a Carnival Cruise (with a camera crew following their every move, of course). The dates didn’t usually lead to romance and frequently ended in tears. Meanwhile, many passengers on their holiday found themselves as background extras for the show.
Friends can’t make the trip? A group of passengers on a Monarch of the Seas cruise decided to bring along a life-sized photograph of a pal who couldn't make the trip, so he could still be in all of their holiday snaps.
No one wants their holiday to be a total washout with bad weather, but if you book a cruise to Alaska, you absolutely cannot complain about the cold or the fact you failed to get “an impressive tan” as one man did. He demanded compensation because he needed to buy warmer clothes.
Service dogs aren’t unusual on cruise ships, but a service monkey? That’s a whole different ball game. Apparently one woman was spotted with her monkey who told her when to take her medication. One of the symptoms of her illness was forgetfulness and the monkey would poke her when it was time for each dose.
Usually you're not allowed to take food off a cruise ship when you dock, but that doesn’t stop some enterprising passengers from trying their luck. One cruise ship crew member spotted a passenger stuffing her bra with sandwiches.
While you might be hoping that cruise ship staff go the extra mile for you on your journey, they’re not mind readers. One honeymooner was furious that the crew hadn’t scattered rose petals on the bed and did not deliver champagne and strawberries or offer him a private butler. The problem? He hadn’t asked them to. He just expected them to know.
After the ocean liner Queen Mary 2 changed its Caribbean itinerary three times, passengers on board arranged a mutiny. Angry at only being offered a 50% refund after spending six days of their 12 day cruise at sea, they decided that they would refuse to disembark until a better offer was made.
Cruise ships don’t often make unscheduled stops, but in 2017, the Disney Magic, which was travelling from Sicily to Majorca made a four-hour detour to help a tiny boat carrying 10 men in desperate need of help. They were waving flags at the ship and were only spotted by a stroke of luck.
There's a long history of cruise lines helping in the aftermath of emergencies. After Hurricane Katrina hit America’s Gulf Coast in 2005, thousands of people were left homeless. Temporary accommodation was arranged and for many, their new home was a cruise ship. The US military chartered four ships in total, giving accommodation for 8,000 people in need.
As the Grand Princess pulled into port in Alaska, the last thing anyone was expecting to see was a humpback whale lodged to its bow. It was impossible to determine whether or not the whale had already died, or if it had been killed upon impact with the ship.
One of the most important rules of being a cruise captain is that you never abandon your ship if it’s sinking – you don’t leave until every other passenger and crew member is safe. However, when the Oceanos was sinking off the coast of Durban in 1991, passengers watched their captain flee. He later said that he had left to “coordinate rescue efforts”.
The strange stuff that happens onboard isn't always limited to humans. Cunard is currently the only cruise line that allows dogs to travel on some transatlantic crossings, and as you'd expect kennels are luxurious with large play areas and food and life jackets provided. And we even heard about two especially pampered pooches, Coco and Chanel, who got "married" at sea.
READ MORE: 27 cruise hacks you need to know