Illness

The most common illness aboard cruise ships, gastroenteritis is extremely easy to catch and causes 24–48 hours of vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea. Almost 80 percent of all cruise ship voyages have at least one passenger or crew member with a confirmed diagnosis.

November 2006: A total of 679 passengers and crew aboard the Carnival Liberty contracted the virus.


Man Overboard

January 1, 2009: A 26-year-old ship performer on Carnival’s Sensation falls overboard while taking a picture.

April 18: Fellow passengers see a 39-year-old fall overboard from the Norwegian Sky cruise. The man is never found.

August 3: A 45-year-old woman goes missing on an Alaska cruise. Her body is later found washed up on the shores of a nearby island.


Murder

July 14, 2009: Ship security find a 55-year-old woman dead in her cabin after being beaten by her husband aboard the Carnival Elation.

August 2004: Merrian Carver vanishes while aboard the Celebrity cruise ship Mercury. The cruise 
line doesn’t report her disappearance, gets rid of her possessions, and takes no action until her father hires a private investigator.


Piracy

Six cruise ships have been struck by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

April 25, 2009: The MSC Melody, an Italian ship with 1,500 people on board, is attacked 500 miles north of the Seychelles.

November 5, 2005: The Carnival Seabourn Spirit luxury cruise ship is fired upon by AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, but the crew is able to outrun the pirates.


That Sinking Feeling

April 5, 2007: In Santorini, Greece, the cruise ship MS Sea Diamond sinks after hitting a volcanic reef. All but two of the 1,195 passengers are safely rescued.

February 2, 2006: Egyptian passenger ship Al-Salam Boccaccio 98, carrying an estimated 1,300 people, sinks in the Red Sea.

April 15, 1912: The Titanic hits an iceberg. You may have heard of this one.