I’ve been covering the cruise industry since 1993 and prior to that, worked at Cunard Line. Over the years I’ve collected stories of events that have happened. Some, but not all, falls into the category of “urban legend”, but most of true stories.
*** Rosemary Roberts’ family decided it was time she enter a nursing home, but Roberts had a better idea of a future dwelling?on board a cruise ship. Roberts eventually cruised and lived aboard the former Royal Viking luxury liners for 18 consecutive years, transferring to another vessel in the fleet when her “home” ship entered its annual dry dock. She banked and voted by mail, and when her family decided to pay her a visit, they merely consulted a Royal Viking brochure. Roberts pointed out “it’s cheaper than a nursing home,” and, at a $400 per diem for her room, board, and entertainment, she may have been correct. It was certainly a lot more enjoyable. In the early 1990’s, shortly before the demise of the Royal Viking Line, the cruise company evicted Rose Mary, citing psychological problems. She was 89 at the time.
*** In 1996, an 18-year-old inebriated passenger aboard Carnival’s Celebration decided to relieve himself while standing on a high deck, shortly after the ship left San Juan. As his shocked traveling companions looked on, he fell several decks off the Celebration into the Caribbean. His buddies immediately notified Celebration’s senior officers, who contacted the U.S. Coast Guard. A massive search immediately got underway , involving dozens of boats and helicopters. In a strange turn of events, the passenger turned up safe and sound, on a beach near San Juan, having swam four miles to shore. He spent two nights in a local hospital and returned home in excellent condition. However, he may opt to use restrooms in the future.
*** Morgan Robertson’s “The Wreck of the Titan,” is an unusual novel describing the doomed voyage of the luxury liner Titan, the largest and most glamorous liner ever constructed. Carrying the wealthy and prominent of her time on her April maiden voyage between Southampton and New York, she set out to break a nautical speed record. In the middle of the night, the Titan struck an iceberg and sank, killing most of the passengers as a result of an insufficient number of life boats. Sound familiar?
Yet, “The Wreck of the Titan” was published in 1898, fourteen years before the Titanic sank! (I have a reprint of this book)
*** Since 1972 Queen Elizabeth 2 has make a yearly ninety day world cruise, carrying 1,200 passengers, whose median age is 72. In addition to carrying more than a ton of caviar, the QE 2 will transports 27 coffins during its annual circumnavigation of the globe. Let’s hope they’ll run out of the caviar and not the latter!
*** In the 1970’s, before cruise lines worried about polluting the oceans, passengers aboard a now-defunct Royal Viking Line cruise ship sailing off the coast of Brazil, were invited to put a message in a sealed bottle and toss it in the ocean. A year later, one couple was contact by a boy in Indonesia who had discovered their bottle on a local beach. They exchanged mail for a while and the couple eventually went to Indonesia to visit him. They paid for his visit to the United States, later for his college and medical school expenses.
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