Top 10 Cruise Lines That Survived Scandal
Most of those things are minor and don’t really impact your experience or the line itself but from time to time, a scandal will hit, and the very existence of your favourite line maybe called into doubt.
Not every line can get past a scandal however, but some have managed to turn things arrive and either survive the scandal or even thrive after it and it is those lines that we I am going to look at in this list.
Some of these scandals made headlines around the world, some you may not have heard about, and you may even find out something you never knew about your favourite line but just which are the top 10 cruise lines to have survived scandal? Let’s take a look.
Our Top 10 Cruise Lines That Survived Scandal
Costa Cruises- Costa Concordia Disaster (2012)
Out of all of the scandals on this list, this is the one that even those without an interest in cruising will know all about as it made headlines around the globe and has been made into multiple documentaries and television programmes.
It is incredible that the Carnival Corporation owned, Italian focussed line managed to survive but what has always been the most shocking thing to me is how quickly Carnival turned things around.
For those who may recognise the name but are not sure of just what happened, in brief, the captain of the Costa Concordia deviated from the panned route of the ship to sail close to Isola del Gilglio, an island in Tuscany, to do a sail-by salute.
The ship sailed closer than intended and struck a rock formation on the sea floor.
That caused the ship to firstly list and then partially sink and coming to rest on an underwater ledge.
A huge rescue effort was launched, and the majority of crew and passengers were rescued but sadly 33 people lost their lives including 27 passengers, 5 crew members and a rescuer.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the investigation into the disaster found many issues including a lack of training for staff but it was the actions of the captain that made headlines as not only had he tuned off the alarm system built into the ships computer navigation system, but he also abandoned the ship on a lifeboat with 100 of passengers and crew still onboard.
The media frenzy surrounding this scandal, the multiple investigations into what happened and the fact that the ship was carry passengers and crew from countries around thew world led to the whole industry been forced into make changes, especially to safety instructions and enhanced muster drills.
Costa themselves got off relatively lightly and even ordered a replacement ship to be built to replace the Concordia well before any investigation were completely and after paying some fines, things carried on as normal in many ways.
Carnival Cruise Line- ‘Poop’ Cruise From Hell (2013)
Known as the ‘poop cruise from hell’, this one involves another ship owned by the Carnival Corporation but this time it is their titular line and their Carnival Triumph ship that in 2013 suffered a fire in its engine room.
With 3,143 passenger son board, the ship was left adrift for four days in the Gulf of Mexico with little to no power including to its sewage system which led to a build-up of sewage and toilets to not work.
This made headlines across America and even across the Pond here in the UK, especially when it was revealed a big part of the problem was down to poor maintenance of both the sewage system and for the back-up generators.
The line carried on as normal after the scandal, but the ship struggled, which led to a change of name to the Carnival Sunrise, and she still sails the high seas to this very day.
Princess Cruises- Environmental Crimes (2016-19)
The Carnival Corporation make another appearance on this list but this time it is their Princess Cruises brand, and this one has to be one of the worst on this list.
Many of these scandals are things that happened because of mistakes but this one was down to a deliberate act which, in 2013, saw the crew of the Caribbean Princess discharge 4,227 gallons of oil-contaminated waste off of the southern coast of England.
This made headlines across the UK and really hit the brands image hard after the scheme soon unraveled as an onboard engineer resigned his post and reported the illegal modification to the ships pollution control systems to the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
An investigation was also opened by the US Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) and they found that this had been taking place for some time and not just onboard the Caribbean Princess but also on the Star Princess, the Grand Princess, the Coral Princess and the Golden Princess and had been happening since 2005.
The line, and the Carnival Corporation, only received a relatively small fine of $40 million and they had to work to a supervised compliance plan for 5 years but unfortunately, they couldn’t even manage that, and the line and corporation faced another $20 million dollar fine in 2019 due to discharging plastic into the waters around the Bahamas and falsifying records.
In what could have easily of been a scandal that brought down the line, the events of late 2019 and the shutdown of the industry in any ways gave them the time and distraction needed for the media and general public to forget these incidents.
MSC Cruises- Port Collisions (2018-19)
Although pilots and captains make it look simple, docking a massive cruise ship takes an incredible amount of skill and needs numerous people to work together to make something complex look so simple.
That is achieved by years of experience, lots of training and also investment in technology but it can all come apart quickly if one part of the chain falls apart.
A pattern started to emerge starting in 2018 when the MSC Armonia crashed into its dock in Honduras, before the MSC Orchestra and MSC Poesia crashed into each other in Buenos Aires and perhaps most famously, the MSC Opera crashed into a Venice dock.
Whilst each incident made the news, the pattern that emerged grabbed headlines across the lines home country of Italy and further afield, especially when it was discovered that there were problems with captains and pilots co-operating with each other and poor navigation technology on some ships.
The global shut down gave the line the chance to retrain staff and upon resumption of service, they created a large PR campaign highlighting safety reforms.
P&O Cruises- Britannia Brawl (2019)
P&O Cruises had a reputation as been an upmarket cruise line that offered a traditional style of cruising but over the past decade or so, that has changed, and the line now offer a budget getaway and aim their offering at a cliental wanting a cheap and cheerful getaway.
That is something that has caused tensions on board with those choosing to stay loyal to the brand clashing with the newer passengers, and vice versa but the biggest damage to the line has been the ongoing issues with abuse and fighting between passengers.
The incident, which grabbed headlines across the UK and around the world in 2019, happened when after an afternoon of, what was called ‘Patriotic Partying’ on the pool deck, a large group of passengers continued to drink heavily throughout the night before heading to the buffet area.
In the early hours of the morning, something happened, and a brawl erupted which led to both those passengers attacked by the group and staff suffering injuries.
The main instigators of the brawl were confined to their cabins and arrested upon arrival back Southampton and whilst the line would use the global shutdown of the industry to allow them time for people to forget this incident, it is still something that puts off many cruisers, including myself, from sailing with the line.
Royal Caribbean- George Smith Disappearance (2005)
In July 2005, passengers onboard the Brilliance of the Seas reported what they believed to be blood below some cabin balconies, and it was soon found that a passenger, by the name of George Smith, had disappeared.
Smith, who had only been married 11 days earlier, was an American citizen on his honeymoon at the time of the incident that quickly turn into a major scandal for the line.
As well as criminal investigations, which focussed on his death been a homicide, the story featured on long running investigative television programmes in the USA including Dateline NBC and 48 Hours, and it was even turned into a tv movie called Deadly Honeymoon.
An investigation was soon opened by the FBI but even before anything was discovered, the lines went into limiting damage to its reputation and offered the estate of the deceased compensation, but it was felt that the line didn’t co-operate with the investigations into the incident as much as they could.
This led to talk quickly moving from the incident itself and onto the rights of cruise passengers and their safety onboard cruise ships, with a new bill launched in the American congress to force greater transparency when crimes are committed on cruise ships.
Disney Cruise Lines- Disappearance of Rebecca Coriam (2011)
In March 2011 Rebecca Coriam, an English crew member onboard the Disney Wonder disappeared from the ship off of the coast of Mexico.
She was captured on CCTV in the crew lounge earlier in the morning where she was seen to be is some distress.
Later that day, she missed her work shift and after a search, she couldn’t be found anywhere on the ship.
An investigation into the disappearance was undertaken but it was felt by both the family of the deceased and investigators that the Disney Cruise Line were not co-operating and were only concerned with protecting the line and its image.
The ship was registered in the Bahamas, and it was the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) who led the investigation, but the lead investigator would fly to the ship in Los Angeles and only spend one day onboard before flying home.
The family flew out from England and after boarding the ship, met with the captain who put forward the idea that she had been swept overboard by a large wave.
With the line not covering themselves in glory, the incidents becoming covered in major news outlets across the USA, the Caribbean and Britain, it quickly became an international incident, and the liens image took a battering as they continued to not help with the investigation.
Time is a great healer and with Disney been Disney, they simple threw money at the issue and simultaneously held up things with lawyers whilst creating a new PR campaign for the line and things soon returned to normal, except for the family, with the line continuing to grow.
Celebrity Cruises- Recurring Illness Outbreaks
Back in 2010, scandal hit the Celebrity Mercury cruise ship after three consecutive cruises saw an outbreak of the norovirus hit both passengers and crew alike.
The first outbreak happened on the 15th of February sailing in 2010 when around 19% of those onboard became ill before over 100 people became ill on the next sailing, on the 26th of February.
Despite those outbreaks and inspections from the CDC when back at its homeport in Charleston, South Carolina, the ship continued to sail and on its Match the 8th sailing, hundreds more became ill.
The lines decision to keep sailing caused huge scandal and made headlines across the USA, which helped to draw attention to the ship’s poor sanitation protocols and lack of proper deep-cleaning, and the line was accused of putting profits over passenger safety.
The Mercury was soon sold and became the Mein Schiff 2 as part of the TUI line (a line that is art of the same overall group as Celebrity) and Celebrity would simply ride out the scandal and carry on, although some changes to cleaning protocols were made.
Margaritaville at Sea- Multiple Sexual Assaults (2022-23)
Margaritaville at Sea are a line that seem to not care too much about scandal, as they are well known for going from issue to the next including poor ship maintenance and hygiene concerns but in 2022-23, things became even more serious as a number of sexual assaults were linked to the line.
The most infamous case that grab headlines across the United States was when a bartender onboard the ship broke into a passenger room and sexually assaulted her.
In 2022, a similar rape was reported to staff onboard the ship but the line downplayed it and convinced the passenger to not report the incident.
Another incident in 2023 didn’t happen onboard the ship but did happen at a hotel that was booked as part of a cruise with the line, in a hotel recommended by Margaritaville at Sea. The hotel had a long history of crimes happening there, including sexual assaults and they failed to inform passengers.
These incidents, and other ones in the same time period, put a focus on hiring practises of the line and safeguards they had in place for passengers but despite all of those issues, the line still continues to sail today.
Norwegian Cruise Lines- Pool Deaths (2014-15)
This is one of the more heartbreaking entries on this list as it features the sad deaths of 2 children in eerily similar circumstances.
The first incident happened onboard the Norwegian Gem in 2014 when a 5-year-old boy was found unresponsive in an onboard swimming pool.
Staff were slow to response, and it was left to passengers to administer CPR but sadly nothing could be done.
The very next year and onboard the same ship, a similar incident happened when a 10-year-old girl drowned in the Tahitian Beach Pool on deck 12.
On both occasion, there were no lifeguards onboard, which was industry stand at the time and with similar incidents happening on other liens, including onboard a Disney ship in 2013, and the media interest in these two incidents, most liens were forced to change and to have lifeguards onboard their ships.
Whilst the image of NCL was hit hard, the fact similar incidents happened before and after these two on ships operated by other lines made it an industry issue rather than a line issue and Norwegian continued to thrive.
