Going overboard on a cruise ship sounds like something that only happens in the movies, or once in a blue moon. But it does happen, just like it did to a 22-year-old American man in 2015. The fact that this man survived the fall alone is pretty insane, as the fall from a ship that big is enough to snap almost anyone’s neck on the spot.
The man not only survived the fall but continued to hang on for around five hours in the open water, before being rescued. Luckily for this guy, some passengers spotted him in the water and began throwing him lifesavers. The man miraculously survived the experience with his neck intact.
Trapped in a Nightmare
When something horrifying happens on a cruise ship, you can’t do much to escape it, which means you may very well get stuck in something that seems like a living nightmare. This was the case back in 2015, for passengers and employees of the Carnival Ecstasy. One unfortunate couple, in particular, got up close and personal with the scene; an electrician’s terrible, accidental death in an elevator.
The couple that walked in on this scene described it as nothing less than the stuff of horror movies. Crew members worked like crazy to keep passengers away from the scene, in one of the ship’s onboard restaurants.
Bodies on Board
It's a very sad statistic, but basically, about 200 people pass away on cruise ships every year. When someone dies, there needs to be a system in place to store the bodies. Enter, the cruise ship morgue. Yes, you read that right: there are morgues on cruise ships.
Typically, most of the onboard morgues are very small, fitting only up to about five bodies. Some ships may include larger morgues, especially if the ship specifically caters to senior citizens. One former cruise employee said that “since the line was for older demographics, we had people die on the ship pretty regularly.”
Incommunicado
“Netflix and chill” isn’t exactly a possibility when working aboard a cruise ship. In fact, finding any kind of internet at all can be a seriously daunting (and very expensive) task when you’re at sea. Basically, the only time you’ve got a shot of checking your Facebook is when you’re docked in a port.
So, if you find the idea of being without Wi-Fi for days at a time to be terrifying, working on a cruise ship probably isn’t for you. In fact, Wi-Fi is so ridiculously expensive that pretty much anyone who works on a ship gets familiar with using internet cafes. On some luxury cruise ships, crew members are provided with a staff internet lounge.
Say Goodbye to Personal Space
“Stay in your lane, dude!” Ah, personal space in five words. Unfortunately, this kind of thing is super common in cruise ship crew living areas, believe it or not. Rooms for crew members often consist of uber-small bunk beds and little to no floor space. It is very difficult to sleep and feel comfortable.
On some cruise ships, the rooms are situated in a “dorm” style, where up to eleven people can stay in the same room. However, most people that work on a cruise ship will tell you that it’s worth it for the rest of the benefits of being on the crew.