05/10/2026
I have seen a lot of negative press regarding the cruise industry of late so I want to get some things straight for those that have not cruised and may just be reading these press releases and condemning the cruise industry as a whole.
1) The Hantavirus talk. This was NOT a cruise ship, it was a yacht. There is a huge difference metaphorically and physically. This yacht is infinitely smaller than a cruise ship with much tighter quarters than that of a mega cruise ship. This particular strain of hantavirus is the Andes strain which is more fatal but less transportable, meaning extremely close contact was necessary in order to affect contagion. The good and bad of the fatality of the hantavirus is that multiple transmission is rare outside of tightly contained confinement due to this very fatality. Most people that contact hantavirus become too sick almost instantly to travel and merge with other people. This is why the most deadly viruses are easily contained and not nearly as much of a concern to the general public as much more easily transferable viruses like Norovirus, Flu, and Covid. Worldwide, Covid has killed infinitely more people than Ebola and Hantavirus combined.
2) The Disney cruise - 27 or so pieces of human garbage were arrested for being pedos while under employment of Disney cruise lines. This is reprehensible and terrible, but it’s not as if this is commonplace on a cruise ship anymore than it is in many churches, schools or anywhere there is an abundance of children. Alcoholics flock to bars pedos flock to places where children congregate.
3) Norovirus outbreak - largely unpleasant, easily transmitted and not nearly as fatal as many other viruses. Largely avoidable if humans were not disgusting creatures and washed their hands thoroughly before touching other surfaces or after having gone to the bathroom. Unfortunately cruise ships are a huge incubator for these type of viruses especially in the buffet area where there is the largest congregation of people touching common surfaces. This is the reason that Royal Caribbean has multiple wash basins outside of their buffet line with multiple crew pleading with you to wash your hands before entering.
4) Drink package limitations - this again goes back to human behavior ruining things for people that can moderate. Royal Caribbean has always had a limitation on the amount of drinks per day that you can have, even having purchased the alcoholic drink package. It was just rarely enforced because you typically don’t see people consuming 33 alcoholic beverages within a 3-4 hour period. Royal definitely does have some liability here as well because one or more of the bartenders should have been able to pull up this man’s account to realize that he had been served 33 drinks in the span of 3-4 hours. For those that don’t know this man became incredibly drunk and combative and had to be restrained and tasered and he eventually died.
5) Fighting on ships - again the evolution of human behavior continues to denigrate. This is NOT exclusive to cruise ships. There are hundreds of videos going around on Facebook and TikTok of teens fighting in malls, taking over parks and large gatherings and generally causing mass chaos with these “takeovers”. Unfortunately on cruise ships when you mix young people with too much testosterone and alcohol, occasionally you are going to have this happen. But let me tell you this - a cruise ship in the middle of the sea is NOT the place you want to recreate Wrestlemania. What happens is you are locked up in the ships brig in the basement until the cruise ship reaches its next port of destination. You are then met by whatever countries police department and taken to jail in an often time foreign country. If it happens to be that your cruise is heading to Cozumel Mexico or Haiti or Rome, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t have a passport too bad. Good luck getting back to the United States without a passport after having been locked away in a Mexican jail for what may be weeks.
Overall cruising is as safe as flying. If you consider how many hundreds of cruise ships that set sail every single day with thousands and thousands of people, it’s impossible to consider that there are not going to be occasional issues with viruses, over-served obnoxious morons and young people with too much energy and anger. I hope that the Disney cruise ship pe*****le ring is an outlier, but we are seeing more and more sick and depraved human behavior not only exclusive to cruise ships but the world in general.
This messaged has been written and approved by your cruise director and guide, DegenDave
