Cruise Ship Killer

We track the latest cruise ship headlines and cover the demise of the Oddysey. The more we pull on these threads, the clearer it gets that cruising is a complicated system. • high winds push a departing ship into docked container ships and trigger an immediate cruise cancellation and investigation into the captain • Miami drug sweep details and our comical guess on why cruise lines treat edibles a...

Someone goes overboard with a life ring and lives through the night. Another ship breaks loose at port and suddenly a vacation headline turns into a half million dollar lawsuit. That whiplash is exactly why we keep coming back to cruise news: the stakes can jump from silly to terrifying in minutes, and the details always matter. From there, we go deeper into cruise ship safety and crime. We run th...

We trade two weeks of cruise ship news for a first-hand look at what 37 nights on a Princess world cruise segment really feels like, from coffee rituals and enrichment talks to bingo wins and casino lights. Pam walks us through missed ports, rough seas near Easter Island, and the small shipboard moments that quietly teach you the most about cruise safety and human behavior.  • Cruise news roundup...

We track the latest cruise ship incidents, then zoom in on a disappearance case so baffling it helped push U.S. cruise safety reform and cruise industry responsibilities and transparency. We also discuss why MOB detection systems are needed now. • a pastor’s unexplained pool injury that lead to his death • an Alaskan cruise ship pier destroyed by fire • an overboard case where timing and detection...

We track the latest cruise ship incident headlines, from federal arrests and alleged crew misconduct to a canceled Alaska sailing that leaves passengers stuck dockside. Then we follow two darker mysteries, a recent fatal fall on a Norwegian sailing and the 1934 SS Morro Castle fire, to ask how often “accident” is the whole story. • Operation Tidal Wave arrests and what they suggest about crew vett...

The scariest part of a cruise is not always the ocean. Sometimes it is the moment you realize a medical emergency at sea has a price tag that looks like a down payment on a house. We start with the latest cruise news that sounds almost unbelievable until you remember it all happened to real passengers.  We talk through the latest cruise incidents a swimming-with-pigs lawsuit and an arrest at Port...

A cruise can promise you paradise and still hand you a liability waiver with a ticking clock. We open season two of Cruise Ship Killer with the stories that make us rethink the most “normal” part of cruising: getting off the ship for an excursion, hopping on a bus, climbing into a small boat, and trusting that someone, somewhere, is counting heads. We start light but telling, with quick headlines...

We break down the Costa Concordia disaster from the first off-course “salute” to the moment the ship lists and the evacuation turns into chaos. We keep coming back to one uncomfortable idea: luxury and routine can make people stop thinking until the situation is already out of control.  • why Costa Concordia stands out as a modern cruise ship disaster  • “cruise brain” and why people tune out real...

Send us Fan Mail A luxury night on the water is supposed to be calm, predictable, and safe. Then someone goes overboard and the explanation starts changing. We’re Jeff and Kathy, and we’re digging into the disappearance of Lynette Hooker, who vanishes after a late-evening dinghy ride near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas. Her husband, Brian Hooker, describes a sudden storm, broken equipment, and a long dr...

Send us Fan Mail We trade dark humor for hard questions as cruise ship fights keep popping up in the news, from petty arguments over food to a Nassau police station brawl that injures officers. We also dig into how cruise ship crime gets logged and reported, and why raw numbers can mislead without context like passenger days.  • A Nassau port fight that escalates into a police station rampage that...

Send us Fan Mail A wildlife expedition sounds like the opposite of a cruise ship nightmare, until it becomes a headline with a body count. We’re Geoff and Kathy, and we’re breaking down the so-called “hantavirus cruise” tied to the Andes virus, a rare strain that has documented human-to-human transmission and can cause rapid, severe respiratory failure. The details are eerie: a small expedition sh...

Send us Fan Mail A newlywed disappears between Turkey and Greece, and the most frustrating part is how much we can timestamp and how little we can truly prove. We walk through the George Smith honeymoon mystery from the moment the couple heads to the casino to the hours that follow: a late-night disco, smuggled absinthe, an argument, and George being carried back to his cabin by men he just met on...

Send us Fan Mail We trade cruise headlines and the fine print that quietly shape what happens after a fall, a fight, or a disappearance at sea. Along the way, we update the Anna Kepner case with questions around release and liability and the Diana Sanders verdict, in relation to over service and injuries. We discuss the AI-assisted breakdown of Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean ticket contra...

Send us Fan Mail A cruise is supposed to be the easiest kind of vacation: food handled, fun scheduled, problems kept out of sight. So what happens when the systems that should protect passengers fail in the most basic ways, and the ocean becomes the place where accountability disappears? We start with the 2006 case of Lynsey O’Brien, a 15-year-old on a Caribbean cruise who is served 10 drinks in a...

Send us Fan Mail A cruise ship is the weirdest mix of comfort and danger: endless food, bright lights, and then one step outside and it’s black ocean for miles. That contrast is exactly why disappearances and overboard incidents feel so unsettling and why our minds rush to fill in blanks when the official story sounds incomplete. We’re not trying to be maritime detectives, but we are trying to ask...

Send us Fan Mail An 18-year-old on a family cruise vanishes overnight and is later found dead in her own cabin, leading to an FBI investigation and a homicide charge against her 16-year-old stepbrother. We walk the known timeline, point out what’s sealed or redacted, and wrestle with how family dynamics and online speculation reshape what people think they know.  • the timeline from sailing out of...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 3 of Cruise Ship Killer, an 80's themed music cruise turns tragic as an overboard stops the music. The episode also covers an award winning program at sea, that suddenly goes south, leaving a family stranded on the dock at night in an unfamiliar place. Do want to learn more about Cruise Line Terminology, alert calls, and fun cruise terminology? Check out our Cruise...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 2 of Cruise Ship Killer, a Thanksgiving cruise turns surreal when a passenger disappears after a bathroom break — and wakes up floating alone in the Gulf of Mexico. The episode also covers the first cruise ship overboard death of 2026, a New Year’s Day incident that underscores a grim reality: there’s always a first. With missing timelines, murky intent, and familiar “u...

Send us Fan Mail In the debut episode of Cruise Ship Killer, the hosts examine two cruise ship deaths that later reemerged through wrongful-death lawsuits — and what the reporting actually proves. From an FBI-involved death aboard Navigator of the Seas to an overboard incident on Allure of the Seas during a Taylor Swift–themed cruise, CSK breaks down overservice claims, disputed details, and the g...