It was supposed to be a dream vacation, a chance to relax and make memories.
Instead, one family’s cruise turned into a nightmare when a 35-year-old passenger died on board under shocking circumstances.
Now, nearly a year later, the cruise company is facing a lawsuit over the tragic chain of events that led to his death.
A Holiday Cruise Turns Tragic
A 35-year-old passenger boarded Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas with his fiancée and their 7-year-old son for a four-day holiday cruise from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico.
It was December 13, 2024, and as soon as they embarked, trouble began brewing. The family’s cabin wasn’t ready, so they were directed to wait in a shipboard bar with live music.
Their young son, who has autism, grew restless in the noisy lounge, so the woman took him to check if the cabin was available, leaving Virgil by himself at the bar for a while.
No one in the family could have imagined that would be the last time she saw her fiancé alive.
In December 2025, just days ago, she filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Florida, accusing Royal Caribbean of negligence that led to a death.
The lawsuit paints a grim picture of that night on the ship.
Over 30 Drinks and No Cut-Off
According to the lawsuit, the cruise ship’s staff kept the cocktails coming fast and free-flowing.
They had purchased the ship’s unlimited “Deluxe Beverage Package,” giving the man access to as many drinks as he wanted.
In the short time his fiancée and son were away, bartenders allegedly served him at least 33 alcoholic drinks shortly after boarding.
Thirty-three drinks is an almost unbelievable amount to consume in a few hours. The suit claims that even as the man became visibly intoxicated, staff continued to refill his glass again and again, failing to cut him off or intervene.
The family says this was a catastrophic lapse in judgment by the crew. They argue that no reasonable person could miss the signs of extreme intoxication.
“If you’re serving someone 25, 30-plus drinks, in no world could you not see that the person is intoxicated,” said the family’s attorney.
He also noted that the man was “not a big drinker” back home and was known as a “gentle giant” to his loved ones. In other words, the man behaving wildly on the ship was nothing like what his family knew, he had effectively been poisoned by alcohol.
The lawsuit also suggests that Royal Caribbean’s business model encourages heavy drinking. The company sells all-inclusive drink packages and ensures there are bars or alcohol stations “in every nook and cranny” of its ships, doing “as much as possible to encourage and facilitate alcohol consumption,” the suit alleges.
Chaos in the Corridors
Overserved and severely impaired, the man stumbled off to find his stateroom, but in his drunken state, he got lost.
Growing frustrated and confused, he became agitated when he couldn’t locate the cabin or his family.
What happened next was captured in part on a fellow passenger’s cellphone video. The man can be seen shirtless, screaming obscenities and kicking at a hallway door in a rage.
At one point, he allegedly threatened to kill a crew member and another guest who crossed his path, according to witness reports.
Other passengers were frightened by the commotion, this was no longer a normal night on the cruise, but a dangerous outburst by a man clearly not in his right mind.
Ship security and crew members soon rushed to the scene to restrain him. Several crew members tackled the 6-foot-tall, 300-pound man, taking him down hard to the floor.
Even after he was subdued on the ground, the struggle continued. The lawsuit claims five security staffers piled onto him, pressing him down with their full body weight to keep him pinned.
He was handcuffed with zip-ties and held in a prone position. When he continued to kick and resist, crew members doused him with multiple cans of pepper spray at close range.
As a last resort, at the captain’s direction, the ship’s medical staff injected a strong sedative to calm him down.
A Tragic End and Homicide Ruling
After being pepper-sprayed, dogpiled by security, and drugged with a sedative, his body could take no more.
He stopped breathing while in the ship’s custody, within mere hours of the confrontation. By the time the ship’s medical team realized the severity of the situation, it was too late.
The man was unresponsive, and efforts to revive him failed. The fun family vacation had turned into a deadly incident at sea.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner later investigated what exactly caused the man’s death. The autopsy results were grim.
The coroner concluded that he died from a combination of factors: being unable to breathe due to the way he was restrained, the massive amount of alcohol in his system, and his own underlying health conditions (he was obese and had an enlarged heart).
In short, the physical restraint and pepper spray had effectively suffocated him, especially given how intoxicated and vulnerable his body was.
The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide, not implying murder in a criminal sense, but legally indicating that another’s actions caused his death.
Family Seeks Justice in Court
Nearly one year later, Virgil’s family is determined to hold Royal Caribbean accountable.
His longtime fiancée and the mother of his child has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the cruise line in U.S. District Court, seeking justice.
The suit accuses Royal Caribbean of negligence and a shocking disregard for passenger safety on multiple fronts. Some of the key allegations include:
- Overserving Alcohol: Crew members “negligently served alcoholic beverages in excess” – at least 33 drinks – even though he “exhibited obvious visual signs of intoxication,” a clear violation of responsible service practices.
- Failure to Protect a Distressed Passenger: Maritime law obligates a carrier to supervise and assist passengers who are dangerously intoxicated or behaving erratically.
- Excessive Force by Security: The lawsuit claims that the ship’s security and medical staff used excessive and fatal force. Tackling a large man and piling on top of him, using multiple cans of pepper spray, and injecting a powerful sedative without proper medical supervision all contributed to what the suit calls a wrongful death.
- Inadequate Medical Care and Training: The complaint also criticizes the competence of the ship’s medical personnel and crew. It alleges they lacked proper training and judgment, failing to recognize when to stop serving a patron and then failing to handle the emergency safely.
- Encouraging a “Party” Culture: Royal Caribbean is further accused of cultivating an environment that prioritizes profits over safety. By offering unlimited drink packages and placing bars “in every nook and cranny” on the ship, the company “does as much as possible to encourage” heavy drinking on board.
The lawsuit seeks a range of damages, from the loss of the man’s financial support and future earnings to compensation for funeral costs and the emotional pain and suffering endured by his loved ones.
While no dollar amount can bring back the devoted father and fiancé, the family wants accountability.
“The bottom line is that they need to pay for what they did to this family, and they need to take accountability. The only way to do that is through a lawsuit,” the attorney said.
On the other hand, Royal Caribbean has kept fairly quiet about the specifics of the incident.
When asked about the lawsuit, the company offered condolences but didn’t comment on specific details.
“We were saddened by the passing of one of our guests, worked with authorities on their investigation, and will refrain from commenting any further on pending litigation,” a Royal Caribbean spokesperson stated.
In other words, they acknowledge the tragedy but won’t discuss responsibility while the legal case is underway.
