Hey there! If you think cruising is always smooth sailing, think again.
As a self-confessed cruise addict, I’ve heard some wild stories over coffee with fellow cruisers. You won’t believe the crazy things some passengers pulled, and yep, they earned themselves lifetime bans from cruising because of it.
So let me tell you about 7 real passengers who got kicked off cruise ships for good, all for some shocking reasons.
The Balcony Selfie That Went Way Too Far
One passenger took “doing it for the likes” to a totally new level.
On Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, a woman decided her Instagram needed spicing up, so she climbed over her balcony railing for a photo.
Two hundred feet above the ocean, she balanced on a tiny ledge while fellow passengers were stunned (and honestly, freaked out).
They alerted the crew immediately, worried she might fall or worse. Security tracked her down, and as you can already suppose, the cruise line was not amused.
The ship made an unscheduled stop in Jamaica to boot her off, and Royal Caribbean gave her a ban for life.
The Daredevil Who Jumped Off the Ship
A 27-year-old guy on Symphony of the Seas apparently thought it’d be hilarious to jump off the 11th deck of the ship while it was docked in Nassau, a drop of over 100 feet into shark-filled waters!
He had a buddy filming the whole thing for social media, and of course, it didn’t end like the movies.
He belly-flopped into the sea, hurt himself (he later admitted the jump hurt “very badly” and he could barely walk for three days), and had to be fished out by a small boat.
The captain promptly told him to pack his bags. Royal Caribbean gave him and his friends a one-way ticket home and a permanent ban from all their ships.
Honestly, no sympathy here. When you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. In fact, the guy was also lucky because, as I’ve said many times, a jump from that height can also be lethal, even if there’s water on the bottom.
The Beer Glass Incident (Yes, It’s as Gross as It Sounds)
There’s nothing like a cold beer at sunset on a cruise…unless someone uses the glass for something totally unmentionable.
Some stories just make you go “eww”, and I’ll tell you that a German passenger was reportedly caught relieving himself into a beer glass in a public lounge.
Security didn’t accept any excuses and kicked him off at the next port along with two friends who were traveling with him.
You’d think that’s the end of the story, but here’s the kicker: this guy actually took the cruise line to court afterward. And he won!
A German court ruled the cruise line’s code of conduct hadn’t explicitly forbidden that, so they awarded him about €9,000 in compensation.
The Clown Costume
You know a cruise story is wild when it involves a clown. On a P&O cruise (Britannia, to be exact), a late-night buffet turned into chaos after one passenger showed up dressed as a clown.
Sounds funny, but it wasn’t: another group hated clowns and had deliberately chosen a cruise with a no-costume policy.
This situation soon led to a mass brawl; witnesses said people used plates and even furniture as weapons.
By 2 a.m., an emergency call had security rushing in. In the end, several people had cuts and bruises, one staff member got hurt trying to break it up, and police hauled off two passengers in handcuffs when the ship reached Southampton.
The Family Brawl on the Carnival Legend
This one was like an episode of Jerry Springer on a cruise. In 2018, an extended family (almost two dozen of them) was cruising the South Pacific on Carnival Legend, and they turned the ship into their own fight club.
For several days, these folks were involved in multiple scuffles with other passengers, causing a real headache for everyone on board.
Things finally exploded into a massive late-night nightclub brawl where about 30 people were injured as security struggled to break it up.
Even the ship’s officers had enough; the captain made an emergency stop in Eden, Australia, to offload the entire family.
Reports say police removed six men and three teens, and another 14 of their relatives left voluntarily.
The Couple Who Couldn’t Play Nice at the Casino
If you think saving a slot machine is serious business, you haven’t met this couple.
On Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas, a passenger was playing a slot machine and left a note to hold it while they took a quick bathroom break.
Plenty of other machines open, no problem, right? Well, along comes a husband-wife duo who not only ignored the note but also blew through the credits that the original player had left in the machine.
When the player returned, the situation heated up in seconds. The couple lashed out, reportedly shoving the other passenger to the ground and yelling all sorts of nastiness.
Security footage confirmed their aggressive behavior, and the ship’s captain didn’t waste time. The pair spent the rest of the night confined to their cabin, got booted off at the next port (Grand Cayman) and was banned for life from Royal Caribbean.
The Party Animal Who Broke All the Rules
Most of us go on a cruise to relax and have fun, but one guy on Harmony of the Seas went way too far!
He made a name for himself on board by breaking rule after rule. First, he lit up a cigarette inside the ship’s nightclub and got a warning.
Did that stop him? Nope. Next, he was blasting his own music on a portable speaker by the pool, annoying everyone.
He even allegedly peed in a plant pot after too many drinks. And just when you think it couldn’t get worse, he threw a lit cigarette overboard, which is extremely dangerous, and cruise ships take fire risk very seriously.
They escorted him off the ship during a port call in Mexico, and he got an indefinite ban from sailing with Royal Caribbean.
The Unruly Mom Who Thought the Rules Didn’t Apply
The final story involves a type of passenger that I usually call “The Entitled Mom.”
On one family-friendly cruise, this mother-of-the-year strutted around like she owned the ship. From day one, she refused to follow any of the guidelines that keep things pleasant for everyone.
She plopped her kids in the adults-only pool and hot tubs, despite plenty of signs (and annoyed adults) indicating it wasn’t allowed.
She brought the little ones into the casino and let them run wild even during the evening shows.
At the buffet, she also cut the line because apparently her time was more important than everyone else’s.
What about the classic chair-hog move? Yep, she’d claim pool deck chairs at dawn and hold them for hours while others searched in vain.
Any crew member who dared to politely remind her of the rules got an earful of sass and “don’t tell me how to vacation.”
Finally, after she was caught red-handed hogging a bunch of pool loungers for an absurd amount of time, the staff had enough. Security stepped in and escorted her and her kiddos off the ship at the next port, and the cruise line banned the mom for life.
Moral of the story: if you act like the rules don’t apply to you, don’t be shocked when you’re not allowed back on the boat.
Always remember to avoid the 10 things that can get you banned from a cruise, and remember that you should never do these 10 things in a cruise cabin.
Plus, to beat chair hogs, have a look at these genius tricks!
