Vacations are meant to be relaxing and rejuvenating, especially cruises. With fewer logistics to plan, cruises are one of the most convenient ways to travel. Even still, there is nothing better than a cruise going exactly as you meticulously planned; however, this isn’t always how life works, sadly. Unforeseen circumstances or unwanted events can throw a wrench in travel plans.
As an avid cruiser, I’ve been traveling around the world for two decades. My first cruise was at three years old on the Big Red Boat (a Disney Cruise Line knock-off). Family cruises to the Caribbean eventually transformed into global sailings to far-flung destinations. One of the most memorable voyages of my life was a semester abroad on Semester at Sea where I embarked on a 100-day cruise around the world.
I’ve been fortunate that the vast majority of my travels have gone off without a hitch. Most of the time, my cruises go exactly as planned with little disruption or unforeseen circumstances. However, with so much travel under my belt, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’ve had some pretty horrible things happen while cruising.
Many of the things I’ve experienced were completely out of my control. As a type-A control freak, I’d argue these unexpected experiences while cruising have helped me learn to be more flexible and adaptable. In addition, I’ve learned to appreciate when cruise plans come to fruition as expected.
But, sometimes you have to make lemonade from lemons! We can’t always control everything that happens in life, especially while traveling. Here is a list of the worst things that have happened to me while cruising from someone with over two decades of travel experience.
Attempted robbery
Perhaps the worst experience I’ve had while cruising was when I was nearly robbed while my cruise was docked in Casablanca, Morocco.
My now-husband and I had spent the day in Marrakech, Morocco on a day trip from the port city. We had spent most of the day exploring the Medina in the city’s old town. While walking between the old and new city, my husband and I were crossing a large roundabout. Two men on a scooter started to approach us rapidly while crossing the street. While I thought the scooter was overcorrecting, the men swooped right in front of us in a robbery attempt.
The passenger on the scooter grabbed my crossbody bag as they sped by. Luckily, my bag didn’t break, and they were unsuccessful in trying to rob me. I was left pretty bruised by the force of the bag trying to be ripped from me, as they were speeding quite fast. My husband said he never wanted to hear me scream in terror like that again!
My grandma died
Receiving heartbreaking news while cruising is perhaps one of my biggest fears, as you can’t simply disembark a cruise ship whenever you need to. Sadly, this fear came to life when I received the devastating news of my grandma’s passing while cruising.
Back in 2017, I was cruising in the Mediterranean with my family and husband. After a busy day exploring the port of Florence and Pisa, we were on our way to Rome when we received the horrible news. Although my grandma’s health had been declining over the years, we didn’t expect her to pass while we were on our family cruise.
While enjoying happy hour in the bar before dinner, my aunt texted and shared my grandma had passed peacefully. The following day, we brought her picture with us to Rome, where she was blessed by the pope.
It's tough trying to enjoy your vacation when a death in your family happens and your heart is hurting. However, I was happy to be with family, so we could grieve together.
Immigration strike
During my semester abroad, our ship was docked in Salvador, Brazil for six days. During this stop, my dad and sister flew to Brazil to meet with me after months of being away from family. We had planned to fly to Rio de Janeiro for a few days to see the main attractions.
Unfortunately, when our ship docked in Salvador, the immigration staff went on strike. We were told only one person was processing the maritime traffic, causing huge delays and denied entry. We were told the single immigration officer was biking back and forth between our ship with a bag of passports to process, slowing the process even more. Although we were allowed to get off the ship, we were not given our passports until immigration had stamped them and our visas were confirmed.
This meant my family had flown across the world, but I could not leave Salvador, putting our plans in limbo. After begging and pleading with the staff on my ship, I signed a form asking for my passport to be expedited with immigration. I was told to return the following day - the day of our flight to Rio - to see if my passport was ready.
I barely slept and returned to guest services the following day. I watched as she went through a small stack of passports - each numbered with our cabin. I lost hope when I didn't see my cabin number on any of the passports. To my surprise, my passport was at the bottom of the pile, as it was the last one to be stamped that morning. We were able to rearrange our morning flight to the evening and made it to Rio de Janeiro for our tours! This was the only time I've ever experienced an immigration strike while cruising.
Parking lot knife fight
Although this didn’t necessarily happen while onboard our cruise, it happened in the terminal parking lot as we were disembarking in Port Canaveral.
After getting off the ship, we attempted to leave the parking garage at Port Canaveral. Since we had parked on the top level, everyone else on the lower levels was leaving before us. There was no one directing traffic, so the higher levels were at a standstill for more than an hour.
While waiting in line to leave, you could feel everyone's frustration at the situation. We were all surprised that no one was helping funnel the cars so those of us on higher levels could make some progress.
With tensions and outside temperatures running high, a fight broke out between two different families traveling together. One of the drivers ran out with a knife to the other driver, creating quite a commotion in the parking garage. Even worse, this caused the traffic to back up even more when the cops arrived at the scene!
Read more: Why you should plan a cruise within driving distance
Our ship was hit
Another terrible experience I had while cruising happened while I was cruising on Mariner of the Seas. Although this didn’t have an impact on our itinerary, it certainly wasn’t in our cruising plans.
While my sister and I were on Mariner of the Seas, we unexpectedly docked in Freeport, Bahamas for maintenance. This was meant to be a sea day, but the ship needed some minor maintenance for us to continue.
My sister and I were in our inside cabin when we heard a huge thud and felt the ship sway back and forth. My sister joked about how it felt like we hit an iceberg - I told her that wasn’t funny!
Within minutes, the captain came on and said our ship had been struck by another ship. While Mariner of the Seas was docked, another ship was attempting to dock alongside her. The wind blew the ship into us, causing the other ship’s bridge to collide with our aft railing.
Luckily, no one was hurt during the incident. The captain said they had reviewed the damage and found it was only cosmetic. The wrap-around walking path would be closed because there was a large gouge on the ship’s aft. We were able to cruise as scheduled, although the ship looked pretty janky with her new hole!
Getting Norovirus
Getting sick on a cruise is never fun. Due to close quarters onboard, illness can spread more easily, allowing contagious diseases like norovirus to wreak havoc.
During my high school graduation cruise to Greece and Turkey, I fell ill one evening. I spent most of the night making trips to and from the bathroom. I had never felt so sick while on a cruise!
After a trip to the onboard doctor, they diagnosed me with norovirus - a gastrointestinal illness. I was quarantined to our cabin for the following day, which was a sea day, and prescribed medication that would help with the stomach pains.
Much to my disappointment, I wasn’t feeling well enough to visit Ephesus, Turkey. Our excursion had a long bus ride, which didn’t appeal to me considering the hot temperatures. My mom stayed on the ship with me while my dad and sister took our planned excursion.
I was so disappointed that I was sick and missing out on such an exciting port! My mom and I walked off the ship, so I could say I had visited Turkey and purchased a small keychain. I’ve only had norovirus once during a cruise, and I am extremely diligent about hand washing and sanitizing now!
Earthquake on the Leaning Tower of Pisa
During the same graduation trip, my family and I were visiting Pisa, Italy to see the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa! We purchased tickets to visit the top of the tower and waited our turn to go to the top.
After walking up the slippery stairs, we were enjoying the views from on top of the tower when we felt the building sway. Considering the structure is indeed leaning, we figured it was normal that the tower might not feel structurally sound. All of a sudden, the workers started yelling, “Go go go!” to go down the stairs quickly!
Everyone scrambled down the stairs to the bottom of the tower. We were told there had just been an earthquake, so everyone needed to evacuate for safety. That was an excursion to remember!
Missed ports
One of the most disappointing things that can happen during a cruise can be missing a highly-anticipated port. Last year, I had two cruises with missed ports, which had never happened to me before. As a destination-focused cruiser, I book sailings specifically for their itineraries most of the time.
While sailing around the British Isles last fall, we missed two ports of call. There was a massive storm that passed over the region, causing large swells and rough seas. Because of this, we were unable to dock at two of our ports: Isle of Man and Dublin, Ireland. Considering Isle of Man is a remote destination in the UK, I was eager to visit this port of call since I had never been before. In addition, Dublin was one of the most exciting ports of call on our itinerary.
Much to our disappointment, we had two additional days at sea instead. However, the captain arranged for us to arrive in Cobh, Ireland the day before we were scheduled, so we had an unexpected overnight visit. We loved having extra time in this port!
The second time I missed a port of call was this winter when I was cruising in Africa. Bad weather and low tides meant our ship wasn’t able to dock as planned in Madagascar. After traveling across the globe to visit these destinations, I was so disappointed. Missing ports of call on bucket-list itineraries is truly heartbreaking as a world traveler!
Being left behind
During a cruise to Alaska, my friend and I were actually left behind from an excursion! Even with all of my cruising experience, it was the first time I had experienced this unlikely scenario.
Onboard our cruise, my friend and I decided to book a last-minute excursion for the following day. When we disembarked the ship to meet at the designated spot, we arrived to find our excursion had already left without us!
Apparently, the excursion list was printed the night before we arrived at the port with 13 guests on the list. On the morning of the excursion, two new guests booked spots on the tour, so the new total was 15. However, the list was not updated to reflect the two new guests, so the tour operators were expecting just 13 people.
When 13 guests arrived for the tour, it left without us. Although we had arrived on time for the excursion at the meeting spot, they thought the entire tour group had already arrived. This was shocking and frustrating, as there were no other options for us to take the same excursion. We were told the bus would not turn around for us, either!
A spa debacle
While sailing to Alaska during the same cruise, I decided to splurge on my first-ever massage. After a night of rough seas, I had a knot in my neck that was uncomfortable. I’ve had neck and shoulder problems for years following sports injuries in high school, so this didn't surprise me.
After arriving at the spa, the masseuse started working on my neck and shoulders. I told her I had a knot in my neck and shoulder area after the rough seas in the night. She proceeded to tell me that I didn’t have a knot. Instead, it was a tumor, and I needed to see a doctor very soon.
I asked her to clarify if she meant I needed to see a chiropractor or physical therapist. She said no, I needed to see a doctor soon to examine the “mass” because early detection is very important. I reiterated how the knot had just appeared after I didn’t sleep well, but she insisted she had the medical background to diagnose this.
Confused, I started to cry that the masseuse was insinuating I had some sort of serious illness. I booked a massage at the spa to relax, and this was the opposite of relaxing! She asked if I wanted to book the acupuncture doctor to ease my anxiety following the massage, which I found to be very inappropriate. I didn’t enjoy the massage at all and left the spa crying.
Allie Hubers
Allie Hubers has been cruising since she was a tiny toddler. What started as a yearly vacation with family quickly turned into a passion for travel, cruising and adventure. Allie's been on over 45 cruises all over the world. She even studied abroad on Semester at Sea, sailing the world on a ship while taking courses for college and visiting 4 continents.
