Royal Caribbean cruise passenger detained, died in custody after being served 33 drinks

A family is suing Royal Caribbean after the wrongful death of their loved one, alleging that he was served over 30 drinks before he died. 

In December 2024, Michael Virgil, 35, was detained after causing a dangerous scene aboard Navigator of the Seas in which he assaulted crew members and threatened other cruisers in a drunken, violent rage.

Virgil's family claims that the incident was caused by excessive alcohol consumption, with the crew failing to properly monitor their safety. 

Image

Between embarkation at 10:30 a.m. and roughly one hour after sail away, Virgil had 33 drinks at the ship's bar, according to court documents obtained by TMZ. 

Virgil, his fiancée Connie Aguilar, and their 7-year-old son with autism were initially directed to the bar when they discovered they couldn't access their cabin, which is typical on mainstream cruise lines — the housekeeping team needs extra time to turn over staterooms for the new guests. 

Aguilar left with their son when he began getting agitated, which is when Virgil continued to be served alcoholic beverages. 

Read more: Passenger attempts to break down cabin door, arrested, cruisers say

Image

He left the bar to try to find his cabin when another guest ran into him and captured footage of Virgil trying to kick down a stateroom door, punching crew members, and spewing profanity and racial slurs. 

Once detained and taken into custody by Navigator's security team, he was injected with the sedative Haloperidol and died less than an hour later. 

The court filings allege that further actions caused "significant hypoxia and impaired ventilation, respiratory failure, cardiovascular instability and ultimately cardiopulmonary arrest, leading to his death, which has been ruled a homicide."

Image

This matches the conclusion of the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner, who confirmed that Virgil's death was a homicide, and that he died from the combined effects of mechanical asphyxia, obesity, cardiomegaly, and ethanol intoxication.

"[Virgil] was visibly intoxicated such that each of Royal Caribbean crew members should not have continued to serve alcohol to him while he was exhibiting these visible signs of intoxication, and each of these crew members [was] negligent for continuing to serve [Virgil] alcoholic beverages in his intoxicated state," reads the wrongful death complaint reviewed by PEOPLE. 

The complaint also states that he was "subjected to prolonged prone restraint with multiple Royal Caribbean crew members applying compressive force to [his] back and torso, impairing chest expansion, limiting diaphragmatic motion, and obstructing venous return, leading to impaired breathing and hypoxia."

Image

As such, his family is seeking damages for the loss of support, inheritance, past and future earnings, funeral and medical expenses, mental pain and suffering, and more.

"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 told PEOPLE.