How A Single Photo Could Get You Banned From Cruises Forever

The story sounds almost too bizarre to be real: In 2019, a woman stood on the railing of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. She spread her arms wide, reenacting the moment in "Titanic" when Rose, the free-spirited heiress, exclaims, "I'm flying!" Unlike the fictional character, this real-life passenger was standing on the narrow edge of a stateroom balcony. The result? The unnamed woman has been banned from Royal Caribbean cruises for the rest of her life, a cautionary tale for photographic daredevils ever since.

To be clear, the photo itself wasn't the problem. Any cruise line passenger can impersonate a scene from a 1997 blockbuster about a doomed love affair on a sinking ship, as long as they're doing it safely. But the crew in charge of a cruise ship has a monumental task — to prevent bad things from happening to their guests while at sea. Crew members must already prepare themselves for hurricanes, international border crossings, medical issues, and countless other emergencies; once you start thinking about potential hazards, you may second-guess how safe any cruise ship actually is. In short, the last thing a captain needs to worry about is a passenger posing for a picture in a life-threatening way.

Cruising is generally considered a safe way to travel, as long as passengers follow the rules. But accidents are always a possibility, and many of them are preventable. In 2024, a man on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship reportedly fell overboard and disappeared. A few months before that, a woman on a Royal Caribbean vessel met the same fate. Indeed, the website CruiseJunkie tallied 19 overboard cases over the course of 2024. As if that wasn't enough to keep skippers awake at night, some experts estimate that at least 200 people have simply gone missing from cruise ships over the past 20 years (via Rivkind Law). Given how difficult it is to simply fall off a ship — and how many precautions are taken — it's kind of hard to believe how frequently this happens.

When it comes to onboard behavior, your best bet is to err on the side of caution. Don't enter restricted zones; don't mess around with emergency equipment, like lifeboats and floatation devices; don't attempt to bring forbidden items aboard, even something as innocent as a drone; and don't consume too much alcohol. It's easy to get excited when you board a cruise ship, and you may feel a desire to photograph everything you see. This is a wonderful instinct; just keep both feet on the deck.