Drugs on Cruise ships?

Well yes, unfortunately this is true.  Cruise ships are a new form of transport used by organised crime syndicates it seems.  It has been reported that a shipment of Cocaine was on board the stricken Costa Concordia the day it sank.

Ndrangheta, the feared Calabrian crime syndicate, allegedly had its drugs hidden aboard the huge ship which partly capsized with the loss of 32 lives, phone and tape recordings of gang members have revealed.

This is not the first time drugs have been reported on cruise ships either.  In April last year a lady was arrested in New Jersey after visiting Bermuda on Royal Caribbeans Explorer of the Seas.  She was stopped with a quantity of Marijuana and Cocaine.

When I worked for Celebrity, and especially in South America we had raids on board with armed police and drugs dogs who checked our crew quarters.  As we shared a two berth cabin you really had to trust your cabin mate with all sorts of things,  and if any drugs were found then BOTH of the crew were taken away for questioning, and in some cases never seen again!