Real Life Murder Mystery Cruise

Murder mystery nights are always great fun and the game is very popular as a get together amongst friends. It isn’t uncommon for cruise lines to organise such themed nights for their guests but would you ever expect to stumble upon a real victim whilst playing the game?

In a tragic chain of events that’s exactly what happened for some guests enjoying a 7 night round trip on the Emerald Princess sailing Alaska from Seattle in July last year after a domestic incident at sea which left a male passenger trying to throw himself from the ship after allegedly killing his wife during in argument who reportedly ‘wouldn’t stop laughing at him’!

The real life drama that unfolded was at first (understandably) mistaken by other passengers as part of the Murder Mystery game that was taking place on board when screams could be heard on the ship coming from a passengers balcony. Other passengers could be seen running through the corridors shouting and screaming. It wasn’t until the Captain ordered emergency assistance from security and medics to decks 9 and 14 that it became quite clear there was in fact a real life serious incident occurring.

The ship, which at the time was carrying 3400 passengers and 1100 crew made an unscheduled stop in Juneau under lock down to allow the FBI on board to investigate the incident where the culprit was detained in a stateroom and eventually charged for the murder of his wife.

The rest of the cruise was subsequently cancelled and the remaining passengers were allowed to disembark while the FBI continued their investigations. Princess cruises issued a statement sending thoughts and prayers to the victims loved ones and later on offered compensation to the guests on board.

Murders and unexplained deaths on board cruise ships aren’t as rare as we would hope, but you might feel relieved to learn that the vast majority of reported incidents are domestic related between couples and family members or crew members rather than being random acts.

Very sad indeed for all involved, not just the victims family and loved ones but also for the ships crew who must find it extremely traumatic to deal with.


About Me

Hi there, My name is Isabelle, I'm 31 years old and I live in a small village in a lovely part of rural Lincolnshire with my husband Carl who I married on the beautiful island of Rhodes in 2012, our daughter Lexi who is 6 and our son Oliver who is 3. Oh…

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