Cruise Ship Captain Breaks Down 8 Cruise Disasters In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider

Cruise ship captain Wendy Williams rates eight cruise ship disasters in movies and television shows for realism.

Williams breaks down how cruise ships deal with hitting an iceberg, rogue waves, and tsunamis in "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972); the sinking scene in "Titanic" (1997), starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet; and the capsized vessel in "Poseidon" (2006). She explains how cruise ships address health issues and passenger safety on board in "The Simpsons" S23E19 (2012), the boat jail scene in "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" S11E9 and E10 (2016), and the cruise ship holiday nightmare in "Triangle of Sadness" (2022), with Woody Harrelson. Williams also looks at the plausibility of cruise ship systems being corrupted in "Deep Rising" (1998), and the shipwreck scene in "Speed 2: Cruise Control" (1997), with Willem Dafoe and Sandra Bullock. She compares fictional depictions to real-life cruise disasters, such as the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and shares tips for travelers.

Williams has been in the maritime industry for over 30 years, with her experience spanning from passenger vessels to the fishing industry. She has been a cruise ship captain for about five years, and she is the first Canadian woman to captain a major cruise ship brand, Virgin Voyages.

You can follow Wendy here:

WATCH MORE HOW REAL IS IT VIDEOS:
Shipwreck Expert Rates 11 Shipwrecks In Movies And TV
Military Survival Expert Rates 9 Ocean Survival Scenes In Movies And TV
Nuclear-Weapons Expert Breaks Down 8 Nuclear Bombs In Movies And TV

------------------------------------------------------

Insider is great journalism about what passionate people actually want to know. That’s everything from news to food, celebrity to science, politics to sports and all the rest. It’s smart. It’s fearless. It’s fun. We push the boundaries of digital storytelling. Our mission is to inform and inspire.

Cruise Ship Captain Breaks Down 8 Cruise Disasters In Movies And TV

[laurameakin]

I love that she acknowledges that some of these films are fun to watch but not necessarily accurate. Posiden Adventure is a classic like towering inferno so it’s great when the experts enjoy them as much as us.

[choverov]

Hello, naval engineer here.
Please, bring this lady more often to the channel. I really enjoyed it, she explains everything very very well.

[johnniemiec]

A note about the air pockets she mentioned... after the Pearl Harbor attacks when work was being done to drain and refloat the USS West Virginia, the bodies of three sailors were found in a room by salvage crews with food and fresh water. There were marks on the bulkhead wall indicating they had made it 16 days until air ran out.

[thisguyaintfunny]

Wendy was amazing! Kudos for finding so many interesting and talented people from every corner of society, and making them react to our favorite movies :)

[willcookmakeup]

For her to say the Titanic was super a very accurate reenactment makes the distater so much scarier

[fabiendalmasso]

If I remember correctly, the Poseidon adventure was inspired by a real event that happened to the RMS Queen Mary, which actually got hit by a rogue wave. It caused heavy damages and caused the ship to list dangerously, but in the end it took balance back and was able to go back to port.
An italian liner was involved in a similar incident that destroyed a good part of the bridge, but it did not capsized either.

[MikMoen]

10:46 That, looks terrifying. Being locked in an enclosed space on a ship in the ocean.

[ZanHecht]

Surprised she didn't mention the Carnival Triumph "poop cruise", which happened less than a year after that Simpsons episode aired.

[mehak]

"Is it advisable to go up or down?"

"I mean the ship is sinking"

Gem

[LITTLE]

So awesome to hear this from an ACTUAL Captain. We don't get this very often.

[kellyorourke]

Great video! She mentioned that the Titanic didn’t know that there was ice, but they had actually received multiple warnings about an ice field, which included the fateful iceberg. Other ships in close proximity to the ice field slowed down, but the Titanic went full steam ahead into that ice field.

[whillard]

It would have been good to clear the difference between a cruise ship (ships from nowadays that are purely for pleasure) and an ocean liner (older ships that existed before the planes and that were the only method to get to the USA or across any ocean, like the Titanic is)

[kgprivi]

1:04 The crew of the Titanic WERE expecting ice and were warned by other ships multiple times before their journey and during their journey from other ships which had passed through earlier. The tragedy of the Titanic was due to a number of complications all adding up.

The binoculars that the crew used to spot ice bergs were locked away due to a personal change and the person who had the key took it with him. So, spotters were using their naked eye to look for icebergs. When they finally did spot the iceberg, they were going too fast to stop in time and couldn't avoid it. Then the closest ship to them (the California if I remember correctly) did not receive their transmissions as early as they should have because the telegraph operator had gone to sleep. So boats had to come from farther away to help rescue passengers and crew.

2:08 Those drills were actually put in place BECAUSE of the Titanic's sinking. Prior to this event, there were no safety briefings to passengers or even enough lifeboats on the boat.

The Titanic Museum in Belfast is an amazing display and a great place to learn if anyone is interested.

[TopHatTITAN]

The Poseidon was less of a purpose built cruise ship and more of a conversion. She was an ocean liner planned to be scrapped after the voyage when she was struck by the tsunami. The movie also made it clear that the ship was top heavy and the captain intended to take on ballast, but the cruise director overruled his request. Granted, the original book had specified the wave as a rogue wave.

[BigBear--]

Key take away...only go on cruises in areas of calm waters. Also, avoid hurricane season. Also, don't try and sneak into the crew areas, and/or the crew bar to try to party with the crew. You will be caught eventually (ask me how I know...). Though it might be worth it, cause the best party on a cruise is at the crew bar, apparently.

[dbach]

The Noro Virus is no joke. We had a premie baby in 2012, and he was in the NICU for 8 weeks, which means we were there for 8 weeks. I caught the virus at the hospital and it nearly killed me. I lost 40 pounds, about 20 too much. Still dealing with the damage almost 12 years later.

[mehere]

Diamond Princess probably wasn't the worst case scenario actually, it's sister ship the Ruby Princess probably tops it.
Diamond Princess made a lot of people on that ship sick, but quarantine stopped it going further. Crew members at the start of the Ruby Princess' voyage it turned out had just flown in from high risk countries & were infected. Cruise left Sydney Australia, travelled to New Zealand & then back to Australia, both being virus free at the time, so the obvious signs of the virus spreading onboard were missed until a week after 1000+ passengers had disembarked & flown to every state in Australia, plus to the US, Canada & a range of European countries, spreading the virus from the ship to all those locations, as well as having already spread it into New Zealand during the shore trips there during the cruise.

Ruby Princess just got less attention outside Australia/New Zealand, cause it happened slightly later in the pandemic, so more was going on by then, taking the attention off that one

[OzzieBo]

Great cruise ship stability my front side. Them floating apartments center of gravity is just under the waterline. I’d say it’s takes the force of a feather to capsize it.

[lanceferraro]

Retired USN. Transiting to the Med on a mildly stormy evening we encountered a rogue wave. Thank goodness it was bow on and missed us, but not by much. We were on the main deck, 45 feet above the waterline. As it passed we had to tilt our heads back to look at the top. Lucky.

[amyhull]

It was so fun to hear her say that the disaster films were fun and exciting and enjoyable...but not real. I loved her using the term "turn turtle." This was a real joy. I hope we see Captain Williams again.