The very short answer is No! ABC’s 20-20 portrayed the cruise industry, specifically a couple of the leading cruise lines as dangerous vacation choices. Instead of focusing on the Costa Concordia disaster as many of their lead in ads indicated, they only briefly spoke of that story and instead engaged in journalistic bashing of the cruise industry as a whole portraying isolated incidents as regular normal behavior aboard the cruise ships.
Of note, ABC is owned by Disney who also owns a cruise line. (For full disclosure I own shares of Disney and also other cruise lines.) The only shots used of the Disney ships were showing where cruising can be fun, none of the reported violence came from aboard Disney ships. It only takes a google search and you will find where violent acts have occurred on Disney ships primarily crew on crew violence. So ABC’s 20/20 should really have mentioned those events as well instead of giving the false appearance that the Disney ships are free of the violence they showcased.
ABC’s 20/20 took it upon themselves to find some of the more violent video from aboard cruise ships and use it to portray specifically Carnival and Royal Caribbean ships as having a high level of violence guests on guests, drunkenness, and the wildest crew parties afloat. Is it true these events sometimes happen, absolutely, but then again one gentleman was beat nearly to death at a football game in California this season, which was an isolated and very sad situation. The video obtained and aired by ABC’s 20/20 was all stuff that can be found out on Youtube, most of which I have seen before.
Unlike what ABC 20/20 portrayed cruise ships don’t have daily brawls between and among various guests. Most guests are not falling down drunk every day of the cruise, although they do occur and you can see some humorous videos out on youtube, including one of a lady so drunk she decided to just do her business on the pool chair. Passenger on Passenger violence is generally pretty isolated, but can occur when people drink and forget their manners and let hot heads prevail. That happens in bars and all kinds of other venues back on land every day as well, just watch the news or call and ask the police.
Ships do maintain security both plain clothes and uniformed security in an effort to help keep both passengers and crew in line. The FBI will get involved in situations involving US passengers and most cruise lines are cooperative in reporting such instances to the FBI. Security will step in and help break up fights and will even detain passengers in their cabins or a brig cell where appropriate. Passengers who get really out of hand will also be sent packing at the next port of call and in some cases handed over to the local police at the next port of call. Ships do maintain guest behavior policies which are there for the safety of all guests and they are enforced.
Why ABC’s 20/20 didn’t point out more about what the cruise lines do to prevent and deal with these situations is beyond me. Further, why didn’t they go out of their way to point out these are isolated incidents which do not occur very often? I can’t answer that, but guess it is all about have a more sensational story.
In speaking with many different crew some who I have sailed with several times, I know that yes there are some wild and crazy crew parties from time to time. The same occurs on deck with passenger parties as well. The crew party shown on 20/20 is likely from one of the exceptionally wild and crazy parties celebrating a specific event or holiday. Do you really think the lamest party goers who are sitting around chatting with a drink in front of them make the sensational video, of course not, but those folks are out there on video as well. The video shown was the wild and crazy people really letting loose which is just fine as long as they keep to themselves and don’t violate any rules related to personal space violations. Yes there are rules about crew behavior too.
Overall this was just a story in which 20/20 could slam an industry during prime time television viewing hours. It’s a shame how far off base their story was and how little they did to explain how safe cruising really is. It is very safe and among the best vacation bargains out there these days.
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