Justin B. Shapiro

Published on: August 8, 2025

Man Injured in Water Slide Incident Aboard World’s Largest Cruise Ship.

At least one passenger was injured after viral video online shows acrylic glass panel of water slide on Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas suddenly shattering while he was inside, media outlets reported Friday.

The incident happened Thursday and the man was treated for injuries by the ship’s medical staff, the cruise line said in a statement to media. The severity of the man’s injuries was not immediately available Friday.

Videos of the aftermath have gained traction online showing passengers screaming to lookouts on the slide, warning them that there was a gaping hole spouting water in the acrylic drop slide. The ship — which set sail from Port Miami on Aug. 2 — closed off the slide for the remainder of the voyage while officials conduct an investigation into how this could have occurred.

Published on: August 8, 2025

Iconic Miami Beach Landmark to Open Water Park. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

The Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, which has largely been credited with altering the landscape of luxury hospitality in the area and was once the playground for elites including Elvis Presley, Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, has recently announced plans to build a water park on the iconic property.

The home of LIV, one of the top nightclubs in the country that has been the stage for some of the most-famous performers in the industry, is seemingly using the planned construction of a water park to beckon to new clientele: families with children. The park will include 11 slides to the hotel’s pool area, according to reporting from The Miami Herald.

In a statement to the newspaper, hotel officials said the move will transform the property into ” … a destination for all-ages, with all-new pools and water features, family attractions and slides, food and beverage offerings, and elevated poolside entertainment.”

Published on: August 7, 2025

Ship Sailing Around the World Fails Public Health Inspection. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

A residential cruise ship on a three-year voyage was just shy of a few points it needed to pass a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) health inspection, officials said.

The Villa Vie Odyssey received an 81 during its July 9 inspection when it needed an 86 to pass, according to reporting from USA Today. Inspectors with the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) reported issues in areas such as potable water to food safety and housekeeping. One inspector reportedly discovered a waffle iron that was allegedly covered in grease and “black debris” that was being stored with clean equipment. Water was also found pooled beneath one of the wine cellar refrigerators. Near another refrigerator on another deck, inspectors said they found fruit flies.

Safety signs were also reportedly missing from the ship’s pool which would indicate depth markers in both feet and meters.

Published on: August 5, 2025

Cruise Ship Left Drifting Off Italian Coast with no Power. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

Electrical failure resulting in a power outage caused thousands of passengers aboard a Celebrity Cruise Line ship without power and drifting off the Italian coast for several hours over the weekend, officials say.

The Royal Caribbean Group, which is the cruise line’s parent company, said that the 2,170-passenger ship was without power for at least three hours while it was repaired. The outage was the result of a technical issue, but the company did not elaborate further on what caused the issue. The outage cut off things like lighting, air conditioning, kitchen facilities and the ship’s toilets.

While the power outage affecting some of the ship’s essential functions is eerily similar to the 2013 incident aboard the Carnival Triumph — which caught the attention of the public online when it was revisited in a viral Netflix documentary — these passengers were fortunate to avoid a prolonged ordeal. In that incident, thousands of passengers and crew were stranded in the Gulf of Mexico for almost a week after a fire cut power to the ship. Over time, the toilets began overflowing, causing sewage to leak into the hall and over the floors of the ship. With no air conditioning, no way to cook meals and the foul stench filling the ship, conditions quickly worsened for those on the ship.

Published on: July 30, 2025

FBI Investigating Death on Cruise Ship. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

The FBI is investigating a death that occurred aboard the Carnival Dream, but little details have been released.

The incident happened on Wednesday, July 23, aboard the Carnival Dream near Belize City during a six-day western Caribbean voyage. Passengers told KHOU, a local news outlet in Houston, that they woke up to sounds of sirens around 3 or 4 a.m. Another passenger told reporters that she had heard an announcement requesting medical aid on the Serenity Deck.

The online rumors ranged from stories of a man who had been attacked to an incident at the onboard casino, thus prompting Carnival officials to release a statement to KHOU.

Published on: July 30, 2025

Woman Survives Stabbing Stemming from ‘Personal Dispute’ Aboard Cruise Ship, officials say.

By Leesfield & Partners

A woman working on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship who was stabbed by another member of the crew before he went overboard has survived her injuries, according to reporting from national news outlets.

The woman was stabbed multiple times in what cruise officials are calling a “personal dispute” on July 24. She was attended to by the ship’s onboard medical staff and is now in stable condition, Royal Caribbean said in a statement.

The incident happened around 7 p.m. while the ship was heading to the Bahamas’ CocoCay. The male employee who cruise officials said was involved in this incident allegedly fled the area where the stabbing took place before jumping from the ship into the water.

Published on: July 28, 2025

Netflix Releases Another Cruise-Centered Documentary. This One is Everyone’s Worst Nightmare.

By Leesfield & Partners

Last month, jokes circulated online surrounding Netflix’s Trainwreck: Poop Cruise and its nightmarish conclusion, however, the streaming platform’s newest documentary is far more chilling.

Amy Bradley Is Missing centers around the 1998 disappearance of 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley, of Virginia. Bradley embarked on a voyage with Royal Caribbean International’s Rhapsody of the Seas. What was meant to be a family trip with Bradley’s parents and her brother to Curaçao, quickly became a nightmare.

Just a few days into the trip, she vanished, leaving little clues behind. The documentary delves into the final hours leading up to her disappearance. Bradley allegedly drank until nearly 4 a.m. and slept on the cabin’s balcony. Though many suspected she must have somehow fallen from her balcony into the sea below, — an accident that affects nearly 20 people annually, according to data from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) — passengers came forward claiming that they had seen her, tossing a wrench into the theory and raising questions about what truly happened.

Published on: July 28, 2025

Officials: Over 130 Passengers Sick on Royal Caribbean Ship. What to Know.

By Leesfield & Partners

Over 130 passengers were sick with gastrointestinal illnesses on a Royal Caribbean ship that sailed from Los Angeles over the Fourth of July weekend, CNN reported this week.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and prevention said the official number of passengers who were sick was 134, with at least seven members of the crew that were also afflicted. Those who were infected were beset by symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting and abdominal cramps.

The outbreak happened on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas and was reported to the CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) on July 11. VSP officials are tasked with tracking and reporting gastrointestinal illness outbreaks, including norovirus, on cruise ships.

Published on: July 28, 2025

Body of Missing Norwegian Cruise Ship Passenger Found on Trail, officials say

By Leesfield & Partners

Authorities have recovered the body of a missing cruise ship passenger after she went missing on a hike last week in Juneau, according to media reporting.

The body of Marites Buenafe, 62, of Kentucky, was found Thursday by an Alaska Army national Guard helicopter crew below the ridge line of the Gold Ridge Trail. Buenafe, a doctor with Uk Healthcare, a series of hospitals and clinics with the University of Kentucky, was reported missing to the Juneau Police Department on July 1 by family members. Her family told authorities that she had gone for a hike that morning and planned to take a tram part of the way up a mountain before walking to Gastineau Peak and Gold Ridge.

She did not return to the cruise ship that was docked in Juneau by its departure time.

Published on: July 10, 2025

Body of Missing Norwegian Cruise Ship Passenger Found on Trail, officials say

By Leesfield & Partners

Authorities have recovered the body of a missing cruise passenger after she went missing on a hike last week in Juneau, according to media reporting.

The body of Marites Buenafe, 62, of Kentucky, was found Thursday by an Alaska Army National Guard helicopter crew below the ridge line of the Gold Ridge Trail. Buenafe, a doctor with UK Healthcare, a series of hospitals and clinics with the University of Kentucky, was reported missing to the Juneau Police Department on July 1 by family members. Her family told authorities that she had gone for a hike that morning and planned to take a tram part of the way up a mountain before walking to Gastineau Peak and Gold Ridge.

She did not return to the cruise ship that was docked in Juneau by its departure time.