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Bizarre Stories of 6 Cruise Ships: You Won't Believe What I Found!
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Jan 28, 2025
When I found out by chance a well-known cruise ship I was on had a murky past I decided find out if any other popular cruise ships that I have been, or plan to go on, also have crazy, mysterious or weird hidden unspoken pasts. These are six of the craziest I came across. GET EXCLUSIVE PERKS LIKE MEMBER-ONLY BONUS VIDEOS BY BECOMING A CHANNEL MEMBER: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Links and video credits mentioned in the videos: Chris Frame: https://youtu.be/h1oujlRHEsQ Boatbreakers: https://youtu.be/Ho0QU-SJdRs Cruise Daily: https://youtu.be/ue99gVJQwSI and https://youtu.be/ue99gVJQwSI Norwegian Cruise Line: https://youtu.be/BiTG7iQ0zks Cruise It And Resort: https://youtu.be/rE8kQ3Xtx18 Emma Cruises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21L1lHXuuB8 StopOverTVHD: https://youtu.be/b54u3yoxW1o Ponant Cruises: https://youtu.be/xt2fjiEYjlU BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTS ———————————————— * Check out my T-Shirt range at https://tipsfortravellers.myspreadshop.com , http://bit.ly/TFTStore or https://tips-for-travellers.creator-spring.com SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS
View Video Transcript
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I was amazed when on my recent Cruise
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aboard region 70s Navigator I found out
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that the ship had a mysterious and very
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murky past and it got my mind reeling
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what other ships have I been on or
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planned to go on that also have crazy or
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downright troubling pass I found five
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more of them including name and even
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ship swapping to hide and disguise
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Misadventures and an incident so wild it
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sounds like the plot of a thriller if
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you don't know me welcome aboard I'm
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Gary bembridge let's start with region
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sevens his Navigator's previous life
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unbelievably the ship was originally
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intended to be a Russian spy vessel it
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started being built in 1988 at the
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admiralty shipyards in Petersburg and
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was called academic Nikolai pilgin it
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was the plan prototype for three planned
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satellite tracking ships used to track
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NATO submarines the collapse of the
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Soviet Union 1991 ended these plans but
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the ship was pretty much completed it
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was eventually bought by V ships and the
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Mariachi shipyards it was towed to Genoa
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and was converted from Spy ship to
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luxury cruise ship eventually entering
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service in 1999 for Radisson 70s which
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later became region Seven Seas it's now
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a 480 passenger ship one of the most
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luxurious in the world but if history
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had gone a different way it could have
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been something completely different that
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crazy previous life in Soviet shipyards
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got me wondering if there had been other
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crazy stories during the construction of
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other ships let's start with the
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Norwegian pride of America which sells
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exclusively around the Hawaiian Islands
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it has an incredible history the ship
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started life as part of project America
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this was a U.S government program which
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tried rekindling the country's
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shipbuilding industry in 2000 a cruise
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line called American classic voyages
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Commission The Vessel and construction
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started in a Mississippi Shipyard
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however
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during construction American classic
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voyages went bankrupt and the project
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ground to Halt with only about 40
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percent of the pride of America complete
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eventually Norwegian Cruises bought the
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partly constructed ship and towed what
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was built to then Germany's Lloyd verft
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Shipyard to be finished this is ironic
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considering this was supposed to be The
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Rebirth of Great American shipbuilding
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but the story didn't end there the ship
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sank during construction in Germany it's
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believed that a storm pushed water
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through an opening in the engine deck
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and filled the vessel it sank to the
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bottom of the harbor staying there for
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well over a month as arguments raged
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about who should fit the bill eventually
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it was agreed that insurance would pay
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up and the ship was completed in 2005.
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the pride of America is also interesting
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because it's the only American
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registered cruise ship in the world most
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ships as you probably know are
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registered with a flag of convenience
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now this means for better or worst they
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register with a country that provides
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them with more favorable conditions for
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operation you know like the Bahamas or
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Panama and makes it easier to operate
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however
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because this ship is American registered
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it must abide by U.S labor laws gambling
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restrictions and tax policies so that
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means for example no duty-free shopping
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no casino on board staff wages are much
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higher than on your average ship but
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it's still kind of low it's felt in
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comparison to other American jobs and
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because the ship Must Be Stopped
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exclusively by U.S citizens the ship
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often struggles to attract crew however
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wages also mean the ship and the cruise
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is much more expensive than equivalent
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cruises for us as passengers now the
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crazy history of this ship is part of
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what makes it so unique and that's also
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true of Diamond Princess now many of you
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have probably heard of Diamond Princess
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for Infamous reasons in the early days
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of covert it was forced to quarantine in
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Yokohama Japan in February 2020 by late
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March at least 712 out of the 3700
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passengers and crew had tested positive
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sadly 14 people actually died from the
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virus now even before covert Diamond
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Princess had a troubled past it was
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originally named the sapphire princess
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with this sister ship called the Diamond
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Princess now whilst under construction
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the original Diamond Princess caught
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fire and was almost destroyed completely
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the fire aged for almost a day before it
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was eventually put out at the time it
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was unclear whether the ship was ever
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going to be able to be salvaged so what
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they eventually decided to do was to
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swap the names of the ships so the
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Diamond Princess could actually be
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delivered on time so actually the
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sapphire princess is actually now the
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Diamond Princess and vice versa so while
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the ship's covert troubled may be well
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documented many on board may now never
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know about the fire induced name change
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if you're on the Diamond Princess you're
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actually on what was intended to be the
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sapphire princess Fire doesn't only
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affect ships when they're under
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construction unfortunately
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people embarking on piano Australia's
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specific encounter may be a little bit
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surprised to learn that the ship had a
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catastrophic fire on board during its
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previous Incarnation as the star
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princess in March 2006 what was then the
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Star Princess was sailing off the coast
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of Jamaica with
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3813 guests it was just before 3am in
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the morning that a crew member smelt
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burning they couldn't see anything and
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so didn't think it was a fire but
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shortly after that someone in a cabin
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set off an alarm after they saw the glow
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of fire on their balcony the fire spread
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right along the ship balconies and up
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onto other Decks at 3 20 am a shipwide
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emergency alarm was sounded and people
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were asked to evacuate the cabins and go
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to the master stations the heat from the
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fire of the balconies were so hot that
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glass doors started shattering and the
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fire began to spread inside some of the
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caverns the fire itself raged for over
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an hour and a half 297 cabins were
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damaged or destroyed from both fire and
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smoke that's around a quarter of all the
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cabins on the ship now it's believed
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that the fire was started when a
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discarded lit cigarette butt satellite
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either balcony furniture or the
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partitions between the balconies it was
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later discovered that the partitions and
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balcony furniture were built from some
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more flammable materials polycarbonate
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and polyurethane which actually
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accelerated the burning now the fire was
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only put out at 4 30 a.m and the ship
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was eventually able under its own power
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to head into Montego Bay and Jamaica
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where it docked and all the passengers
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were evacuated from the ship sadly one
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passenger 72 year old Richard lithage
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from Georgia died from smoke inhalation
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13 other passengers suffered significant
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smoke related injuries now as a result
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of the fire rules would change
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significantly to make balconies follow
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the same fire rules as inside of the
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ship and many cruise lines have changed
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their balcony furniture and completely
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banned smoking on balconies partly
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because of this risk 12 years after the
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fire the ship was transferred now to
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piano Australia princesses sister line
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and is now called the Pacific encounter
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so some passengers might not know that
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they're staying in a cabin that in 2006
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was actually ravaged by fire another
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ship which changed names is the carnival
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Sunrise it was previously called the
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Carnival Triumph that was until the poop
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Cruise gave the ship a rather bad
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reputation Carnival Triumph left
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Galveston Texas in February 2013 for a
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short four-day Cruise after stopping
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Cozumel a fire broke out at about 5 a.m
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in the cruises engine room leaving the
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ship without any power most things
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stopped working including the plumbing
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this led to a horrific experience on
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board passengers had limited water
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experienced extreme heat because there
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was no air conditioning and at one point
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even had some human waste running down
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through the hallways some ships passing
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by help provide supplies but without
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power Triumph spent four days drifting
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in the Gulf of Mexico in these awful
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awful conditions eventually the ship was
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towed to Alabama and those weary
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exhaustive passengers disembarked on
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February the 14th now Carnival did offer
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each passenger some money in the form of
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various vouchers for future cruises but
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many many passengers were very unhappy
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and multiple law lawsuits were launched
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seeking millions of dollars of damage
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the most actually weren't very
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successful at all now the ship carried
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on as Carnival Triumph for another six
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years until it was eventually taken out
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of service had a major revamp at the
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same time the carnival chose to ditch
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the troubled name reintroducing it to
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the world as the carnival Sunrise so if
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you ever do go cruising on Carnival
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Sunrise remember that it was once the
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infamous poop cruise ship one of the
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most dramatic and interesting stories
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one of which could be from the pages of
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a best-selling Thriller is about la
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ponante la panot is a mastered sailing
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ship owner the luxury French Cruise
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group it has 16 State rooms holding a
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maximum of 32 guests so very exclusive
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now on the 4th of April 2008 as leponent
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was selling from the Seychelles through
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the Gulf of Aiden it was attacked and
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taken by Somali pirates there were no
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passengers at the time but all 30 crew
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members were taken hostage 22 French six
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Filipino and one cameroonian and one
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Ukrainian now French and Canadian Forces
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were actually in the area at the time
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they actually had helicopters and navy
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ships so they monitored the yacht but
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the hostages were only released eight
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days later because the shipping company
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CMA CGM paid a 1.7 million euro Ransom
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but the French military did not let it
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rest they tracked the Pirates back to
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their home in Somalia and actually
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captured them recovering even some of
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that Ransom money they brought the
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Pirates to trial in Paris where they
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were eventually convicted four of the
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six power Pirates were sentenced to
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between 4 and 10 years in jail now
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piracy has been an issue in that area
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for some time and there have been
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unsuccessful attempts to check a few
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other cruise ships over the years but
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Lebanon is the only one where they're
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successfully took the ship the luxury on
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board La panante now might make current
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passengers forget the insane history of
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this yacht if you found all of this
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interesting watch this video where I
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talk about some other interesting and
10:58
unusual things about cruise ships which
11:01
most people aren't aware of see you over
11:03
there
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