Screen-inspired travel is generating a lot of chatter this year again, as The White Lotus and Jurassic Park franchises are anticipated to drive visitors to Thailand. But while one travel story now on Netflix may well get people talking, it is perhaps unlikely to encourage any watchers to think about setting sail.
“Like something that came out of a nightmare movie” is how one passenger describes the Carnival Triumphcruise that drifted for five days with no power in the Gulf of Mexico in 2013 with 4,000 plus passengers and crew on board. Now that “movie” has come to screens in the form of Netflix’s Trainwreck: Poop Cruise.
“The worst thing ever”
Yes, you read that right. The indelicate nickname for the cruise came about because, when an engine room fire wiped out power around the entire ship, that included power to the vessel’s flushing toilets. For a grim few days, while the world’s media surrounded the cruise liner on small boats and helicopters and passengers called out for help, conditions on board slowly deteriorated, as toilets overflowed, cabin carpets were drenched in effluent, and civilised norms began to go out the window.
“It’s disgusting. It’s the worst thing ever”, passenger Ann Barlow told CNN at the time. Her husband added that there was “sewage running down the walls and floors”.
Instead of enjoying the ship’s pools, water slides, bars, entertainment, and buffets, passengers had to queue for cold onion and cucumber sandwiches, abandon their cabins, and sleep in tents on deck.
“It got bad, fast.”
Perhaps the final humiliation came when the captain was forced to ask everyone to defecate into biohazard waste bags. “It got bad, fast,” is the understatement of the year from one of the talking heads in Netflix rendition of events.
Would-be watchers may be pleased to know they only have to endure one hour of the gory story, available on Netflix since 24 June 2025. For passengers it was far longer. The 272-metre cruise liner eventually had to be towed to Mobile, Alabama, prolonging the ordeal for a further six hours before guests were able to disembark – some of them kissing the ground as they did so.
All affected received a fulsome apology from president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Line, Gerry Cahill, as well as a full refund, transportation expenses, reimbursement for some on-board purchases, and $500 compensation.
