Crazy story about a Royal cruise out of LA

[wordell1]

Royal Caribbean cruise passenger was served 33 drinks before he died in custody: lawsuit | New York Post

This is being widely reported today.  All of the info is from the lawsuit which alleges that this person was served 33 drinks on boarding day.  He tried to break into the wrong cabin and died after being restrained by security.

I will go on record as having a hard time believing that he was served 33 drinks.

 

[Southern Dan]

Although it is incredibly sad a person died, I too find it extremely unlikely he had 33 drinks.  I drink a fair amount and that is just an Ungodly amount of alcohol in such a short period of time.

[Ryan79]

He looks like an adult to me. Last time I checked, bartenders don’t force drinks down adults throat. While severely doubt that he sat down at a bar and then proceed to have 33 drinks, he was the one who chose to have those drinks and as an adult he bears the responsibility of the consequences of his decisions. It’s not Royals job to babysit grown a$$ adults.

[smokeybandit]

33 (or more) drinks before rooms were ready on boarding day?

There's gotta be more to this story.

[tjcruisers]

Have a hard time believing he had 33 drinks that day (all in a few hours),would think you'd be passed out in a coma long before then. Also unless he had a dedicated bartender assigned to him only, I don't see how he'd get that many (seeing the bars are pretty busy  on sail away)

[SPS]

We sailed out of L.A. is January and had the earliest available arrival time, 10:30am. By the time check-in was done we boarded at about 10:45am.

It sounds as though staterooms were not ready/open when this happened which, for us, was about 1:30pm. (This seems to be the average in our experience)

THIRTY-THREE(!) drinks in approximately three hours? This just doesn't add up, IMO. There HAS TO BE more to this story. 

[HeWhoWaits]

20 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

33 (or more) drinks before rooms were ready on boarding day?

There's gotta be more to this story.

Thirty three drinks in three hours is one drink every 5.5 minutes. There is no way bar service was quick enough to do this.

That being said, at one drink every 5.5 minutes (assuming they're all shots), this 240-pounder would be stone-cold passed out in a little over 30 minutes (the sixth drink that quickly would likely do the trick).

[Ryan79]

1 hour ago, HeWhoWaits said:

Thirty three drinks in three hours is one drink every 5.5 minutes.

Also factor in having to use the restroom and he would have had to have been slamming them down even faster than that! With 33 drinks, no way he didn’t need get up and to go AT LEAST half a dozen times. No bladder can withstand that kind of punishment!! 

[Xaa]

On 12/8/2025 at 9:46 PM, Ryan79 said:

He looks like an adult to me. Last time I checked, bartenders don’t force drinks down adults throat. While severely doubt that he sat down at a bar and then proceed to have 33 drinks, he was the one who chose to have those drinks and as an adult he bears the responsibility of the consequences of his decisions. It’s not Royals job to babysit grown a$$ adults.

I don't think 33 drinks is going to be proven to be what really happened.  If it did happen, Royal would absolutely be negligent in serving that amount of alcohol to one person in that period of time.  Again, I don't think it happened, but those serving alcohol bear responsibility for serving reasonably.

I hate this for everyone involved.

[HeWhoWaits]

11 hours ago, Ryan79 said:

Also factor in having to use the restroom and he would have had to have been slamming them down even faster than that! With 33 drinks, no way he didn’t need get up and to go AT LEAST half a dozen times. No bladder can withstand that kind of punishment!! 

Just reinforces the "no way the service could have kept up" concept.

[steverk]

Getting even sillier now. Nypost has a headline "Body of Royal Caribbean Cruise Passenger was Stuffed in Fridge After Being Served 33 Drinks. Lawyer Says."

I didn't read the article because headline is wacky enough!

Just to be clear. (And in case someone on here isn't that familiar with behind the scenes minutae) cruise lines are required to have a morgue on board. People occasionally expire on board and there must be a place for them.

[bcarney]

1 hour ago, steverk said:

Just to be clear. (And in case someone on here isn't that familiar with behind the scenes minutae) cruise lines are required to have a morgue on board. People occasionally expire on board and there must be a place for them.

If I pass away on a cruise, just leave me on the sun deck, please.

[teddy]

2 hours ago, steverk said:

 "Body of Royal Caribbean Cruise Passenger was Stuffed in Fridge After Being Served 33 Drinks. Lawyer Says."

Stories like this do nothing to change my opinion of sensationalistic reporters and stereotypical personal injury lawyers. 

Of course dead bodies go in refrigerated storage. Decomposing flesh has a unique and distasteful odor…but making it sound like they crammed his body in the Frigidaire behind the bar where they forced booze into him gets clicks and revenue. 
 

Is the lawyer’s name Saul?

[teddy]

Here’s a question. If an extremely inebriated man in a rage attacks and threatens to kill people, what is the appropriate response?  
 

[Vincent]

23 hours ago, teddy said:

Here’s a question. If an extremely inebriated man in a rage attacks and threatens to kill people, what is the appropriate response?  
 

[ZeroZeroSeven]

On 12/10/2025 at 10:16 AM, bcarney said:

If I pass away on a cruise, just leave me on the sun deck, please.

[PhillyLady]

I am a rare drinker of alcohol, and I have never purchased a cruise alcohol package in my life.  And yes, I go to the captain's parties with all the free drinks and ask for a soda.

However, having cruised for decades, I know there are bars everywhere on a ship nowadays!  How on earth can each bar monitor how many drinks a person has had in total if he/she goes to various locations around the ship? Is there a computer keeping track of this in some way in real time? 

I have gone to MANY all-inclusive resorts (yes, I lose out on all the included alcohol there as well), and people just sit around the swim up pool bar and toss back drink after drink nonstop--the waiters just keep dishing the drinks out, never really pay that much attention to individuals, and certainly have no way to track drink numbers.

It is very sad this man passed away, but it seems he had an unhealthy lifestyle, which can sadly lead to premature death.  

[Xaa]

1 hour ago, PhillyLady said:

 

However, having cruised for decades, I know there are bars everywhere on a ship nowadays!  How on earth can each bar monitor how many drinks a person has had in total if he/she goes to various locations around the ship? Is there a computer keeping track of this in some way in real time? 

 

You give your Seapass so it is counted in the system.  They know exactly how many drinks you have had.  Either way, if a guy really had 33 (which I don't believe for a second), you wouldn't need that count to know they ha=d been over served.  They would be sloshing drunk like this guy was.

[wordell1]

3 hours ago, PhillyLady said:

I am a rare drinker of alcohol, and I have never purchased a cruise alcohol package in my life.  And yes, I go to the captain's parties with all the free drinks and ask for a soda.

However, having cruised for decades, I know there are bars everywhere on a ship nowadays!  How on earth can each bar monitor how many drinks a person has had in total if he/she goes to various locations around the ship? Is there a computer keeping track of this in some way in real time? 

I have gone to MANY all-inclusive resorts (yes, I lose out on all the included alcohol there as well), and people just sit around the swim up pool bar and toss back drink after drink nonstop--the waiters just keep dishing the drinks out, never really pay that much attention to individuals, and certainly have no way to track drink numbers.

It is very sad this man passed away, but it seems he had an unhealthy lifestyle, which can sadly lead to premature death.  

I have no doubt that someone who is determined to get drunk once they board could do so.  I'm sure there is a process that Royal has to ensure this doesn't get too far.  The question is whether the process worked in this case.  

This story has all of the "facts" taken from the lawsuit along with a video of the man in the hallway kicking the door.  The "facts" presented seem very sensational and I'm sure designed to create the media stories that followed.  I'm guessing he was not served anywhere near 33 drinks.

[tonyfsu21]

The toxicology reports will finish this crazy story. I can believe 33 drinks in a day but even that would render most people unable to function very well. Either way, a complete mess and PR dumpster fire for the company.