{"id":258311,"date":"2026-08-19T01:41:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T01:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/19\/ontd-original-documentaries-about-cruising\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T01:41:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T01:41:49","slug":"ontd-original-documentaries-about-cruising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/19\/ontd-original-documentaries-about-cruising\/","title":{"rendered":"ONTD Original: Documentaries About Cruising"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div> Have you ever taken a cruise? Or imagined what goes on behind the scenes for a cruise? What happens when things go wrong at sea on a cruise ship? Join me as I highlight some documentary films, specials, or series that give you a glimpse at the life of cruise ships. Someone requested a cruise ship post the other day, so I decided to oblige, especially since one of the ships featured in one of these documentaries I will be sailing on in December (so that&#8217;s fun).<\/p>\n<p><b>Supercruising: Life at Sea (Channel 4, 2025)<\/b><br \/><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/l.lj-toys.com\/?auth_token=sessionless%3A1787115600%3Aembedcontent%3A3616053%262186309%26%26%26youtube%26YMdHHsNNMkg%3Abbc3f01f7086dcd8fc8b075ea254f403073a1459&amp;source=youtube&amp;moduleid=2186309&amp;preview=&amp;noads=&amp;vid=YMdHHsNNMkg&amp;journalid=3616053\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" class=\"lj_embedcontent\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"embed_3616053_2186309\"><\/iframe><br \/>An eight-part documentary series narrated by Nick Brimble that was released on Channel 4 in the UK in 2025, this series follows the Holland America Line ships Rotterdam (the 7th of her name) and Nieuw Statendam (the 6th Statendam, albeit the 1st Nieuw Statendam) during cruises in the Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale and Europe\/North Africa from Dover, respectively. Each episode follows crew members and passengers during the course of their cruises. (Holland America has a reputation for catering to senior citizens, but I will report back from the Rotterdam in December on my 10-night cruise from Fort Lauderdale on how it goes! I also saw the Nieuw Statendam in 2022 in Fort Lauderdale while I was cruising on Celebrity, so that&#8217;s fun.) <\/p>\n<p><a name=\"cutid1\"\/><b>Shipwrecked: Nightmare at Sea (Netflix, 2026)<\/b><br \/><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/l.lj-toys.com\/?auth_token=sessionless%3A1787115600%3Aembedcontent%3A3616053%262186310%26%26%26youtube%26eWPdwVtVx9Y%3A4fc07a01ef810dd9528821b2e430eb4b551ffb82&amp;journalid=3616053&amp;vid=eWPdwVtVx9Y&amp;moduleid=2186310&amp;source=youtube&amp;preview=&amp;noads=\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" class=\"lj_embedcontent\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"embed_3616053_2186310\"><\/iframe><br \/>Netflix&#8217;s documentary about the Costa Concordia disaster in 2012, which took the lives of 31 passengers and crew due to the incompetence and cowardice of the captain and bridge crew. The captain is now spending 16 years in prison. If you want to know more about the disaster beyond this, the Internet Historian&#8217;s &#8220;The Cost of Concordia&#8221; on YouTube is A+. Fun fact &#8211; the ceremonial bottle of champagne to christen the ship did not break at first when swung by the ship&#8217;s Godmother, Eva Herzigova. The ship also suffered damage during a 2008 incident where high winds blew her into a dock and left scrapes and dents in the bow.<\/p>\n<p><b>The Secret Life of the Cruise (Channel 5 UK, 2018)<\/b><br \/><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/l.lj-toys.com\/?auth_token=sessionless%3A1787115600%3Aembedcontent%3A3616053%262186311%26%26%26youtube%26kgNrZGcoHZs%3Aeec1d2dc9551fafdaa33576769b5a5c9766f66e5&amp;preview=&amp;noads=&amp;moduleid=2186311&amp;source=youtube&amp;journalid=3616053&amp;vid=kgNrZGcoHZs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" class=\"lj_embedcontent\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"embed_3616053_2186311\"><\/iframe><br \/>This one-hour 2018 documentary, made for the UK&#8217;s Channel 5, goes into the secrets of life behind the scenes on the MSC Seaside. Starting with turnaround day, where the ship returns to port to disembark one cruise, take only 1 to 2 hours to do as much as they can without guests, start loading tons of food and luggage, refuel, and embark a new group of passengers before lunchtime. Most people don&#8217;t know that, unlike on Doctor Odyssey, ships do not dock for a few days after a cruise and allow the crew to take their time getting ready for the next cruise &#8211; in reality, crew are lucky to get 90 minutes without passengers aboard. <\/p>\n<p><b>Trainwreck: Poop Cruise (Netflix, 2025)<\/b><br \/><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/l.lj-toys.com\/?auth_token=sessionless%3A1787115600%3Aembedcontent%3A3616053%262186312%26%26%26youtube%26p81PafZ2d_8%3Ad364ad48d60fbfa5798d439923309148525d2461&amp;moduleid=2186312&amp;source=youtube&amp;preview=&amp;noads=&amp;vid=p81PafZ2d_8&amp;journalid=3616053\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" class=\"lj_embedcontent\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"embed_3616053_2186312\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Part of\u00a0Netflix&#8217;s Trainwreck series, Poop Cruise follows the infamous Carnival Triumph disaster of 2013. An engine room fire left the ship adrift in the Gulf of Mexico without power, air conditioning, or toilets. It would take four days for the ship to finally be towed to Mobile, Alabama, where the passengers were taken by bus back to the ship&#8217;s home port of Galveston, Texas (and given refunds and free future cruises to make up for the four days without plumbing in the middle of the ocean). The ship was renamed the Carnival Sunrise in 2019 after a $200 million refit for the Triumph. Reportedly, the ship still has A\/C issues regularly, but now sails from Miami on 5- and 6-night cruises. <\/p>\n<p><b>Mighty Ships \/ Mighty Cruise Ships (Discovery, 2008-Current)<\/b><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/l.lj-toys.com\/?auth_token=sessionless%3A1787115600%3Aembedcontent%3A3616053%262186313%26%26%26youtube%260ivgdPNCiOs%3Ae7f9378831e7c13fdbe232e85b8760d8c1d61b55&amp;noads=&amp;preview=&amp;moduleid=2186313&amp;source=youtube&amp;journalid=3616053&amp;vid=0ivgdPNCiOs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" class=\"lj_embedcontent\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"embed_3616053_2186313\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This series goes over more than just cruise ships, but there are episodes about ships of all sorts, plus a spin-off show just about cruise ships. This free episode available on YouTube follows the MSC Meraviglia in 2017. <\/p>\n<p><b>The Last Cruise (HBO, 2021)<\/b><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/l.lj-toys.com\/?auth_token=sessionless%3A1787115600%3Aembedcontent%3A3616053%262186314%26%26%26youtube%26NspHkPKzrww%3A9b7a58676b19afae4385d5165b794b12d96f61d9&amp;vid=NspHkPKzrww&amp;journalid=3616053&amp;preview=&amp;noads=&amp;source=youtube&amp;moduleid=2186314\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" class=\"lj_embedcontent\" allowfullscreen=\"\" name=\"embed_3616053_2186314\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A look into one of the first major outbreaks of COVID in January and February 2020 on board the Diamond Princess as it cruised around Japan, this HBO documentary includes interviews with passengers and crew, and goes into how COVID (which began with a single infected passenger who disembarked the ship before the outbreak was even first suspected) spread so quickly on board despite quarantine procedures. The Diamond Princess outbreak also led to a number of epidemiological discoveries about COVID gleaned from the failed response to COVID on board during its quarantine in Yokohama. If you are interested in learning more about COVID on cruise ships and the international response to outbreaks aboard ships, I also recommend the book Cabin Fever by Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin, which chronicled an outbreak about the Holland America ship Zaandam in March 2020 as it cruised around South America. Peacock&#8217;s documentary Hell of a Cruise also looks into the Diamond Princess outbreak.<\/p>\n<p>Other documentaries to check out:<br \/>Amy Bradley is Missing (Netflix)<br \/>Cruise Ship Killers (Netflix)<br \/>The World&#8217;s Biggest Cruise Ship (Channel 4)<br \/>Billion Pound Cruise Ship (Channel 4)<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"cutid1-end\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YMdHHsNNMkg?si=-3sFKzrwzNdgbPPN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">SOURCE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eWPdwVtVx9Y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">2<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=kgNrZGcoHZs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">3<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/p81PafZ2d_8?si=uZYaSV-YtKu5M0Nr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">4<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/0ivgdPNCiOs?si=A9S2j2VXdlJ3QHaD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">5<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NspHkPKzrww\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">6<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com\/132745286.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever taken a cruise? Or imagined what goes on behind the scenes for a cruise? What happens when things go wrong at sea on a cruise ship? Join me as I highlight some documentary films, specials, or series that give you a glimpse at the life of cruise ships. Someone requested a cruise [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-258311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hollywood"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}