Talking about the Titanic or any maritime disaster is typically considered taboo on a cruise ship. It’s a kind of unspoken piece of cruise ship etiquette.
Earlier this year, TikTok star Marc Sebastian, who sailed on Royal Caribbean's nine-month Ultimate World Cruise, shared in a viral video that he learned that the hard way when he mentioned the Titanic over lunch with fellow passengers.
“I brought it up to an entire room of people having lunch that our ship is only 100 feet longer than the Titanic — when I tell you that utensils dropped. Waiters gasped. It’s dead silent,” Sebastian explained in the TikTok video.
Related: Video: Royal Caribbean ship saves family, dog in daring rescue
Just as airplanes have traditionally avoided showing movies that depict plane crashes due to their potentially unsettling nature, cruise ships offering entertainment programming related to sinking ships is considered a big “no-no.”
But it seems Royal Caribbean may have let an ill-chosen song fall through the cracks. According to passengers on board a recent transatlantic cruise from Barcelona to Miami on Explorer of Seas, the ship’s Celine Dion tribute show includes a performance of “My Heart Will Go On,” the theme song from the 1997 film “Titanic.”
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Royal Caribbean ship experiences ‘Titanic’ moment during ‘Titanic’ song
Passengers watching the performance on Explorer of the Seas on Nov. 7 reported thinking the show had special effects when the ship suddenly tilted severely while the song was being performed on stage.
Royal Caribbean attributed the ship’s abrupt list to an unexpected wind gust near Tenerife, Spain. One passenger was injured and required additional medical care. The ship made a call in Las Palmas, Spain for a medical disembarkation, causing its arrival in Miami to be delayed by three days.
Related: Video: See Explorer of the Seas as it was hit by a massive wave
Miami’s WPLG Local 10 News spoke to passengers as they debarked the ship on Sunday, Nov. 17.
“We were in the theater and they were playing a Celine Dion song from ‘Titanic’ and we actually thought it was part of special effects,” passenger Simon Goodenough told WPLG. “The ship started to tip to one side, all the bottles and glasses fell off the bar, and we were like, wow, this is amazing! And then we realized — look at the crews’ faces, this isn’t special effects.”
Related: Another Royal Caribbean cruise ship rocked by 'angry waves'
“It was like the Titanic,” another passenger Dan So, told Kennedy News and Media. “I had thought that this could be the end and the ship was going to fall into the water.”
Earlier this month, Royal Caribbean's Odyssey of the Seas also ran into rough seas on a transatlantic sailing from Rome to New York. Passengers on board that sailing were lucky enough to receive an advance warning about the poor weather from the ship’s captain. He told passengers to remain seated because the ship would be changing course and there was a possibility it could list.
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