11 Terrifying Facts About Cruise Ships

Discovering the grittier side of the cruise industry.

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Complex Original

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We are all familiar with the movie Titanic and the grandeur and style that the richest of the rich were accustomed to having in their daily lives. That's exactly what every passenger nowadays dreams of when they decide to book their tickets for a cruise and pack their bags-- a getaway to an exotic location in a vessel filled with luxury and comfort, basically a week-long escape from the reality of a steady job and normal-person problems.

Everybody who decides to take a cruise goes with the idea of relaxing and enjoying their seafaring time--perhaps even re-enacting the famous Kate-and-Leo deck scene, for those in-the-closet romantics. But there is a dirtier, grittier side to cruises that's usually ignored and invisible. It's the stuff that the cruise liners try to hide--those ugly truths that nobody really wants to hear, those ugly truths that are better swept under the carpet. Well, in the heart of cruise season, it's time for somebody to lift up the rug. Here are 11 Terrifying Facts About Cruise Ships. 

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The world's largest cruise ships are about four football fields long and are as heavy as 9,000 army tanks.

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Most cruise ships come equipped with a morgue that can hold between one and three bodies.

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In 2009, pirates earned 30 million Euros from ransoms and stolen goods. That year, they successfully completed 200 attacks.

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On average the following food and drink are consumed DAILY on cruise ships (from Disney cruise line): 8,260 cups of coffee, 5,000 eggs for breakfast, 2,000 steaks, 1,000 baked potatoes, and 1,150 pounds of bananas.

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There were 79 fires on cruise ships between 1990 and 2011.

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About 200 people have disappeared from cruises in the past 13 years.

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This year, a Carnival cruise ship failed a Center for Disease Control Inspection.

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The Alaskan cruise ship, Sapphire Princess, generates the same amount of sulfur dioxide fumes as 13.1 million cars on a DAILY basis. The famous English cruise ship, Queen Elizabeth II, consumes 121,119 gallons of fuel PER DAY.

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Your average cruise ship produces between 140,000 to 210,000 gallons of sewage per week.

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Potential employees from third world countries often have to pay agents and the cruise liner itself thousands of dollars to become an established worker.

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Cruise liners are able to violate many major U.S. rules and regulations by registering their ships in other countries.

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