ONTD Original: Disasters at Sea - Cruise Ships in Disaster Movies/TV
Have you ever been on a cruise, ONTD? Want to go on a cruise? Or do you just enjoy watching cruise ships get destroyed in disaster movies and TV? Today, I will take you through a few classics in a very niche segment of film/TV - the cruise ship disaster genre. There are more in here than you might remember, but I'm just going to give you a brief introduction to the genre - for example, no Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked here (which is included in another of my ONTD original cruising posts since the movie was basically a big ad for Carnival Cruises). We will also be skipping REAL cruise disasters that have had TV specials, so no Costa Concordia and its idiot captain who failed up.
DEEP RISING - 1998
A classic of the cruise ship monster disaster genre, in this 1998 film starring Treat Williams and Famke Janssen, a cruise ship is on its maiden voyage when hijinks occur. A crew of mercenaries arrives for a rendezvous with a saboteur onboard the ship only to find everyone is gone and there is something else - something monstrous - onboard.
Filmed on a Real Cruise Ship?: No - the Argonautica from this movie was CGI and sets, not a real ship.
SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL - 1997
A movie many people would rather forget, Speed 2: Cruise Control is the sequel to 1994's speed where Sandra Bullock returns but Keanu Reeves is replaced by a much less enigmatic Jason Patric. This movie is rightfully derided for being very, very stupid, but it does have some interesting cruise ship hijinks.
Filmed on a Real Cruise Ship?: Yes! This movie was filmed aboard what was at the time the Seabourn Legend sailing for Seabourn Cruises, but since sold and now sailing as the Star Legend for Windstar Cruises. Fun fact: the Legend's sister ship the Star Breeze (formerly Seabourn Spirit) is famous for having been the target of an attempted hijacking itself in 2005 off the coast of Somalia.
GHOST SHIP - 2002
Many years after it disappeared, the MS Antonia Graza is found adrift in the Bering Sea. A salvage crew is approached by a pilot who wants to share in the possible riches for those who can tow it to land. When they arrive in their salvage tug, they begin to find out what happened to all the passengers... And it's ghostly.
Filmed on a Real Cruise Ship?: No - the Antonia Graza was a scale model and CGI, but based on the SS Andrea Doria, which sank after colliding with the Stockholm off Nantucket in 1956 - 1,660 of 1,706 passengers and crew were rescued; and the Stockholm was able to stay afloat and remain in service until present day, albeit laid up after COVID, as the MV Astoria, but was recently sold for scrap.
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS - 2022
Nominated for several Oscars, Triangle of Sadness follows an ensemble aboard a luxury cruise ship for a very unfortunate sailing, leading to the rich people onboard ending up in a very bad situation (I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, sorry, you can google it for more details LMAO).
Filmed on a Real Cruise Ship?: Yes! Well, sort of. It was actually filmed aboard a private yacht called the Christina O, formerly owned by Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy. I personally don't think billionaires would be taking a cruise on an 81 year old ship when they could just buy their own yachts, but oh well...
9-1-1 Season 7 - "Cruise Ship" (2024)
Even television gets into the cruise ship disaster genre with 9-1-1's season 7 opening episode, "Cruise Ship". I haven't actually seen it, but from what I can tell, the 9-1-1 team gets called in to rescue the passengers and crew after a disaster at sea off Los Angeles.
Filmed on a Real Cruise Ship?: No, this one was sets and CGI, although the producers initially had approached and gotten approval from a cruise line until the cruise line was told what would happen to the ship in the show and they quickly noped out.
TRIANGLE - 2009
A lesser-known entry on this list from the UK/Australia, Triangle follows a small group that set off on a sailboat trip only to end up adrift before being seemingly rescued by a passing ocean liner. When they board the ship, though, they find that things are not as they seem. I haven't seen this one, but the reviews were actually good, even if it did bomb at the box office.
Filmed on a Real Ship?: Nope, this one was filmed on constructed sets in Queensland.
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The first cruise ship that I ever saw that really made me fall in love with cruise ships as a child, entranced by the luxury and style promised by advertisements, and because I REALLY liked boats/ships and still do, was Celebrity Cruises' Meridian (formerly the SS Galileo Galilei), their first ship once they were founded. It was a converted ocean liner. Around a year after I saw it, Celebrity sold it in 1997 and it became the Sun Vista. It sank in its own disaster in the Strait of Malacca in 1999, but everyone was rescued and safe. Then I found out my grandparents took their first and only cruise on that same ship - before it sunk, thankfully. So yes, my first cruise ship/ocean liner love is now a wreck off the coast of Malaysia. Behind this cut, find a video of what luxury cruising in the early 1990s was like! It was a lot different than today. Also, someone's home movie from their ill-fated Sun Vista cruise, complete with iconic music.
DEEP RISING - 1998
Click to viewA classic of the cruise ship monster disaster genre, in this 1998 film starring Treat Williams and Famke Janssen, a cruise ship is on its maiden voyage when hijinks occur. A crew of mercenaries arrives for a rendezvous with a saboteur onboard the ship only to find everyone is gone and there is something else - something monstrous - onboard.
Filmed on a Real Cruise Ship?: No - the Argonautica from this movie was CGI and sets, not a real ship.
SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL - 1997
A movie many people would rather forget, Speed 2: Cruise Control is the sequel to 1994's speed where Sandra Bullock returns but Keanu Reeves is replaced by a much less enigmatic Jason Patric. This movie is rightfully derided for being very, very stupid, but it does have some interesting cruise ship hijinks.
Filmed on a Real Cruise Ship?: Yes! This movie was filmed aboard what was at the time the Seabourn Legend sailing for Seabourn Cruises, but since sold and now sailing as the Star Legend for Windstar Cruises. Fun fact: the Legend's sister ship the Star Breeze (formerly Seabourn Spirit) is famous for having been the target of an attempted hijacking itself in 2005 off the coast of Somalia.
GHOST SHIP - 2002
Many years after it disappeared, the MS Antonia Graza is found adrift in the Bering Sea. A salvage crew is approached by a pilot who wants to share in the possible riches for those who can tow it to land. When they arrive in their salvage tug, they begin to find out what happened to all the passengers... And it's ghostly.
Filmed on a Real Cruise Ship?: No - the Antonia Graza was a scale model and CGI, but based on the SS Andrea Doria, which sank after colliding with the Stockholm off Nantucket in 1956 - 1,660 of 1,706 passengers and crew were rescued; and the Stockholm was able to stay afloat and remain in service until present day, albeit laid up after COVID, as the MV Astoria, but was recently sold for scrap.
TRIANGLE OF SADNESS - 2022
Nominated for several Oscars, Triangle of Sadness follows an ensemble aboard a luxury cruise ship for a very unfortunate sailing, leading to the rich people onboard ending up in a very bad situation (I'm trying to avoid spoilers here, sorry, you can google it for more details LMAO).
Filmed on a Real Cruise Ship?: Yes! Well, sort of. It was actually filmed aboard a private yacht called the Christina O, formerly owned by Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy. I personally don't think billionaires would be taking a cruise on an 81 year old ship when they could just buy their own yachts, but oh well...
9-1-1 Season 7 - "Cruise Ship" (2024)
Even television gets into the cruise ship disaster genre with 9-1-1's season 7 opening episode, "Cruise Ship". I haven't actually seen it, but from what I can tell, the 9-1-1 team gets called in to rescue the passengers and crew after a disaster at sea off Los Angeles.
Filmed on a Real Cruise Ship?: No, this one was sets and CGI, although the producers initially had approached and gotten approval from a cruise line until the cruise line was told what would happen to the ship in the show and they quickly noped out.
TRIANGLE - 2009
A lesser-known entry on this list from the UK/Australia, Triangle follows a small group that set off on a sailboat trip only to end up adrift before being seemingly rescued by a passing ocean liner. When they board the ship, though, they find that things are not as they seem. I haven't seen this one, but the reviews were actually good, even if it did bomb at the box office.
Filmed on a Real Ship?: Nope, this one was filmed on constructed sets in Queensland.
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The first cruise ship that I ever saw that really made me fall in love with cruise ships as a child, entranced by the luxury and style promised by advertisements, and because I REALLY liked boats/ships and still do, was Celebrity Cruises' Meridian (formerly the SS Galileo Galilei), their first ship once they were founded. It was a converted ocean liner. Around a year after I saw it, Celebrity sold it in 1997 and it became the Sun Vista. It sank in its own disaster in the Strait of Malacca in 1999, but everyone was rescued and safe. Then I found out my grandparents took their first and only cruise on that same ship - before it sunk, thankfully. So yes, my first cruise ship/ocean liner love is now a wreck off the coast of Malaysia. Behind this cut, find a video of what luxury cruising in the early 1990s was like! It was a lot different than today. Also, someone's home movie from their ill-fated Sun Vista cruise, complete with iconic music.