4. Throw Things Overboard
In 2010, a man from California somehow managed to lower the rear anchor of Holland America Line’s Ryndam. This happened while the ship sailed from Mexico to Florida, and there were over 1,000 passengers, plus crew members, on board. Luckily, no one was hurt.
The man admitted to being extremely curious and inebriated. He was fined, sentenced to several months in prison, and ordered to seek counseling.
Although the incident may be a bit extreme, you can face serious consequences if you’re seen throwing lit cigarettes—which pose a fire hazard—or other things overboard. On one cruise my husband and I took, unruly teenagers threw a deck chair off Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas. They got a talking-to, and all teens on the cruise ship were punished with a mandatory curfew.