Lamar Reviews - "Poop Cruise" (Airdate 7/3/2025)

Lamar Reviews - "Poop Cruise" (Airdate 7/3/2025)

Every time I click on Netflix to find a movie or series to watch I wind up clicking on Documentaries and gong down a rabbit hole.  I find myself clicking on something that seems like unbelievable fiction that turns out to be dramatic, or horrifying, maybe inspirational, or it could be informative. But the craziest thing is it is true, and I can’t help but look at it. This time was no different.

The Trainwreck series on Netflix is a collection of documentary films that explore the dark side of various events. This includes Woodstock 99, The Astroworld Tragedy, The Balloon Boy, and many others. The Poop Cruise caught my eye because it happened 12 years ago, and I vaguely remember hearing about it.

I’ve been on a couple of cruises many years ago, and my wife Carla has done the same, but we have never done one together. I enjoyed it, I like the idea of it, and we have friends that go on cruises every year. We just seem to find other things that we wind of choosing. This documentary does not encourage me to head down to the dock and run onto the gang plank.

This incident occurred in 2013 on the Carnival Triumph cruise ship. They were halfway across the Gulf of Mexico when the engine room caught fire. The ship’s power was cut off with 4,200 people on board.

This ship was over 892 feet long, that is basically 3 football fields. Everything regarding that ship runs on electricity, without it nothing works. No lights, no air conditioning, no cooking, and no flushing toilets. Out of all of these inconveniences, the toilets turned out to be the worst.

This documentary is about the experiences told from the point of view of passengers and crew. Larry and his daughter Rebekah, Devin, on board with his fiancée and his future in-laws, cruise director Jen, Bartender Hannah, chef Abhi, and a bride along wither her two bachelorettes.

This documentary is a quick 55 minutes long, and as you would expect there is some language using four letter words.

If you are a regular listener to the show, you know bathroom subjects are not my favorite thing to talk about, so I’m not going to delve too deep into the biology, but these people had been cruising for a few days before the fire. That means all you can eat buffets, and fabulous dinners, so the fire didn’t happen on empty stomachs and digestive tracts. 4,200 people were given instructions to do number one in the showers of the ship, and number two in red biohazard bags, tie them up and put them in the provided receptacles. Like what you do when you walk your dog, but it’s you, not the dog. 

These conditions lasted 5 days. You can’t stay in your room because without AC it is stifling. You have to find a place to sleep, the majority of the food is spoiled and what is left becomes every person for themselves. And the smell.

Needless to say, it was a “crappy” time, which was way more fun to watch, than to experience.

My Score: 5 Buds