Cruise Passenger Tampers With Cabin Water Bottle By Refilling

A short video has recently gained a lot of attention as it shows a woman onboard a cruise ship happily tampering with a large bottle of water – effectively contaminating it and presumably as a “hack” for savings. Should the woman be banned from the cruise line for such behavior?

Woman Tampers With Cruise Water Bottles

The short video clip – just a few seconds – shows a woman, refilling an empty 1.5 liter Crystal Geyser water bottle from her stateroom’s bathroom sink.

The woman then uses a small bottle of glue to reseal the water bottle’s cap, puts a fresh cardboard tag from an unopened bottle onto the refilled bottle, and replaces it on the shelf where such bottles are left for guests’ convenience to purchase. She is smiling throughout for her “cleverness” and gives a self-satisfied thumbs-up at the end of the video.

The incident was clearly filmed aboard a Carnival cruise ship, as the tag on the water bottle says Carnival and one of the cruise line’s ubiquitous Snoozin’ signs is visible in the background. The colors and décor visible in the video are also consistent with Carnival ships, but there is no way to identify the exact vessel.

Furthermore, it is unknown when the video may have been filmed. The price on the bottle of water is listed at $4.25, but the 1.5-liter bottle has been priced at $4.50 since December 2023. It is possible, however, the onboard price may vary from preorder pricing, or onboard pricing might vary depending on where the ship is sailing. The video already has more than 110,000 views.

Of course, while the video is obviously real, there is no way to know if it is “real” and whether the tampered bottle was, in fact, left for unsuspecting guests to use on a future sailing.

Commenters have pointed out that the woman has to have purchased at least one bottle of the water in order to have an empty one to refill, though this in no way excuses such behavior.

Should the Woman Be Banned?

The video is driving a great deal of discussion, as it is captioned “Tampering with people’s drinking water. Should these women be banned from Carnival?”

To be clear, only one woman is shown in the short video, though there must be another passenger filming the clip, as the camera moves around to follow her actions.

This behavior raises serious concerns about ensuring the integrity of bottled drinking water. If it really is this easy to sneakily refill a bottle and make it look new, it would be equally easy to contaminate the water with foreign substances.

Some viewers have noted that asking for bottles from the bars onboard is a safer option, as those bottles will never have been accessible to possibly unscrupulous guests.

It is not known whether or not any unused bottles are discarded from staterooms or if cabin attendants may examine water bottles for signs of tampering between sailings to ensure they are safe.

Read Also: Carnival Cruise Line Increases the Price of Water for Third Time

Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald has been tagged many times by concerned viewers, but has not yet offered a response to the video.

Commenters are strongly agreeing with the idea that the woman in the video – as well as whoever filmed the clip – be banned and perhaps even prosecuted. Some viewers believe the video to be obviously fake, while others note that even if it’s “fake” in that, the woman didn’t actually leave the tampered bottle for the next guest, the video alone could give others the idea to try such poor behavior.

It should also be noted that if the woman drank more than one bottle and simply kept refilling to hide that consumption, it is indeed theft.

What do you think of the woman’s behavior? Share your thoughts on the Cruise Hive boards!