Cruise Ship Killers

I agree with other reviewers that it's hard to find the true story of the crimes shown in this show. But I've found a few.

The episode listed as ASHLEY is really about Karen Waltz Roston, who was killed on the ship "Stardancer" in 1988 by her new husband, Scott Ralston, while they were on their honeymoon.

GEORGE was about George Smith IV, who disappeared from the cruise ship, "Brilliance of the Seas," in 2005 while on his honeymoon with his new wife, Jennifer, in mysterious circumstances. Blood was found on a canopy below their cabin, & Jennifer was found in a far away hallway, where she had apparently been sleeping all night. Case was never solved. Amazed they used his real 1st name.

AMY was about Amy Lynn Bradley who went on cruise with her parents & brother on the "Rhapsody of the Seas" in 1998 & vanished without a trace. Again correct name was used.

MERRIAN was about Merrian Carver, who disappeared off a Celebrity cruise ship in 2004.

MURIEL is about Muriel Collins Barnett. killed by her assistant with a wine bottle on the "Royal Viking Star" in 1989. Same name again.

SADIE is about Lynne Kauffman murdered on the SS Utrecht in 1959 allegedly by her lover, Willem van Rie. He confessed then retracted. Found not guilty at trial.

BETSY is about Jessie Harper Mozee, who was robbed, killed & dumped overboard on the "SS C & B" in 1940. Never solved but her maid was suspected of at least the robbery.

SHELLY is about Yang Wenjuan, a PhD teacher, who was murdered on the "MV Macau Success" by her husband, Wang Weilie, when he threw her overboard & was witnessed by a passenger on the deck below. Although contemplating divorce, they stayed together for the sake of their 9-yr-old child. Her body was found & revealed she had been battered.

Those are the only ones I can find. If anyone has more, please post on this board.

I thought it would be intriguing to hear about such stories but the droning narration with zero emotion and the ridiculous plausibility attributed to the suspects is a test in patience. Along with the slow pace and redundancy of description, I can't say this is a well-done series. However, it's very eye-opening. It makes me realize that cruise ships are ripe with people who are criminals and con artists looking for their next prey, almost protected by the fact that Maritime law &/or being in another country can make any crime hard to bring to justice.

My wife and I love this show because it's so terrible.

As others have said, it's questionable whether many of the stories are actually true, though a couple of them did turn up internet hits. But that's the least bad thing about it.

From the actors pretending to be real friends or relatives (with no indication that they're being portrayed by actors other than the terrible acting), to the fact that *everything* except the talking heads is shown in slow motion, to the experts talking in such generic terms that it's clear they're not even talking about the case of the week, to the voiceover scripts that sounds like they've been written by someone who's never spoken English before**... it's all just weird. (And that's disregarding the fact that half the cases don't even seem to involve a killer at all... they're just disappearances that may or may not have involved foul play.)

We can't take our eyes off it!

** Most recent example: today a passenger was found "drowned to death". In an earlier episode, there was a piece of crucial evidence that "cracked the case wide open". Which was it, did it crack the case or blow it wide open?!

If you are wondering, the names, dates and details of all these crimes have been altered completely in this show. I think this would have received a higher rating had this been made clear from the beginning. For instance, Episode 1 from Season 1. The first and last name of the couple were completely different. Their occupations were different. Their names were. Scott and Karen Rosten. He was a chiropractor. In reality, the federal judge (federal court, high seas murder) used special circumstances to send him to prison for life. He claims innocence to this day. The country he claimed was involved was Israel, not Ukraine. No ties to Israel were ever proved. There is a good 48 Hours that was made in 2006 from CBS if you can find it. Try to stream from their website for free or on YouTube TV. I noticed the rating for this show was higher in Canada and UK, that may be because those countries are not research freaks like we are in the US. There is an article out there from emmacruises dot come that will list what the real cases are compared to these episodes. I have this 5 stars because it at least puts 26 cruise ship crimes in one show which is interesting. Happy Sleuthing!

These shows are totally twisted from truth some I think are completely made up. I can only find less than 10 that are partly true:

Example:

Sadie is the story of Lynn Kaufman who was murdered in 1959 by her lover who worked on the ship. He was a radio operator and the show says he was a chef. He was eventually acquitted even though he had confessed. I like how they interview her friend on the show and she seems to be a woman in her 20s. This woman would not have even been born at the time this murder occurred.