5 most shocking details about the Trainwreck: Poop Cruise documentary

Trainwreck: Poop Cruise is a documentary film directed by James Ross that was released on June 24, 2025, on Netflix. It tells the story of the Carnival Triumph cruise, which set sail on a four-day round-trip from Galveston, Texas, to Cozumel, Mexico on February 7, 2013. However, on the last day of the trip, the cruise and its passengers were left stranded in the Gulf of Mexico due to a power outage.

With a runtime of 55 minutes, the documentary details how over 4000 passengers and crew survived the loss of air conditioning and working toilets, which led to unsanitary conditions for the next four days. The ship arrived at the port in Mobile, Alabama, on February 14, 2013.

Trainwreck: Poop Cruise is produced by Ben Rumney and executive produced by Sheun Adelasoye De Nicola, Casey Feldman, Tim Wardle, Alexander Marengo, and William Swann. Its official synopsis, as per Netflix, reads:

"An engine fire leaves 4,000 passengers stranded at sea without power and plumbing in this wild documentary about the infamous "poop cruise" of 2013."

Disclaimer: The article contains graphic descriptions. Reader's discretion is advised.

Below is a look at the shocking moments from Trainwreck: Poop Cruise

1) Passengers had to get creative while answering nature's call

An image from the Trainwreck: Poop Cruise documentary (Image via X/ @netflix)

Desperate times called for desperate measures. Without access to functioning toilets, the crew asked passengers to pee in the shower and defecate in the red biohazard bags handed out to them. These bags were to be dumped in the bins lining the corridors, but it didn't take long for the bins to overflow. As a result, people started leaving the bags in the hallways, leading to a horrible stench.

2) Halted drainage systems

An image of chef Abhi from the Netflix documentary Trainwreck: Poop Cruise (Image via X/ @netflix)

In the Netflix documentary, chef Abhi recounts witnessing a disgusting sight in one of the public restrooms. After five days, the showers had stopped draining, leaving the excrement "with nowhere to go." He walked into the restroom and found layers of human waste separated by toilet paper, a scenario he described as poop "lasagna."

He recalled the experience as follows in the documentary:

"It was the most nastiest thing I had ever seen in my life."

3) Passengers created tents on the deck

A still from the 2025 documentary Trainwreck: Poop Cruise (Image via X/ @netflix)

Without air conditioning, passengers had to find ways to escape the horrible stench. Many of them moved to the deck of the luxury cruise ship with mattresses and created tents using their bedsheets. The deck of the Carnival cruise looked like a big tent city.

Moreover, fights often erupted over lounge chairs and personal space in addition to the food being served, which one passenger described as just "lettuce sandwiches."

4) The floors were covered in excrement

An overhead look at the cruise ship from Trainwreck: Poop Cruise (Image via X/ @netflix)

After enduring the ordeal for days, passengers were left to face one more difficult situation before their rescue. As the tugboats were directing the cruise ship towards the shore, strong winds caused the ship to rock and spill raw sewage onto the floors.

A passenger named Devin summarized the experience as follows in Trainwreck: Poop Cruise:

"You would be walking down the hallway and all of a sudden you would hear, 'squish, squish, squish, squish.' You know what you’re standing in. We were in excrement."

5) Mayhem ensued because of the open bar

An image of the pool from the 2025 documentary (Image via X/ @netflix)

On the first day, the crew decided to keep an open bar to help the passengers blow off steam. But the cruise director, Jen, was against the idea as she expected things to get out of hand quickly. Soon, she was proven right.

A few drunk passengers decided to relieve themselves off the ship's side, while others got into physical fights. Some threw used defecation bags onto lifeboats, with chef Abhi recalling seeing one bag being thrown and hitting someone else on the deck below due to the strong winds. The crew quickly shut down the bar soon after.

Watch Trainwreck: Poop Cruise exclusively on Netflix.

About the author

Deepti is an entertainment writer at Sportskeeda. She comes with more than 6 years of experience in the creative writing field and has written extensively for the entertainment and travel domains.

She holds a degree in Chemistry, but her true interest always lay in the creative field. A passion for reading from a young age fueled her desire to make a career change later in life and take up writing as her profession.

Apart from reading, her hobbies include watching movies, listening to music, and going to the beach. In her free time, she can be found looking up reviews of new and old films to add to her watchlist. She also enjoys watching foreign language films that help expand her knowledge base regarding different cultures around the world.

Asked to describe herself, she would promptly mention that she is a die-hard Swiftie and enjoys nothing more than listening to Taylor Swift songs on loop while writing.

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Edited by Ahana Mukhopadhyay