Cruise ship captain Wendy Williams rates eight cruise ship disasters in movies and television shows for realism.
Williams breaks down how cruise ships deal with iceberg strikes, rogue waves, and tsunamis in "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972); the sinking scene in "Titanic" (1997), starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet; and the capsized vessel in "Poseidon" (2006). She explains how cruise ships address health issues and passenger safety on board in "The Simpsons" S23E19 (2012), the boat jail scene in "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" S11E9 and E10 (2016), and the cruise ship holiday gone awry in "Triangle of Sadness" (2022), with Woody Harrelson. Williams also looks at the plausibility of cruise ship systems being corrupted in "Deep Rising" (1998), and the shipwreck scene in "Speed 2: Cruise Control" (1997), with Willem Dafoe and Sandra Bullock.
Williams has been in the maritime industry for over 30 years, with her experience spanning from passenger vessels to the fishing industry. She has been a cruise ship captain for about five years, and she is the first Canadian woman to captain a major cruise ship brand, Virgin Voyages.
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