Cruise passenger dies after downing 33 drinks and going on drunken rampage

Michael Virgil, 35, died aboard the Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas (Image: Michael Virgil)

A cruise passenger died after allegedly being served at least 33 drinks and being restrained, all while his fiancée and seven-year-old son were on board. Michael Virgil was aboard the Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas, going from Los Angeles to Mexico in December of last year.

After boarding, Virgil, his fiancée Connie Aguilar, and their seven-year-old son were told that their room wasn’t ready. Over the next seven hours, Virgil had 33 drinks in one of the ship’s “all you can drink” bars. He then went on a drunken rampage. His behaviour was filmed by fellow passenger Christopher McHale, who said that an hour after leaving port, Virgil got off the lift on the wrong floor and proceeded to take his top off, shout, swear, and try to kick a door in. Witnesses claim Virgil assaulted a number of crew members and threatened to kill other passengers before security intervened. Virgil was then tackled and staff “stood on [him] with their full body weight”, sprayed him with three cans of pepper spray, and injected him with haloperidol and succinylcholine, a sedative and a muscle relaxer.

Aguilar, Virgil’s fiancée, was called to the incident over the intercom and arrived to see Virgil on a gurney with his hands zip-tied together. She claims staff told her “everything’s going to be fine” and to go back to her cabin.

But just over two hours later and with the boat only a few miles offshore, Virgil was pronounced dead. He had a blood alcohol level of 0.182% to 0.186%, over double the UK’s driving limit of 0.08%.

An autopsy by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled Virgil’s death a homicide caused by the “use of force by others”. 

It said: “While not lethal on its own, this level of intoxication can depress respiratory drive, impair coordination and diminish the individual's ability to respond to distress during restraint.”

Body compression (when staff reportedly stood on Virgil) lasted three minutes before Virgil was handcuffed and placed on his side or back. He was still breathing when moved to the ship’s medical bay.

Contributing factors to Virgil’s death included the compression of his body, an enlarged heart, obesity and an adrenaline rush during the incident.

Aguilar claims that when she asked staff if they could return to port, they refused, “put Michael in a refrigerator and continued the cruise for multiple days”.

The 35-year-old’s family has now filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging staff were “negligent” in serving him so much and should have exercised their right to refuse service to an intoxicated person. They are calling for improved training and safety procedures.