Cruise Ship Killers

This is a low-budge crime show where they find an old story and revive it using bad actors, slow motion and replaying scenes almost to the point you see it in your sleep. With a few exceptions, names, places and even the time period are changed to the point it's almost completely unrelated to the actual account. Maybe to avoid paying royalty or legal fees? Who really knows. Even much of the so-called friends and family interviewed are just actors (I've recognized some of these faces from other shows). As mentioned, the few exceptions (and the best episodes) are the ones that document the real people involved with their true names, times, locations, etc. (such as the Amy Lynn Bradley episode). A lot of these stories can be found on sites such as the Cruise Ship Deaths website.

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.

When Googling these episodes to find out more details, no information is available. Makes me think this is all just made up and question anything I see on the True Crime Network.

Horribly produced shows with very little real content. After commercials, they follow with long recaps and feed you another tiny teaspoon. Probably about 5 minutes of real information provided in a 60 minute slot. Also it seems you cannot tie at least most of the plots to real Cases or people, so not 'reality' but essentially poorly contrived fiction, perhaps to protect the cruise lines. 99% formulaic filler for advertising. At the end, only frustration knowing you've been had.

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!