Trainwreck: Poop Cruise

I didn't follow the story when it first happened, so this documentary was a wild, bizarre, and completely captivating surprise for me. I was hooked from start to finish.

But there's a great guilty pleasure in watching this when hearing the American women on a bachelorette cruise share their dramatic version of events, complaining about missing out on margaritas and beach time, while a crew member calmly explains that this kind of thing happens all the time in her country and doesn't shock anyone. It's both brilliant and embarrassing! 😂

I think this is the reason for the 1-star reviews, but it's a fascinating commentary on culture pulled from a story about poop flooding a ship. I say, well done!

Also, credit to the producers for keeping it under an hour. That was the perfect length.

Trainwreck: Poop Cruise (2025) starts off with a weirdly intriguing premise; enough to make you press play out of morbid curiosity. But it doesn't take long to realize there's not much beneath the surface. The documentary feels like typical Netflix filler: shallow, rushed, and you could say, somewhat intellectually insulting.

The incident itself is so anticlimactic, many might've been better off never hearing about it.

The documentary is just short enough to keep you watching, only to leave you wondering why you bothered.

Hopefully this is just throwaway content, and Netflix has something better cooking.

It is a fairly short documentary that is fun to watch. Well, fun if you like laughing at other people's misfortune.

What struck me is the incredible sense of entitlement of the passengers (at least those being interviewed). Oh, the HORROR of having to poop in a biohazard bag! Really, is it that bad, under the circumstances? They were reacting to the red bag suggestion as if they were told to perform surgery on each other without anesthesia.

Hannah, the crew member, could not have possibly grown up in the Soviet Union, just based on her age. Her knowledge about the country comes from the same sources as fairy tales about bears on the streets playing balalaikas. I did grow up in the SU, and I have never heard nor experienced disasters similar to that cruise ship, where people hoard food, fight each other for sleeping places, and generally everyone is out for themselves. On the contrary, this kind of experience would have been handled differently, the crew would have been rationing food (one sandwich per person), and the passengers would have been much more disciplined and would have banded together.

This documentary was alright and I enjoyed watching it with my parents for entertainment purposes. However, I was really bothered by the guests they decided to interview/keep in the documentary and how surface-level the documentary was. To be clear, I think the cruise ship crew did a good job, both in the interview and in trying to remedy the actual situation. Although some things could have been done better (giving everyone alcohol? Seriously?), I believe they tried their best.

The guests they decided to interview - with exception of the father and daughter, whose story I found very sweet and heartwarming, and was more what I would want from this documentary - were extremely entitled and seemed like they completely denied the reality of their situation. The stealing and hoarding of food, and the complaining about the food being provided, was very selfish and irritating.

But what bothered me more - because it was more largely covered in this documentary - was the guests thinking they were "above" pooping in bags and peeing in the shower. Particularly annoying was the woman taking Imodium, and ESPECIALLY annoying because of the screentime he got in the documentary was the idiotic guy in glasses who treated not having to poop in a bag as some "achievement." They were dramatic about all the wrong things and I was annoyed that the situation was handled so poorly.

I understand many humans are selfish, and that can be seen in the included cruise footage, but out of the ~4,000+ guests they could have interviewed, I can't believe these privileged morons are the best ones they got. I really would have preferred less dramatic guests who were less in denial and who handled the situation rationally, and who could turn this documentary into more of a perseverance story. But I guess that would have made for a less comedic documentary. As someone born and raised in the U. S. I hate seeing such generalized comments about how entitled and selfish Americans are, but this documentary does nothing to help that case.

Also very disappointing were the interviews with the CNN reporter and the CEO of Carnival. CNN treated the situation as a business decision and decided to ham it up for ratings, and the CEO only seemed concerned with saving face and the opinions of shareholders. While these things aren't the documentary's fault, the documentary could have done a better job going into it and criticizing CNN and the CEO for doing those things. I'm not saying the filmmakers HAVE to have that opinion, but it would have been SOMETHING more than "poop funny haha."

There are a few other things I'm probably forgetting but that about sums up my review. I learned nothing except some more info and footage of the situation and that humans today are extremely entitled and selfish, but I knew that already.

This documentary validates my fear of being in a crisis with a bunch of (stupid) people. Besides the face that I dont understand why you would rather clog the toilet than use a disposable bag, why on earth when you're stuck on a ship at sea, would you rip of the lights on your life jacket?! Just so you can see a little when you pee?! My biggest fear in this world is stupid humans! Amazed at the ignorance, arrogance and just plain stupid behaviour of the interviewed passengers. I have never felt such a lack of empathy for people before. Credits to the crew for putting up with them (but also why would you think it was a good idea to have an open bar amidst a crisis).