Mardi Gras has gone viral, with hundreds of cruisers reacting with a mixture of disbelief, disgust and jokes.
The post, shared by Facebook user MaLana N Kerry Jefferson, claims the incident happened during a cruise last week.
“Last week on the Carnival Mardi Gras, I witnessed an actual trail of poop across the pool deck. Not a little ‘oops’ situation either… a whole follow-the-yellow-brick-road situation.”
The passenger continued by joking that they had boarded the ship for “ocean views, relaxation, and memories… not a poop scavenger hunt around Deck 8.”
The post was accompanied by a photograph appearing to show a brown trail stretching across part of the pool deck. A mop and bucket can also be seen nearby alongside a wet floor warning sign, suggesting crew members were already cleaning the area.
However, it is impossible to independently verify what the substance in the photograph actually is, and there has been no confirmation from Carnival Cruise Line that the incident took place as described. For that reason, the claims should be treated as alleged.
Social media has a field day
As you might expect, the unusual post quickly attracted plenty of humorous responses.
Among the anonymous comments were:
“I didn’t know they had Taco Bell on there.”
Another joked:
“Liquor and salad don’t mix.”
Others simply expressed sympathy for whoever had to clean up the alleged mess, while several cruisers said they hoped they hadn’t walked through the area before it was cordoned off.
Cruise ships take hygiene extremely seriously
While the alleged incident generated plenty of laughs online, cruise lines have strict procedures whenever there’s any potential biological contamination in public areas.
Crew members receive extensive training on sanitation and infection control, with affected areas typically isolated while specialist cleaning and disinfecting takes place.
If an accident involves a swimming pool, hot tub or splash area, those facilities are normally closed immediately. Depending on the circumstances, the water may need to be drained, the filtration system disinfected and the pool thoroughly cleaned before it can reopen.
These procedures are designed to minimise any risk of illness spreading among the thousands of passengers onboard.
The real meaning of “poop deck”
The story has also led to plenty of jokes about the ship’s “poop deck” – despite the term having nothing to do with bodily functions.
The name actually comes from the French word la poupe, meaning the stern of a ship.
Traditionally, the poop deck is the raised deck at the very back of a vessel, positioned above the main aft deck. On modern cruise ships, the term is largely historical, although it’s still commonly used in maritime language.
So despite what social media might suggest, the poop deck was never intended to be the place for actual poop.
Whether the alleged trail seen in the viral photo really was what the original poster claimed remains unconfirmed, but it certainly gave cruise fans something unusual to talk about online.
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