Cruise passenger was served 33 drinks, pepper sprayed and restrained before he died, lawsuit says

[Coventina]

A passenger who died on a Royal Caribbean cruise was doused with pepper spray and physically restrained by staff members after he was served 33 alcoholic drinks and became violent, according to a lawsuit the man’s family filed against the company.

Video from aboard the Royal Caribbean Cruises ship showed Michael Virgil at times screaming, kicking at a door, shirtless and then being restrained on the ground.

According to a lawsuit filed against the cruise line in Florida last week, crew members had served Virgil at least 33 drinks before he died on an all-inclusive, four-day journey from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico, last year.

***snip***

The lawsuit says that Virgil, who was from Riverside, boarded the ship on Dec. 13, 2024, with his longtime fiancée, Connie Aguilar, and their 7-year-old son, but they were told to wait in a bar area with live music because their cabin was not ready.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-12-09/cruise-lawsuit-drinks-royal-caribbean

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The coroner ruled his death a homicide.

They injected him with a sedative! Is that legal?!?!?! Especially considering the ship had not left the dock yet!?!??!

I'm all for personal responsibility, but who in their right minds serves one person 33 drinks in a short period of time?!?!?!
I mean, at some point, he didn't know what he was doing.

[flvegan]

1. Consumed 33 drinks in front of his fiancee and their 7 year old son.

I'm sorry for their loss. I'll just leave it there.

[SSJVegeta]

2. If it was in one go and nobody stopped him even though they knew, those people are complicit.

Theres something seriously wrong if anybody knowingly allows their friend or family member to consume that much alcohol at once. Especially in public.

[Skittles]

3. I agree

something not adding up, WTF

[niyad]

15. In one of the reports I read, it said that the fiancee had taken their 7-year old

autistic son out of the noisy (live music) bar because he was becoming anxious and upset. There are so many weird things in this story, in all the reports I read. Nothing adds up.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. Not all "in front of" them

Virgil’s son and Aguilar left at one point to check on their cabin, but the suit alleges Virgil was served at least 33 alcoholic drinks shortly after boarding the ship.
...
While intoxicated, the suit alleges, Virgil became frustrated when he got lost and was unable to locate his family’s room.

We can't tell exactly what was served when from the article, but that sounds like his fiancée and their son left, and weren't with him at the end of the binge - if just "he" got lost.

[canetoad]

4. I'd like to read

An unemotional, accurate report. The drinks may have been served by several bars, each unaware of the other. We don't know and until we do, it's wise not to make a judgement.

[niyad]

13. From the various reports I mentioned downthread, they were all at one bar.

[Blue Owl]

5. I always knew cruises were purveyors of 'excess' -- but 33 drinks in a row? Jeez....

[usedtobedemgurl]

11. You should see swinger's cruises!

They are drinking at 6 AM and you can instantly tell they have blue pills. Excess does not begin to describe it.

[miyazaki]

16. They got swingers cruises?

Wtf have I been doin' my whole life.

[usedtobedemgurl]

31. Yes. Look up Bliss cruises.

Some decks you can be naked on, until you are within so many miles of port. you can swim naked. No kids, so a number of folks we met were just nudists, wanting a cruise with no children around.

[GJGCA]

6. "Have fun, but don't go overboard..." NT

[leftstreet]

39. ...

[Celerity]

7. video

RIP

[niyad]

14. Another weird thing. In the first photo under the video, he is wearing

a t-shirt. In the next photo, he is bare-chested, and there appears to be a luggage handle, or something similar, at the bottom edge of the image, and no sign of the t-shirt.

[niyad]

8. Is there some archived version of this story? I won't agree to anything

on their site.

[niyad]

9. In reading other articles about this dreadful event, several things stood out.

Knowing how pricey drinks are on a cruise ship, I shuddered to imagine what a 33-drink bar tab looked like. (I was also trying to imagine how one could consume 33 drinks
in just a few hours.) Then I read that he had paid for an "unlimited, top-shelf" bar package (anhere from $55-$200/day, depending on the package).. But still. .33 drinks in just a few hours??? Then I read that he was 6' 5"/370 pounds, and wearing steel-toed shoes. Who, as a passenger, wears steel-toed shoes on a cruise ship??? His family claims he was a "gentle giant" who had never behaved like this, drunk, violent, spewing out vulgar racial slurs and threats? The door he was attempting to kick in? A crew member had locked themselves into the towel room to get away from him.There are so many questions about this bizarre case.

[usedtobedemgurl]

12. We always bought unlimited drink packages on our cruises.

One as short as he was on, was probably only $199 at most.

[DonCoquixote]

10. In New Orleans

there is a drink called the "hand grenade" , they tell you NOT to have four of them. Well, what did my brother in law do. He went through the French quarter, to the various locations of the bare that served this, and got 6 total. Keep in mind, the alleged secret recipe includes everclear and 151 rum; one of them can kill some people.

[fujiyamasan]

19. I think I had Everclear over twenty years ago

I don’t think they sold it in Michigan. A friend had bought it in Indiana. I don’t know if I’ve ever tried 151.

A drink combining both? Yikes.

[displacedvermoter]

28. Everclear goes nice in a watermelon

Cut a hole, pour it in, and replug the hole. Refrigerate, and then enjoy. Responsibly....😊

[Talitha]

17. No one poured those drinks down his throat.

I feel bad that they needed to control him but TBH, he'd still be alive if he'd been responsible for his own actions.

[newdeal2]

25. Dram shop laws

In most states businesses are responsible if overserving a customer.

Not sure what laws could apply in this case. One reason I don’t like the idea of cruises, they seem kinda lawless.

[DET]

18. Disgusting

Looks exactly like I thought he would. Thirty-three drinks - who does that? And who serves that? Isn’t that a lethal amount of alcohol? Plenty of blame to go around here. I feel bad for the young son; this will be the last memory of his father.

[fujiyamasan]

20. Given his height and weight

I’d be curious what his BAC was. I don’t think any bartender in their right mind or manager would keep serving that many drinks over such a short time span, if not for actual ethical reasons — but financial alone. I would assume they would water the drinks down, and if he’s drinking hard liquor, he would have basically had several bottles worth. It makes no sense.

[Jose Garcia]

32. These cruise ships are huge. They have numerous bars on them

[LudwigPastorius]

21. He was at least 4 times over the legal limit.

If he had survived, he wouldn't have remembered any of his actions. Blackout drunk it's called.

The family will likely get a hefty settlement, because he was overserved to the point of alcohol poisoning, then injected with a sedative, which finished the job.

It is a bartender's moral imperative to cut someone off who is clearly intoxicated, as after the first 5 or 6, they are unable to accurately assess their own inebriated state.

[electric_blue68]

44. Alcohol Poisoning Immediately came to mind...

then a seditive?!

If he just drank at that one bar...the bartender sure seems...culpabile?

[Xolodno]

22. There are several bars on ships.

If one cut him off, he could have easily went to another.

Either way, I think he would be dead either way. I once bought a unlimited drink package for a bar at a restaurant in Las Vegas for an hour. My wife and I cut ourselves off.

[Renew Deal]

23. Injecting him with anything is unbelievable

How is that legal anywhere? And how is that not the headline?

[Melon]

34. He was fighting staff and too big. They couldn't get him under control. It's not like they went straight to injecting

after a warning.

[Renew Deal]

35. So what?

It's one thing to take external measures. It's completely different to use something internal that can have any number of unpredictable side effects.

[oasis]

26. Royal Caribbean Cruises.

[bucolic_frolic]

27. He was poisoned. It's gotta be a homicide. /nt

[Melon]

42. Actually poisoned could be homicide....

[Johnny2X2X]

30. All you can drink is a really bad idea for some people

When you do all inclusive, some people just overdo it because in their minds, they already paid for it and they're going to get their money's worth. 33 drinks is crazy, even for someone almost 400 pounds.

And in a situation like this, the bartenders are trained to not overserve, but it's hard to know wo's who on a boat and there could have been multiple bartenders. There are all types of drunk people. Some people are totally fine for hours and then a switch flips and they're a mess. Others it's a slow build to blackout drunk.

Terrible situation.

[Melon]

33. From the video, this guy was completely out of control and dangerous to everyone around him

They are on a cruise ship. The staff is not receiving near enough wages to fight 400 pound super drunk guys. They did their best to restrain him. I'm sorry, but it's on him. This is personal accountability and he isn't owed a dime from anyone.

[Coventina]

36. So why did the coroner rule his death a homocide? n/t

[Melon]

37. Because his death wasn't natural....it doesn't apply fault.

It's his own fault.

[Coventina]

38. Homocide is not suicide. n/t

[EdmondDantes_]

40. If I walk out into traffic without the right of way, not paying attention

Get hit by a bus that was too close to stop, and die, that's a homicide but the bus driver isn't responsible. Homicide merely means not suicide and not natural causes.

[Melon]

41. Right. And it's not natural. It's one person causing the death of another.

[MustLoveBeagles]

43. 33 drinks? That's crazy!

Even for a man his size. There's plenty of blame to go around. I feel sorry for his son.