Netflix's chilling new documentary just shattered my love of cruising
TV opinion
Samantha King Content Editor
Samantha King is a Content Editor for Screen Time. She covers film, TV and streaming news across Reach's titles including The Express, Mirror, Manchester Evening News and Daily Star with a focus on what under-35s are watching. She is particularly interested in writing about the horror genre. Samantha previously worked as a Creative Lead at Curiously bringing social-first celebrity and showbiz news to young audiences online. Prior to this, she headed up regional news sites Oxfordshire Live and Buckinghamshire Live, led on digital innovation at the Oxford Mail and oversaw national radio station Talk Radio's website as its Assistant Digital Editor.
My first ever cruise was at the tender age of 9, and I celebrated my 10th birthday on board while sailing around the Caribbean. It was the most magical holiday I'd ever experienced, and it ignited my lifelong passion for the open sea.
This holiday took place just a few years after the mysterious disappearance of Amy Bradley in 1998, something I was completely unaware of at the time. The 23-year-old vanished without a trace while on a family holiday aboard Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas, and she has never been found.
A new Netflix documentary released today (July 16), titled Amy Bradley Is Missing, delves into the events leading up to her disappearance and the ongoing frantic search for her.
There are numerous theories about what happened to her, with TikTok also flooded with speculation. The two main theories suggest that she either fell overboard after a heavy night of drinking and never washed up to shore, or that she was a victim of sex trafficking and was smuggled off the ship.
Both theories have compelling evidence and glaring flaws, as detailed in the Netflix documentary, reports the Mirror US.
The official synopsis reads: "On March 23, 1998, 23-year-old Amy Bradley disappears without a trace from the cruise ship she and her family were vacationing on. Despite thorough searches of the ship, Amy is nowhere to be found and the cruise has already docked in their next port, Curaçao, opening the door for 2,400 passengers to explore the island and allowing Amy to potentially disappear into the crowd.
"As the years pass by, possible sightings of Amy pop up in various locations from multiple people. Is it really her? Was this a tragic accident or a crime? - anything is possible. But for Amy's family - only one thing matters: bringing their daughter home alive."
Now aged 30 and with four cruise holidays under my belt, I've always been taken by the sense that a cruise ship is a world entirely unto itself, blissfully free from life's pressures that await on dry land.
But never did I weigh up its perils, notably how a floating metropolis in international waters is somewhat of an unregulated zone until docking. As starkly put by someone in a documentary: "If you ever want to kill somebody, take them on a cruise."
The eye-opening docuseries about Amy Bradley's vanishing act made me confront my own naivety. To me, cruises had been havens, bustling with fellow holiday-goers; as a child, my parents were of the same mind, confident enough to let me roam the vessel solo.
But what if my paths had crossed with someone nefarious? Or could adult me simply overindulge and topple overboard never to be seen again?
While Amy Bradley's fate remains shrouded in mystery - a resolution we may never get - the swirl of hypothesises cast light on the dangers cruisegoers unwittingly face.
Will I ever step foot on another cruise? The more I dwell on it, the less likely it seems.
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