Key Points:
- A 69-year-old cruise visitor by accident boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise ship with a gun.
- She was caught in Nassau, which was the primary port name, and subsequently arrested.
- The grandmother needed to shell out $8,000 as a way to be launched from Nassau’s notoriously unlivable Fox Hill Jail.
One cruising grandmother has realized an important lesson: At all times double verify what is perhaps in your belongings earlier than setting sail.
A cruise visitor named Mary Robinson managed to embark on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas with a firearm in her possession on December 1, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Allegedly, the 69-year-old Oklahoma resident forgot that she was carrying a black Kel-Tec .380 pistol and 4 rounds of ammunition, which by some means additionally sneaked by means of the usual safety screenings for boarding the cruise ship.
She was meant to be onboard for a 4-night crusing to Nassau and Excellent Day at CocoCay to rejoice her adopted son’s twelfth birthday.
Nonetheless, she didn’t get very far as a result of the gun was present in her purse in Nassau on December 2 – the second day of the crusing – whereas Robinson was making an attempt to reboard the Freedom-class cruise ship.
“On Tuesday December 2nd police arrested a 69-year-old feminine of US nationality after she was present in possession of a fireman and ammunition,” the Royal Bahamas Police Pressure stated in an announcement.
She was arrested and brought to Nassau’s infamous Fox Hill Jail, which, per the US authorities, suffers from extreme overcrowding, poor diet, insufficient sanitation, and insufficient medical care.
Robinson was touring with a good friend, who agreed to take care of the 12-year-old on her behalf.
Grandma Spends Practically a Week in Jail
Robinson appeared earlier than Bahamas Justice of the Peace Lennox Coleby Sr. on December 4, 2025, the place she pleaded responsible to her crimes.
She tearfully apologized and defined that she forgot the weapon and bullets have been in her purse.
“She merely forgot that she had the gun and I’m instructed that she has a contact of dementia,” Robinson’s legal professional, Legal professional Bjorn Ferguson, defined.
Learn Additionally: What Can You Not Bring on a Cruise?
Unlicensed possession of a firearm and ammunition carries an automated jail sentence of 24-months within the Bahamas, however the Justice of the Peace agreed to spare Robison from jail if she might pay an $8,000 high quality.
Since she didn’t have the funds accessible that day, Robinson was despatched to the Fox Hill facility for what have been certainly 5 or 6 very lengthy and tough days.
Her granddaughter, Graci Exendine, created a GoFundMe on December 3 to assemble sufficient funds to cowl the high quality, which raised over $12,000 in simply over per week – greater than sufficient for Robinson to go residence.
In keeping with a Fb put up from the granddaughter, Robinson had been launched as of December 8.
“I simply talked to Mary, she is OUT!!,” she up to date, earlier than thanking everybody who contributed to the GoFundMe or despatched properly needs.
The grandmother was staying in a lodge in Nassau whereas she labored out the main points behind getting again residence.
Not the First Time This Has Occurred
Regardless of tight safety from the cruise strains and cruise ports, this isn’t the primary time a weapon has by accident made its manner onto a cruise ship – or come near it.
Most lately, a 77-year-old cruise visitor was detained and deported whereas trying to board an unspecified cruise ship with a gun in Ravenna, Italy, in October.
The American man additionally claimed that he had forgotten that the 6.35mm Browning semi-automatic pistol was in his backpack.
Additionally, earlier this 12 months, a 73-year-old passenger from the US was arrested at Japan’s Kobe Cruise Terminal after a handgun was present in his baggage.
Final 12 months, two Carnival friends have been banned for all times after managing to deliberately smuggle a handgun onboard and bragging concerning the feat on-line.
Regardless that Robinson made an sincere mistake, there’s additionally an excellent probability that she was banned for life by Royal Caribbean, because the cruise line has a really strict coverage regarding offenses that might threaten the protection of all onboard.
After all, weapons, together with faux weapons and toys like Nerf Blasters, are strictly prohibited onboard.
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