A woman went on a Royal Caribbean cruise expecting sun, fun, and relaxation. Instead, the mother of two says she was the victim of a crime on the second day.
Lilye Cheney (@lils) recently shared the tale of what happened on her cruise on TikTok. Cheney kicks it off, saying, “We will be filing a police report.”
As of this writing, her post has been been watched over 90,000 times.
Cheney says she’s planning to seek redress because her camera, identified in comments as a Sony ZV-1F, was stolen by another passenger. (The ZV-1F is a vlogging camera currently available on Sony’s website for $600.)
An on-screen caption asks, “How has humanity come to the point of normalizing theft ? People are disgusting.”
“On day two of this cruise, some mean word stole my camera,” she says. Cheney explains that she and her companion retraced their steps, making sure she hadn’t left it somewhere. Cheney was “holding out hope somebody turned it in.”
“But they didn’t,” she continues.
So her next move was filing a report and getting the Royal Caribbean authorities involved. Security took the theft very seriously, she says, rechecked the ship, and looked at the cameras.
She and her husband were impressed by how the cruise company handled the situation.
He says Royal Caribbean treated the camera theft so seriously, it was like they were “looking for the Crown Jewels.”
Turns out, that seriousness paid off: the camera was located and returned.
“I was really hoping it had just gotten turned into the bartender or something, and nobody had taken it,” says Cheney.
But what she found left her shaken. “It was stolen. And the girl who had stole it had deleted all of my stuff… all my pictures, all my videos,” she recounts.
But that might not be the worst part. “She was taking lots of bikini pics by her mirror. She was treating it like her camera: she had her friends and her boyfriend in some of the pictures so clearly everybody’s okay with the fact that she literally stole a camera.”
The woman purportedly told security that she “forgot to turn it in,” Cheney says.
She’s skeptical—not just because the alleged thief took a plethora of selfies, but also because she deleted Cheney’s pics.
“Clearly, you thought this was going to be your camera,” Cheney says.
People agreed that Royal Caribbean did a good job addressing the matter of the stolen camera.
“Loveeeee how Royal Caribbean has their facial recognition for things like this. They even go after people for stealing others’ magnets off of door,” said Kartie Z.
Nyra&Ember offered a suggestion Cheney to recover her lost memories, writing, “You might be able to save many of the photos. Try using the specialized software!”
Many people urged Cheney to see if she can still press charges. Katelyn Blake agreed, “Ugh hate that for you, but glad you got it back. Definitely file a police report!”
Although cruise ships are closed communities that feel like a floating resort, that doesn’t mean there’s no risk of crime. Crime on cruise ships has always been a problem, but recently has spiked. The Week reports that in 2025, cruise ship theft reached a two-year high.
Assaults are “particularly common,” it notes, so exercise the same precautions you would in a rowdy bar.
To stay safe on cruises, experts recommend taking these precautions:
The good news is that almost all cruise line have a zero tolerance policy for criminal behavior. Thus, any crimes reported will be treated seriously, as Cheney found on Royal Caribbean.
BoardingArea reached out to Cheney via email and TikTok direct message. We will update this if she responds.
@lilyecheney not really the way I envisioned our vacation starting out…. 📸🚨 #cruise #theft #security #vacations #badnews @Royal Caribbean ♬ original sound – Lils ✨
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