What Movie Was Filmed on a Cruise Ship?

By Robert Palmer

What Movie Was Filmed on a Cruise Ship?

The movie “Speed 2: Cruise Control” (1997) starring Sandra Bullock and Jason Patric was the first major motion picture to be filmed entirely on a cruise ship. The film follows the story of Annie and Alex, who are celebrating their honeymoon aboard a luxury cruise liner. Little do they know that a gang of criminals, led by John Geiger, is planning to take over the ship and use it to transport stolen diamonds.

The filmmakers chose the Carnival Cruise Line’s MS Imagination as the main location for their film. The MS Imagination is one of Carnival’s Fantasy-class vessels and was chosen for its modern amenities and sleek design.

Filming took place over a two-month period in 1996 while the ship sailed from Miami to various Caribbean islands. The production crew also had to make use of special effects to simulate certain scenes that were deemed too dangerous or impractical to film onboard.

The movie features some spectacular shots of various locations around the Caribbean, including St. Thomas, Grenada, Barbados, and St. Maarten. Despite receiving mixed reviews upon its initial release, “Speed 2” has since become something of a cult classic among fans of the original “Speed” movie franchise.

In addition to “Speed 2: Cruise Control”, many other movies have been filmed on cruise ships in recent years such as “Fool’s Gold” (2008) starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson; “Murder on the Orient Express” (2017) starring Kenneth Branagh; “Holidate” (2020) starring Emma Roberts; and “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” (2018), which used Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas as its main setting.

Filming on cruise ships offers filmmakers an abundance of unique opportunities due to their wide range of facilities onboard such as restaurants, swimming pools, spas, theatres, nightclubs and more. As such, we can expect more movies set aboard these majestic vessels in the coming years!

In conclusion, “Speed 2: Cruise Control” was the first major motion picture to be filmed entirely on a cruise ship when it released in 1997. The movie featured some spectacular shots of various Caribbean locations while utilizing Carnival Cruises’ MS Imagination as its main setting. Since then many other movies have been filmed onboard cruise ships due to their wide range of facilities available for filmmakers looking for unique locations for their projects.