Cruise Ships used to have a great reputation. After all, for a flat fee you'd get to experience the perks of an all-inclusive hotel while traveling to multiple destinations over the course of a several days. Lately, though, cruise ships have begun to develop unseemly reputations in light of several major incidents. These incidents include: violent crimes such as sexual assault, food safety standards not being met leading to mass illness, and inattentive ship captains making dangerous decisions.

Cruise ships were always meant to be larger than life, but recently they've been growing larger and larger at an unprecedented rate. This mass growth is evidenced by ships like Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas. These two seafarers make up Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class and collectively hold over 12,000 passengers. The Allure is the longest cruise ship ever made at 1,187 feet with her sister ship the Oasis coming in at just 2 inches shorter. When compared to the world's most famous cruise liner, the ill-fated Titanic, these ships are more than 300 feet longer and nearly hold twice the amount of passengers. They also match the displacement of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier! Modern engineering achievements aside, has this growth contributed to a lessening of transportation and food safety standards?

Maybe so, especially after one of the best cruise companies in Royal Caribbean has been beset by problems. The Explorer of the Seas returned home Wednesday after approximately 700 people, passengers and crew got sick with a gastrointestinal illness. The CDC reports that his was the highest number of sick passengers a cruise liner has experienced in two decades. 

Just a few days later, around 160 passengers fell ill aboard Princess Cruises' Caribbean Princess with a similar illness. The decidedly un-royal journey concluded yesterday when the ship returned to Houston. Princess Cruises issued an apologetic statement addressing the incident.

"We are mindful of our passengers' safety and comfort, as well as the disruption the port's closing will have on their onward travel plans."

Apparently, food-borne illnesses have been declining on cruise ships however. It's possible that increased media attention is responsible for helping to blow these events out of proportion.

The most infamous cruise-related incident in the past decade doesn't revolve around food poisoning, rather it centers on carelessness. In January 2012, Captain Francesco Schettino steered his ship, the Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia, too close to Giglio, Italy's shore, when it "struck a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea" and quickly started to list. The reason Schettino was so close to shore was because he was performing a publicity stunt for the ship's owner, Costa Crociere. 32 people died and the remains of two of those victims have yet to be found. The Captain faces 20 years in prison for the crash.

After the latest food poisoning incident, would you still consider going on a cruise? Let us know in the comments section below.