Horrifying new particulars emerge about Royal Caribbean cruise the place passenger died after being ‘served 33 drinks’… as his fiancée speaks out

A Royal Caribbean cruise carried on for days with a dead man’s body stored in a freezer while his grieving fiancée begged staff to turn the ship around, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Heartbroken Connie Aguilar was forced to remain onboard for three days, surrounded by thousands of vacationers drinking, dancing and having fun, while she and the couple’s seven-year-old autistic son tried to process the horror of what had happened.

Meanwhile, her fiancé, Michael Virgil, lay zipped inside a makeshift morgue space below deck.

Aguilar’s attorney told the Daily Mail she is still suffering from post-traumatic stress from the ordeal. 

The ship was just three miles off the coast of Los Angeles heading to Ensenada, Mexico, when Virgil died as crew members tried to restrain him.

The 35-year-old had been drinking heavily and became agitated as he tried to find his room, taking his shirt off, kicking a door and punching walls.

Security guards allegedly used their full body weight to subdue the 360-pound man, which caused hypoxia, cardiovascular instability and respiratory failure, ultimately causing his heart to stop, according to an autopsy report obtained by the Daily Mail.

Los Angeles County Medical Examiner officials ruled Virgil’s death a homicide. 

He was pronounced dead at 8:32 pm on December 13, 2024. A devastated Aguilar begged staff to turn the ship to the Port of Long Beach but the staff allegedly refused, according to Aguilar’s attorney Kevin Haynes.

‘They refused to turn the ship back and they put Michael in a refrigerator,’ the attorney told Daily Mail. ‘It’s just very macabre to talk about. It’s a tragic situation.

The lawyer continued: ‘The cruise went on for multiple days. Connie was around all of these people who were having a good time, while her fiancé’s body was literally on ice. That event alone has imposed a lot of trauma on her.’ 

‘We were saddened by the passing of one of our guests, worked with authorities on their investigation, and will refrain from commenting further on pending litigation,’ a Royal Caribbean spokesman said in a statement to Daily Mail. 

Spencer Aronfeld, a Florida-based attorney who specializes in lawsuits against cruise companies, told the Daily Mail that ships have hidden refrigerated morgues on the lower deck. 

However, when there is not enough room to accommodate several bodies, the crew finds a way to make room. 

‘Crew members have told me that when the morgues are full, they will have to make room in the freezer and have midnight ice cream buffets,’ Aronfeld said. ‘That’s how the crew would find out that someone has passed away.’ 

TikTok star and singer Dara Tucker, who has performed on cruise ships for about a decade, confirmed the morbid practice in a viral post. 

‘There are a lot of older people on ships and often people die on cruises,’ she said. ‘If more than seven people died on that particular ship, they would have to start moving bodies to the freezer, which means they needed to make room in the freezer.’

‘So when that happened, ice cream party, woo!’ she concluded.

Aronfeld said there could be various reasons why the crew would refuse to turn the ship around when there is a death onboard.

Ships have to maintain very specific schedules, including prepaid excursions for the thousands of passengers on the ship, he said. 

‘There is also the high fuel costs and the logistical nightmare to transport a body from a foreign port,’ Aronfeld said.

Almost a year after her fiancé’s death, Aguilar filed a wrongful death suit against Royal Caribbean, claiming the ship’s crew were allegedly ‘negligent’ and continued to serve Virgil a total of 33 alcoholic drinks despite Virgil showing ‘obvious visual signs of intoxication.’ 

The FBI is continuing to investigate the case. Since Virgil died at international waters, the US Attorney’s Office would have the decision on whether to pursue any criminal charges.

Legal analyst Lou Shapiro said there would be a ‘very slim chance’ any of the Royal Caribbean staff would be charged in Virgil’s death.  

Shapiro compared the case to Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran charged for killing a homeless man named Jordan Neely on a New York City subway in May 2023.

Penny’s lawyers argued he acted in self-defense and in defense of other passengers after Neely terrorized their subway car and threatened them. 

Prosecutors said Penny overstepped into vigilantism and criminally killed Neely with a chokehold.

Penny ultimately was found not guilty by a jury in December 2024. 

Neely, 30, was a street and subway performer known for his Michael Jackson impersonations. He struggled with drug abuse and a mental illness, and had a criminal record that included assault convictions, according to Penny’s lawyers.

‘One of the things a prosecutor looks at in deciding whether to file a case is, do we have a sympathetic victim here,’ Shapiro told Daily Mail. ‘[Neeley] was having an episode and Penny, a bystander, placed him in a headlock. The jury found him not guilty because jurors didn’t see [Neeley] as a sympathetic victim. 

‘[Virgil’s] death was unfortunate, but if he was acting belligerent, threatening people and downing all of that alcohol, it would be very hard to turn this into a criminal case.’

According to the report, security personnel used their body weight to subdue Virgil for at least two minutes, leading to impaired breathing and hypoxia. 

After his adrenaline wore off from the struggle, Virgil sat motionless as his hands were placed in zip ties. Two and a half hours later, he went into cardiopulmonary arrest and died.

According to the autopsy report, Virgil’s blood alcohol concentration was measured at 0.182 to 0.186%, which is double California’s legal limit to drive. 

Aronfeld, who has litigated cases against various cruise line companies for 35 years, told the Daily Mail that more than 90 percent of his cases involve injuries or death because of severe intoxication.

‘In my years as an attorney taking on these cases, whether it be a sexual assault, a death or a trip-and-fall, the common denominator is alcohol,’ Aronfeld said. ‘The more one consumes alcohol on a cruise ship, the more likely they are to become a victim. 

‘But here’s the problem – cruise lines market these drink packages from the moment you even try to book a trip. They are pushing these packages because it is the single-most profit generator for them, and it’s the crew’s job to just keep the drinks pouring and move on.’

In the civil suit against Royal Caribbean, Texas-based firm Kherkher Garcia, LLP claims crew members had the right to refuse service to anyone who is visibly intoxicated but failed to do so in Virgil’s case. 

Haynes told the Daily Mail that Royal Caribbean officials have refused to turn over video surveillance from the ship’s cameras. 

‘They knew they had already mechanically asphyxiated him because he was not moving for two minutes,’ Haynes said. ‘This was a host of errors that led to his death and the alcohol was a major part of it.’

Haynes said videos of a visibly intoxicated and aggressive Virgil taken by another passenger do not resemble the man who was known to his family as ‘the gentle giant.’ 

‘He was a very active father, loved his special needs son, was very hard worker who came from humble beginnings,’ the attorney said. ‘He was a wonderful family man … and this just was the ultimate tragedy that no one could have anticipated.’

Aronfeld said cases like Virgil’s could be difficult to try in front of a jury.

‘It’s tough because juries tend to blame the passengers,’ Aronfeld said. ‘It’s very difficult to convince a jury in the argument of over service of alcohol because there is a very strong sentiment of, ‘If you get drunk, that’s entirely your fault.’ 

‘Jurors must see that this behavior was very uncharacteristic, and the victim even become psychotic because of the alcohol poisoning. They become unhinged. But that can be a tough sell for some jurors.’