Imagine giving cruise passengers loaded guns and letting them fire away at the back of the ship. Today it seems absolutely outlandish, but there was a time not so long ago that it was a popular activity… and Carnival shared the picture to prove it.
Skeet shooting — also known as trap shooting — is a popular sport and even an Olympic event. And being at sea offers a lot of advantages for shooting. Namely, you don’t have to worry about accidentally hitting anything with an errant shot as there’s open water all around you.
Believe it or not, Carnival used to offer skeet shooting as an activity onboard.
But there are obvious risks that come with giving potentially inexperienced passengers a loaded weapon with thousands of other people on the ship. It’s hard to believe this ever happened, but it absolutely did… and not that long ago.
Carnival’s Brand Ambassador John Heald recently shared the photo evidence on his Facebook page.
According to Heald, “The guns were kept in a cupboard on the bridge and for $1 a shot – $5 minium – we would give a 12 gauge shot gun to a guest who may possibly have had many, many Pina Coladas before they told the ‘JB’ who ran the event to ‘Pull.'”
He accompanied the post with a photo of a man with a standing on the back of a ship holding a shotgun and taking aim as a crew member launches traps. There’s only a thin white rope separating the shooter from onlookers.
Take a look:
Heald said the photo was taken on a Carnival ship in 1989, only about 35 years ago. In that time, there’s been major changes to nearly everything about cruising.
For one, the idea of allowing passengers to handle a firearm — onboard a cruise ship with thousands of others aboard — is wild. You would never see this sort of activity on a busy ship today. But there are more aspects that we think are crazy to think about.
For one, notice the two people standing beside the shooter instead of well behind. Meanwhile, the shooter’s hearing protection sits safely on the table where it’s of no use to deaden the sound of the gun.
And if you needed any more proof that times are different, just the fact that there was enough space on an open deck to host shooting is not the case today. Modern ships are built to maximize every inch of available space with cabins, restaurants, or amenities. Simply having the space to do something like this wouldn’t be the case on most ships today.
Given that this picture was taken only in the late ’80s, many commenters had memories of this happening.
“I remember as a kid doing this on the ship. BRING IT BACK!” wrote one person.
“My husband did this on a few of our cruises back in the day, he loved it! Those were the days, along with the male nightgown contest and midnight buffets every night, cruising was so different!!” wrote another.
“Skeet shooting and topless decks are sadly a thing of the past. Great fun times tho, great memories!” added one person.
For those of us that came to cruising a little later than 1989, we’ll just have to think about what might have been. And perhaps be happy that Carnival is no longer offering up guns to passengers!
