Key Aspects:
- A 69-year-old cruise guest accidentally boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise ship with a gun.
- She was caught in Nassau, which was the first port call, and subsequently arrested.
- The grandmother had to shell out $8,000 in order to be released from Nassau’s notoriously unlivable Fox Hill Prison.
One cruising grandmother has learned a very important lesson: Always double check what might be in your belongings before setting sail.
A cruise guest named Mary Robinson managed to embark on Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas with a firearm in her possession on December 1, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Allegedly, the 69-year-old Oklahoma resident forgot that she was carrying a black Kel-Tec .380 pistol and four rounds of ammunition, which somehow also sneaked through the standard security screenings for boarding the cruise ship.
She was meant to be onboard for a 4-night sailing to Nassau and Perfect Day at CocoCay to celebrate her adopted son’s 12th birthday.
However, she didn’t get very far because the gun was found in her purse in Nassau on December 2 – the second day of the sailing – while Robinson was trying to reboard the Freedom-class cruise ship.
“On Tuesday December 2nd police arrested a 69-year-old female of US nationality after she was found in possession of a fireman and ammunition,” the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement.
She was arrested and taken to Nassau’s notorious Fox Hill Prison, which, per the US government, suffers from severe overcrowding, poor nutrition, inadequate sanitation, and inadequate medical care.
Robinson was traveling with a friend, who agreed to look after the 12-year-old on her behalf.
Grandma Spends Nearly a Week in Prison
Robinson appeared before Bahamas Magistrate Lennox Coleby Sr. on December 4, 2025, where she pleaded guilty to her crimes.
She tearfully apologized and explained that she forgot the weapon and bullets were in her purse.
“She simply forgot that she had the gun and I’m instructed that she has a touch of dementia,” Robinson’s attorney, Attorney Bjorn Ferguson, explained.
Read Also: What Can You Not Bring on a Cruise?
Unlicensed possession of a firearm and ammunition carries an automatic jail sentence of 24-months in the Bahamas, but the magistrate agreed to spare Robison from prison if she could pay an $8,000 fine.
Since she didn’t have the funds available that day, Robinson was sent to the Fox Hill facility for what were surely five or six very long and difficult days.
Her granddaughter, Graci Exendine, created a GoFundMe on December 3 to gather enough funds to cover the fine, which raised over $12,000 in just over a week – more than enough for Robinson to go home.
According to a Facebook post from the granddaughter, Robinson had been released as of December 8.
“I just talked to Mary, she is OUT!!,” she updated, before thanking everyone who contributed to the GoFundMe or sent well wishes.
The grandmother was staying in a hotel in Nassau while she worked out the details behind getting back home.
Not the First Time This Has Happened
Despite tight security from the cruise lines and cruise ports, this is not the first time a weapon has accidentally made its way onto a cruise ship – or come close to it.
Most recently, a 77-year-old cruise guest was detained and deported while trying to board an unspecified cruise ship with a gun in Ravenna, Italy, in October.
The American man also claimed that he had forgotten that the 6.35mm Browning semi-automatic pistol was in his backpack.
Also, earlier this year, a 73-year-old passenger from the US was arrested at Japan’s Kobe Cruise Terminal after a handgun was found in his luggage.
Last year, two Carnival guests were banned for life after managing to intentionally smuggle a handgun onboard and bragging about the feat online.
Even though Robinson made an honest mistake, there is also a good chance that she was banned for life by Royal Caribbean, as the cruise line has a very strict policy concerning offenses that could threaten the safety of all onboard.
Of course, weapons, including fake guns and toys like Nerf Blasters, are strictly prohibited onboard.
