MIAMI — Royal Caribbean has banned a group of men from traveling on the cruise line after one of them jumped off a ship and posted a video of the stunt to social media.
Nick Naydev, 27, of of Vancouver, Washington, posted the video Friday on Instagram showing him standing on the balcony of the Symphony of the Seas and jumping off as his friends cheer him on, The Sun Sentinel reported. As of Friday morning, the video had more than 178,000 views.
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The video was shot by Naydev’s friend, Konstantin Kryachun.
"He's jumped from those kind of heights before, and we didn't really care about the consequences with the cruise company," Kryachun told Yahoo Lifestyle. "We just wanted to get a video of it and make it go viral."
Naydev hasn’t responded to media requests for comment, but he’s responded to comments on the Instagram video. He estimated he jumped from about 110 to 120 feet above the water.
“I was still drunk from the previous night. When I woke up, I just decided to jump,’’ he responded to a user on Instagram. “My feet were actually fine. It was my neck and tailbone that hurt.”
It’s unclear what exactly happened after Naydev jumped into the water, but a comment said he was picked up by a small boat and brought onto the ship by police to gather his things and leave. Naydev further explained in comments, “my whole group got kicked off and I got banned for life from any cruise” and he had to catch a flight back to Miami.
While the video has been seen hundreds of thousands of times, not everyone is impressed with Naydev’s stunt -- especially not Royal Caribbean.
“This was stupid and reckless behavior and he and his companions have been banned from ever sailing with us again,’’ Royal Caribbean spokesman Owen Torres said in a statement. “We are exploring legal action.”
The incident happened just a few days after a 16-year-old boy died after falling off another Royal Caribbean ship, Harmony of the Seas, while trying to climb a balcony and access another stateroom.
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