Man Faces 5 Years in Prison Over Cruise Ship Bomb Threat
Key Aspects:
Daquan Lamont Smith has been federally indicted for making a threat against passengers aboard a cruise ship in December 2025.
The ship was not specified, but Smith’s recorded threat said he was on a cruise from the Bahamas with a bomb on the boat and the intention to blow it up.
If convicted the 20-year-old Smith could face up to five years in federal prison under US federal law.
A 20-year-old man from Chicago, Illinois, identified as Daquan Lamont Smith, has been federally indicted on a charge of interstate transmission of a threat against passengers onboard a cruise ship.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida in a release on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, Smith made a recorded call with the threatening statement on December 6, 2025.
“I’m on the cruise boat coming from Bahamas that left two days ago, and I’m letting you guys know now I have a bomb on the boat and I want to blow it up,” he said.
The ship Smith was allegedly traveling on has not been identified, but multiple cruise lines travel to the Bahamas from different US homeports every week, on sailings as short as two nights and up to a week or longer. The recipient of the threatening call has not been disclosed.
It is also unknown what port or ports Smith may have visited in the Bahamas during the sailing. Nassau, Freeport, and Bimini are popular options, as are multiple private island destinations such as Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day CocoCay, Carnival Cruise Line’s Celebration Key, and MSC Cruises’ Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve.
The indictment is an official charge of the crime, which has been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and will be prosecuted by the Assistant US Attorneys in the Orlando division of the US Attorney’s Office. Smith is presumed innocent until he may be proven guilty.
If he is convicted, Smith could face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
Not the First Bomb Threat Cruise Lines Have Faced
Smith’s statement is not the first bomb threat that different cruise lines and ports have faced, and every such threat is taken seriously for the safety of guests, crew members, and vessels.
For example, in January 2024, then 19-year-old Joshua Darrell Lowe II emailed a bomb threat to Carnival Cruise Line, alleging a bomb onboard the 2,984-guest Carnival Sunrise shortly after the ship had departed PortMiami.
The threat generated an emergency response, including a search of the ship’s 1,000 staterooms and the involvement of the US Coast Guard and Jamaican Marine Police, as the ship diverted to Jamaica for the search. The threat turned out to be a hoax Lowe made because he was upset with his girlfriend who was onboard the ship, and he was later convicted and sentenced to eight months in prison.
Cruise Hive has also covered when similar threats have been made against ports rather than individual vessels. All such threats are taken just as seriously.
On March 30, 2026, an “unspecified bomb threat” was called in to the Port of San Diego while Disney Wonder was in port, causing a slight delay in debarkation while the cruise terminal was searched. No bomb was found and the cruise terminal reopened after approximately two hours.
A bomb threat was also made to PortMiami on March 3, 2025, which disrupted port operations and traffic for several hours while five cruise ships were in port. No credible danger was discovered in that incident.