Cruise Ship Guest Zooms In On Royal Caribbean Icon Of The Seas. Then They Spot Something Unusual: ‘This Is Not A Real Lady’

Cruise ships have a lot of Easter eggs that travelers can discover over the course of their journey.

For example, Disney Cruise passengers can spend hours finding all of the subtle references to Disney properties that lay all around the ship. Travelers on other cruise lines often create Easter Eggs themselves, with a common trend being hiding rubber ducks in hard-to-reach places of the vessel.

While many of these Easter eggs are fun, some cruise ship discoveries can be a bit creepy. Now, one TikTok user has questions after seeing something.

What Is This Woman Doing On A Cruise Ship?

In a video with over 772,000 views, TikTok user Cedy Lewis (@cedthekidd) shows Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas ship. On the top deck, a series of chairs and tables are visible. Below, there appears to be a tourist taking a photo. The tourist is not moving, nor is it clear how they got there in the first place, as there appear to be no entrances and exits to that area.

“It took me 10 minutes before realizing that this is not a real lady,” Lewis writes in the video’s overlay text.

Upon closer inspection, it seems he’s right. The “tourist” does not move, and in other photos from the ship, the “woman” appears in the same spot wearing the same clothing at different times of day and night.

Why Is This ‘Woman’ On The Ship?

In response to the video, people began discussing why this statue was there in the first place.

“Probably a floor people can’t access and they want the place to appear more people friendly,” speculated a user.

“Those are there to keep pirates away,” declared another.

“I suspect it’s a security camera lol,” suggested a third.

But what’s the true reason?

For his part, Lewis wrote in a comment that he simply believes it to be “art.” This, according to information from Royal Caribbean, appears to be the correct answer.

Icon of the Seas is filled with works of art. According to ICArt, the ship is home to around 10,000 individual pieces of artwork. These pieces can range from prints to paintings to, it seems, realistic human statues.

In addition to commissioned collections, Royal Caribbean has an “Artist Discovery Program.” The company’s website says the program is “designed to provide local, emerging artists with the opportunity to showcase their work to global audiences.” This is done by placing their work on Royal Caribbean ships, at the same time providing them with a significant commission budget.

The artist behind these specific, human-like pieces is unclear; BroBible has reached out to Royal Caribbean for more information.

Could There Be Another Reason For These Statues?

These statues could have other benefits. In the comments of many discussions of these mannequins, users speculate that these statues may assist the ship by scaring off birds.

This theory isn’t absurd. Similar to how scarecrows are used to frighten birds away from crops, there’s some evidence that placing a human figure in a location will deter birds from the area.

Studies show that the more lifelike a decoy is, the more effective it can be. However, they also show that, over time, birds will become habituated to a statue in a single place.

That said, this could be mitigated by the fact that cruise ships are frequently traveling to different destinations. Thus, the new flocks of birds they encounter at each location will not have the time to get acclimated to the statue’s presence.

Commenters Aren’t Fans

Regardless of the reason they’re there, some commenters insisted that they found the statues unsettling.

“I don’t like it,” said a user.

“I’ve watched too many horror movies to be okay with this,” offered another.

“I was on icon in February, my husband and I couldn’t figure out why a lady was standing there with a camera for hours one day…then we realized,” recalled a third. “I put the drink down for a while.”

BroBible reached out to Royal Caribbean via email and Lewis via Instagram and TikTok direct message.