In an interview set to air Monday, Chris and Dana White told Inside Edition that they discovered a recording device hidden among TV wires in their stateroom last October on the Carnival Fantasy, a three-day Caribbean cruise departing from Mobile, Alabama.
"I said, 'Is that what I think it is?' " Chris White said. "And she looked at it and she became concerned. And we were just really flabbergasted that there's a camera in the room and it's plugged up and it's working."
The couple called Carnival security and used their cellphone to film an employee who inspected and disassembled the device. "I was thinking, 'I can't believe this is actually happening to us,' " he said.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Carnival acknowledged a "video transmitter" was found during a full investigation by the shipboard team, but notes it "was not connected to an electrical source and not capable of recording."
"This is certainly a unique and unusual occurrence and it is unclear who or why this transmitter was placed in the guest’s stateroom," the statement said. "The safety and security of our guests and crew is of paramount importance and we have taken measures so that this sort of situation does not happen again."
Chris White disagreed, making it clear that the device "was a camera. It was wired up. It was working. It was warm to the touch."