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Barcelona to Double Tax on Cruise Ship Passengers in the Coming Months

Melissa Mayntz
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Barcelona to Double Tax on Cruise Ship Passengers in the Coming Months

Key Aspects:

  • Barcelona’s mayor plans to double tourist taxes on cruise guests in the coming months.
  • The fee increase on day visits was already approved but was to have taken effect gradually over several years.
  • Guests embarking or debarking in Barcelona are not subject to the tax increase.

Barcelona can be a phenomenal destination for cruise guests to explore, rich in history, art, culture, music, and so much more. Doing so will be a bit more expensive in the coming months, however, as the city’s mayor plans to double the tax on cruise ship passengers in the hopes of discouraging their visits altogether.

According to El País, Jaume Collboni announced on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, that he wants to completely eliminate cruise ship guests visiting Barcelona as a day stop, rather than a homeport.

To do so, he plans to double the tourist tax, impacting guests from the current €4 (approximately $4.66 USD) to €8 ($9.32 USD) over the next few months. Originally, the fee increase was planned incrementally over the next few years, but now it will come into effect much sooner.

“I want to discourage cruise ship passengers from coming to Barcelona,” Collboni, who is seeking reelection as Barcelona’s mayor, stated outright.

While just a few dollars may not be much of a pinch to individual cruise guests, the impact to cruise lines could be staggering.

In May 2026, for example, one of the largest cruise ships visiting Barcelona is MSC Cruises’ MSC World Europa. The 215,900-gross-ton ship can welcome 6,762 guests per sailing.

At €8 per passenger, that would be an extra €27,048 per sailing above the existing €4 fee, or roughly $31,500 in extra fees the ship would need to pay to visit Barcelona for the day.

Cruise Ships Docked in Barcelona, Spain
Cruise Ships Docked in Barcelona, Spain (Photo Credit: Fernando M. Elkspera)

Individual cruise lines would have to decide whether to assess the extra fee on guests at the time of booking or as a fee on their shipboard accounts. In many cases, cruise lines absorb these types of fees on existing bookings that are already paid in full, which could mean a significant impact on profit margins.

Cruise Hive has previously reported that Barcelona is reducing its number of cruise terminals from 7 to 5, causing some schedule scrambling for ships now struggling for berth availability.

Many Cities Fighting Larger Cruise Ships

Barcelona has been fighting growing cruise traffic for several years, and it is not the only city to do so. Many different cities in separate cruise regions likewise prefer to limit the number of cruise guests who can visit.

This can be done in several ways. Some ports prefer to limit the overall number of ships that may visit, while others put capacity caps on the number of guests those ships may carry, welcoming smaller vessels that might stay longer and contribute more substantially to the local economy without overwhelming local infrastructure.

Adjusting the seasons when cruises may visit is a popular tactic for sailing regions such as Maine or Alaska, which only see cruise visits during certain months of the year.

The bans, limits, and caps are often challenged in local and regional courts, with different businesses and cruise lines fighting back at restrictions.

More From Cruise Hive

It can take years to work out the details of capacity limitations. In the meantime, cruise lines may either keep scheduling ships to visit ports despite the controversy and risk itinerary disruptions if bans are passed, or else they may pivot away from some ports altogether in favor of more welcoming destinations.

For now, guests booked with sailings that visit Barcelona as a day port may want to be sure their cruise budget can accommodate increased fees, or else be flexible with their travel plans if the port is removed from their itinerary.

Princess Cruises Quietly Removes Istanbul from Multiple 2027 Sailings

Lissa Poirot
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Princess Cruises Quietly Removes Istanbul from Multiple 2027 Sailings

Key Aspects:

  • Princess Cruises is removing Istanbul embarkations from multiple 2027 Mediterranean sailings.
  • Guests are sharing notices of schedule changes taking place on Enchanted Princess and Sun Princess.
  • New embarkation ports are Trieste, Italy, and Athens, Greece.

A planned overnight stay in Istanbul is disappearing from multiple 2027 Princess Cruises sailings, leaving some booked guests rethinking long-planned Mediterranean vacations.

Passengers booked on the September 14, 2027, Enchanted Princess voyage from Istanbul have learned the ship is moving embarkation to Trieste, Italy, reshaping the Eastern Mediterranean portion of the sailing.

“Please be advised that due to deployment changes, your Enchanted Princess voyage will now embark in Trieste (for Venice), Italy, on September 14, 2027, rather than in Istanbul, Turkey,” read a notice from the cruise line.

Princess also told guests the 3,660-guest ship would no longer call on Kusadasi, Turkey, or Rhodes, Mykonos, or Crete (Chania), Greece. Those ports are being replaced with Zadar, Croatia; Bar and Kotor, Montenegro; and Corfu, Greece.

Guests who shared the notices online said the itinerary change communication did not mention compensation or future cruise credits.

The affected sailing was part of a longer Mediterranean deployment for the 145,000-gross-ton Enchanted Princess, which had been scheduled as a 31-night “Best of the Mediterranean” voyage from September 4 to October 5, 2027, sailing from Athens (Piraeus), Greece, to Trieste.

Sun Princess in Europe
Sun Princess in Europe (Photo Credit: Oleh Gold)

Istanbul was scheduled as a multi-day call from September 13 to 15, allowing new passengers to embark for the next segment. That larger sailing, which included Kusadasi before and after Istanbul, is also affected by the redeployment.

For many guests, the change is more than a routine port swap, with one passenger describing it as “a whole different cruise.”

More Istanbul Departures Disappear

The change appears to be part of a broader redeployment of Enchanted Princess in 2027, although Princess Cruises has not publicly announced the removal of Istanbul from itineraries.

A Reddit user shared what was described as a notice sent to travel advisors from Princess Cruises, indicating that select 2027 Mediterranean voyages for Enchanted Princess and sister ship Sun Princess are being adjusted.

According to the shared notice, the deployment adjustment “is due to Athens (Piraeus) port availability and commercial considerations related to Istanbul turnaround.”

Additional passengers reported receiving changes affecting May 22 and June 1, 2027, sailings on Enchanted Princess that had originally been scheduled to embark in Istanbul but now begin in Athens. The change also includes a new port stop in Heraklion.

Additionally, a passenger scheduled to sail July 4, 2027, from Istanbul on the 177,882-gross-ton Sun Princess received a notice that the vessel has also been revised to sail from Athens instead.

More From Cruise Hive

Port timetables still list several 2027 Enchanted Princess and Sun Princess sailings with Istanbul embarkations, but Princess Cruises’ own booking system no longer shows Istanbul as a departure option for new bookings.

Redeployment and itinerary adjustments more than a year in advance are common in the cruise industry, particularly when cruise lines are balancing port availability, turnaround logistics, and deployment planning across multiple ships and regions.

How One Guest Turned His Disney Cruise Sea Days Into a World Record

Melissa Mayntz
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How One Guest Turned His Disney Cruise Sea Days Into a World Record

Key Aspects:

  • David Rush was a guest aboard Disney Wonder when he set a world record for breaking toothpicks in February 2025.
  • The attempt has not yet been verified due to a submission backlog, but is a significant leap over the previous record.
  • Rush seeks to break a different world record every week, even when in the middle of the ocean on a cruise.

A Disney cruise is full of activities, from trivia and crafts to entertainment, games, and music. Multiple sea days can start to drag on any cruise, however, so what should a guest do if their itinerary includes not just one or two, but 11 days at sea?

For David Rush, the answer is simple: break a world record for snapping wooden cocktail sticks.

While Rush and his family didn’t plan to be on a Disney cruise at the time, it turns out the 15-night sailing from Australia to Honolulu, Hawaii would help with another family goal, that of visiting all 63 US National Parks (the last one on their list being the National Park of American Samoa).

The easiest way for the family of four to reach the national park was onboard the ship with a port visit to American Samoa, but the transpacific itinerary ultimately included a total of 11 sea days between time in the South Pacific and North Pacific.

Rush did not specifically identify which Disney ship was the site of his record attempt, but Disney Wonder is the only ship in the magical fleet to have been in Australia in 2025, the year he made his attempt (more on the timing later!).

The ship’s February 10, 2025 departure from Sydney was the repositioning leg to Honolulu in preparation for the ship to sail first in California then in Alaska. On February 17, the ship did stop in Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa.

To fill part of the time at sea, Rush decided to work on breaking the Guinness World Record for most cocktail sticks (toothpicks) snapped in 60 seconds.

Planning the Record Attempt

Disney Cruise Line was not affiliated with Rush’s attempt on the record, but his preparations and practice did attract attention onboard.

“What started as me messing around quickly turned into a full-blown event on the ship. A crowd of passengers gathered to watch, and I had to recruit official timers and witnesses to make sure everything was completely legit,” he described. “The ship’s onboard celebrity juggler, James Bustar, even stepped in to help judge.”

To set up for the record, Rush arranged the cocktail sticks along the edge of a bar for easy grabbing in a straight, smooth line. He had already broken a similar record previously, so he knows the rhythm and plan necessary to make it work.

The “60 seconds of chaos” commenced, with Rush hyper focused on snapping each stick cleanly. If even a sliver remained connected between fragments, that pick would be disqualified and not count toward the record total.

When the timer finished, and after painstaking verification of each clean break, a total of 84 toothpicks thoroughly snapped the previous record of 58.

Not Quite Confirmed Yet

More than a year after the attempt, however, Rush has not yet received confirmation of his achievement. Guinness World Records is very backed up with verification of these types of records, so the “official” count remains at 58, set by Harrison Niswander in Huntington, Indiana in November 2020.

Because Rush seeks to break a different world record every week, he’s familiar with the verification process and how long it may take when attempts are submitted individually. To date, he has broken more than 350 Guinness World Records.

While many cruise ships are record-breakers in terms of size, amenities, and other statistics, Rush’s attempt actually isn’t the first world record onboard a ship.

Cruise Hive reported in February 2026 that Princess Cruises broke the record for eight hours of margarita sales onboard Regal Princess. MSC Cruises also holds a fun record, that of the longest line of LEGO ships in a row, which was set onboard MSC World America as the ship prepared to make her debut.

Virgin Voyages Crew Member in Tears After Guest’s Surprise $5,000 Tip

Lissa Poirot
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Virgin Voyages Crew Member in Tears After Guest’s Surprise $5,000 Tip

Key Aspects:

  • A Virgin Voyages passenger tipped a crew member $5,000.
  • The crew member was visibly emotional in the widely shared video.
  • The video has sparked new discussions of the importance of tipping on cruises.

A routine conversation between a cruise passenger and a member of the housekeeping crew aboard a Virgin Voyages ship turned emotional after the guest unexpectedly handed the crew member $5,000 in cash.

The viral video, originally shared on Instagram by Bobby Rivass, shows him asking the crew member, identified as Jinky, what the largest tip she has received during her current contract had been. She responded that her biggest gratuity so far was $300.

Then the cruise guest handed her a thick stack of cash totaling $5,000, causing the stunned Jinky to say “oh no, please no” and ask “it’s for real?” while beginning to cry in the clip.

Rivass told her the money was for her hard work and explained that he had won the cash in the ship’s casino. “It’s better in your hands than in mine,” he said as he hugged Jinky and thanked her for her hard work.

Jinky said she planned to share the tip with her crew partner, Iwayan.

The video quickly gained traction online, with thousands of comments praising both the generosity of the guest and the demanding work cruise ship members perform behind the scenes every day.

Many commenters pointed out how significant a $5,000 tip could be for crew members supporting families back home, even noting that the amount could represent a substantial portion of an annual salary in some countries.

Jinky is believed to be from the Philippines, one of the largest sources of cruise ship labor globally.

Why Tipping Remains a Part of Cruise Culture

The viral Virgin Voyages video reignited a long-running debate across the cruise industry about how crew members are paid, where gratuity money actually goes, and whether passengers should still hand over extra cash, even after paying automatic service charges.

Virgin Voyages built much of its early reputation around a “no tipping” model, advertising that gratuities were included in the cruise fare.

In September 2025, however, the cruise line introduced three airline-style fare tiers, Base, Essential, and Premium, while also unbundling gratuities from the cruise fare and listing them separately for the first time.

Passengers booking under the new system can either prepay gratuities at $20 per person, per night before sailing or pay $22 per person, per night onboard.

Virgin Voyages maintains that the overall vacation cost has not increased and says the move was intended to create more transparency around where gratuity money goes.

The pricing mirrors other industry-wide policies with most major cruise lines automatically charging daily gratuities from roughly $16 to $25 per person, depending on the cruise line and cabin category.

Social media and Cruise Hive boards are filled with debates over whether passengers should remove automatic gratuities and tip crew directly instead.

More From Cruise Hive

Former crew members and workers have repeatedly said direct cash tips are often preferred because they go straight to the employee rather than into broader tip pools shared among departments.

Critics argue removing pooled gratuities hurts behind-the-scenes workers like galley staff and laundry crews who also rely on shared tip distributions. 

Despite automatic charges, cash tipping remains common with viral stories over the years highlighting extreme generosity, such as the case of Rivass and Jinky.

Could Cruise Lines Be Sued for Chair Hogs? One Lawsuit Sets the Precedent

Melissa Mayntz
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Could Cruise Lines Be Sued for Chair Hogs? One Lawsuit Sets the Precedent

Key Aspects:

  • A German tourist has successfully sued his tour company for chair hogs at a resort in Greece.
  • While a cruise line was not involved in this lawsuit, this could be a precedent for similar legal action.
  • Most cruise lines have policies limiting lounger reservations, but enforcement is inconsistent.

Lounging by the pool is the perfect cruise activity for thousands of guests every week, but thousands more get frustrated and angry when they can’t find that ideal lounger in the right spot. While cruise ships do have hundreds of loungers available, chair hogs often “reserve” prime loungers for hours with little regard for sharing with other guests.

On sea days, in particular, every lounger by cruise ship pools or in adult-only areas may be reserved very early, with no further seats available throughout the day.

Using towels, books, hats, or even pieces of fruit to claim a chair, often in the wee hours of the morning, is a common tactic by inconsiderate guests. Cruise lines do set time limits for such claims, but guests often report a lack of enforcement of official policies.

One recent lawsuit might have the potential to change that, however. According to the BBC, a German tourist filed a lawsuit against his tour company because he was unable to enjoy a lounger during a hotel resort vacation in Greece.

Like cruise lines, the resort had a policy banning reserving loungers with towels, but the policy was not enforced. Each day, the tourist, who has not been further identified, searched for loungers for his family of four for 20 minutes as early as 6 a.m., but was unsuccessful.

Arguments included the idea that the tour company failed to ensure the resort’s ban on lounge reservations was enforced, which impacted the overall quality of the vacation experience.

Judges agreed, and the court awarded the man a refund of €986.70 (approximately $1,150 USD) on his €7,186 ($8,371 USD) holiday package. This roughly 14% refund might just take the sting out of not getting a lounger for those poolside days.

Could Cruise Lines Be Sued Over Loungers?

While this particular lawsuit does not involve a cruise line, it could serve as a wake-up call to cruise lines about their lounge reservation policies.

Most cruise guests have seen chair hogging in action, when a lounger is “reserved” with a towel or other simple item. Some chair hogs have gotten even more creative, such as tying chairs together to rope them off or, as Cruise Hive recently reported, using a mannequin to create the (not very good) illusion that the lounger is in use.

Chair Hog Carnival Enforcement
Chair Hog Carnival Enforcement

These incidents happen on every cruise line, every sailing length, and every size of ship. With larger and larger ships hosting thousands of guests on each sailing, prime loungers can be even more coveted and hard to secure.

Read Also: The 13 Worst Types of People You’ll Meet on Every Cruise

Typically, cruise lines have a limit to how long any lounger can be reserved. Carnival Cruise Line, for example, has crew members who note when loungers are reserved and work to enforce a 40-minute time limit.

“Shipboard team members, the ‘ChairShare Team’ monitor sun lounger usage and if they observe a seat that contains a towel or personal belongings (flip-flops, books, etc.) but appears to be unoccupied, a sticker is placed on the chair indicating the time the sticker was placed and when personal items will be removed,” the official policy reads.

“If the chair remains unoccupied for 40 minutes, the contents are removed and held for the guest’s safekeeping.”

Announcements are made over the public address system, printed in the daily FunTimes newsletter, and posted in the Carnival Hub app to ensure everyone is aware of the policy. Signage is also posted near pool and sundeck areas.

For Royal Caribbean, the policy states, “If a pool chair is left unattended for more than 30 minutes with no signs of any guests returning, our crew will remove any belongings and place them in the lost and found.“

More From Cruise Hive

Similar policies are in place on most major cruise lines. In practice, however, such time limits are not always enforced and crew members may be reluctant to remove guests’ personal possessions in case doing so sparks a more unpleasant confrontation.

Nevertheless, if guests could successfully sue cruise lines that fail to enforce their own lounger reservation policies, perhaps chair hogs would be more strictly monitored and loungers might become more available to everyone.

Seward Cruise Terminal Opening Delayed After Inspection Uncovers Issues

Catie Kovelman
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Seward Cruise Terminal Opening Delayed After Inspection Uncovers Issues

Key Aspects:

  • Due to the findings of a recent inspection, Seward’s revitalized cruise terminal needs a little more time before opening.
  • The opening date has been pushed back from May 14, 2026, to May 22, 2026.
  • During the delay, cruise ships bound for Seward are being rerouted to the nearby Whittier, Alaska.

Seward’s revitalized cruise terminal is almost ready to start welcoming cruise ships for the 2026 Alaska season, but needs just a little bit more time.

Through a partnership with the Alaska Railroad Company, Royal Caribbean Group, and Turnagain Marine, the entire port has essentially been rebuilt to feature a state-of-the-art double-berth floating pier and a 41,500-square-foot cruise terminal.

The major investment, which was first announced as the “Port of Tomorrow” in 2022, cost an estimated $137 million.

While the new and improved facilities are still expected to be ready this spring, as was originally planned, the official opening date has been pushed back from May 14, 2026, until May 22, 2026.

“The Cruise Ship Terminal will delay opening and receiving passengers until May 22nd (rather than the originally scheduled date, May 14th),” the Seward Chamber of Commerce posted on social media.

“The delay is due to a recent inspection that revealed several large clusters of piles that need to be removed prior to receiving ships,” the post continued.

The clusters of piles, which are heavy vertical steel or concrete columns driven into the seabed to aid in docking that are also known as marine dolphins, need to be removed prior to receiving cruise ships.

After May 22, a temporary trestle and mooring dolphin will be used for the remainder of the season. These marine structures will be able to allow larger ships to dock safely, including Royal Caribbean’s Quantum-class ship, Ovation of the Seas.

Where Will Cruise Ships Go Instead?

During the delay, impacted vessels will dock in Whittier, Alaska, instead of Seward. Whittier is only about 88.5 miles away from Seward by land, which is a drive that takes around an hour and 45 minutes.

“The ships that were to dock in Seward prior to May 22nd will be rerouted to Whittier, AK,” the Seward Chamber of Commerce confirmed.

Cruise Hive also previously reported that this is exactly what Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas would be doing for its May 15 and May 22 itineraries.

New Seward Cruise Port and Terminal
New Seward Cruise Port and Terminal (Credit: The Seward Company)

Eventually, the 168,666-gross ton vessel will split homeporting operations between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seward as it sails one-way, 7-night itineraries back and forth between the two destinations.

Assuming there are no further opening delays, the 4,180-guest ship should finally make it to Seward at the end of its May 29 sailing, which is scheduled to arrive in Seward for debarkation on June 5.

What Other Cruise Ships are Impacted?

Because of the unexpected delay, three other vessels were rerouted from Seward to Whittier.

These included Silversea Cruises’ Silver Moon, Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Summit, and Viking Cruises’ Viking Venus.

The 596-guest Silver Moon was supposed to visit Seward first on May 14 to begin a one-way, 7-night sailing from Seward to Vancouver. Celebrity Summit was up next on May 15, beginning its own one-way sailing to Vancouver.

Viking Venus’s cancelled visit date is still in the future. The 930-guest ship would have stopped in the port as part of a 35-night, one-way sailing from Hong Kong, China, to Vancouver, on May 20.

Cruise tracking data also shows that two ships from UnCruise Adventures, Wilderness Explorer and Safari Explorer, also stopped in Seward on May 15. At this time, it appears these vessels were the exception that were not rerouted.

Perhaps because these vessels are so small, with a capacity for less than 100 guests on each ship, they were easier to accommodate as planned.

Even with the delay, Seward is still expecting a busy Alaska season. Through its partnership with the port, Royal Caribbean alone guarantees 140,000 passengers per year.

Carnival Cruise Ship Saves Nine People Adrift in Disabled Boat

Catie Kovelman
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Carnival Cruise Ship Saves Nine People Adrift in Disabled Boat

Key Aspects:

  • Carnival’s Mardi Gras came to the aid of a disabled boat near Sebastian’s Inlet.
  • Nine people were successfully rescued and brought onboard, and their boat was later retrieved by the US Coast Guard.
  • The refugees were handed over to Bahamian authorities in Nassau the morning after the rescue.

Carnival Cruise Line to the rescue! On Saturday, May 16, 2026, Mardi Gras stopped to aid nine stranded people adrift near Sebastian Inlet, which is located on Florida’s central east coast.

The Excel-class ship had only just departed Port Canaveral for a 7-night Eastern Caribbean sailing at 3:30 p.m. EDT when it stumbled upon the disabled vessel.

Crew members had noticed that the people onboard were waving a distress flag and flailing their arms to get the cruise ship’s attention.

No time was wasted, with select crew members immediately boarding a small lifeboat to rendezvous with the stranded craft and assess the situation. The US Coast Guard was also notified.

All nine guests were soon brought onboard the cruise ship, where they would have been provided with food, water, and any necessary medical attention. Carnival Cruise Line confirmed the rescue in an email to Cruise Hive.

“Carnival Mardi Gras came to the rescue of nine people aboard a distressed vessel on Saturday, off the coast of Sebastian Inlet, Florida. The ship’s crew spotted the vessel displaying a distress flag, notified the U.S. Coast Guard, and safely brought all nine adults aboard,” the Carnival Spokesperson wrote.

Per some of the up to 5,270 current passengers, the disabled craft was left behind and was presumably picked up by the US Coast Guard and towed back to shore later.

“The Carnival Mardi Gras found this boat in distress just off the coast of Florida and stopped to help. [Nine] folks are on board being medically assessed and the Coast Guard is on the way to get their boat,” one of the current guests posted on Facebook.

It’s unclear what caused the boat to malfunction, how long the people had been drifting, and where they were trying to go.

Refugees Disembarked in Nassau

The nine unexpected passengers only got to spend one night onboard Mardi Gras. They were disembarked in Nassau, Bahamas, and put in the care of local authorities on Sunday, May 17.

“They remained in the ship’s care until arrival in Nassau, Bahamas on Sunday afternoon where they disembarked the vessel with Bahamian authorities,” Carnival confirmed in its statement to Cruise Hive.

While in the custody of Bahamian authorities, the refugees will be screened to determine if any additional medical care is needed. The officials will then decide if they are entitled to asylum or make the necessary arrangements to repatriate the surprise guests.

Mardi Gras Rescue
Mardi Gras Rescue (Photo Credit: Leon Lightfoot)

There was no impact to any of the cruise passengers, many of whom celebrated the successful rescue, nor were any itinerary changes reported as a result of Carnival’s heroism.

Before returning to Port Canaveral on May 23, the 180,800-gross ton vessel is still scheduled to visit Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos; and Celebration Key in the Bahamas.

Carnival Will Always Come to the Rescue

While some cruisers might worry that bringing refugees onboard might risk the safety of paying passengers, Carnival Cruise Line will always stop to rescue those in need.

“We have a commitment to rescue those in peril on the sea…What I can say is we will always rescue those in peril on the sea,” Brand Ambassador John Heald asserted on his Facebook page in June of 2025.

It’s also important to note that refugees are never just given free run of the ship. They are kept under the watchful eye of the security team in designated areas, away from normal guests.

While this is something that Carnival is proud to do, it’s also something that the cruise line is required to do by Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), which is an international set of maritime rules and standards.

Under SOLAS Chapter V, Regulation 33, any captain of a ship at sea who receives information from any source that persons are in distress must offer aid as quickly as possible. Doing so can mean the difference between life and death.

This also wasn’t the first rescue from a Carnival ship this year. In April, Carnival Legend stopped to rescue a man and his cat from a disabled sailboat while en route to Cozumel.

And in February, Carnival Celebration rescued five people from a sinking makeshift craft during a Western Caribbean cruise.

Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas Goes Dark After Cozumel Departure

Lissa Poirot
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Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas Goes Dark After Cozumel Departure

Key Aspects: 

  • Radiance of the Seas temporarily lost power after departing Cozumel on May 16, 2026.
  • Guests reported the ship went dark and drifted for a period before propulsion was restored.
  • Passengers also reported the ship had returned to Cozumel before the outage to deal with a medical emergency.

Passengers aboard Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas experienced an unsettling night at sea after the ship temporarily lost power while sailing through the Gulf of Mexico following its May 16, 2026, call in Cozumel.

The incident occurred during the vessel’s current four-night Western Caribbean cruise sailing roundtrip from Tampa, Florida.

Guests onboard began posting updates online around 10:00 p.m. local time, shortly after the 90,090-gross-ton ship carrying up to 2,143 guests reportedly went dark in the evening, finding themselves in pitch blackness.

“On Radiance now and power went off about 15 minutes ago, engines at a full stop,” shared one passenger on Facebook who is onboard the vessel.

Multiple passengers described public areas suddenly losing lighting while the vessel drifted without propulsion for a short period of time. Some passengers tracking the ship’s movement through cruise mappers noticed the ship slowing significantly after the outage.

Within an hour, guests returned to social media to share that the captain had announced power was restored and the ship was expected to regain its schedule, with more reports that the ship had drifted for some time and power was lost a second time before the full restoration.

Cruise Hive’s tracking data now shows Radiance of the Seas sailing through the Gulf of Mexico at approximately 17 knots, or about 20 miles per hour, on course for Tampa, where it is scheduled to conclude its voyage at 7:00 a.m. on May 18.

Radiance of the Seas Tracking
Radiance of the Seas Tracking (Cruise Hive)

Royal Caribbean has not yet publicly commented on the incident or confirmed what caused the temporary power loss, which some passengers reported resulted in an in-the-dark acoustic dance party with guests shining flashlights to provide light.

“Seems to be all good to go now and no problems through the night,” added another passenger on May 17.

Ship Returned to Cozumel Before Outage

The power interruption unfolded during one of Royal Caribbean’s shorter Gulf sailings aboard the Radiance-class vessel, which regularly operates out of the Port of Tampa during the spring and winter cruise seasons.

Built in 2001, Radiance of the Seas is part of the cruise line’s older Radiance class. Its current itinerary departed Tampa on May 14, 2026, with a single scheduled port stop in Cozumel before returning to Florida.

Read Also: Royal Caribbean Ships By Age: Newest to Oldest

The ship spent 12 hours in Cozumel on May 16 before departing at 5:00 p.m. Guests later noticed the vessel changed course and returned to Cozumel about an hour later following a reported medical emergency onboard.

One passenger commenting online said the emergency involved “an older woman and her husband, who got off,” though Royal Caribbean has not publicly confirmed details surrounding the guest’s condition.

More From Cruise Hive

After leaving Cozumel for the second time, passengers said the ship then experienced the temporary blackout about an hour later. While passengers described the turnaround and outage as unsettling, no itinerary changes or delays have been announced.

Passengers scheduled to sail on Radiance of the Seas’ subsequent voyage, a 5-night journey to Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico, departing at 4:00 p.m. on May 18, 2026, should not expect any delays.

Guests Get an Unexpected Waterfall Aboard Enchanted Princess

Melissa Mayntz
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Guests Get an Unexpected Waterfall Aboard Enchanted Princess

Key Aspects:

  • A burst pipe onboard Enchanted Princess caused massive flooding on Decks 5 and 6 on Friday, May 15.
  • The ship was docked in Santorini at the time and crew members sprang into action for cleanup and repairs.
  • There was no delay in the ship’s overall itinerary and some guests never even knew the leak had happened.

Hiking is a great way to see amazing vistas in Santorini, Greece, and while the island is not known for waterfalls, guests onboard Enchanted Princess got a rare glimpse of a waterfall during their visit on Friday, May 15, 2026.

Granted, the waterfall was actually on the 145,300-gross-ton ship and the 3,660 guests may not have been expecting a massive leak and flooding on Decks 5 and 6, but that is what they got.

A guest onboard shared footage of the incident on Instagram, showing the dramatic waterfall event through numerous short videos.

The leak occurred from the ceiling of the Crooner’s Bar on Deck 6 (Fiesta Deck), on the starboard side of the atrium just aft of the casino. So extensive was the deluge that water seeped across to the port side of the deck and cascaded down the atrium stairs.

Crew members worked swiftly to control the water, using pool towels to soak up the spillage and even scooping water into wastebaskets with a strange similarity to bailing out the ship. Portable dryers were then brought into service to dry out the flooring and finish the cleanup.

Flooding on Enchanted Princess Cruise Ship
Flooding on Enchanted Princess Cruise Ship (Credit: @travelwiththetylers)

“Pipe that connects to the pool broke and caused the water to spill out,” the guest elaborated as the situation was clarified. “Crew did a FANTASTIC job cleaning up while we were in port all day.”

Various officers and technicians were keeping track of the situation, assessing damage, and working on repairs.

Within 36 hours, the leak was repaired and while dryers were still in use, the walkways and other impacted public areas on Enchanted Princess were reopened. One bar area remained closed as the final stages of the cleanup wrapped up.

“Princess crew has done incredible with cleaning up & minimizing impact to the guests,” the original poster noted, even explaining that some guests who had been out exploring Santorini at the time of the leak never even knew the incident occurred.

Enchanted Princess departed on her current 7-night sailing from Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy on Tuesday, May 12. Santorini was the ship’s second port visit after an earlier stop in Naples, and the ship has also visited Kusadasi in Turkey as well as Katakolon in Greece.

There appears to be no change in the ship’s itinerary and she is due back in Civitavecchia for debarkation on Tuesday, May 19. Likewise, there is no adjustment to her next 7-night sailing at this time.

Not the First Ship With Unexpected Water Events

Water is a huge part of the cruise experience, not only because cruising is literally on the ocean, but also for the pools and whirlpools onboard, fantastic beach days, onboard waterslides, waterparks at private islands, and more.

Not all water is an intentional part of cruising, however, and Cruise Hive has reported on other flooding incidents from burst pipes on different ships.

In fact, a very similar incident occurred in April 2025 when a pipe burst on Sky Princess, sister ship to Enchanted Princess, in nearly the same area.

Rough storms may also occasionally cause flooding when water intrudes from the outer decks. Pool overflows are another way onboard floods occur, such as when Harmony of the Seas made a sharp turn in January 2023 and caused the main pool to overflow with water cascading down six decks.

Sprinkler malfunctions and backed-up toilets are other ways that flooding may occur on cruise ships.

More From Cruise Hive

In every situation, crew members react swiftly to contain the water, stop the leak, and clean up impacted areas so guests’ cruise experiences can continue without being too waterlogged.

While such unexpected water might at first be unnerving on a cruise ship (and bring Titanic jokes out faster than one can say “Iceberg!”), many guests can look back at such incidents with a smile about the unique vacation memory they can laugh at later.

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