Waterfront views aboard P&O Cruisesโ Azura took on a whole new meaning for several passengers when they were woken in the middle of the night by alarms and flooding in their cabin.
Marcus and Melissa, a UK couple currently sailing a Canary Islands voyage that departed Tenerife on January 10, 2025, caught the evacuations on their phones.
After enjoying a day at sea, the couple were woken by alarms on the second evening of their cruise after 2 a.m. and realized their cabin was flooded.
While videoing the damage for their YouTube channel, Fly Drive Explore, crew members escorted the couple out of their Midship room on Deck 8 and directed them to Brodies British Pub at 2:58 a.m. to join passengers from what Marcus estimated were another 20 to 26 affected cabins.
โYou need to get out,โ said an off-camera crew member. โSheโs got a flood, so weโll just clear people out, and you can go down to Brodies while we solve everything. Leave everything here.โ
During the evacuation video, the captain can be heard announcing that a burst pipe from one of the shipsโ swimming pools had caused flooding in โthe higher levels of the ship,โ but it was under control. The pools nearest to the Midship flooding, the Coral and Aqua pools, are located on Deck 15.
The patient couple waited nearly two hours before they were given a dry cabin to sleep in. They had only the clothing they were wearing and some valuables they had grabbed during the evacuation.
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The next morning, after not receiving any status update, the couple returned to their original cabin to discover the doors were open with all their things inside as the crew left fans in the still-soaked room to help dry it out.
A full day later, while enjoying the 3,100-guest shipโs first call in Funchal, Madeira, on January 13, the couple gave a follow-up, saying, โThe service in reception was terrible; they didnโt even know what was going on. It wasnโt until 2 p.m. that we were told we would be staying in the room we had been moved to,โ said Marcus.
The duo described the new and smaller cabin as less than ideal. It is located in the forward of the ship on Deck 3, just above the thrusters, which wake them every morning, and is outfitted with two single beds.
Mel said they were told they would be compensated for the inconvenience but did not know what that would be. Marcus admitted the service has put them โoff going on another P&O Cruise again.โ
The couple has not shared any additional updates from the voyage, which includes calls in Gran Canaria and Arrecife in the Canary Islands. P&O Azura will return to Tenerife on January 17.
The ship is scheduled to enter drydock for regular maintenance in March 2025, taking place between its last Canary Islandโs voyage ending on March 8 and before Azura begins to homeport in Malta for a season in the Mediterranean on March 27.
High Seas Flooding Hiccups
Burst pipes can strike at any time, whether in a home or on a massive cruise ship. In fact, a day after the P&O Azura incident, a passenger reported a burst pipe aboard Norwegian Epicโs 7-night roundtrip Caribbean journey from Port Canaveral, Florida.
On January 14, the guest reported the incident at 7:30 p.m., just after the 155,873-gross-ton vessel left Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
โNo water in cabins or restrooms,โ he said.
However, another passenger said the issue was โfixed and working in less than an hour.โ
In December, a water leak on Royal Caribbeanโs 225,282-gross-ton Allure of the Seas also forced many passengers to be relocated after a flood on Forward Deck 10 during a 3-night roundtrip cruise to the Bahamas from Miami.