Couple Reveals Scene in Flooded Cruise Cabin and What Happened Next

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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.

โ€œYou need to get out,โ€ said an off-camera crew member. โ€œSheโ€™s got a flood, so weโ€™ll 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 โ€œthe 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. 

Read Also: How to Stay Safe and Enjoy Your Cruise Vacation

Flooded cabin on P&O Azura
Flooded cabin on P&O Azura (Photo Credit: Fly Drive Explore)

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 shipโ€™s first call in Funchal, Madeira, on January 13, the couple gave a follow-up, saying, โ€œThe service in reception was terrible; they didnโ€™t even know what was going on. It wasnโ€™t 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 โ€œoff 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 Islandโ€™s 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 Epicโ€™s 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. 

โ€œNo water in cabins or restrooms,โ€ he said.

However, another passenger said the issue was โ€œfixed and working in less than an hour.โ€

In December, a water leak on Royal Caribbeanโ€™s 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.

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Lissa Poirot
Lissa Poirot
Lissa Poirot has been covering travel for more than a decade, including sites such as TripAdvisor, CruiseCritic, The Points Guy, Family Vacation Critic, and Family Traveller. Her love of travel has led Lissa to visit more than 43 countries and has her on a mission to see every state in the U.S. (only 4 states to go!). When she's not traveling, she's exploring new attractions and events on the weekends, be it in New York City or Philadelphia, as Lissa lives between both fabulous cities.

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