Welcome to another edition of Cruise News Update, Cruise Hive’s exciting recap of our top stories. Highlights of this week’s coverage include the new waterpark Norwegian Cruise Line has planned for Great Stirrup Cay, the tsunami warning that caused a cruise ship to temporarily leave guests behind, and Royal Caribbean’s extension of cancelled visits to Labadee.
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Cruise Guest Tumbles Over Infinity Pool Railing
A scary video of a cruise guest tumbling over a poolside railing went viral on social media, but a tragic outcome was averted thanks to the presence of a second safety railing.
It happened in the Hideaway Pool area on Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas. A guest enjoying the infinity pool is seen reaching for something over the edge of the pool railing and then falling over the railing. Witnesses indicated he or she was reaching for sunglasses.
Thankfully, a walkway and second railing interrupted the guest’s fall. But the guest was not in a location where he or she could have fallen off the ship and into the ocean.
The blurry video appears to show a glass railing at the edge of the pool. It looks like the guest hit the second railing and landed between the two glass railings.
It was the second untoward incident that happened on that sailing of Icon of the Seas. Earlier in the cruise, a crew member jumped overboard and died. He apparently jumped after stabbing another crew member on the ship. That employee was treated for injuries.
Icon of the Seas is based at PortMiami and sails alternating 7-night Eastern and Western Caribbean voyages.
Guest Dies Aboard Carnival Dream
Agents from the FBI are handling a routine investigation of the death of a cruise passenger aboard Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Dream on July 23, 2025.
The cruise line has stated that no criminal activity is suspected and that the FBI’s involvement was standard protocol.
Emergency alarms sounded sometime between 3 and 4 a.m., according to guests onboard the 3,646-guest ship, as the vessel sailed from Costa Maya, Mexico, to Belize City. The ship is based in Galveston and was sailing a 6-night Western Caribbean itinerary.
The guest who died was identified as 48-year-old Euvelester Villarreal Jr of Rio Grande City, Texas. No cause of death was made public.
Guests who disembarked the ship in Galveston when the cruise ended on July 26, 2025 indicated they saw law enforcement officers boarding the ship. In fact, disembarkation was apparently delayed due to the investigation, but the ship’s next sailing, an 8-night Bahamas cruise, departed on schedule later that day.
The presence of the FBI sparked rumors on social media about the passenger’s death, but the investigation was standard operating procedure.
Massive Waterpark on Tap for Great Stirrup Cay
Norwegian Cruise Line’s Great Stirrup Cay, a private island in the Bahamas, will soon have a lot more to offer guests, including the 6-acre Great Tides Waterpark.
Opening in summer 2026, the park will offer 19 waterslides, an 800-foot lazy river that will feature an accelerated current, cliff-jumping experiences, and splash zones for children.
Great Stirrup Cay is situated on 270 acres, providing plenty of room for the line to expand guest amenities and services.
The multiple waterslides will be located at the 170-foot-tall Tidal Tower, and will offer racing slides and tube slides. Cliffside Cove will be home to 10- and 15-foot cliff-jumping experiences that represent an industry first.
Youngsters will enjoy the new 9,000-square-foot splash zone, where they can cool off under a tipping bucket and try out miniature slides, among other activities.
There are other enhancements coming soon to Great Stirrup Cay. In late 2025, several previously announced areas will come on line, including a heated pool, two swim-up bars, and the Vibe Shore Club, an adult-only area modeled on the line’s shipboard Vibe Beach Club.
Tsunami Warning Prompts Ship to Leave Guests Behind
It isn’t the kind of publicity a cruise line wants, but when a potential tsunami is headed toward your ship, it must be moved out of the way as quickly as possible.
That was the case with Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America, the ship that sails weekly cruises between the Hawaiian Islands.
When tsunami warnings were issued in Hawaii following the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit eastern Russia on July 29, 2025, Pride of America was making her port call at Hilo, on the Big Island.
Her emergency departure to open seas, which is much safer for a cruise ship than remaining in a harbor, forced the ship to leave about 300 guests and crew members in port. (The ship accommodates 2,200 guests.)
It was a challenging time for those left behind, including family members who were separated by the events.
Many guests had been on shore excursions or exploring the destination on their own when the warning was sounded. Those who were on excursions organized by the cruise line were taken to an area school to wait it out.
After an overnight at the school, they were driven back to the harbor to reboard the ship, which had returned to Hilo early that morning.
Be Careful When Visiting Celebration Key
There is plenty to celebrate at Celebration Key, Carnival Cruise Line’s newly opened private destination on Grand Bahamas Island, but an abundance of bees is not one of them.
Apparently, many cruise guests visiting the destination are getting stung by bees. And they are complaining to the cruise line, namely to brand ambassador John Heald via his popular Facebook page.
Heald has indicated that Carnival Cruise Line is aware of the bounty of bees and is taking steps to mitigate the problem. It’s likely that the destination’s many exotic flowers are partly to blame, as are the dining and bar venues — bees definitely love soda and other sugary drinks, for instance.
The cruise line has not revealed how it will deal with the problem, but efforts are likely to include physically moving bee nests to less populated areas of Celebration Key.
Meanwhile, Heald reminded cruisers that the destination has a first aid station at the north end of Lokono Cove, and that anyone needing medical attention can go there. The station keeps epinephrine on hand, which can be used in cases of severe allergic reactions.
Bug spray would probably help some, too.
Royal Caribbean Extends Cancelled Calls to Labadee
Labadee, Haiti, is in the news again after Royal Caribbean announced that its ships will continue to avoid the port call through at least October 2025.
The cruise line operates a private destination in Labadee, roughly 125 miles from Port-au-Prince, the embattled capital city where civil unrest has been a problem in the last few years.
In fact, Haiti remains under a Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory from the US Department of State.
The ships with Caribbean itineraries now through October that no longer will visit the land-side resort are Adventure of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Icon of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, and Radiance of the Seas.
Royal Caribbean said the cancellations, totaling 23 sailings, were being made out of an abundance of caution, even though the Labadee destination has its own security system.
Alternative port calls will vary by ship and departure, but will include Nassau, Bahamas; George Town, Grand Cayman; Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos; and Costa Maya, Mexico, among others.
Guests booked on affected sailings will be contacted by the cruise line.
Carnival Warns of Roadwork, Detours Near PortMiami
Headed to board your cruise ship at PortMiami through August 4, 2025? Lucky you! But look out for roadwork and detours along Biscayne Boulevard, the busy north-south artery that leads to the port from downtown Miami.
Carnival Cruise Line issued an alert to guests booked on several sailings during the first weekend in August, urging them to be aware of road restrictions, detours, and likely traffic delays.
Leave extra travel time, the line warned, to be sure to arrive at your specified time in the terminal. Guests who bought transfers from the cruise line, either from an airport, nearby hotel, or some other location, will be contacted by Carnival if the transfer is in any way affected.
The cruise line sent the alert to guests booked on Carnival Conquest’s 3-night Bahamas cruise departing on August 1 and her 4-night Bahamas cruise departing on August 4, 2025.
Also, Carnival Horizon’s 8-night Southern Caribbean departing on August 2, 2025; Carnival Celebration’s 6-night Eastern Caribbean and Carnival Magic’s 7-night Western Caribbean departures on August 3, 2025; and Carnival Sunrise’s 5-night Eastern Caribbean cruise departing on August 4, 2025.
The cruise line’s ships depart from either Terminal D or E at PortMiami, which is the busiest in the US in terms of cruise passenger transits.
More Cruise Headlines
Let’s keep going with cruise news! Cruise Hive has many more cruise developments you will want to know about, such as the US government reissuing a travel advisory for Antarctica, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings posting record revenue for the second quarter of 2025, and Mexico cruise ports celebrating high arrival numbers for the first half of 2025.
Also, a Princess Cruises’ Love Boat-theme voyage adds another celebrity cast member, and protesters in Amsterdam temporarily prevent a Celebrity Cruises’ ship from docking.
