Gangway Plunges Into the Sea as Wonder of the Seas Departs Private Island

Royal Caribbean’s private island destination in the Bahamas, Perfect Day at CocoCay, can indeed be the perfect day for guests relaxing at the beach, splashing in the waterpark, soaring down the zipline, or having other fun on the island.

But for several crew members (and one gangway) from Wonder of the Seas, Saturday, August 1 was a less-than-perfect day. As the Oasis-class ship was departing the island, one gangway was not loaded properly and fell into the water alongside the pier.

A video of the incident has been shared on Reddit and is making the rounds through other social media platforms. The video was taken from Allure of the Seas, sister ship to Oasis of the Seas, as both vessels were docked at Perfect Day at CocoCay on Saturday.

The 29-second video shows the gangway being taken onboard Wonder of the Seas while the 235,600-gross-ton ship slowly moves away from the pier. The cruise ship is clearly away from the pier as the rubber bumpers that keep the hull from rubbing on the concrete are several feet from the ship during the video.

When a cruise ship is docked, the vessel generally remains snug against those bumpers to keep an even distance from the pier and avoid any incidents like this one.

A forklift on the pier appears to be attempting to lift the gangway to make it easier to slide aboard but ultimately the gangway tips, dangles for a few moments, then plunges into the water.

Crew members onboard the ship watch the gangway take its dive without significant interference. While it may seem as if crew members should have grabbed onto the equipment to prevent the mishap, doing so would be unsafe and could have resulted in injuries or damage.

Likewise, several workers on the pier watched the incident unfold but took no steps that may have endangered themselves or their equipment (the aforementioned forklift). The video ends with soft gurgles against the side of Wonder of the Seas, though the gangway is no longer visible.

Wonder of the Seas is homeported from Miami, Florida and departed the Sunshine State on her current 3-night sailing on Friday, July 31, 2026. The visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay was the first for the ship on this itinerary and Sunday, August 2 was spent in Nassau. The ship returns to Miami on Monday, August 3.

There were no reports of any delays departing Perfect Day at CocoCay following the gangway’s demise, nor was there any disruption to the ship’s visit to Nassau.

Royal Caribbean has not released a statement about the incident but there appears to be no damage to Wonder of the Seas as the vessel has continued her itinerary without difficulty. It is not known why the ship seemed to be moving away from the pier before all the gangways were safely stowed.

Not the First Gangway to Be Lost

While it can be startling to witness a gangway “jump overboard” from a cruise ship, these massive ships lose gangways more often than many guests may realize.

Typically, this type of incident happens when a ship may break her lines during a storm, pushing the vessel unexpectedly away from the pier while gangways are still deployed.

Cruise Hive has regularly reported on these types of situations, most recently on June 30, 2026 when a ship in Corfu, Greece broke loose and one guest fell into the water, sustaining minor injuries.

In early November 2022, a more serious incident happened when a gangway attached to Norwegian Encore collapsed while the ship was docked in Panama City, Panama, causing injuries to several guests. Weather was not a factor in that accident.

While cruise lines take all possible steps to prevent gangway mishaps, the uneven walkways can be unstable and slippery. Guests should always hold handrails, watch their footing, and move cautiously over gangways.