Trick or treating is the name of the game on Halloween night – and Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas certainly had a trick to play on celebrating guests.
The Oasis-class vessel’s final voyage, based out of Cape Liberty, New Jersey, embarked on October 27, 2024 – putting Halloween right at the middle of the 7-night Bahamas sailing.
As with the other mainstream cruise lines, the 6,680-guest ship got into the spooky spirit with decorations – and commemorated Halloween night with a party in the Royal Promenade, the ship’s main atrium and indoor shopping mall, which didn’t exactly go to plan.
Witness accounts state that the cruise line either used fog machines or dry ice to help create a festive ambiance, which accidentally set off the sprinkler system in the main promenade.
One passenger, who wanted compensation for the unexpected drenching, posted about the ordeal on Reddit.
“They use dry ice for Halloween which set off the smoke detectors, slamming the watertight doors down, trapping cruisers near the rising tide bar, and cafe promenade, which turned into a pool, while ruining people’s clothes, cell phones and costumes,” the Redditor detailed.
That said, many others found humor in what they deemed a Halloween they won’t forget – with someone joking on social media that the ship’s name should be changed to “Sprinkler of the Seas.”
Others called back to the sprinkler malfunction that occurred during Wonder of the Seas’ maiden voyage in 2022 – during which the sprinklers also went off unintentionally in the Royal Promenade and resulted in temporary closures on Decks 4, 5, and 6.
As with other areas of the ship, the promenade has watertight doors that go down in an emergency, such as a fire or flood, to prevent the crisis from spreading throughout the ship – making any possible incidents easier to manage and resolve.
Thankfully, the Halloween party wasn’t actually an emergency so much as a malfunction of the smoke detection and sprinkler systems.
Even better, the surprise indoor rain shower did not result in any injuries and the Royal Promenade was as good as new by the next morning.
The rest of the voyage operated by the 228,081-gross ton vessel – which sailed to Port Canaveral (Orlando), Florida; Nassau, Bahamas; and the cruise line’s private island destination in the Bahamas, Perfect Day at Coco Cay – went off without a hitch.
More Unusual Flooding Incidents
While it’s not super common, every now and then, cruise ships find themselves in the headlines for flooding – with some incidents more unique than others.
For example, at the beginning of 2023, another Oasis-class vessel experienced an unintentional waterfall that spilled into the ship’s Central Park space.
The unusual incident unfolded onboard Harmony of the Seas when the vessel made an abrupt, hard turn to avoid colliding with a refugee raft that was spotted at the last minute.
This caused the water from the main pools on Deck 15 to overflow and spill six decks down onto Deck 8 (this ship does not have a Deck 13).
Thankfully, no one was injured in the incident and there was no reported damage to the ship. In the end, the refugee raft was found to be empty – so no rescue was actually needed and it was deemed a false alarm.
Read Also: Royal Caribbean vs. Carnival Cruise Line: Which One Does it Better?
A slightly more recent incident, which occurred in January of 2024, was unusual because of the type of voyage more so than the nature of the flooding.
Just three weeks into the Ultimate World Cruise – which circumnavigated the globe earlier this year over the course of 274 nights – Serenade of the Seas went viral for a massive flooding incident.
The water, which was primarily pooling on Deck 12, came as a result of stormy weather and strong winds as the ship made her way down the coast of Brazil and Uruguay in the first few days of the new year.
The incident was quickly resolved – but not before it added to the fire storm of intrigue into the Ultimate World Cruise unfolding on TikTok toward the beginning of the extended voyage.
