Key Aspects:
- Navigator of the Seas’ two waterslides will be out of service until just before Christmas due to maintenance.
- This is part of a fleet-wide inspection and replacement process that has begun after a waterslide shattered onboard Icon of the Seas earlier this year.
Some recent guests of Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas have sounded the alarm after realizing that both waterslides onboard are currently out of commission – but this is for a very good reason.
The cruise line is replacing the clear acrylic panels on The Blaster and Riptide waterslides with new fiberglass tubing for safety reasons.
This follows a shocking incident in August, during which an acrylic glass panel onboard Icon of the Seas’ Frightening Bolt waterslide shattered while a passenger was riding it.
This prompted Royal Caribbean to close, inspect, and replace the tubing on the slides for both of the Icon-class ships.
Now, this is carrying over to inspections of the slides featured onboard the other ships in the fleet out of an abundance of caution.
“It’s those acrylic tube parts that are cracking on us. So we just said, you know what? Enough’s enough,” Captain James explained while addressing guests of Navigator of the Seas.
“And we had them checked out by engineers as well, and they said, like, you’ve got to take them out of service,” he continued.
He also mentioned that other ships were having problems, but many already had spare parts onboard, unlike Navigator of the Seas. His speech was posted on TikTok by a travel professional who goes by @traveling balloonguy2 on the platform.
He went on to explain that the engineering team has had to refabricate the parts and will soon replace the acrylic with safer and more durable fiberglass pieces.
Guests React to Slide Closures
The 3,368-guest Navigator of the Seas is currently homeporting in Los Angeles, California, and operating sailings to Mexico.
Even as we approach the cooler winter months, the weather is still warm enough for water-filled fun.
Understandably, some passengers have been disappointed to find that both slides are temporarily out of order upon embarking without receiving prior notice.
“So no waterslides for us I guess. Would have been nice to know what we were in for a month ago when they knew. But it’s ok, as compensation, they allowed us to make a formal complaint,” one recent guest complained on Reddit.
That said, Royal Caribbean is allowed to close off sections of the ship or specific attractions without prior notice for a variety of causes, and especially for safety-related reasons.
But thankfully, the slides won’t be out of order for too long.
Captain James said the installation of the new parts is expected to begin for the Riptide mat racer slide on December 1, 2025, and all of the maintenance should be done for both slides by December 22.
He also stated that the process is taking longer for the Voyager-class ship than it has for other Royal Caribbean ships because the new parts had to be custom-made.
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“It’s taking time because every section is like a custom section. There were other ships that had problems with theirs, but it’s just, in the whole fabrication process there were actually spare parts lying around,” Captain James explained.
“Ours had to be kind of done from new with the moulds and everything, and that’s why it’s dragging,” the master of the ship added.
In the meantime, guests looking for water-filled fun can still experience the pool and pool deck, as well as the Flowrider Surf Simulator.
