With just days to go before her maiden voyage, Disney Treasure experienced an unexpected glitch that made it rain inside her Grand Hall.
In the days leading up to her maiden voyage – which embarks from Port Canaveral (Orlando), Florida, on December 21, 2024 – a select number of lucky guests (mostly members of the media or travel professionals) have gotten an early preview of Disney Cruise Line’s newest addition.
On December 15, 2024, some of those early guests got to witness a surprise rain shower in the Grand Hall due to a malfunction with the sprinklers.
“An apparent technical glitch in the HI-FOG (fire suppression system) in the Grand Hall of the Disney Treasure produced an indoor rain shower for about three minutes earlier today,” a witness posted, along with a photo of the water pouring down.
It was perhaps the best possible timing for this type of malfunction to occur, as no paying passengers were on board and the crew still had time to clean up the mess before her historic inaugural voyage.
As recently as the last month or two, Royal Caribbean passengers were less lucky – as they got soaked by sprinkler malfunctions on two different ships.
The first incident happened onboard Symphony of the Seas during a Halloween party October 31, 2024 – during which the special effects used to create the spooky ambiance accidentally set off the sprinkler system in the Royal Promenade.
The watertight doors also went down automatically when the sprinklers went on – which is what they are supposed to do to prevent a real fire from spreading through the ship in an emergency – effectively trapping guests in the surprise rain shower.
On November 16, 2024, Harmony of the Seas also experienced a similar sprinkler accident – although it’s not clear what caused the false alarm this time.
But even with the occasional malfunction, these sprinklers remain essential in the unlikely event of a fire onboard.
Will Disney Treasure be Ready for her Maiden Voyage?
According to witnesses, a team from Disney Treasure’s 1,555 crew members got to work quickly to clean up the mess. Pictures shared to X show several cast members (as all Disney employees are called) tending to the carpet and blocking off the soaked area.
From the photos, it appears that the paint job and Aladdin-themed decorations, such as a statue of the genie’s lamp, are unharmed.
One guest who arrived to see the new 4,000-passenger ship that day said that the festivities mostly went on as planned – but that the carpet remained blocked off and they had to wait in the terminal for about an hour before boarding, presumably because of the three-minute storm.
“We’re on board and we still haven’t been able to access the main hall floor for photos or anything. They did set up the band, but the carpet is fully blocked off while it dries. We weren’t on yet when it happened, we held for about an hour in the terminal,” they posted on the afternoon of December 15.
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Thanks to the quick action of the crew members – and the use of industrial grade dryers – guests embarking on Disney Treasure’s maiden voyage likely won’t have any idea that the sprinkler malfunction ever happened.
Because of how quickly the soaking was addressed, there likely wasn’t time for smelly mold or mildew to develop – with top-of-the-line industrial grade dryers capable of drying a carpet in anywhere from two to 12 hours.
When guests of the maiden voyage are welcomed into the Grand Hall on Saturday – which is where they will first enter when they board the ship – the experience should be as magical as Disney Cruise Line hoped and planned for.
These first official guests will then enjoy a 7-night Eastern Caribbean voyage to Tortola, British Virgin Islands; St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; and Castaway Cay, which is Disney’s original private island destination in the Bahamas.
After her maiden voyage, the 144,000-gross ton ship will be continuously alternating between week-long Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries.
