Water features can be nice unless they are the product of a major issue!
This happened to be the case earlier this week when the 3,660 passenger Sky Princess experienced flooding after a pipe burst on deck seven on April 8, 2025.
This caused water from the Sky Pool to pour down several decks, and passengers took to social media to share the less-than-ideal situation.
One of these passengers was Martin Coe, who posted a video of the flooding from deck five, showing water pooling around one of the staircases.
“Water started coming down the stairs slowly then ended up gushing out,” Coe said about the experience, adding, “We had to clear the whole deck 5 and 6 area.”
Wallis Thomas, another one of the passengers onboard during the flooding, shared a detailed TikTok highlighting some of the emergency procedures enacted and the severity of the situation.
The video starts with an announcement heard while in his stateroom that said, “A safety announcement. Proceed to your assigned muster station as we are fixing a major water problem.”
The footage then shows multiple crew members throughout the decks visible in the atrium area attempting to control and contain the excess water with towels.
Chris Furthermore Matt was another guest who captured some of the chaos caused by the flooding, sharing a video taken while on the way to his muster station.
The crew was seen with their shoes off and walking around with buckets as passengers were urged to go to their muster stations through the announcement system.
In this video, you can also hear the announcement that decks five, six, and seven needed to be cleared so that the crew could fix the issue quickly.
Matt provided an update the next day, sharing, “Water from a burst pipe emptied the Sky pool into the main atrium of the Sky Princess last night. All is well onboard the ship and the hard working crew have managed to clear the water and we are all safe.”
Having been attached to the pool on deck 16, the pipe caused water to flood into public areas, displacing passengers for some time.
To make matters worse, this incident occurred at 10:45 p.m., forcing passengers out of their cabins while many of them were either asleep or getting ready for bed.
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Sky Princess is still currently on its 7-night round-trip voyage out of Southampton, England, which will disembark on April 12, 2025.
The 145,000 gross ton ship had already stopped in La Coruña and Bilbao in Spain, and was underway to Le Verdon-sur-Mer, France, when the pipe burst.
There were no changes to the itinerary, and the sailing went on as planned making a final stop in Cherbourg, France.
Princess Cruises commented on the situation to confirm the flooding and shared that it resulted in an accumulation of water in the Piazza on both decks five and six.
“Our shipboard teams immediately shut off the water and began clean-up of the spaces,” the cruise line shared, adding, “Evening entertainment in other venues was not interrupted, and guests were able to return to the Piazza the morning of 9 April.”
Thankfully, the issue was resolved, and no injuries or major damages were reported.
Water Wreaking Havoc on Cruise Ships
Unfortunately, Sky Princess is not the only ship that has recently had to deal with a burst pipe.
Back in January, P&O Cruises’ Azura also had a pipe burst from one of its pools, causing flooding on deck 8 and forcing guests out of their cabins in the middle of the night.
This incident was resolved within an hour, but some guests had to be moved to smaller rooms and received some level of compensation.
Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas also had an issue with a pipe that was leaking pool water while being fixed in December 2024, and again, passengers had to be moved to new cabins.
While it was still not a great situation, passengers on Sky Princess did not have issues with flooding in their rooms and no one had to be moved.
At least pool water leaking is a whole lot better than a sewage leak! Both stink, but one is much worse.
