Key Aspects:
- Earlier this week, Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas experienced a period of time where many of the toilets onboard were not working correctly.
- Other guests have reported similar plumbing issues during their sailings, as well as bad sewer-like smells onboard.
- Royal Caribbean works hard to maintain its cruise ships, but cannot control when guests decide to flush products down the toilet that don’t belong there.
2025 has been a bit of a rough year for Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas.
So far, the 2018-launched vessel has experienced three broken windows and had a guest test positive for Legionella (the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease).
During her most recent health inspection on February 9, 2025, the Oasis-class ship was only one point away from failing.
Now, guests have noticed another major issue. For at least a portion of the current sailing, which is a 7-night cruise to the Bahamas that embarked on August 24, 2025, much of the ship was without working toilets.
According to updates from current passengers, this plumbing event would have occurred on embarkation day in Cape Liberty, New Jersey, or very soon after setting sail that afternoon.
“Right now we are on the Symphony of the Seas and yesterday almost the entire ship was without toilets. We found out after our kids had used our stateroom toilet and it wouldn’t flush,” one current passenger posted on Reddit on August 25.
Presumably, one of the up to 5,518 passengers onboard flushed something they shouldn’t have, which caused a blockage.
The cruise lines are constantly reminding guests to only flush the provided toilet paper, as the powerful vacuum system on cruise ships may not be quite powerful enough to handle things like wet wipes, feminine products, or other non-dissolvable items.
“It was a disgusting period of time. I guess someone flushed something they weren’t supposed to and it clogged up the ship,” they continued.
The cruiser titled their post “Almost Pool Cruise 2.0,” which was a reference to the infamous Carnival Triumph sailing in 2013 in which passengers were stranded at sea for days without working bathrooms following an engine fire.
The Netflix “Trainwreck” documentary on this topic dropped on June 24, 2025, bringing this ill-fated cruise back into the spotlight and making it very top of mind in situations like this.
Is Plumbing an Ongoing Issue?
In my research, I found reports going back as far as July 2025 of cruisers who experienced plumbing problems during their time onboard Symphony of the Seas.
“That happened to us on Symphony in July. Decks 5-7 had no working toilets for about 3 days. They said the same thing – clogged with items that should not be flushed,” one recent guest recounted.
“On our July 13-20 cruise someone apparently flushed things other than toilet paper. Some people on our deck were complaining of toilet issues but thankfully ours was fine. There was a HORRIBLE septic smell for days on the higher decks,” someone else said.
Read Also: What Do Cruise Ships Do with Sewage and Waste?
Speaking of bad sceptic smells, this was also an experience that other cruisers’ (and their noses) could relate to.
This is something that the Reddit poster noticed as well on Tuesday, August 26, while the ship was docked in Port Canaveral.
“The ship smells terrible. I don’t know if it’s because of the [air] in port or if it’s from the poo issue,” they wrote in an update to their original post.
“We were on Symphony recently and every time we used the stairs and were passing by deck six it stunk. We dubbed it the poop deck,” another passenger added.
All that said, let’s give credit where credit is due. The approximately 2,200 crew members onboard work hard to maintain the Royal Caribbean ship.
In addition to the care she receives while in service, Symphony of the Seas visits dry dock as required for more significant inspections and maintenance.
Her most recent dry dock stint was in April 2023, which really wasn’t that long ago.
When things do go wrong mid-voyage, there are dedicated teams of maintenance workers, engineers, and plumbers onboard who are ready to spring into action.
However, the cruise lines can’t control their guests, and this includes the items that they decide to flush down the toilet. As long as guests misbehave in this regard, there is a risk of plumbing issues.
