| dd/mm/yy |
2010 |
Incident |
| 12.12.10 | KBOI radio reports the ship tilted several times in its approach to Alexandria, Egypt. The ship entered a storm and listed several times around 2:15 a.m. local time, inflicting minor injuries to about 30 passengers and damaging some of the public areas. Alexandria closed off its port due to the intensity of the swells, and the ship diverted to Valletta, Malta. The ship departed from Barcelona, Spain, for a 12-night journey stopping in Italy, Greece, Egypt, and Malta. UPDATE: Acknowledging those on board Brilliance of the Seas had been through ‘a frightening experience’ in the freak storm that rocked the Eastern Mediterranean over the weekend, Royal Caribbean International said it will refund fares in addition to giving an on-board credit. Among the 30 passengers who were injured on the 2,100-berth ship, the most seriously hurt were two people who sustained fractures. Three public rooms remain closed following the storm that intensified as Brilliance of the Seas approached Alexandria, Egypt, early Sunday, causing ‘extreme wind and sea conditions including heavy seas and 70-knot winds, nearly double what had been forecasted.’ The heavy motion of the vessel caused aesthetic damages to some areas, and some staterooms lost electricity. The beauty salon, video arcade and disco will remain closed for the rest of the cruise, which ends Friday in Barcelona. | Severe list -- skipped port |
| 10.3.10 | A reader writes:IEven though we are rather late with our comments, we hope it still might be of interest. We have been triggered in doing this as a result of the most recent accidents (last week). This accident was very similar to the one we had on Royal Caribbean and when it occurred we were informed that this was a freak incident. We have subsequently found out that this is totally untrue and the cruise companies have deliberately suppressed any information regarding this type of accident. We now know better! We sailed from Barcelona (1 Oct-13 October 2009) and through the Mediterranean. Our cruise was fine until the last night (12/13 October 2009). At about 23.30 hrs our cabin window was smashed and the cabin filled with water (as did the cabins either side of us). Our cabin was filled with water within seconds destroying the cabin interior including the ceiling falling down on the bed. We were lucky to escape and could save our lives. All six passengers were of course injured including my wife and myself. We want to warn any potential passengers booking a cruise - especially with Royal Caribbean - based on our experience: (1) This type of accident is far more common than reported by either the cruise companies or media; (2) The medical treatment and help after the accident on the ship was atrocious and totally inadequate. The behavior of the crew was incredible!; (3) Despite our lawyer's attempts to contact the company and my wife and myself sending registered letters to the President and Managing Director of Royal Caribbean we have received no reply or acknowledgement that the "accident" even occurred; (4) So far we have received absolutely no compensation for all our losses and injuries. This also applies to the other 4 passengers. Final comment: freak waves are common, the company we booked with, refuses to recognize their responsibility or to pay any compensation. We have just set up our own website and have no choice but to take Royal Caribbean to court. See the website for more details. | Broken out windows - how
common? |
| dd/mm/yy |
2009 |
Incident |
| 24.10.09 | The current cruise has experienced bad weather and other problems (see October 13). The latest from a passenger is: We were due to dock in Barcelona tomorrow morning - update 7pm tomorrow night. Weather was very rough last night hardly slept. So the plan is to use the ship as a hotel tomorrow night in Barcelona and the new cruise will lose a day. Weather now is clear and sunny but still bumpy. According to a poster at Cruise Critic: I'm scheduled with 7 others to cruise the Brilliance tomorrow, Sun. Just got off the phone with RCCL, here's the update, Boarding will be on Monday now at 7:00 PM, Anyone who has scheduled their air with RCCL will be met at the Barcelona airport and transferred to a hotel, courtesy of RCCL. Outside cabins will be given a $200pp OCB, Balcony cabins will be given $300PP OCB. I'm just glad I called, because nowhere on their site are these changes. There will be an extra sea day and they will be skipping Nice, and Florence. Needless to say am very disappointed, but I'm sure we will make the best of it. Any day away from work is a vacation. |
Late disembarkation/ delayed embarkation |
| 13.10.09 | From a passenger: We're onboard the Brilliance of the Seas in Barcelona - we were due to depart tonight at 7pm but due to the ship arriving late after a storm ( number of windows in deck 3/4 broken ) - which can't be repaired until early afternoon tomorrow we're confined to port - The ship is in touch with Miami at the minute - we were due to be in Cannes tomorrow but its cancelled !! UPDATE: We're due to sail around noon -- crew worked throughout the night on the repairs - they have pencilled Cannes in on one of our last sea days. According to Cruisecritic poster 35 cabins were damaged. | Delay - damage in storm |
| dd/mm/yy |
2008 |
Incident |
| 7.12.08 | FROM A PASSENGER: The
November 25 to December 7 cruise missed two ports. Bad weather caused
cancellation of the port call at Citavecchia on November 28 -- the ship
spent an extra day at sea, arriving at Citavecchia on 29. Because
of the delay, the ship went directly to Santorini, skipping
Mykonos. Then on the return leg of the cruise to Barcelona, bad
weather prevented the port call at Naples. Instead the ship went
to Messina, Sicily. |
Itinerary changes due to weather |
| dd/mm/yy |
2007 |
Incident |
| 23.08.07 |
A reader reports that there was suspicion of a person
overboard this evening. A search of the ocean
(Mediterranean) was undertaken and passengers were later asked to
return to their staterooms so a full count of passengers/crew could be
completed. The following morning passengers were told that no
passengers
were missing. |
False alarm of person overboard |
| 23.8.07 |
From a reader in
Civitavecchia: I was
boarding the Legend of the Seas yesterday around 1:45pm, when a freak
storm rolled in from the West. The Brilliance of the Seas was on
the opposite side of the harbour. Once the winds picked up, we
noticed the ship list a lot to the port side and eventually
the aft mooring ropes snapped. The aft of the ship swung out to the
middle of the harbour. The biggest problem is that there was
another ferry coming at the same time. The captain on that ferry
attempted to turn the ship a 180 to avoid hitting the Brilliance and
nearly hit the Legend while it's attempt. At the end of the day,
apparently, nobody was hurt, however both gangways for the Brilliance
fell in the water and divers were contacted to attempt to locate
them. |
"Near miss" |
| 4.4.07 |
The Cayman
Compass reported that a cook had spent 5 nights in custody (in
Cayman Islands) after he was found to posses .52 gram of cocaine and
.38 gram of ganja in a random drug search onboard while the ship was
outside the territorial jurisdiction of Cayman Islands. He was
turned over to Cayman authorities by the ship's officers and the court
allowed the prosecution even though the possession was discovered
outside the court's jurisdiction. The cook was fined $1150; if he
can't pay, he'll spend 90 days in jail. |
Crew Beware |
| 2.1.07 |
The had been a 2.5 hour power failure during the Christmas/New Year's cruise ending today in Miami. According to one passenger, "the ship drifted for that time. Many people in the aft cabins were very concerned that there was a fire as there was considerable smoke. We saw people sitting out in the hallways and some people got up and went down to the centrum" | Power Failure |
| dd/mm/yy |
2006 and earlier |
Incident |
| 27.10.05 |
A blockade of the entrance to Barcelona
Harbour by fishersmen prevented the ship from entering the harbour for
12 hours. Disembark/embarkation was thrown into chaos. Embarking
passengers who were only on a three night cruise started boarding at
11p.m. and missed one port out of two (Corsica) -- they received $100
per person onboard credit. |
Delays |
| 7.7.05 |
A passenger onboard the ship for his honeymoon was presumed to have fallen overboard in the Mediterranean. Cruise officials learned the man in his 20s was missing when the ship docked at Kusadasi on July 5. The matter was still being investigated six weeks later -- there is some question as to whether the death was murder,suicide, or an accident. See here for the AP report, and here, AND HERE For more information see here and here | Passenger overboard / ?Murder? |
| 20.12.04 |
A couple have sued alleging that RCI's baby sitter sexually assaulted their 2-year-old son while they were on a cruise. The assault allegedly occurred on Dec. 18, 2003. | Sexual Assault |
| 17.10.04 |
As related by a passenger at Cruise Critic: We had left Livorno, (our third day on a cruise out of Bacelona) Italy and at about 11:30 PM the captain asked all passengers to gather at their assigned muster stations without lifejackets. A passenger had reported a large splash in the water and they weren't sure whether it was a person or an object -- they needed to account for all crew and passengers via a roll call. In the meantime, the ship was turned around and returned to the area where it happened. It took 2 hours at our muster stations before all passengers were accounted for. One employee was missing. Passengers were allowed back to their business, but the ship continued its search and was joined by other ships in the area, without success. We skipped Mykonos and proceeded to Santorini with an extra sea day since we lost too much time on the search. Later in the cruise, the captain told us that they had found a note indicating the crewmembers intent to kill himself. Thru crewmembers, the story was that he had just joined the crew (his first cruise) and was working with his wife on board. It appears that there was a love triangle situation of some sort (stories varied depending on who you talked to). It was sad and provided a little weirdness to the otherwise great trip. | Suicide |
| 1.8.03 |
While cruising between Corfu and
Civitivecchia, the ship was hit by a storm -- the ship twice listed
hard to the port side .. approximately 13.6 degrees. One
passenger was injured; most were "awake" and not able to return to
sleep. After daybreak the ship had a power blackout that lasted
several hours. |
Severe List -- Power Loss |
| 7/8.12.02 |
Passengers were awoken in the middle of the night by the Captain who made an announcement a man had fallen over board. The ship turned around and started a search pattern. Mid morning he announced that Coast Guard Helicopters from Puerto Rico were joining the search. The ship and the helicopters continued their search until the night time. The Captain then made an announcement that they did everything they could and were now proceeding on to Miami. | Overboard |
| 20.10.02 | A propulsion problem required shutdown of the complete propulsion system at sea while technicians worked to repair it and as a result the stop at Saint John, New Brunswick on October 20th was cancelled. Given that the problem could not be repaired at sea, the starboard system was restarted and the ship proceeded to Portland, Maine at reduced speed. Two experts from Royal Caribbean in Miami and three from the manufacturer in Europe met the ship and began work to correct the problem. The stop at Portland was longer than planned, but the problem was fixed and the cruise ended in Boston on schedule. | Lost
propulsion & Engine problems |
| dd/mm/yy |
Reported Illness Outbreaks |
| 25.2.04 |
The
ship, on a ten day Caribbean cruise, reported
that 78 passengers and 16 crew had reported gastrointestinal illness
likely caused by Norovirus. |
| 16-23.12.02 |
There
were 42 cases of gastrointestinal illness reported
during this cruise, however the true count according to Flagship
Cruises was in the hundreds. "It would appear as though hundreds
did not report their illlness due to a rumor (via staff and crew) that
if you reported your illness you would be confined and/or quarantined
to your quarters." |