Passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise experienced more drama than they had bargained for when the ship unexpectedly tilted, sending furniture sliding across the floor and glasses smashing – all while the theme song to Titanic blared on speakers.
Video footage posted to TikTok sees torrential wind and rain lashing the massive Explorer of the Seas as Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On, played in the background on the pool – the iconic song from the 1997 movie Titanic.
At first, some of the 4,300 passengers on board thought it might have been special effects laid on as part of the ship’s entertainment.
‘We actually thought it was part of special effects,’ Simon Goodenough, a passenger aboard the Explorer of the Seas, told Local 10 News after disembarking in Miami.
Goodenough was sitting in the theater when the chaos began.
‘The ship started to tip to one side, all the glasses and bottles fell off the bar, and we thought, “Wow, this is amazing.”‘
But the awe quickly turned to alarm as it appeared the 138,000 ton ship might actually be in trouble with passengers feeling like they were in a real-life disaster movie.
‘We realized and looked at the crew’s faces that this isn’t special effects,’ Goodenough added, describing how panic suddenly set in.
Passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise experienced more drama than they had bargained for as the theme song to Titanic blared on speakers while the ship entered a storm and listed
Shocking footage – taken from inside the ship’s promenade – shared on social media shows the chaotic scene onboard the vessel as passengers and furniture alike are flung around
Bottles from the bar were seen smashed all over the floor such was the angle of the ship
Passengers clutched onto anything bolted down as they felt the ship tilt sharply over. Plates shattered and bottles crashed to the floor.
Furnishings and merchandise slid across the deck, with a digital display screen coming close to knocking one guest over. Another man could be seen clinging on to a table.
Dan So, 41, filmed the dramatic footage after leaving an on board pub quiz. He noticed the deck tipping to a ’45-degree-angle and recalled hearing ‘screaming and glasses smashing’.
He said: ‘When I left the pub I could hear screaming sounds, glasses were falling around and the cruise had started tilting.
‘You can see a whole advertisement sign hit a guy and he saves himself and grabs his girlfriend. He was in a state of shock.
‘I wondered if this was a normal thing but the more I heard people screaming that’s when I got scared and had to turn the video off.
‘It wasn’t the full tilt you see in the video, but around half way.
‘Some people told me to come over to them so we held each other and the chairs around us.
Guests can be seen attempting to move about the ship but were barely able to stand as the ship leaned continues to lean at an ever more precarious angle
Smashed glass bottles could be seen strewn all over the bar areas of the ship’s restaurant
Several shop displays fell as the angle of the ship was so great
Staff members could be seen picking up stock that had fallen over onto the floor
Clothes and bottles of duty free could be seen in a pile on the floor
Several display cabinets toppled over onto the floor causing mayhem
In the dining room plates and cups were sent tumbling onto the carpet
‘I had thought that this could be the end and the ship was going to fall into the water.
Mr So, from Toronto, says it was a ‘huge relief’ when the ordeal was over and believes climate change could be the culprit of the storm.
He said: ‘Usually waves make the ship wobbly but this was tilting for five minutes on one side. It held its position for around three minutes.
‘It shows climate change is creating some things that even experienced cruisers haven’t seen.’
According to Royal Caribbean, the sudden listing — the term for when a ship leans sharply to one side — was caused by an ‘unexpected wind gust’ near Tenerife, part of Spain’s Canary Islands.
Videos captured the chaos: bottles skidding across the bar, tables tumbling, and passengers struggling to keep their footing.
The drama unfolded on November 7, during the ship’s transatlantic voyage from Barcelona to Miami.
A clothing display toppled onto its side following the freak storm that saw the ship list
Even the inside of a fridge was left a complete mess
The bar was in complete disarray following the severe tilting
The ships floor was seen covered in sticky drinks following the unexpected tilt
One passenger’s dinner ended up on the floor of the kitchens
Bar tenders were left to sweep up the damage after the sudden storm
Dan So, 41, filmed the dramatic footage after leaving an on board pub quiz. He noticed the deck tipping to a ’45-degree-angle and recalled hearing ‘screaming and glasses smashing
The 138,000 tonne ship finally arrived in Miami three days behind schedule after the incident
The Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Sea liner was at the start of its transatlantic journey to Miami on Thursday November 7 when it was hit by a squall, a sharp and sudden gust of sustained wind, off the coast of Tenerife
Videos and reports from the incident also show a grand piano sliding across the stage, shattered glass littering the floor, and passengers clutching onto railings as they attempted to balance while the vessel lurched to one side.
The terrifying incident lasted less than ten minutes but left one passenger injured and requiring medical attention.
It meant the 12-night cruise had to make an unplanned stop in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands as the passenger disembarked.
Goodenough admitted the experience was in equal parts both terrifying and unforgettable. ‘It’s a story to tell,’ he said.
The ship eventually stabilized, and the voyage continued to Miami, three days late, without further incident.
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