Cruise Ship 'Leak' Floods Out Passengers, Wild Video Shows

When passengers board cruise ships, they're expecting a relaxing time near the water. What they aren't expecting is for the water to come to them. But that's exactly what happened to an unfortunate group of passengers this week after a major “leak” on a popular cruise line left many passengers navigating flooded cabins and ruined personal items when ocean water poured into the vessel, U.S.A. Today reported.

Passengers Flooded Out of Their Staterooms

The terrifying episode occurred last Monday, Jan. 12, aboard the MSC Seaview, which is operated by MSC Cruises. According to data from CruiseMapper, the Seaview was sailing off the coast of eastern Brazil, bound for South America, when the flood began. Footage taken by passengers resembles a scene from Titanic, as water floods the staterooms and eventually pours out into the hallways while passengers climb over one another to salvage their personal belongings. In a later clip, stunned-looking crew members use an industrial shop-vac to suck up some of the water.

'We Immediately Thought the Ship Was Sinking'

Brazilian outlet UOL reported that they were alerted to the incident at around 7:30 a.m. local time, when a fire alert sounded throughout the ship. "We were already at sea, on the tenth floor, when the steward banged on the door shouting, 'Fire, fire!’ At that moment, water started entering the cabin. We immediately thought the ship was sinking," passenger Marcelo Andrade Bezerra Barros, 50, told the outlet.

MSC Confirmed the Incident in a Statement

MSC Cruises confirmed in a statement to the outlet that “a fault was detected in a water line and unfortunately this resulted in water entering a number of guest cabins and the public corridor. The fault was quickly isolated and resolved by our technical teams and all affected cabins were deep cleaned.” MSC added that it’s “deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused to our guests as a result of a leak on the ship” and reiterated that “there was no risk to guest safety.”

The company confirmed that guests were offered a “range of compensations [sic] depending on the degree to which guests were affected. These reportedly included cabin upgrades, full refunds, and onboard credits up to $150. The passengers assigned to the flooded staterooms were kept in a common area of the ship until alternative accommodations could be found.

Similar Incident Occurred in 2023

A similar incident occurred back in 2023 on a Carnival Cruise ship bound from California’s Santa Catalina Island to Ensenada, Mexico. “At 2 a.m., we were woken up (by) water gushing into our room from the ceiling on the Carnival Radiance,” read one passenger’s account, accompanied by footage showing their stateroom in darkness. “We have no power out here,” one person can be heard saying. Later clips show a scene very similar to that on MSC’s vessel, with crew members working to staunch a violent flow of water pouring from the ceiling into the hallway.