With all-you-can-eat food, endless sea views and stops at multiple destinations across the globe, it's hard to see the downside of cruises. That is, until footage emerges of one ship tipping sideways during its journey.
The terrifying video was caught on board the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas cruise ship, which was traveling from Barcelona, Spain to Miami, Florida when it got caught in bad weather.
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Footage caught on board the ship shows passengers struggling to walk across the floor as the entire vessel leaned dramatically to one side, while objects fell from tables and shelves across the bar.
The ship was near Tenerife, the largest of Spain's Canary Islands, when it was hit by what Royal Caribbean Cruises described as an 'unexpected wind gust' which caused the ship to experience 'sudden movement'.
In an interview with CBS Miami, one passenger, Jonathan Parrish, recalled being told the wind had increased from 46mph to 84mph within six minutes.
"[There's] not much you can do about that, with mother nature," he said.
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Parrish recalled feeling a 'hard right turn' followed by a second, 'more intense' turn while he was watching a show in the cruise ship's theater.
He and other passengers abandoned the show to see what was going on, recalling: "Everybody kind of walked around a little bit, just gawking at all the bottles from the bar that had fallen. All the merchandise that you could purchase in the Royal Promenade was just all spread out throughout the floor."
"I think there was about five minutes in there where everybody was wondering what was going on, but as soon as the captain came on and made the announcement of what had happened, [it] kind of gave you a sense of calmness," Parrish continued.
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Passengers were told to return to their cabins while staff conducted accountability checks.
But while Parrish may have felt a sense of calmness on board, people watching footage of the ordeal have been left horrified by the sight of the tilting ship, with some claiming it looked like it tilted as much as 45 degrees.
"I did not need to see this 9 days before I leave for my first damn cruise," one person wrote after coming across the video on the TikTok page @digitalnomado.
"This only further solidifies my lifelong decision to NEVER go on a cruise," another added.
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Following the incident, Royal Caribbean said one person had been injured in the ordeal.
"One of our guests was injured and requires additional medical care, so the ship will make a call in Las Palmas, Spain for a medical disembarkation. We are communicating these changes directly with our guests," the company said.
Topics: Travel, Weather, Viral, Social Media
Emily Brown