Travel agents, be alert: you might be hearing from clients again about a February 2016 incident in which Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas sailed through a large storm thanks to a new video that’s making the rounds on social media.
The video, which was uploaded two days ago to Youtube, depicts the giant waves that pounded the side of the ship during the storm through the stateroom window of a crew member. The video also captures footage of the ship’s elevator shaft and a man walking down an internal corridor, which is listing sharply to one side due to the heavy seas.
“That is terrifying, thank God for good strong glass,” a person on the video says.
According to the YouTube account that posted the video, it was shot by Stephen J. Burke, who performs music on cruise ships. The video description claims it is raw footage with no added audio, filmed on an iPhone 6S.
Anthem of the Seas was forced to end its cruise early in February 2016 after it sailed through a storm with sustained 120mph winds. The incident caused four minor injuries out of the 6,000 people onboard, as well as superficial damage to the ship that was repaired in time for it to resume its next itinerary.
In a statement at the time Royal Caribbean said that the severity of the storm far exceeded forecasts. The line also updated its storm avoidance policy and added additional resources at its Miami headquarters to provide additional guidance on avoiding storms to ship captains.
"We apologize for exposing our guests and crew to the weather they faced, and for what they went through," Royal Caribbean said at the time. "The event, exceptional as it was, identified gaps in our planning system that we are addressing. Though that system has performed well through many instances of severe weather around the world, what happened this week showed that we need to do better.”
The new video has been picked up by consumer media outlets like Yahoo News, so be forewarned that it could make some clients’ radar screens soon.
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