Spectrum Of The Seas accidents and incidents

31 July 2023Crew / Passenger Deaths

(overboard) On July 31, 2023, at ~4 am Singapore time (~20:00 UTC), while navigating in the Singapore Strait, a 64-year-old female passenger fell overboard from her cabin's balcony after climbing and sitting on the railing.

The woman (Reeta Sahaniwife) was traveling together with her 70-year-old husband (Mr Jakesh) and both were retirees. Reportedly, he woke up in the middle of the night and after finding that his wife was missing, he notified the ship's security.

The incident was captured on security CCTV footage, showing her sitting atop the railing.

The overboard was reported to local authorities after the vessel docked in Port Singapore (at ~7:50 am / ~23:50 UTC). MRCC Singapore (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) immediately launched a search and rescue operation for the missing tourist but the body was not found.

The incident occurred at the end of the 4-day "Port Klang and Penang Cruise" (itinerary July 27-31, roundtrip from Singapore) visiting Malaysia's Port Klang/Kuala Lumpur (Jul 28) and Penang Island (Georgetown/Jul 29).

January 2022Other Incidents

On January 18, 2022, RCI-Royal Caribbean canceled 5x Spectrum OTS' cruises to nowhere (Hong Kong roundtrips without call ports) with departure dates January 21, 23, 26, 28, 31.

The company's decision was not due to Coronavirus cases onboard. It followed an update to Hong Kong City's COVID prevention policies (enforced on Jan 14th), requiring a 14-day suspension of all cruise operations".

The liner's operations were scheduled to restart on February 4th. However, a further extension of Hong Kong’s COVID policies (implemented on Jan 27th) resulted in 5x more canceled departures in February (4, 7, 10, 12, 14). Eventually, RCI canceled the liner's remaining Hong Kong program, which affected 11x more departures (dates Feb 18, 21, 24, 26, 28, Mar 4, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17).

All affected bookings received a full refund (of the fare and any pre-cruise purchases), including Gov taxes and port fees.

21 October 2021Cruise Illness / Virus Outbreaks

Spectrum OTS' October 21, 2021, departure from Hong Kong (4-night "Ocean Getaway" /cruise to nowhere) was canceled due to Coronavirus.

According to RCI, during routine testing conducted on Oct 19th, a 40-year-old male crew (asymptomatic, fully vaccinated in April and May 2021) tested positive ("a low viral load for COVID"). Under the Hong Kong Health Department's policy, the man was classified as a re-positive overseas case.

The ship, already boarded by ~1000 of all the ~1200 booked passengers) was not allowed to depart Hong Kong's Kai Tak Cruise Terminal and the voyage was canceled. RCI customers booked on the next voyage (departure Oct 21) were informed about the incident.

As compensations were offered free cancelation (100% monetary refund on fares, Gov taxes, port fees), transportation subsidy (HKD 100 / USD 13 per person) and FCC (Future Cruise Credit) to be used on other Spectrum OTS cruise to nowhere.

On October 22, RCI announced that after retesting at North Lantau Hospital, the crew had proved to be false-positive (with negative COVID test results). Despite this, Hong Kong's authorities still defined the results as positive and requested the suspension of passenger shipping for 21 days. The ship resumed services on Nov 11.

08 April 2020Other Incidents

On April 8, RCCL (Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd / shipowner) signed a deal with Euler Hermes (2002-founded credit insurance company, subsidiary of Allianz) to amend two Hermes-backed credit facilities - the loans taken for financing the shipbuilding projects Anthem OTS and Spectrum OTS.

The deal allowed RCCL to skip some payments (without accruing additional interest on these loans) and also provided USD 200 million of liquidity in 2020-2021 (April 1 through March 31). The deferred payments were scheduled to be repaid in 8 equal instalments between April 2021 and October 2024.

April 2020Other Incidents

On April 3, the shipowner RCCL (Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd) announced plans to use its Australia-based vessels to repatriate most of their staff-crew by transporting them to their home-countries - Indonesia, Philippines and China, and to India (via charter flights from Indonesia and Philippines). Three RCI Australia ships (Ovation, Spectrum, Voyager) were at the time anchored off Australia's coast. The 3 cruise liners were scheduled to carry a total of 2584 people - embarked (via tender boats) from all 5 RCCL-owned ships (Spectrum, Ovation, Radiance, Voyager, Celebrity Solstice).

From Radiance OTS to Spectrum OTS were transferred ~600 crew. Spectrum OTS was planned to arrive in Bali Indonesia (April 16, to disembark 261 Indonesians), in Manila Philippines (April 22, to disembark 577 Filipino) and in Shanghai China (May 11, to disembark 522 Chinese). From Bali Indonesia, RCCL arranged charter flights to repatriate 299 Indian nationals.

Crew from Celebrity Solstice were transferred to Ovation OTS (204 Indian, 182 Indonesian, 13 Chinese) and Voyager OTS (382 Filipino). Ovation OTS headed to Bali Indonesia (planned arrival April 19) to disembark 239 Indonesians. Voyager OTS also loaded some of the Ovation's crew (880 Filipino, 13 Chinese) and headed toward Manila Philippines (planned arrival April 25) to disembark a total of 1232 people, plus 438 Indian nationals (charter flights to India).

Spectrum OTS departed Australia on April 4.