...
By Chloe Mayer
Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
A viral video caught the moment a cruise ship passenger fell over the edge of an infinity pool, hit a railing, and bounced back to land on a narrow strip of guttering.
Footage showed the swimmer leaning extremely far over the glass edge before losing balance and toppling onto the pool's guttering below. Had the person fallen over the gutter itself, they would have plummeted several stories to a children's swimming area on a much lower deck.
However, the passenger was unharmed, and the Icon of the Seas ship, which is owned by Royal Caribbean, returned as scheduled from a trip to the Bahamas to its home port of Miami, Florida.
Read More on News
Why It Matters
The near miss at the infinity pool is likely to raise fresh safety fears among passengers and spark security discussions between the cruise liner's bosses.
It's also a fresh PR blow for Royal Caribbean, as the clip was shared just days after the same ship saw an onboard stabbing and an overboard fatality. The female staff member was repeatedly stabbed, allegedly by a male co-worker, who then plunged over the side of the ship to his death. The woman was hospitalized and said to be in a stable condition after the attack on Thursday.
Another of the company's cruise ships, Navigator of the Seas, was a hit with a sickness outbreak that saw 140 people fall ill earlier this month.
What To Know
Now, footage of the fall at the infinity pool has gone viral after it was shared by the popular Instagram account @onlyinflorida, where it was viewed tens of thousands of times.
Almost 66,000 viewers had liked the video within just one day of it being posted online.
The video shows a passenger leaning over the side of the ship's infinity pool. They dangle precipitously over the glass edge of the pool, with only their legs and feet visible, raised clear of the water.
The swimmer, who was trying to retrieve their fallen sunglasses, waves a hand in the air behind them before losing their balance and tipping forward over the edge of the pool in a front flip.
Their whole body rotates, and their back appears to hit the safety railing on the narrow strip of the pool's gutter below. They then bounce back to safety by landing on the guttering itself.
There are several conflicting accounts of the incident. Some media outlets, such as People, describe the swimmer as a man, while others, such as cruisepassenger.com, report that it was a woman who fell.
Mail Online quoted an unnamed guest who said that the swimmer was subsequently "confined to his room" until the ship docked in Miami. It is also unclear exactly when and where in the voyage the incident took place.
Newsweek reached out to Royal Caribbean for clarification, but the company responded with a statement only confirming that the incident took place.
...
What People Are Saying
@onlyinflorida captioned the clip: "Another incident on board the 'Icon of the Seas.' A passenger fell over the edge of the infinity pool located on Deck 15 onto the deck below. No other injuries were reported. The 'Icon of the Seas' returned back to its home port in Miami, Florida after the two incidents occured this week."
A Royal Caribbean Group spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement: "A guest accidentally fell onto the pool gutter after reaching over to retrieve their sunglasses. Our crew immediately attended to the guest and fortunately the guest did not experience any injuries."
What Happens Next
The video shows no sign of slowing down its viral spread as it continues to be shared by viewers online this week.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines