Sydney-Bound Anthem of the Seas Gets an Unexpected Indoor Shower
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Time to read 4 min
Anthem of the Seas departing Sydney in February 2026. Image: Dannymobs / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas is preparing to return to Sydney for her second Australian summer season, but she's had a rather soggy mishap before beginning the journey south.
Passengers onboard the Quantum-class ship were treated to an unexpected indoor shower on Thursday, 10 September, when sprinklers activated in the ship's Royal Esplanade during an Alaska cruise.
Video shared by a passenger shows water spraying across the large indoor public area while guests watch from the level above.
Fortunately, this appears to have been considerably more inconvenient than serious.
What happened onboard Anthem of the Seas?
The incident occurred during a seven-night Alaska cruise that departed Seattle on 7 September.
Anthem of the Seas had visited Skagway earlier on Thursday before continuing towards Juneau when sprinklers activated around the Royal Esplanade, sending water across the normally very dry indoor space.
The cause of the activation has not been officially confirmed by Royal Caribbean. While reports have described it as a sprinkler malfunction, exactly what triggered the system remains unclear.
Passenger reports suggest the incident caused relatively little disruption onboard. One passenger said many guests weren't even aware it had happened, although the ship's casino was reportedly closed for the evening.
By the following day, Anthem of the Seas had arrived in Juneau as scheduled, with no reported change to the ship's itinerary.
Video: MIchele Eversole - Facebook
Anthem of the Seas is heading back to Australia
The incident has a little more relevance for Australian cruisers than your average bit of overseas cruise ship chaos.
Anthem of the Seas is coming back to Sydney.
The ship made her Australian debut during the 2025–26 cruise season, arriving in Sydney for the first time in October 2025 and spending the summer sailing Australian, New Zealand and South Pacific itineraries.
After heading back across the Pacific earlier this year for the northern summer, Anthem of the Seas is now nearing the end of her Alaska season.
She'll then reposition across the Pacific and return to Sydney for her second consecutive Australian summer season in 2026–27.
Royal Caribbean has 21 cruises scheduled aboard Anthem of the Seas from Sydney during the upcoming season, ranging from shorter three-night getaways through to 11-night itineraries.
So if you sailed aboard her last Australian summer, you may recognise the Royal Esplanade currently getting rather more water than usual.
And if you're booked aboard her this summer?
Yep. That's your ship. 😂
What is Anthem of the Seas?
At approximately 168,000 gross tonnes, Anthem of the Seas is one of Royal Caribbean's Quantum-class ships.
Australians familiar with Quantum of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas will recognise plenty of similarities.
Among Anthem's features are the North Star observation capsule, RipCord by iFLY skydiving simulator, SeaPlex indoor activity space, Two70 entertainment venue and the Royal Esplanade, where this week's unexpected water feature occurred.
The ship also features the West End musical We Will Rock You.
Anthem of the Seas Royal Esplanade. Video courtesy of Royal Caribbean International.
A slightly soggy lead-up to Australian summer
Ships arriving in a new port are sometimes greeted with a ceremonial water salute.
Anthem of the Seas seems to have decided to get some practice in before returning to Sydney.
Thankfully, passenger reports suggest the incident was dealt with quickly and caused little disruption to the Alaska cruise.
She still has some travelling to do before she's back in Australian waters for summer.
Hopefully by then, the water will be staying where it belongs.
Preferably in the pools.
Hi, I'm Kate!
I'm the creator of Voyage Ready and a BAS Agent and bookkeeper from regional NSW who loves cruising and travelling with my family (and occasionally working from a cruise ship somewhere in the middle of the ocean). I particularly love longer cruises with plenty of sea days, exploring new places at our own pace and finding practical ways to make family travel more affordable and less complicated.
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I’m Kate, a BAS Agent and bookkeeper from regional NSW who loves travelling with my family. Most of the travel and cruise content on Voyage Ready comes from places we’ve actually visited and things we’ve tried ourselves. I’m particularly fond of longer cruises with plenty of sea days, and I occasionally work from cruise ships as well.
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