A burst pipe aboard Sky Princess, led to a dramatic scene Tuesday night when water from the upper deck flooded multiple public areas of the cruise ship, prompting emergency procedures and temporarily displacing passengers from central sections of the ship.

The incident occurred around 10:45 p.m. on April 8, as the ship sailed its 7-day roundtrip voyage from Southampton to Spain and France. Water reportedly poured from the burst pipe connected to the Sky Pool down through several decks, flooding the popular Piazza atrium on decks five and six.

Passengers described the scene as chaotic but quickly brought under control. 

Martin Coe shared the following video showing the immediate aftermath. "Very eventful evening last night as we were settling down for the evening’s entertainment," he wrote. "Water started coming down the stairs slowly then ended up gushing out. We had to clear the whole deck 5 and 6 area."

Another passenger, Chris Furthermore Matt, shared a video on social media with an update saying “Water from a burst pipe emptied the Sky pool into the main atrium of the Sky Princess last night. All is well onboard the ship and the hard working crew have managed to clear the water and we are all safe.”

In a video, the ship’s public announcement system can be heard instructing passengers to proceed to their muster stations as the crew worked to contain what was described as a "major water problem."

Princess Cruises confirmed the flooding:

“On the evening of 8 April, a pipe burst on deck seven of Sky Princess that resulted in water accumulating in the Piazza on deck five and six. Our shipboard teams immediately shut off the water and began clean-up of the spaces. Evening entertainment in other venues was not interrupted, and guests were able to return to the Piazza the morning of 9 April.”