Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Has Second Window Shatter
On June 29, 2025, a glass panel on the roof of the Solarium on the 228,081-gross-ton Symphony of the Seas suddenly shattered without warning.
The ship was getting ready to dock in Port Canaveral, Florida, when guests heard a loud popping noise that turned out to be glass breaking nearby.
The panel that shattered was part of the crystal canopy area above the Solarium, which is meant to provide amazing views while guests enjoy the adults-only area.
This panel was positioned in a way that it sat over both lounge chairs on deck 15, as well as a bathroom entrance on deck 14.
Despite passengers lounging close by to where the glass broke, no injuries have been reported.
While the panel itself is shattered, images provided by guests show no signs of visible shards of glass on the decks below.
The glass itself is tempered, meaning it is designed to shatter safely into small pieces — however, this kind of glass can be damaged by things such as temperature and vibrations.
Currently homeporting at Cape Liberty Bayonne in New Jersey, this vessel frequently does 7-night itineraries with stops in Florida and the Bahamas, where the average temperature in June ranges from 80° to 90°.
Passengers took to social media to share what had happened, with many concerned that glass shattering is seemingly becoming more common on this 7-year-old ship.
“Symphony has a shattered glass pane in the Solarium. The crew is taking care of it now,” one guest said.
“I was close by, it was a loud pop!” added another who was also present during the incident.
“Again!!! We were right under the last glass breakage on 6/8. Every time docking in Florida,” shared one guest who witnessed something similar just weeks ago.
Unfortunately, this is the second time this month that the vessel has had a glass-shattering accident.
What is Causing the Glass to Shatter on Symphony of the Seas?
On June 8, 2025, while docking in Port Canaveral, a glass wall panel at Coastal Kitchen on deck 17 shattered onto the deck below.
Thankfully, waiter Nitin Kumar noticed the glass beginning to break and ran to warn the passengers lounging below the restaurant to move.
The window proceeded to shatter seconds later, leaving glass both in the restaurant and scattered all over the deck below.
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The glass shattered into small pieces as it was tempered for safety, but that also meant the crew had to close and drain the pool below the panel to completely remove the debris.
Within a day, the glass panel was replaced, and despite the accident, the itinerary went on without disruption.
While glass shattering is extremely rare on cruise ships, the fact that it has happened twice on Symphony of the Seas just 21 days apart is highly unusual.
There has yet to be a statement issued by Royal Caribbean as to the cause of either incident, but that has not stopped guests from speculating on what happened.
Most passengers think that the Coastal Kitchen wall panel was due to vibrations caused by a 180-degree maneuver while entering Port Canaveral.
Given the time frame of the second incident, this could have also been the cause for the glass to break on June 29 while getting ready to dock at the very same port.
Others claim either could have been from the hot weather, but it takes extremely high temperatures for tempered glass to break, so the vibrations of the ship are much more likely the culprit.
Cruisers planning to sail on Symphony of the Seas should not be worried, as both times, no guests were injured, the crew cleaned all areas quickly, and the voyages went on as planned.