One Royal Caribbean ship had a combination of power and propulsion issues yesterday, a rare occurrence on the same day.
Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas ran into a series of electrical issues during its July 4, 2025 sailing, prompting late-night power outages and propulsion problems as the ship made its way from Cozumel, Mexico, to Galveston, Texas.
Despite the issues, the ship has remained safely operating as she moves back to her homeport.
Power issues followed engine trouble
Earlier in the voyage, the 226,963-gross-ton ship had experienced a minor electrical issue involving one of its firewall systems. Just days later, passengers began reporting power failures in multiple parts of the vessel. The problems began shortly after midnight and prompted an emergency response from the ship’s officers.
By 1:00 a.m., the ship’s captain began broadcasting updates over the public address system. Guests onboard described power flickering in cabins and common areas. One key system affected was propulsion, which forced the ship to reduce speed while technicians worked to restore full functionality.
"It was a quick flicker like a thunderstorm at your house," wrote Chris Matthews.
"It took a while for them to reset everything. We lost our lights for about 15 secs, AC for about 10 mins, and the onboard TV took an hour to come back on. You could tell they were resetting the breakers in a specific order."
"I'm on Harmony now. We lost power last night for a short time. It was restored quickly. Captain told us we'll be 1.5 hours late getting into Galveston. Its a beautiful day at sea," wrote Staci Taylor.
Captain's update provided clarity on the situation
In a ship wide message recorded by cruiser Liz Addington, the captain directly addressed the situation:
We are in a safe situation. Weather is great. We are speeding with about ten knots currently with the reduced propulsion towards Galveston, and we are currently working on restoring all electrical systems for the propulsion. I will come back to you later on with further information.
And in case you're sleeping, I'm sorry to wake you up with this announcement, but as we have 6,500 guests on the ship and 2,200 crew members, there are lots of crew members and guests who would like to know what's going on.
And we are now in a totally safe position. Our technical teams are working on restoring all the systems currently.
So in case you are sleeping, I'm truly sorry to wake you up with this announcement, but I would like to keep you all updated on what is going on.
Power was restored overnight
Overnight, ship technicians gradually restored power throughout the vessel. By the following morning, all systems were reported to be fully operational.
The issues occurred during the final sea day of a 6-night cruise that included stops in Roatán, Honduras; Costa Maya, Mexico; and Cozumel.
Due to the earlier propulsion issues, the ship’s next sailing was delayed by one hour.
"Harmony emailed me regarding our cruise tomorrow out of Galveston. We were supposed to board at 12:30, now moved to 1:30. Due to propulsion issues," wrote Andrea Bolding on Facebook.
