Two weeks ago, five windows on deck three broke on the Rhapsody of the Seas, injuring cruise passengers and partially flooding the cabins on deck three and also on deck two.

So why did the windows break?  We have heard dramatic stories of a “rogue wave” from passengers. Afterward, the captain announced (saying words to the effect) that the cruise ship had been caught between two large swells which caused the ship to flex and this allegedly caused the windows to break.

But photographs and comments from cruise passengers may offer a more simple explanation – that the window frames in question were rusted, and they broke when struck with waves due to their state of disrepair and shoddy maintenance.

The comments come from a seasoned cruiser, who wishes to remain anonymous.  He and his wife were on the third floor of the ship, on the opposite side or the broken windows. He sent photographs of the window in their cabin which was in a state of neglect.  He commented:

“Our window frames were rusted and water came in even when workers were cleaning the windows. Pathetic preventative maintenance.

At the 3rd floor, we were well above the water line but you could clearly see corrosion in the welds which needs to be repaired, not painted over.

For a ship built in 1997, that’s pretty darn pathetic.”

He sent a number of photographs, not of the damaged cabins, but of the window in his unaffected cabin (some of which you can see on our Facebook page).

“This is my window . . . I attach a photo of the whole window, top dead center, missing screw, rust inside and outside of window. Zoom in, top of frame is brass colored, bottom is tarnished brass so bad you would think it was blue wood.”

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