Passengers boarding Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas in Port Canaveral on Oct. 12 encountered an unexpected group of visitors: a large cluster of bees beneath a shade umbrella on the pool deck.
The swarm was on the port side of Deck 15, near the waterslide exit, according to Cruise Hive. A passenger who shared the sighting on Reddit said a person wearing protective beekeeping gear was already working to remove the bees with what appeared to be vacuum equipment, while passengers stayed back.
Utopia of the Seas was preparing to leave Port Canaveral for a four-night Bahamas itinerary with stops in Nassau and Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day at CocoCay. Cruise Hive reported that the bees appeared to be removed without delaying the ship’s Oct. 12 departure.
It was not confirmed what kind of bees were involved, whether they had formed a hive beneath the umbrella or where they were taken. The University of Florida notes that honeybee swarms can temporarily cluster on structures while scout bees search for a new nesting site, a process that can last from minutes to several days.
Royal Caribbean had not publicly explained how the swarm was handled.
