There’s never a dull moment on a Carnival Cruise ship. For one family, this is probably a moment they would rather forget, as sewage water completely flooded their room.
In case you were wondering how cruises work, wading through waste water in your cabin isn’t really part of the deal. Arguably, no matter how much you plan a cruise, nothing can quite compare to this stressful (and smelly) experience.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how squeamish you are), TikToker Donyia (@yaybay_) documented the whole thing for 3 million viewers. The on-screen text on the video read: “Carnival’s poop ship couldn’t get their plumbing together.”
What Happened On This Carnival Cruise?
The footage itself included backed-up water from a pipe spilling into the bathroom with suspicious dark chunks in it. The floor is deep enough to wade into. The sound of bubbling water accompanied the worrying scene.
“This was the noise we woke up to at 2 o’clock in the morning,” Donyia said. “Like this s— was so disgusting it stink. We was calling the front desk for about 15 minutes. Finally my fiancé had to run downstairs to get somebody.”
The video then shows footage of water spilling out from the bottom of the bathroom door into the main cabin. A distant voice says, “…We about to be in the ocean. Oh my god I’m so glad I woke up.”
The camera then gives a wider view of the whole cabin, which includes a carpet that is saturated in some areas. “Its 2 o’ clock in the morning and look at this s—,” she says.
Water is still spilling from beneath the bathroom door.
Carnival Cruise Employees Take Action
Then the camera cuts to a man arriving on the phone. The man, who appears to be an employee, tells the person on the phone to come quickly and that they need to give them 30 minutes.
“I told them that we were moving the rooms,” Donyia notes. “He asks, ‘Do you really wanna move a room?’ YES. The floor is wet, it stinks, it’s 2am in the morning, and y’all are loud vacuuming up water, trying to fix the plumbing. We went from a balcony to an interior. I had to use the bathroom; this was a lot.”
As she says this, her fiancé is dealing with a suitcase and other belongings. The camera then cuts to employees trying to fix the issue.
“We had to wake up Ethan so he had to be put back to bed. Having to pack up some of our belongings, it’s a lot to do at 2 o’clock in the morning,” the TikToker adds.
As she said this, the video showed how the water had spread further, while someone in the room could be seen packing.
What Did Commenters Say?
Commenters were horrified. “Isn’t that like bio hazard?” one asked.
“Omg. Why wouldn’t they move your room immediately???” a second queried.
“The floor isn’t wet it’s contaminated and unsanitary!” a third wrote, while a fourth added, “They owe you a refund or a future cruise for free.”
What Happened Next?
After the first clip went viral, the TikToker posted a follow-up video. On-screen text read, “Carnival’s Poop Cruise Experience Part 2.”
“At 2 o’clock in the morning, our room was flooding with sewer water,” Donyia said. “This is part two of the poop cruise.”
In a video, the fiancé surveys the damage and says, “They thought we was gonna stay in here, this stinks.” The video shows the room with various vacuums and appliances on the floor.
Donyia then goes into the bathroom. While it looks clean, the TikToker describes the smell as “horrible,” comparing it to a porta-potty.
“We’re leaving, we’re not staying in here,” she determines, as she packs up more possessions into a makeup bag.
The camera then returns to the main cabin, where Donyia’s fiancé is packing and talking on the cabin phone.
“So they gave us two options,” the TikToker said. “We can stay in our room and they would give us a one-night refund. But because we went from a balcony and going into a interior, the price of the room is different, so we did get somewhat of a refund.”
The camera then switched to footage of the TikToker as she, her fiancé, and her son Ethan moved rooms.
“They said that someone was gonna take our stuff down, which no one did. So we had to lug our stuff ourselves all the way to floor one,” she said via voiceover. As she did this, footage showed her and her family in the elevator.
However, her young son didn’t seem impressed with the first floor, calling it “ghetto.”
“I’m crying,” Donyia added.
As a final note, Donyia then showed footage of a pile of wet clothes that the employees said would be washed the following day.
According to the video description, they also got a dinner voucher.
In a second follow-up, Donyia shared a more optimistic update, saying they’ve “made the best of it” and showing footage from their trip to Nassau.
BroBible reached out to Donyia and Carnival via email.
@yaybay_ Day 2 room evacuation #carnivalcruiseline #carinvalcruise #vacation #carinvalsunrise #poopship
Has This Happened Before?
Multiple commenters also made reference to “the poop cruise.” This is because of a 2025 Netflix documentary titled “Trainwreck: Poop Cruise.” The documentary examines the 2013 Carnival Cruise ship “Triumph.”
The ship, which carried more than 4,000 people, was involved in a fire that knocked out its electricity and, crucially, its plumbing. As reported by Madator Network, passengers were forced to use showers as urinals and use red biohazard bags distributed by crew members for number twos.
It wasn’t long before designated biohazard bins began overflowing, leaving sewage to spread across hallways. This led to passengers sleeping out on the decks to avoid the smell.
All in all, pretty gross. While the TikToker’s situation is on a smaller scale, it no doubt unearths some pretty unpleasant memories for Carnival.