Cruise Ship Accused of Damaging Coral Reef in Indonesia

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Silversea Cruises’ Silver Cloud might be having a bigger negative impact on marine ecosystems than many realized.

An experienced diver named Tim Yeo has accused the expedition ship of damaging the coral reef in Alor, Indonesia, with the anchors used by its zodiacs during her visit on July 11, 2025.

Yeo, who is General Manager and COO at Bluewater Travel, scuba dives around the world and was shocked to see the damage he says the zodiacs caused.

For context, 20 zodiacs are onboard the small vessel and are used almost daily to access remote and harder-to-reach locations.

“A few days ago, the luxury expedition cruise ship Silver Cloud (owned by Royal Caribbean Group, NYSE: RCL, which reported $16.5 BILLION USD in revenue in 2024) brought its guests to snorkel here,” Yeo wrote on his Facebook.

“What should have been a magical experience turned into an absolute environmental tragedy,” he continued.

Yeo alleges that 39 anchors were used across 13 zodiacs. Each craft used three anchors, which meant a total of 39 anchors were dropped, some of which landed directly on the reef.

“One was witnessed wrapped around a coral head, being yanked out manually by crew. Imagine that—times 39. The reef damage caused in just a few hours could take years to recover,” Yeo claimed.

Assuming this is true, it’s particularly tragic considering more than 85% of the reefs within Indonesia’s Coral Triangle region, which includes Alor, are considered to be actively threatened by environmental stressors and human activity.

In a video shared by Yeo, the diver recorded a guide manually removing an anchor from the coral bed after a bit of a struggle.

When the men surface, a man that Yeo identifies as one of Silver Cloud’s 212 crew members can be heard saying “F*!k you… you’re not even Indonesian bro.”

At this time, neither Silversea cruises nor Royal Caribbean (their parent brand) has issued a statement on the matter.

Silver Cloud’s Environmental Impact

Yeo also went on to falsely accuse the cruise line of not paying the mandatory marine park fee, which is $3 USD per person, to visit the Indonesian island and that the luxury vessel “was never registered or accounted for.”

However, cruise tracking data does show that the 254-guest ship was on the port schedule in advance, and other outlets confirmed that Silversea had all the necessary permits for their visit to Alor Island.

Silver Cloud has one more port call on its current 16-night voyage from Darwin, Australia, to Bali, Indonesia, which will be on Satonda Island on July 17, 2025.

Disembarkation will take place in Bali on July 18, before the 17,400-gross ton vessel turns around to embark on another 16-night cruise back to Darwin.

Yeo has called for his followers to keep an eye on the ship for potentially damaging behavior as she continues sailing, particularly when in Bali’s marine parks.

He has also called on organizations like IAATO (Antarctica) and AECO (Arctic) to take action, although neither group has commented.

Silver Cloud is slated to return to Antarctica for a variety of 6 to 22-night sailings in November of 2025 and is Polar certified.

The cruise line is also likely still feeling the heat from the expedition ship’s previous July 22 sailing, during which around 100 passengers and staff were accidentally stranded on the remote Adele Island while on a shore excursion.

Guests were forced to wade through roughly 547 yards of water across coral fields to reach deeper waters where the zodiacs would be able to pick them up and take them the rest of the way to their ship.

Some guests reported twisted ankles and scrapes, though it’s unclear if the coral might have suffered any damage as well.

All that said, Silversea Cruises must be doing something right.

Silver Cloud just marked five years of maintaining its ISO 14001 certification in March, which isn’t easy to get and is given for top-notch environmental impact and sustainability efforts.

Catie Kovelman

Catie is an award-winning journalist and researcher. By day, she helps market new movies and TV shows as a senior research manager. But by night, she loves writing cruise news. In addition to Cruise Hive, Catie has contributed to a variety of newspapers, magazines, and other online publications, such as The Plaid Horse, Unwritten, YourTango, Fangirl Nation Magazine, Chapman Magazine, the Orange County Register, and Voice of OC.