As Wave Season Concludes, Cruise Lines Continue to Celebrate Booking Wins

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• Rogue wave kills navigation system on cruise ship with nearly 400 on board as deadly storm hammers northern Europe
• Rogue wave strikes cruise ship, killing 1 and injuring 4 more
• Norwegian cruise ship loses ability to navigate after rogue wave hits

The ship is docked as passengers await further travel plans from Viking, according to Gooding, who said that two other ships in their bay in Ushuaia were also damaged, possibly by rogue waves. The passenger's leg required surgery, which led the ship's captain to turn back to Argentina. During the trip back toward Argentina, through a known turbulent stretch of ocean, was when the "rogue wave" crashed into the cruise ship. "This wave hit and came over and literally broke through windows and just washed into these rooms," Tom Trusdale, a passenger aboard the Viking Polaris when the incident happened, told ABC News.

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The MS Maud isn't the first ship to encounter rough seas in the North Sea — dramatic videos of huge waves crashing in the area have become a source of fascination on TikTok. "The condition of the ship remains stable and the crew are able to sail under their own power," a spokesperson for HX said. In Hamburg, the Elbe River flooded streets around the city's fish market, with water waist-high in places. German authorities warned of a storm surge of up to three meters (nearly 10 feet) or more above mean high tide on parts of the North Sea coast on Friday. A woman who was struck by a falling tree on Thursday in the eastern Dutch town of Wilp later died of her injuries, her employer said.

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One woman was killed and at least four more were injured when a colossal rogue wave struck a cruise ship off the coast of Argentina last week. Some passengers and crew members needed “minor assistance” from medical staff, a Carnival cruise spokesperson told CBS News. A passenger died and four others were injured after a large, unexpected wave hit a cruise ship traveling toward a popular launching point for expeditions to Antarctica, Viking Cruises said. One person died and four others were injured after a "rogue wave" hit the Viking Polaris cruise ship while it was sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, on Tuesday night, officials said.

Rogue wave kills navigation system on cruise ship with nearly 400 on board as deadly storm hammers northern Europe

A State Department official said that a U.S. citizen died and that the department was offering consular assistance to the person’s family. Suzie Gooding, who was on the ship when the incident happened, recalled feeling like they'd hit an iceberg, according to NBC affiliate WRAL of Raleigh, North Carolina. "We are offering all appropriate consular assistance. Out of respect for the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment," the spokesperson said. A guest died following the incident, Viking said, though did not share further details on the cause of death.

As March came to a close, Carnival Corporation announced that reservation numbers, revenue and total customer deposits during the wave season reached an all-time high, even with significantly higher prices year-over-year. Carnival Corporation brands include AIDA Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line, P&O Cruises (Australia), P&O Cruises (U.K.), Princess Cruises and Seabourn. "Our team are working to arrange onward travel back home for guests onboard," a spokesperson for the company said. The Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said in a statement to NBC News the ship's crew is navigating the vessel manually via emergency systems, and that two civilian support ships are helping to navigate the waters in the North Sea. The storm also brought down trees and prompting warnings of flooding on the North Sea coast. A woman in Belgium was fatally injured by a falling Christmas tree, while another tree killed a person in the Netherlands.

Norwegian cruise ship loses ability to navigate after rogue wave hits

Tom and Pam Trusdale were enjoying a bucket list trip to Antarctica, until their trip of a lifetime turned into a deadly disaster. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior, evolution and paleontology. His feature on the upcoming solar maximum was shortlisted in the "top scoop" category at the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) Awards for Excellence in 2023. The Viking Polaris had been heading toward the Argentinian port city of Ushuaia en route to a cruise of Antarctica. The ship was able to arrive in port without further incident, but Viking said the Antarctic portion of the itinerary would be canceled.

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However, the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded was the Ucluelet wave, a 58-foot-tall (17.7 m) wave that was detected by an ocean buoy off the coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia in November 2020. The Ucluelet wave is regarded as the most extreme rogue wave because it was around three times higher than surrounding waves, while the Draupner wave was only around twice as tall compared with the surrounding sea state. -- A storm with 40-foot waves battered the cruise ship Carnival Sunshine late Friday night, breaking glass, causing water to pour into the ship and terrifying passengers. "We are investigating the facts surrounding this incident and will offer our support to the relevant authorities," the company said. "Our focus remains on the safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew, and we are working directly with them to arrange return travel." "We are investigating the facts surrounding this incident and will offer our support to the relevant authorities," Viking said in a statement Thursday.

Dorothy Hallam, a passenger on board, wrote on social media, "We've been sat on the floor in our muster stations for hours wearing our safety suits and life jackets and there's no sign of us being allowed up any time soon. We were thrown about a lot." On Dec. 2, a passenger onboard another cruise ship in the Drake Passage shared a video of another massive, but less destructive, wave on Twitter. "We had a 40 foot wave hit our side of the ship,.. we almost fell out the bed.. things were crashing all around us and the carpet on my side of the bed was soaked bc water came in thru our balcony door," Goodwin Sherbert wrote. “We are investigating the facts surrounding this incident and will offer our support to the relevant authorities,” the company said. The four other guests had non-life-threatening injuries and received treatment from doctors and medical staff onboard. The ship sustained "limited damage" from the rogue wave and arrived in Ushuaia on Wednesday "without further incident," Viking said.

Why cruise lines list their best deals during wave season - USA TODAY

Why cruise lines list their best deals during wave season.

Posted: Mon, 25 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

A U.S. woman died and four other passengers were injured when a massive wave smashed into an Antarctic cruise ship during a storm as it sailed off the southernmost tip of South America, officials said Friday. The 62-year-old woman was hit by broken glass when the wave broke cabin windows late Tuesday, Argentine authorities said. It is currently unclear if the wave that hit the Viking Polaris qualifies as an official rogue wave because there is no accurate data on the wave height or the surrounding sea state.

“We have 19 small ships and riverboats sailing across the country in 2024, plus more boats and new itineraries coming in late 2024 and 2025,” said Alexa Paolella, manager of public relations for ACL. “American is growing and growing, and U.S. river cruising is becoming bigger than ever before, in part because American has re-invented the market in the U.S. by also offering small ships that cruise coastal itineraries just like the river cruises." American Cruise Lines (ACL), meanwhile, has also witnessed a record-breaking wave season in 2024 for domestic cruises. “Avalon Waterways is enjoying record sales overall for 2024,” said Steve Born, chief marketing officer for the Globus family of brands, which includes Avalon. “Our record pace accelerated during this wave season, as more and more advisors look to Avalon as an alternative to more traditional luxury cruises." The MS Maud sustained a temporary loss of power while sailing to Tilbury, England, from Florø, Norway, HX said in a statement to NBC News.

Passengers on board the ship described choppy conditions leading up to the incident. The passenger killed was a U.S. citizen, a State Department spokesperson confirmed to ABC News Friday. River cruises — both internationally and domestically — are making headway too. While the waters of the North Sea can be turbulent, marine experts said it's generally safe for the hundreds of thousands of ships that pass through every year. HX said after following ongoing safety checks and technical assessments, the company amended the ship's planned route to sail to Bremerhaven, Germany, for disembarkation. "An Esvagt ship is towing it slowly towards Bremerhafen in Germany at around 8-9 knots," the spokesperson told Reuters.

The death on the Viking Cruises ship this week comes after the death of two other cruise ship passengers in the Antarctic last month. Two Quark Expeditions cruise ship passengers died after one of the ship’s heavy duty inflatable Zodiac boats overturned near shore, Seatrade Cruise News reported. The passengers were hurt after a large, unpredictable wave hit the ship, which was traveling toward the Antarctic, Viking Cruises said. As cruising’s wave season (January – March) came to a close for 2024, cruise lines are taking stock of the quarter’s bookings. Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Group and several others have already reported record successes during this period, and now other lines are chiming in with their own sales successes.

A possible rogue wave sent headlines around the world last week after it broke windows on a cruise ship off the coast of Argentina, killing a woman and injuring four others. Several passengers, including Brenda Goodwin Sherbert, posted on social media about broken glass on the ship. The MS Maud lost power after the wave hit as the ship was sailing toward Tilbury, England, from Florø, Norway, HX, a unit of Norway’s Hurtigruten Group, said in a statement. A Norwegian cruise ship lost the ability to navigate after a rogue wave crashed into it Thursday, the cruise company HX said.