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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.
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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.
"Rogue wave" kills American woman, injures four others on Antarctic cruise ship
No serious injuries were reported among the 266 passengers and 131 crew members, according to HX. Reuters reported that the ship was being towed to Bremerhafen in Germany after the power outage. A spokesperson for the Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre told the news agency that a ship from civil rescue firm Esvagt had managed to connect a tow line to the MS Maud. Viking said in a statement on its website that it's investigating the wave incident and is committed to the safety and security of all guests and crew.
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If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. Video posted to Twitter under the handle @CrewCenter showed water running up and down a hallway and said the crew on one deck had to be evacuated to another part of the ship. Passenger William B. Blackburn, aboard for his first cruise with his wife and other family members, told CNN they stayed in their cabin and prayed they would be OK. He said he's not going to let the frightening experience stop him from going on more cruises in the future. "We were surrounded by lightning and the ship took a huge hit by a wave and sounded like it split in two," Tutrone tweeted.
Margaritaville at Sea Announces Second Cruise Ship
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.
Born said that it was this very pace that prompted the river company to increase capacity for November sailings and add more “festive” cruises. For the Cunard brand specifically, the line booked more guests during January than any equivalent period in the last decade, according to a brand spokesperson. In North America, Cunard has booked 28% more guests than any other equivalent period in a decade, and there was a 27% increase year-over-year with Queen Mary 2’s transatlantic crossings, Queen Anne U.K.
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.
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The ship, operated by HX, a cruise company owned by Norway's Hurtigruten Group, was about 120 miles from Denmark's west coast when the wave struck, Reuters reported. The wave's force shattered some of the ship's windows and caused it to tilt "pretty violently," passenger Elizabeth Lawrence told Business Insider. Passengers aboard the Carnival Sunshine described shattered glass, water pouring into rooms and hallways, the ship pitching about and a lack of communication from cruise staff. Some passengers and crew members needed "minor assistance" from medical staff, a Carnival cruise spokesman told CBS News. The Trusdales were passengers on the Viking Polaris cruise ship sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, when it was hit by a "rogue wave" last week, killing an American passenger, Sheri Zhu, and injuring four others.
The Viking Polaris’ next departure, the Antarctic Explorer cruise scheduled for Dec. 5-17, was canceled due to the incident. The Viking Polaris ship's next departure for the Antarctic, scheduled for Dec. 5, has been canceled "after careful consideration," the cruise line said. "Luckily, our windows did hold," she added, though said other rooms on their side of the ship were "washed out." Californian Beverly Spiker told ABC News that a "huge smash" against the window of her and her husband's cabin caused her window frame to break.
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.
The massive walls of water come from seemingly out of nowhere and without warning. Tutrone said the only time passengers heard from the captain was on Friday when he told them he had an experienced crew and would do everything he could to minimize discomfort as the ship encountered the storm. Things were crashing all around us and the carpet on my side of the bed was soaked (because) water came in thru our balcony door,” passenger Goodwin Sherbert wrote on Facebook.
The Viking Polaris was launched in 2022 and is the newest ship in the company's fleet. Neither the Viking statement nor the Argentine Naval Prefecture identified the woman or her hometown. In recent years, some observers have warned that the increase in tourism may not be sustainable and that it could threaten visitor safety or disrupt the fragile environment, which is already straining under the effects of climate change.
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.
Watch: Massive rogue wave batters cruise ship in North Sea - Fox Weather
Watch: Massive rogue wave batters cruise ship in North Sea.
Posted: Sun, 24 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Forecasters said there would be gusty winds, dangerous surf and rip current conditions along parts of the southeastern coast of the United States through Sunday. Some passengers complained to CNN and CBS News about a lack of communication from cruise staff as the ship was pitching about. Such freak accidents may seem rare, but hundreds have occurred without warning around the world — on cruise ships, cargo vessels, oil platforms and beaches. The National Hurricane Center on Friday warned of a non-tropical area of low pressure off Florida that was set to move northward and inland over the Carolinas during the weekend. Forecasters said there would be gusty winds, dangerous surf and rip current conditions along portions of the U.S.'s southeastern coast through Sunday. "Our team are working to arrange onward travel back home for guests onboard," the statement added.
“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.
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.
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