Princess Cruises Strikes Humpback Whale in Alaska

Federal authorities are now investigating an incident where a Princess Cruises ship struck a humpback whale in Alaska. The dead whale is believed to have been a juvenile. It was discovered on the front of the 2,670-passenger Sapphire Princess while the vessel traveled from Ketchikan to Juneau, which are 2 of the most popular ports in the US state.

Julie Speegle, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said that the ship was south of Juneau when the whale became pinned to the front. Federal authorities responded to the incident after the US Coast Guard and National Marine Fisheries Service, who called the NOAA, were contacted. A necropsy is being conducted on the animal by the NOAA, and Speegle says that the whale looks like a juvenile humpback.

Princess Cruises said in a statement that they were surprised and concerned about the discovery, as the vessel didn’t feel an impact. It’s not known how or when this happened, as they aren’t aware that any whales were seen close to the ship when they discovered the whale, they continued. They have strict whale avoidance procedures while ships are in marine life areas, they added.

Because of the incident, the Sapphire Princess arrived in Juneau 3 hours behind schedule. The ship is on a 7-day Inside Passage cruise, round-trip out of Seattle.

This is the second incident in just more than a year where a ship has hit a whale. Coincidentally enough, this previous incident happened with the same ship on July 25 of last year. During that incident, the ship docked in Vancouver with a Fin whale attached. It was later found that the 70-ton whale was already dead upon collision with the vessel.