- The iceberg collided with the Carnival Spirit cruise ship
- One passenger said it was a ‘Titanic moment’
- Fortunately, the cruise did not sustain any damage
This is the moment a Carnival cruise ship was hit by a flying iceberg in what one terrified passenger described as a ‘Titanic moment’.
The ship, the Carnival Spirit, was sailing in Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska, last week when an iceberg brushed against it.
Video footage taken by passenger Cassandra Goskie shows the ship passing the right side of the vessel.
In the video, she can be heard exclaiming, “If we die, it was worth it. It’s a Titanic moment.”
According to another passenger, the ship was ‘stopped for hours to assess the damage’.
The ship, the Carnival Spirit (pictured), was sailing in Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska, last week when the iceberg scraped past it
A Carnival spokesperson said CNN: ‘An assessment has shown that there is no damage to the hull of the ship. The ship is continuing its journey and there is no impact on operations.’
On Tuesday, the seven-day expedition concluded and the ship returned to Seattle, Washington, before beginning a 14-day voyage to Alaska.
Although Alaska is a popular tourist destination, the frigid waters have put many cruise ships in dire straits.
In 2022, the Norwegian Cruise Line ship Norwegian Sun struck an iceberg while sailing in the state’s waters, causing damage to the starboard bow. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
Captains have spoken about the difficulties of traveling in Alaska before. Captain John Herring, a pilot in southeast Alaska who boards ships in the region to help ensure safe passage, told CNN in 2022: “Strong winds and currents make navigating the frigid waters even more difficult.”
Despite these difficult conditions, “we rarely, if ever, see any problems related to cruising in freezing water,” said cruise expert Chris Gray Faust, editor in chief of Cruise Critic, a review site and online cruise community.
“Today’s cruise ships are purpose-built to navigate a variety of waters,” Gray Faust told CNN Travel. “The ships that sail in Alaska are not only capable of navigating icy waters, they also have experienced captains who are familiar with the landscape, and therefore the reported incident did not cause any problems for the ship or the navigation.”