Celebrity ship drifts from pier in 'sudden wind squall' during Alaska cruise
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A Celebrity Cruises ship broke loose from its moorings in Juneau, Alaska, due to strong winds.
The ship, Celebrity Edge, drifted from the pier during a sudden wind squall but was maneuvered back by the captain.
No injuries or damage were reported, and the ship's itinerary remained unaffected.
Strong winds caused a Celebrity Cruises ship to break from its moorings in Alaska this week. The incident occurred while Celebrity Edge was visiting the capital city of Juneau on June 16.
Video footage posted to YouTube shows the vessel floating away from the dock as heavy rain rolls in.
'The ship drifted from the pier due to a sudden wind squall,' a spokesperson for the cruise line's parent company, Royal Caribbean Group, told USA TODAY in an emailed statement. 'Our Captain maneuvered the ship back to the dock where passengers and crew boarded to resume the scheduled itinerary.'
There were no injuries, damage to the ship or impacts to its itinerary. Wind speeds in Juneau increased accompanied by rain in the afternoon, with gusts of 30 to 35 miles per hour between 3:30 and 4 p.m., according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Chad Merrill.
'The wind trends show a ramp up period from a sustained wind of 5 mph at 2:05 p.m. to a sustained wind of 26 mph and gust to 35 mph at 3:30 p.m., and an abrupt wind shift from a southwest direction to an east to southeast direction,' he told USA TODAY in an email. 'So, the squall brought with it steadily increasing winds and a sharp change in wind direction.' Skies later cleared and the wind relaxed.
Celebrity Edge is currently sailing a week-long Alaska cruise that departed from Seattle on June 13, according to CruiseMapper.
While those incidents are relatively rare, it's not the only one of its kind in recent years. Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Epic ship separated from the pier amid strong winds in Catania, Sicily in late May, causing a guest to fall from the gangway into the water. Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Magic also hit a pier in Jamaica during windy weather in February 2024.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.
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