Video: Norwegian Cruise passenger injured in weather accident
Although the tropics were quiet as the Atlantic hurricane season kicked off on June 1, May 30 and 31 brought unusually high winds to multiple ports around the world where cruise ships were docked.
Winds gusts in certain ports were so strong that large cruise ships struggled to remain tied up at their docks, creating rare dangerous situations for both passengers and crew from multiple cruise lines.
Related: MSC Cruises' ship meets Mother Nature in scary situation
Unfortunately, two of the three windy-weather related incidents even led to passenger injuries. In all cases, fast-acting crew members and port workers prevented the situation from becoming much worse though.
Whether a ship is docked in Alaska, Italy, or The Bahamas, cruise ship crew members are well trained to respond when Mother Nature decides to push mooring ropes and bollards to their breaking points.
Doug Parker shared more details on all three of the cruise ship accidents Mother Nature caused during the windy weekend, and other cruise news including Carnival Cruise Line's latest effort to enforce cruise rules, on the June 2 edition of Cruise News Today.
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Transcript:
Cruise News Today with Doug Parker.
Good morning. Here's your cruise news for Monday, June 2.
A windy weekend - Yeah, high winds knocked a gangway into the water off Holland America's Westerdam on Friday while docked in Ketchikan, Alaska. Gusts around 69 miles an hour caused the ropes to snap and the ship detached from the pier.
Tugboats though quickly came in and assisted the ship back to the pier now. No injuries were reported and a crane did lift the gangway out of the water. All passengers eventually re-boarded the Westerdam safely.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line faces first storm of hurricane season
And meanwhile in Sicily, strong winds caused a mooring bollard to give way sending a Norwegian Epic passenger into the water on Friday. The gangway collapsed as the ship started drifting away from the pier sending the woman into the bay. She was rescued by her husband and both were treated for minor injuries. The Norwegian Epic was delayed leaving port.
Now closer to home, an MSC ship broke free from the dock during a squall at Ocean Cay that injured one guest as well. Busy weekend.
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Carnival Cruise Line is reinforcing its "Have Fun. Be Safe" policy with updated reminders now in every stateroom fleetwide. Rules include a 1 a.m curfew for minors, noise restrictions, and a $500 fine for doing things like smoking or tossing items overboard. And all illegal substances are prohibited even if it's legal in port.
This push follows a series of onboard incidents including a recent brawl in Galveston involving 24 passengers.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line bans TikTok influencer after booze scam
And cruise stocks were up on Friday. Carnival Corporation: up slightly, 23.22, Royal Caribbean: up 1.1 percent, 256.97, Norwegian: up slightly, 17.65, and Viking: up a half percent - that's at 44.64.
If you have a lead on a story, let us know: tips@cruiseradio.net.
Have yourself a great Monday.
I'm Doug Parker with Cruise News Today.
Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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USA Today
15 hours ago
- USA Today
‘Why is our ship leaving?': Mom and daughter stranded as Norwegian Epic breaks from port
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'We get home late on Thursday, so I imagine on Friday I'll be spending a lot of time on the phone trying to get this sorted.' Norwegian also gave passengers a 10% future cruise credit, according to the letter Cisco received. 'During this interruption, our crew were actively attending to our guests until they were able to re-embark the ship,' a spokesperson for the cruise line told USA TODAY earlier this week. 'As always the safety of our guests and crew is our top priority.' Norwegian did not immediately share a comment on Cisco's experience. Does travel insurance cover an incident like this? While those incidents are relatively rare, it's not the only one of its kind in recent years. Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Magic ship hit a pier in Jamaica during windy weather in February 2024, forcing it to move away and temporarily leave guests on shore. Winds have also caused MSC Cruises and Cunard Line ships to break from their moorings. 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Injuries sustained from those kinds of incidents may also fall under emergency medical coverage. 'Again, it's important to not only know what the cruise line will cover – but travelers should also know what is covered under their specific travel insurance policy,' she added. Cisco had hoped to visit Sorrento and missed a scheduled limoncello tasting, but she ultimately took the inconvenience in stride. 'Thankfully, there's lots of limoncello in Italy.' Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@
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