Majesty hit by wave- fatalities.

Breaking news at 6.35pm GMT is that former NCL Majesty, now owned by Louis Cruise, has been hit by a 26 ft wave off Marseille, causing the death of 2 passengers, and slightly injuring 6 more.

jocap.

How awful!! :(

Horrible news - could it somehow be related to the Chilean earthquake?

Holy Smokes. That has to be scary. I know they have been having some terrible storms over that way (I have ralatives there, but don't know where they are in proximity to where the ship was) ) Was this weather related does anyone know?

fly. imo, the ship has a greater chance of catching a big wave than a plane does of going down.

The report says they were struck off France. Sailing from Barcelona Spain to Genoa Italy

fly. imo, the ship has a greater chance of catching a big wave than a plane does of going down.

Not to take this in a morbid direction, but the survival rates of a rogue wave incident, vs a plane crash are probably much better statistically.

Horrible news - could it somehow be related to the Chilean earthquake?

Chile = Pacific waters...

Marseille = Atlantic/Mediterranean waters...

Any Tsunami from Chile would have had to travel through the Panama Canal or go around the southern tip of South America and turn north to get to France.

Wonder why the article did not list the wave height. Surely I am nor the only person curious.

They were in Malta with us (Jade Jan 24th sailing, in Malta Feb 3rd).

Wonder why the article did not list the wave height. Surely I am nor the only person curious.

Fin- on Sky news, it says 26 feet, a series of 3.

The weather in Europe this year has been peculiar, with much snow and flooding. We live on the NW coast of England, and would normally have massive storms from the Atlantic- instead, it's just been bitterly cold with snow. Great storms happened on the Atlantic coast of France, Spain and Portugal this weekend.

We were in Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) for a stay/ cruise last month, and the airport was devestated by a storm; our hotel had the roof down, and the beach flooded. This weekend, of course, has seen the tragic loss of life at Sharm, with Costa Europa.

The Times says that the gulf stream is much further south than usual this winter.

jocap.

26ft would be huge for that small ship. I am so sorry for the people who were hurt and killed. I don't think there would be much the crew could have done to avoid it. I have sailed on the Majesty many times and I am sorry to hear this.:(

So once on a cruise we had 35ft swells at sea... I was on the HUGE Gem... how are swells different from waves? This makes me nervous:eek:

The wave that hit the Dawn was reported as 70 feet.

This is scary. I was a first time cruiser last fall on the Majesty when it was still owned by NCL. We had a wonderful time in Canada and New England and will be taking our second cruise in early May on the NCL Jade out of Barcelona. I guess it's a positive that the Jade is bigger than the Majesty. Based on what I read in one of the news articles it would have been the glass windows in the main dining room that were smashed by the rogue wave. Whenever we were in that dining room we tried to get a window seat. I've got my fingers crossed that no rogue waves or other severe weather conditions will be around the Mediterranean when we're cruising.

Massive Wave Smashes Into Cruise Liner Killing 2 Passengers

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

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Two cruise-ship passengers have been killed after a 26-foot wave smashed into the ship off the coast of France, Sky News reported.

A Greek coast guard statement says another six people suffered minor injuries on board the Cypriot-owned Louis Majesty.

It says the accident occurred near the French Mediterranean port of Marseilles, as the ship was sailing from Barcelona to Genoa in Italy with 1,350 passengers and 580 crew.

The victims have been identified only as a German and an Italian man.

Louis Cruise Lines spokesman Michael Maratheftis said the ship was hit by three "abnormally high" waves up to 26ft high that broke glass windshields in the forward section.

The cruise ship was safely heading back to Barcelona.

Operated by Louis Cruise Lines, the 18-year-old Louis Majesty sailed for years as Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Majesty.

I hope the Majesty and everyone else on the ship is ok.

We also sailed the NCL Majesty a few years back in 20 ft swells, it handled those fine, but I guess those rouge waves must be another story all together!

What a horrible story to read..

Nita

Rogue waves are much different than those in a storm, mainly because people KNOW about high waves in a storm vs one coming from nowhere. Watching CNN, some weather folks could not explain and saw no weather related issues.

Sometimes, some weird stuff happens.

See more> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_wave

We cruised on the Crown Odyssey (which later became NCL Crown) the year after she was hit by a rogue wave in the same area! It can be extremely rough to start with. This is the second rogue wave I have heard of in that area. Oh btw, it wouldn't stop me from cruising there...ever!!!!:D

Very sorry to hear of this tragedy...I loved our cruise on this ship back when it was with Majesty Cruise Line as the 'Royal Majesty'. She was built in 1992 and sold to NCL in '97, lengthened in '99, and in December 2009 she became 'Louis Majesty'. Bless those who perished and their families. :(

Condolences to the families for their loses and hoping a speedy recovery for those injured.

I sailed on the Majesty multiple times and miss her here in Charleston.

The only cruise ship I've been on :( My thoughts are with them...

Very sad occurance. Looking at this photo you'll see the front windows to the Fireworks lounge. It seems that the waves broke these windows.