Did Coral Princess Hit a Whale Yesterday?

[spongerob]

Dawg, please warn me to have the Windex handy next time. Thar she blows!

 

I fished around the BlueWaterNetwork web site. I get the idea that they are just slightly more reputable than Oceana, but not by much.

 

Completed:

Sea Princess, Royal Princess, Grand Princess (3X), Caribbean Princess, Golden Princess

Coming up:

Tahitian Princess Oct 14/04

Caribbean Princess redux 6/25/05

[verwirrt]

Salty,

 

[sdl]

It was on KNTV11, also known as cable 3; this is an NBC affiliate.

 

The initial earlier report I saw had the passenger's name below the video shot as they were playing the conversation- can't remember what it was, but a short name. It was a guy.

 

They are a formerly-local-owned station that was bought by a big conglomerate and converted to NBC- this was part of a chain of disasterous changes in local tv stations and their affiliations.

They have truly gone downhill as far as decent local coverage (they used to be based in San Jose, now we have NO tv station focused on us), their website is practically a joke, and outside management hired a bunch of east-coasters or something- it's ridiculous to have someone telling you about an incident when it is clear neither they nor the person that wrote the script has any idea where or what they are referring to!

 

It is likely they are backing off on this until they can get some confirmation, but that would be awfully hard to do without access to the passengers or the Coast Guard finding the whale carcass.

Honestly, since is was out beyond the bridge, the sharks are likely to have it eaten with the balance sinking to the deep trench there vs washing up onshore- only if it remained mostly intact would that happen.

 

S

[LARGIN]

I was on the Coral on this cruise and did not feel or see anything as we were arriving in San Francisco. Also no mention of whale by friends who work on the ship.

[pattie63]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by pattie63:

In the Port of New York/New Jersey, whales are quite often hit by ships. HOWEVER, upon autopsy, it is generally indicated that the whales died of natural causes or disease prior to being hit by the ships. Because of the physical nature of the deeper channels, the carcasses wind up in in the channels where they are vulernable to ship traffic. Most of the marine mammal groups (Okeanus, Marine Mammal Stranding Center) are aware of this (they do the autopsy along with NOAA and/or FWS). <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The only way of knowing what the whale died of will be through autopsy. The presence of trauma from a ship may be seen but is not necessarily causative. The whale may exhibit multiple trauma from multiple events (such as lacerations from props - you can sometimes differentiate the props themselves and determine that more than one ship hit the animal). I'm sure that they will look at state of decomposition and stomach contents to try to figure out what this creature died from. Dead, decomposing whales bloat and float and unfortunately get hit by ships. If a cruise ship hit a carcass, of course it would be messy (it decomposed and full of gas - under pressure). I've been at the pier when they've lifted these giants out of the water and they are not exactly fresh. Not sure about the west coast but on the east coast the reason this does not get alot of play in the press is because the whales generally die of natural causes and are then hit.

 

QE2 - 2000

Grand Princess - 2002

Coral Princess - 2004

[NASH99]

CNN reported a robust man with an overflowing buffet plate was missing around the same time from that ship.

 

Golden 2/04

Grand 11/03

The three most exciting sounds in the world: Anchor chains, plane motors, and train whistles....George Bailey

[jemingway]

Nash, "robust", I like that euphemism.

 

JV The 4 stages of cruising: planning, anticipation, experience and reflection.

[meemeec]

Just heard from a friend who was on the Coral Princess that some passengers witnessed a shark attack. Lots of blood in the water and they assumed it was a seal or large fish.

 

4/21/04 Coral Princess Panama Canal

 

[kkorman]

I was the one who told meemeec about it. There were about 10 people on the aft of the ship watchng a shark devour something large in the water. Most people agreed, through use of their binoculars that it was a shark eating something about the size of a seal. It certainly did not look like a whale and the mess was quickly just a large mess of red water. I tried to get a picture, but all I got was the red water. Either way, the blood did not appear until the Coral Princess was several football fields away from the area, so I would doubt the ship hit anything as we would have seen it in the wake sooner.

 

Next:Coral Princess 4/04; Dawn Princess 10/04

Photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman

http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman1

Conquest 12/03 -New Years, Norwegian Sky b2b 12/03, Carnival Pride 06/03, Star Princess 03/03, Norwegian Star 07/02,Voyager of the Seas 06/01, Ecstasy 12/00, Exporer of the Seas 11/00, Zaandam 08/00, Destiny 04/00, Nordic Empress 08/99, Rhapsody of the Seas 04/98, Sensation 12/96, Legend of the Seas 8/96, Imagination 8/95, Jubilee 3/92, Sovereign of the Seas 10/88

 

[sdl]

Ummmm, guys?

You were on the cruise immediately PRIOR to the one in question.

We'll have a while before any passengers without Net access are likely to chime in.

 

 

Not suprised by the shark attack however- you basically passed Ano Nuevo (those islands offshore), and it's a State Preserve, major breeding ground for sea mammals, AND along the edge of Shark Triangle where the great whites roam at will and in force.

 

Also, keep in mind that these babies are usually in the 15-30 foot range (can be bigger), so if you do not know how to ID the difference between a shark and a whale it could get confusing...

 

Lots of shark attacks against pretty much anything here- they have been known to attack a fishing boat repeatedly, bring a whale down, etc.

Also witnessed have been Orca (killer whales) attacking a BIG shark IN THE BAY- so bad that the shark was completely thrown out of the water more than once before being killed and left (Orca hate sharks and will kill them if they can if they attack or come too close to pods).

 

S

[meemeec]

Ummmm....SDL

I WAS on the cruise just prior to this incident but KKorman was on THAT cruise because he extended to Vancouver.

You're welcome.

 

4/21/04 Coral Princess Panama Canal

[donna5]

We were on Coral May 6-8 S.F.-Vancouver.

We were on our balcony most of the time as we sailed out of S.F. So were many other people on our side of the ship. Port Side C310 so we were pretty close to the front. Never saw or heard anything during that time. Maybe someone that was on the Starboard side can shed light on what was or was not seen. Docking in Vancouver some guys on the next balcony heard the rumor from someone that had called them or e-mailed them.

[kkorman]

The incident occurred well behind the ship and would only be seen by those looking back at the Golden Gate after we went under it. There was some rustling in the water, a clear dorsal fin, and a lot of blood. I would not think this woul dhave anything to do with the Coral princess because of the distance between the blood and the ship. We were using binoculars to see it happen.

 

IT was only 2 days from SF to Vancouver, so we got back in last night! What a fantastic 18 days!

 

Next:Coral Princess 4/04; Dawn Princess 10/04

Photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman

http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman1

Conquest 12/03 -New Years, Norwegian Sky b2b 12/03, Carnival Pride 06/03, Star Princess 03/03, Norwegian Star 07/02,Voyager of the Seas 06/01, Ecstasy 12/00, Exporer of the Seas 11/00, Zaandam 08/00, Destiny 04/00, Nordic Empress 08/99, Rhapsody of the Seas 04/98, Sensation 12/96, Legend of the Seas 8/96, Imagination 8/95, Jubilee 3/92, Sovereign of the Seas 10/88

 

[skarletohara]

"Save the Whales"

 

Carnival Holiday 6/92

RCCL Monarch of the Seas 6/94

Celebrity Infinity 6/28/01

Star Princess 2/08/03

Golden Princess 12/06/03

Diamond Princess 9/25/04

[1stcruze]

I was on this ship. I posted a seperate topic above with my eyewitness account for anyone interested.

[kkorman]

In my second webshot link below I posted the picture I took. It is well zoomed in as this was well behind the ship and I added contrast to see the red better.

Next:Coral Princess 4/04; Dawn Princess 10/04
Photos: [url="http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman"]http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman[/url]
[url="http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman1"]http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman1[/url]
Conquest 12/03 -New Years, Norwegian Sky b2b 12/03, Carnival Pride 06/03, Star Princess 03/03, Norwegian Star 07/02,Voyager of the Seas 06/01, Ecstasy 12/00, Exporer of the Seas 11/00, Zaandam 08/00, Destiny 04/00, Nordic Empress 08/99, Rhapsody of the Seas 04/98, Sensation 12/96, Legend of the Seas 8/96, Imagination 8/95, Jubilee 3/92, Sovereign of the Seas 10/88

[avalana]

Spongerob, not trying to flame you, but maybe you are just ignorant of the facts. Whales are a much rarer species than deer are, so there is a bit of a difference. Many people consider spotting whales one of the highlights of their cruise. The ship crew must think so also since the bridge usually announce any whale sightings.
I have no idea if the story is true or not but if it is it's unfortunate.

[spongerob]

No, in fact we are probably more in agreement than you might be willing to guess. I enjoy whale watching too, and have some great photos of humpbacks I took in Alaska. The BlueWaterNetwork's press release was already calling for investigations, environmental impact assessments, etc. before the facts were even known. I was just trying to put things into perspective in my own unique way.

Completed:
Sea Princess, Royal Princess, Grand Princess (3X), Caribbean Princess, Golden Princess
Coming up:
Tahitian Princess Oct 14/04
Caribbean Princess redux 6/25/05

[woodofpine]

Whales get hit by ships - cargo ships, cruise ships, naval vessels (probably more by naval vessels given the higher speeds)... I don't know if healthy animals are as vulnerable as sickly, but either way it happens.

Since just about everything from oil to grain to chinese toys and appliances are transported by ship, I doubt the world's cruise fleets contribute much statistically to the mortality rate... There is little one can do about it. Transportation is certainly not much of a threat to whales, not like whaling as an industry or other greater environmental degradation issues.

There are certainly a lot of whales out there... if a trip to Stellwagen Bank in the very heavily traffiked Massachussetts Bay is any indication. They're all over the place out there in summer, it is a sight to behold and they deserve our respect.

see http\\stellwagen.noaa.gov

[cruiser2004]

The story about the Coral Princess hitting a grey whale is unfortunately true. We are on the Coral Princess this week and talked to a top
officier who witnesed the incident. I am not going to name him/her in case Princess would be upset with him/her telling us the truth. After the accident the whale was attacked by sharks.

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> After the accident the whale was attacked by sharks. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Within seconds? What do they do, wait around for a whale to get hit by a ship?

I don't think Princess would want to hide something like this as if it's true, it will eventually come out and then Princess will be in a worse position than if they just owned up to it in the beginning...sorry, still not convinced. Living in the Bay Area, I know that environmentalists would be more concerned about this - and it would be getting much more talk than just on this board - if a whale had been hit.

-------------------------
Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993

[woodofpine]

So the ships are just unhungry surface competitors in the Sea - hit something and it's devoured by other good hungry ocean competitors...

The fittest excel...

[bob&karen]

SpongeRob -

You just wanna hope that Silvery Moon doesn't get wind of your anti-PETA views on this subject ... [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

Bob

[img]http://www.animationlibrary.com/Animation11/Geography_and_History/Islands/Ship_at_island.gif[/img]
"These moments we’re left with - may you always remember
These moments are shared, by few
And those harbor lights, lord they’re coming into view
We’ll bid our farewells much too soon
So drink it up, this one’s for you -
Honey, it’s been a lovely cruise."
-- James W. Buffett

Carnival Triumph, April '02
Carnival Sensation, January '04
Golden Princess, April '04

Carnival Sensation, Golden Princess / Caribbean Princess pix at: [url="http://community.webshots.com/user/mageesworld"]Cool Cruisin' Pix[/url]

e-mail: [email]bobandkarenny@yahoo.com[/email]

[kkorman]

It did not look like that from where I was standing. Hard to believe no blood showed up until you could barely see it.

Next: Coral Princess 6/04 Dawn Princess 10/04
Photos: [url="http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman"]http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman[/url]
[url="http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman1"]http://community.webshots.com/user/kkorman1[/url]
Coral Princess 4/04, (Canal-FLL-VAN), Conquest 12/03 -New Years, Norwegian Sky b2b 12/03, Carnival Pride 06/03, Star Princess 03/03, Norwegian Star 07/02,Voyager of the Seas 06/01, Ecstasy 12/00, Exporer of the Seas 11/00, Zaandam 08/00, Destiny 04/00, Nordic Empress 08/99, Rhapsody of the Seas 04/98, Sensation 12/96, Legend of the Seas 8/96, Imagination 8/95, Jubilee 3/92, Sovereign of the Seas 10/88