Cruise Ship Taking on Water!!!!!!!!!!

[Landry]

The news is coming out slowly, but evidently the cruise ship Empress of the North is taking on water and 200 people have been evacuated from the ship.

 

No news yet where the ship is located nor what the cause is.

[Lightsluvr]

Majestic America Lines stern-wheeler. 281 passengers, 84 crew. Ship is being abandoned. Ship struck Hanus (sp?) Rock off Icy Strait in the inner passage of Alaska.

 

LL

[GORDONCHICK]

My SIL is supposed to be on Empress of the North in late June!

[Landry]

Well CNN is reporting the ship is taking on water, yet MSNBC states there are no reports of the ship taking on water but was listing at 6 degrees after hitting Hanus Rock at the southern end of Icy Strait about 15 miles southwest of Juneau.

[SeaSiq]

The Empress of the North is not the world's luckiest cruise ship. It ran aground on the Columbia river twice. Once due to human error and once due to "weather". Now it hit a well known, named, rock in Icy Strait.

 

I don't think this is going to be on my short list of vessels I want to cruise on in the future.

[Lightsluvr]

Fox News (fair and balanced) :) interviewed USCG spokesmen in Sitka and Kodiak, and confirmed the boat was reported taking on water by the crew. The outer hull was penetrated by the collision. The ship is being abandoned in life boats and with volunteer mariner assistance.

 

LL

[TeeBuccs]

This is the ship that looks like a steamboat - it's specialty is getting passengers close to glaciers. I guess it accidentally got too close to a reef this time. That is sad...glad this is an inside passage sailing so land is close by for its passengers. At least they can settle into Juneau or somewhere.

[Landry]

Theres been a lady on the Juneau Zipline thread that was booked to depart this coming Friday on the Empress. Have to feel sorry for anyone getting within a week of their vacation for something like this to happen.

 

Of course it could have been worse, she and her family could have been on the ship this week.:eek:

[brunolvr]

Cruise ship hits rocks off Alaska coastline

Passengers transferred to life boats and nearby barge, Coast Guard says

The Associated Press

Updated: 5:39 a.m. PT May 14, 2007

 

JUNEAU, Alaska - A cruise ship ran aground off the Alaska coast early Monday, and more than 200 passengers were being transferred to life boats and a nearby barge, Coast Guard officials said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

 

The 360-foot Empress of the North, carrying 281 people, was listing by about 6 degrees after hitting a rock at the southern end of the Icy Strait, about 15 miles southwest of Juneau, said Petty Officer Christopher D. McLaughlin at the Coast Guard base in Kodiak.

A Coast Guard plane and helicopter were dispatched after an emergency radio message came in from the ship at 12:35 a.m., McLaughlin said.

 

It wasn’t immediately clear why the ship ran around, McLaughlin said, but he said the ship was not believed to be taking on water.

 

The Empress of the North is operated by Majestic America Line of Seattle. The ship has 112 staterooms, a three-story paddlewheel and galleries featuring Native American masks and Russian artwork, including Faberge eggs, according to its Web site.

[Solstice]

Guess this is why you purchase trip insurance. It can't make up for a ruined vacation but at least you get the opportunity to plan another one.

[Jstringers]

You know, I was just participating on another thread were a few( thankfully few) people thought that muster drills were unnecessay because things like this never happen!

 

Lets all hope and pray everyone follows directions and are saftly evacuated.

[Yukon]

The "reporter" talking about it on CNN TV right now is an idiot - doesn't know anything about Alaska geography, weather or even hypothermia.

 

This is amazing - and only 14 months after the Queen of the North with 99 people on board hit a well-known rock and sunk :(

 

Murray

[gail811]

We saw the Empress in Skagway last year and thought how nice it would be to see Alaska that way!

 

[Yukon]

If it is indeed Hanus Reef that the Empress hit, it's in the middle of the channel where Icy Strait meets Lynn Canal, and it has a light on it.

[EdukatedRedHed]

Isn't this the boat that a short documentary of the Inside Passage was filmed on? I saw the program just last night on the Outdoor HD channel!!

[GreatToBeGrammy]

We are scheduled to go out on our dream vacation this Saturday on the Empress of the North :( It may have been my post someone saw about the zipline. I almost booked that tour last night, but decided to hold off until I knew more about the weather. I guess it's a good thing.

 

We were so intrigued by the small paddlewheel ship and have really been looking forward to getting up close to all the wildlife. We'll have to see what happens now.

 

Originally we were hoping to be on the ship for this current sailing, but our grown son had to have a spinal cord tumor removed last week. We found out the surgery date was going to be two weeks later than originally expected, so booked the later cruise, on May 19th, to make sure all was well with our son's surgery. He came home this weekend (praise God all went well) so everything was set for our cruise next weekend. Due to our son's upcoming surgery we bought traveler's insurance in case we needed to cancel. We've NEVER bought the insurance before! The Lord has watched out for us in more ways than one!

 

I'll let you know when I hear from Majestic what is going on officially!

Grammy

[tbenson81]

This wont affect any of the other major cruiselines will it?

[Chenega]

No reason why it should. Got to remember the number of cruise passengers that travel up here every year in complete safety. It reminds us how critical it is to pay attention to those safety drills.

 

Have to feel sorry for the people whose had planned for a trip of a lifetime.

[NancyIL]

This wont affect any of the other major cruiselines will it?

 

 

I suspect it will make them even more careful!

 

GreatToBeGrammy - I'm sure this is very unhappy news for you, but if you can't cruise next week, hopefully you'll be able to reschedule later this summer. It is certainly disappointing to those with upcoming cruises, but better to have to reschedule than to have your cruise end on day 3.

[trimixdvr]

grammy,

 

Im supposed to go end of june, doesnt look good. You probably would have been ok without the insurance...would think they would have to refund your $$$ in this situation.

[fti]

Guess this is why you purchase trip insurance. It can't make up for a ruined vacation but at least you get the opportunity to plan another one.

 

Though I have an annual travel insurance policy, in a case like this, the cruise lines have usually been more than generous in their compensation to passengers both on a cruise that has problems and on subsequent cruises that have to be canceled. So in all likelihood, the passengers will be dealt with fairly, with or without travel insurance.

[ARRTrain]

From www.adn.com

 

Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane said all passengers had been evacuated from the Empress of the North and the vessel was moving again with 29 crew members on board by 7 a.m. Alaska time.

[Chenega]

I checked the Juneau newspaper as well (http://www.juneauempire.com) and information was that the ship was being taken back to Auke Bay and passengers were being taken on other vessels to the Auke Bay ferry terminal.

[GORDONCHICK]

I checked the Juneau newspaper as well (www.juneauempire.com) and information was that the ship was being taken back to Auke Bay and passengers were being taken on other vessels to the Auke Bay ferry terminal.

 

 

Hey - I have relatives in Chugiak! My cousin was Miss Eagle River (or something close) many years ago.

[cruisenut2001]

The MSNBC web story mentioned passengers being picked-up by nearby cruiseships and fishing boats. Does any one know if this is true and what ships were involved?