Norwegian Joy arrived at Sitka on Thursday morning, September 17th, ~3 hours behind schedule after the cruise ship was delayed offshore while authorities responded to a dead fin whale found on the vessel’s bow.
The ~1,100-foot ship was carrying around 4,000 passengers and had been sailing from Hoonah to Sitka when passengers were informed that the vessel had apparently struck an endangered fin whale. The ship remained ~2 miles offshore while local and federal authorities assessed the situation before allowing it to enter port.
Passengers said the captain announced that the vessel had encountered a whale and would need to be inspected by local authorities. A response team involving the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network and a tugboat subsequently worked to remove the whale from the bow.
Lauren Wild, a local whale biologist and member of the stranding network response team, said the whale was estimated to be between 35 and 45 feet long and was likely a juvenile male. During the towing operation, the carcass sank in a cove near the shoreline, although responders were able to secure it to trees on the beach.
The circumstances of the collision remain unclear. Wild said responders did not yet know where along the route the whale was struck or whether it had already been dead before the encounter. The team planned to recover the animal for a necropsy, which could provide information about its cause of death, health and age.
NOAA Fisheries declined an interview request but said in written comments that 10 whale strikes involving cruise ships in Alaska had been documented since 2001. The agency noted that not all reported incidents had been confirmed and that not every documented strike necessarily resulted in the death of a whale. It also said the actual number of collisions was difficult to establish because some incidents may go unnoticed, occur in remote waters or involve carcasses that sink or drift away.
The incident is the second documented case this summer involving a fin whale arriving in an Alaska port on the bow of a cruise ship. In June, a pregnant fin whale was struck by a vessel approaching Seward.
According to Wild, fin whales are generally found farther offshore in the Gulf of Alaska, making their presence in Sitka Sound less common. She also described the arrival of a dead whale on the bow of a cruise ship as an unusual occurrence for Sitka.
Fin whales are an endangered species, and members of the public have been advised not to approach the remains or remove any part of the animal. The stranding response team hoped to recover the whale before an approaching storm could complicate the operation.
NCL-Norwegian Cruise Line said it was cooperating with authorities and wildlife specialists following the incident. The company said the event underscored the importance of cooperation between the maritime, scientific and conservation sectors and reiterated its commitment to regulatory compliance and responsible operations.
For more Norwegian Joy incidents and accidents, see the ship's CruiseMinus page