Hearts go out to HAL Westerdam cruisers

So sad for everyone on this Alaska cruise - float plane crash that killed 8 passengers and the pilot of the HAL excursion. Westerdam delayed in port, still in Ketchikan. We loved Ketchikan, it is a small town and I am sure they are rocked by this tragedy as well. Prayers for all involved

Oh my goodness. How terrible. We have been on that excursion. It was beautiful. What a tragedy

Such a tragedy for sure! My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those people who perished and also the fellow passengers on that ship. It must be a very somber atmosphere on that ship right now. We did a floatplane excursion in Ketchikan just last July on our cruise in Alaska. It was such a wonderful experience for us. So very sorry their's ended in such tragedy.

Very, very sad indeed.

There is an extensive thread on the HAL board on this - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2226849&page=16

One of the passengers who was on the ship at the time have come on to report. The Westerdam got very high marks for the way they handled everything. There was a special church service for the lost passengers, pilot and their families and it was packed.

HAL always has a chaplain on board it's ships and, sadly in this case, it was sorely needed.

Prayers for all and thank you to the Rescue team which is comprised of volunteers.