Did Coral Princess Hit a Whale Yesterday?

[Hobbsey]

On the late news in San Fran last night there was a report, including cwell phone calls from the ship, that she had hit a whale after going under the Golden Gate.

 

Is there more info today? I see no mention on this service.

 

1968 Lurline (Matson)

1969 Mariposa (Matson)

1998 Seabreeze (Premier)

1998 Century (Celebrity)

1999 Seabreeze (Premier)

1999 Norwegian Crown (NCL)

1999 Voyager of the Seas (RCL)

2000 Westerdam (HAL)

2000 Carnival Victory (CCL)

2000 Sensation (CCL)

2001 Mercury (Celebrity)

2001 Norwegian Majesty (NCL)

2001 Vision of the Seas (RCL)

2002 Norwegian Wind (NCL)

2004 Maasdam (HAL)

[dorotha]

My daughter and sil are on board, and I spoke with them several times last evening. If that happened, they didn't know about it. They said the Regal is sailing right next to them.

[gopher's girl]

I heard the same story on the cruise-addicts board, can't find the story on the web anywhere. Very sad if they did. The CA story was that it was bloody water next to the ship.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Dawn Princess 04/11/2004 ~ Southern Caribbean

 

? Caribbean Princess 2004 ?

[Guest]

There are a couple of passengers claiming that they saw the ship hit a whale, but there seems to be no evidence. They claim to have a video tape that shows it, and showed it to officers on the ship who don't see anything on it. So at this point, Princess says they haven't found any evidence, but they are still investigating.

 

Alan Wilson

Cruise News Daily

 

[This message was edited by Cruise News Daily on 05-07-04 at 02:23 PM.]

[Hobbsey]

Thanks Alan!!

 

The news story on TV indicated passengers seeing the wahle flopping around next to the ships wake right after a strange vibration ran throught the ship. They also mentioned that ships staff were denying the collision.

 

The SF Chronical has not covered the story and there seems to be no mention on the web news services. I'd image this creature may wash up on one of our beaches if its true.

 

1968 Lurline (Matson)

1969 Mariposa (Matson)

1998 Seabreeze (Premier)

1998 Century (Celebrity)

1999 Seabreeze (Premier)

1999 Norwegian Crown (NCL)

1999 Voyager of the Seas (RCL)

2000 Westerdam (HAL)

2000 Carnival Victory (CCL)

2000 Sensation (CCL)

2001 Mercury (Celebrity)

2001 Norwegian Majesty (NCL)

2001 Vision of the Seas (RCL)

2002 Norwegian Wind (NCL)

2004 Maasdam (HAL)

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> The news story on TV indicated passengers seeing the wahle flopping around next to the ships wake right after a strange vibration ran throught the ship. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Would a 90000 GRT ton ship hitting a whale cause a vibration through the ship? I would imagine seeing a whale in distress in the wake would be a significant sign, but I've heard of ships in Alaska hitting whales and the evidence not becoming apparent until the ship was alongside....

 

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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

[Hobbsey]

Well, I guess that'd depend on the angle of the hit, where on the hull the impact is made, what speed the whale was moving and what size of beast it was. But sure, such an impact could cause a change in the "gait" of the ship.

 

I remember a few years ago hearing of the Mercury coming into port in Alaska having "speared" a whale on its bulbous bow. No one on board seemed to be aware of the accident until they got into port.

 

1968 Lurline (Matson)

1969 Mariposa (Matson)

1998 Seabreeze (Premier)

1998 Century (Celebrity)

1999 Seabreeze (Premier)

1999 Norwegian Crown (NCL)

1999 Voyager of the Seas (RCL)

2000 Westerdam (HAL)

2000 Carnival Victory (CCL)

2000 Sensation (CCL)

2001 Mercury (Celebrity)

2001 Norwegian Majesty (NCL)

2001 Vision of the Seas (RCL)

2002 Norwegian Wind (NCL)

2004 Maasdam (HAL)

[Northender]

Hey, maybe the whale hit the ship

 

 

 

Grand Princess 4/4/04

 

[dorotha]

I checked the website of the TV station and there's nothing there about it. There was a lot of reddish water @ it on the bridge cam yesterday--I thought it was just reddish algae. That would have been in front of the ship. I can't imagine just one or two passengers seeing such a thing--there are usually alot of people out on deck & on balconies when it's daylight, which it would have been. Also, the Regal was alongside, although on the starboard side, apparently. I can't imagine environmentalists in SF just letting it go if it really happened.

[Hobbsey]

There have been some red tides up river near Petaluma but I haven't heard about them off shore.

 

It is telling that this story has gotten so cold so quickly. It's probably a false report.

 

1968 Lurline (Matson)

1969 Mariposa (Matson)

1998 Seabreeze (Premier)

1998 Century (Celebrity)

1999 Seabreeze (Premier)

1999 Norwegian Crown (NCL)

1999 Voyager of the Seas (RCL)

2000 Westerdam (HAL)

2000 Carnival Victory (CCL)

2000 Sensation (CCL)

2001 Mercury (Celebrity)

2001 Norwegian Majesty (NCL)

2001 Vision of the Seas (RCL)

2002 Norwegian Wind (NCL)

2004 Maasdam (HAL)

[jnnifer01]

Hobbsey, I saw the same news report last night at 11. I bet the story will resurface when the passengers disembark at the end of the cruise.

 

 

Explorer of the Seas

(Royal Suite) 4/17/05, 7 Day Eastern Caribbean (2nd Anniversary)

 

Carnival Pride

(Category 11) 4/25/04, 7 day Mexican Riviera (1 year Anniversary!)

 

Carnival Conquest

(Category 12)4/27/03,7 Day Western Caribbean(Honeymoon & 1st cruise)

 

Notail

 

Jennifer & Shaun on the Conquest

 

Jennifer & Shaun on the Pride

[Guest]

Given the fervor - and rightly so – of the environmentalists in the San Francisco Bay Area, I doubt why more of this hasn’t been heard if the report was correct. Or maybe passengers did see a red tide and surmised the ship had hit something and reported it – somehow it getting to the media. I agree that it just doesn’t seem right that a story like this would die out so quickly if it were true. Especially given the environmental standards ships have to meet to even enter the San Francisco Bay. If it were true, you can bet that there would have been someone out there looking around already.

 

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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

 

 

[Hobbsey]

On the other hand....

 

I was chatting about this to one of the guys on the Vallejo ferry this afternoon. he told me that they have hit one whale (inside the bay) and have had at least two near misses, one as recent as last week.

 

I can't recall these ever getting reported in the media.

 

1968 Lurline (Matson)

1969 Mariposa (Matson)

1998 Seabreeze (Premier)

1998 Century (Celebrity)

1999 Seabreeze (Premier)

1999 Norwegian Crown (NCL)

1999 Voyager of the Seas (RCL)

2000 Westerdam (HAL)

2000 Carnival Victory (CCL)

2000 Sensation (CCL)

2001 Mercury (Celebrity)

2001 Norwegian Majesty (NCL)

2001 Vision of the Seas (RCL)

2002 Norwegian Wind (NCL)

2004 Maasdam (HAL)

[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).

 

QE2 - 2000

Grand Princess - 2002

Coral Princess - 2004

[Mezzaluna]

I Googled "cruise ship hits whale" and got this from 1999: http://www.seacruisechat.com/whale.html

 

This does sound fishy (sorry for the pitiful pun). Either it's an urban legend (see www.snopes.com) or the whale was sick or injured and couldn't use echolocation to avoid the collision.

 

Stella Solaris '80

Carnival Celebration '92

RCCL Majesty of the Seas '01

Coral Princess '04

[Hobbsey]

Oh, it was the Galaxy, I was thinking Mercury. I remember when that happened, it made the national news.

 

1968 Lurline (Matson)

1969 Mariposa (Matson)

1998 Seabreeze (Premier)

1998 Century (Celebrity)

1999 Seabreeze (Premier)

1999 Norwegian Crown (NCL)

1999 Voyager of the Seas (RCL)

2000 Westerdam (HAL)

2000 Carnival Victory (CCL)

2000 Sensation (CCL)

2001 Mercury (Celebrity)

2001 Norwegian Majesty (NCL)

2001 Vision of the Seas (RCL)

2002 Norwegian Wind (NCL)

2004 Maasdam (HAL)

[avalana]

I hope it's just an urban legend that they hit a whale. That would be very sad. The grey whales are coming in very close to shore in the Monterey Bay to avoid the orcas off shore. I just saw one last weekend, it was just past the surfline.

On my cruise to Hawaii there was a rumor that we had hit a whale, I chose not to believe it because I figured whales would be able to avoid a ship.

[sdl]

Not an urban legend if the local news footage and recorded passenger phone call are any indication:

 

They had a chopper up in the air OUTSIDE the Golden Gate in the Pacific showing the whale/blood and the churn it was causing, and a calm and detailed passenger outlining the events and crew's denials that were described as 'elaborate' and 'insistant' to the passengers on board.

 

Sometimes if bigger news comes along during the day or before the next broadcast, items that made the local news previously will get dropped like a hot rock, and our local TV news websites are pretty lacking in archiving news they have broadcast too...

Remember, this has been a BIG week for major breaking news stories that have been very serious, so this would really lose steam quickly in comparison.

 

I agree that until the passengers are off the ship AND contact news media we are unlikely to find more on the report.

S

 

Here is what I COULD find:

http://bluewaternetwork.org/press_releases/pr2004may8_cv_whale.pdf

[avalana]

Sdl, do you know which Bay Area news station covered it? I looked at KGO TV and didn't see anything.

[spongerob]

I know I'm going to get flamed for asking this, but what the heck...

 

Why would such an incident be any different than a deer hit by a car? Yes it's tragic, but it's an ACCIDENT, not a deliberate act. Fact is, any creature that knowingly blunders into the path of an object large enough to eat it obviously doesn't have much of an instinct for survival in the first place. Maybe it's just Darwin's Theory in action.

 

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

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I agree that until the passengers are off the ship AND contact news media we are unlikely to find more on the report.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Just a word of caution. I was on a ship once that had an outbreak of flu - a number of people took sick. The media made me sick in the way they tried to sensationalize the story.

 

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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

 

 

[Guest]

I’m sort of with ‘rob in that accidents do happen. Right, it is a whale and right, we here in the Bay Area do our best to respect our environment and support those – like our animal friends – who can’t support themselves. Not that I don’t think it unfortunate and not that I don’t think we can learn from this type of incident if it did happen.

 

But I’ve yet to see any real confirmation of the incident. Even the story on the link above only said that “a†cruise passenger called the news station. I somehow don’t find it believable that the crew of Coral Princess would deny such a happening – if this did happen, they are sure to be found involved. What good would denial be?

 

I’m sorry, I’ve seen too many supposedly calm passengers tell whoppers of stories. Look around at some of the postings on this board. If the ship hit and injured or killed a whale, it is a tragedy. But I’m just finding it difficult to believe given its been two days now and there’s not been more coverage of it. I don’t believe the news events of the day would bury something this important to the Bay Area.

 

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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

 

 

[Salty Dawg]

The Mystery of the Whale Uncovered !

 

Go to the link, and pass the mouse arrow over the picture.

 

Link to the Mystery of the Whale

 

Ken & Nancy

 

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12/2004 - Golden Princess

10/2004 - Fantasy Fest, Key West

03/2004 - Golden Princess

01/2004 - Carnival Legend

11/2003 - Carnival Glory

03/2003 - Carnival Spirit

02/2003 - Carnival Triumph

12/2002 - Carnival Legend

04/2002 - Carnival Victory

01/2002 - Carnival Sensation

12/2000 - Carnival Tropicale

 

***********************

 

 Until Sailing The Golden Princess

 

[Hobbsey]

Salty, thats grotesquely funny.

 

The only Bay area coverage I know of was on local NBC (channel 3 on my cable system). they covered it again last night but seemed to be backing away from the story. Princess insists that they have vidoe monitoring of the areas around the ship and they have no reason to believe that they hit anything.

 

I didn't see the video footage mentioned above in either nights news casts.

 

1968 Lurline (Matson)

1969 Mariposa (Matson)

1998 Seabreeze (Premier)

1998 Century (Celebrity)

1999 Seabreeze (Premier)

1999 Norwegian Crown (NCL)

1999 Voyager of the Seas (RCL)

2000 Westerdam (HAL)

2000 Carnival Victory (CCL)

2000 Sensation (CCL)

2001 Mercury (Celebrity)

2001 Norwegian Majesty (NCL)

2001 Vision of the Seas (RCL)

2002 Norwegian Wind (NCL)

2004 Maasdam (HAL)

[Druke I]

Rarely watch Ch 3 - but did not see anything about Coral Princess and the possibility of a whale strike on Ch 5.

 

Michael