Norwegian cruise collides with iceberg near Alaska

A Norwegian cruise ship has cancelled its nine-night trip through Alaska, after the vessel crashed into an iceberg off the Alaskan coast.

Incredible footage has emerged of the incident, which shows the 2,000-capacity Norwegian Sun smashing into a ‘growler’ near the Hubbard Glacier in Yakutat Bay.

The vessel changed course to dock at at Juneau after the collision, where divers have been assessing the vessel for damage. No injuries have been reported, but the cruise line has now cancelled the rest of the scheduled trip. Norwegian Sun will now return to Seattle on Thursday morning to undergo repairs.

A growler is a small iceberg or ice floe that has less than 1 metre of ice showing above the water and measures less than 2 meters across. They are commonly encountered in areas with icebergs, but it is rare for a cruise liner to change course after colliding with one.

Hubbard Glacier, Alaska, USA

A Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson told Cruise Hive the ship was “engulfed by dense fog, limiting visibility and resulting in the ship making contact with a growler.”

Cruise passenger Alicia Amador told local newspaper Juneau Empire that hitting the iceberg was a ‘scary experience.’

“The whole boat came to a complete stop from the impact,” she said — describing the iceberg as “the size of a semi-truck.”

Norwegian Cruise Line has confirmed guests on the cancelled cruise would receive a full refund, plus an additional future cruise credit valued at 100 per cent of the original voyage fare paid.