A 26-foot rogue wave hit the Cyprus-based cruise ship the Louis Majesty today while the ship was sailing near the French Mediterranean port of Marseilles. Two passengers were killed and six others were injured. The Louis Majesty, operated by Louis Cruise Lines, was sailing from Barcelona to Genoa with 1350 passengers and 580 crew onboard.
A Louis Cruise Lines spokesman told the media that the ship was hit by three "abnormally high" waves up to 26 feet high that broke glass windshields in the forward section. The waves hit as high as deck 5 on the 10-deck ship.
Cruise travelers will remember the 18-year-old Louis Majesty as the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Norwegian Majesty, which left NCL last October. Louis Cruise Lines operates a number of ships in the Greek Isles and Eastern Mediterranean.
That’s horrid! Are there any details about where the killed and injured passengers were in relation to where the rogue waves struck?
Global weather has been so unpredictable lately it would be nearly impossible to say where to travel without encountering unusual and sometimes very dangerous climate changes, resulting in the like of these ‘freak’ waves. We are heading off on a Cruise next Sunday and this type of news certainly puts a dampner on our spirits.
Melissa – I don’t have any details about how/where the people were who were killed on the Louis. Maybe more will come out today.
Norma, I’m headed off on a cruise tomorrow, but will feel safer than I do driving on the Interstate. A rogue wave is much less likely to happen than someone crossing the line and plowing into you in a car. I do appreciate your trepidation, but have a great time – I’m planning to.
There ARE rouge waves in the Med ! I was on a large ship in November of 2008. We were hit with one…arrived into port of Civitavecchia (Rome) seven hours late. Thousands of passengers missed their flights. The Cruise line completely denied anything happened !! There were some broken windows and the ship lost power for a few minutes…listing to the side.
We cruise ALOT….and many times since…but I was sure I was going to the lifeboats that night.
In this horrible case…Louis Cruise lines has no choice but to admit the wave and the damage. Am sure it will cost them plenty. I hope Louis will continue to be forthcoming with details and with compensation to passengers.
Unless someone dies….and the media is all over it….the cruise line could try to cover things up…in their favor…without the pressure from the worldwide media.
Why would the cruise line owe anyone for problems caused by rogue waves? It’s not like they have any control over the ocean.
It would be like blaming the airlines for blizzards.
What a terrible thing to happen! We sailed on the Majesty a few years ago – to Bermuda – and she seemed like a sturdy, well built ocean liner. I’m a bit surprised. As to fears about a rogue wave, we were on the Maiden TransAtlantic Crossing of the QM2 when we ran into bad weather. We churned through 30 to 40 feet waves for three days – and on the afternoon of the third day, we encountered a rogue wave that was 70 feet. Nobody was injured – nor was the ship damaged as far as I could tell. You are safer on a cruise ship than you are in your car – don’t let this freak accident keep you from having a wonderful cruise.
I issue is not the the cruise lines can control rogue waves….but maybe they could have handled some things differently. Maybe there did not heed certain weather warnings…..were driving the ship too fast for conditions (as in the case of my cruise in the med a couple of years ago…trying to outrun a bad storm). You certainly put yourself in their hands for safety and their judgement of how to handle conditions. In my case…they simply refused to acknowledge that ANYTHING happened. I am sure that if there were deaths that night….which there could have been….they would have had a different “spin” to the details.
I am just asking the cruise lines, airlines, railroads to BE HONEST when things go wrong. Unfortunately they are not forthcoming with ALL the correct details unless they HAVE to be.
That said….
We love cruising and have cruised many times since.
You ARE safer on a ship than in your car or going ashore.
We went on A Mediterranean cruise in September with Royal Caribbean (beautiful weather the whole 10 days) but on the day we were going back to Spain to go home the Captain announced over the loud speaker that during the night we would be passing through the Sea of Lions a notorious spot for rough seas. Well he was not kidding, the waves were so big it broke windows on the 3rd deck and damaged the ship injuring some people. The ship had to stop and just drift for hours in the rough seas because of some sort of emergency protocol. I would have never thought a ship that big could be tossed around like it was, or that I could ever be in danger on a ship that size, but things like this do happen.
The movement of Louis Majesty has been recorded by AIS tracking system. You can check the exact position of the ship at this link Louis Majesty Accident
We also cruised the Med. in Oct 09 on the Carnival Dream and hit VERY rough seas coming out of Sicily to Spain at night. The captain endured for a while and then turned around and headed back between the islands and Italian coastline to shelter us from the storm. It was REALLY rough with the cabin steward telling me the next day that HE was scared! Not knowing any better, I wasn’t smart enough to be scared, but many people were very sick from all night. ANd there was glass broken in the kitchne and buffet areas. Needless to say, after this terrible incident near Spain, I feel lucky that we had such a good captain. We were told storms kick up from the African continent into the Med. all the time.
I find it amazing a 26 foot wave can reach those decks. I’ve been on several ships and thought I was 40 feet above the ocean. Sad news about those folks.