antarctica cruise ship hit by wave

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Viking Polaris passengers speak out after 'rogue wave' strikes Antarctic cruise ship, killing American woman

Ship reportedly was crossing drake passage between south america and antarctica.

Large waves hit glass of Antarctica cruise ship as it navigates the Drake Passage

One American woman was killed and four others injured after a rogue wave hit the cruise ship. (Credit: Ann Clark Mah)

Passengers onboard the Viking Polaris cruise ship that was hit by a "rogue wave" during a voyage to Antartica, killing an American woman, are now speaking out, saying a "wall of seawater" came onto the vessel. 

Sheri Zhu, 62, has been identified by ABC News as the person who died during the incident last Tuesday, citing Secretary of the Ushuaia Federal Court Melina Rodriguez. The ship was traveling to Ushuaia, Argentina, when it was struck and Fox News Digital has reached out to the government there for further comment. 

"If somebody had told me we had hit an iceberg I would have believed them," Tamarah Castaneda, a passenger from San Diego onboard the Polaris, told ABC’s "Good Morning America." 

"The windows came crashing in, there was this wall of seawater that came in," she added. "Beds were being shoved up against the doors so that they were not able to get out of their rooms." 

US WOMAN KILLED WHEN ‘ROGUE WAVE’ STRIKES ANTARCTIC CRUISE SHIP  

Viking Polaris ship of norwegian flag, is seen anchored in waters of the Atlantic Ocean in Ushuaia, southern Argentina, on December 1, 2022. - One person was killed, and four other passengers. (ALEXIS DELELISI/AFP via Getty Images)

Beverly Spiker of California also told ABC News that a "huge smash" against the window of the cabin she and her husband were staying in caused the frame to shatter, adding, "A lot of water came shooting in." 

The incident reportedly happened around 10:40 p.m. local time while the ship was sailing through the Drake Passage – a traverse between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica known for its rough waters. 

Waves are seen crashing alongside the Viking Polaris cruise ship while it recently was sailing in the Drake Passage. (Ann Clark Mah)

Argentine authorities said the woman who died was hit by broken glass when the wave broke cabin windows. The ship suffered limited damage and arrived in Ushuaia, 1,926 miles south of Buenos Aires, the next day. 

"It is with great sadness that we confirmed a guest passed away following the incident," Viking Cruises said in a statement. "We have notified the guest’s family and shared our deepest sympathies." 

The Norwegian-flagged cruise ship Viking Polaris, left, and MV World Explorer ship, chartered by Quark Expeditions, are seen anchored in waters of the Atlantic Ocean in Ushuaia, southern Argentina, on Dec. 1, 2022. (ALEXIS DELELISI/AFP via Getty Images)

Four passengers who were injured were treated onboard the ship by a doctor and medical staff for non-life-threatening injuries, the company said.

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Rogue waves, also known as "extreme storm waves" by scientists, are greater than twice the size of surrounding waves and often come unexpectedly from directions other than prevailing wind and waves, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Fox News’ Louis Casiano and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.

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Rogue Wave Strikes Cruise Ship, Killing a Passenger and Injuring 4 Others

The passengers were hurt after a large, unpredictable wave hit the ship, which was traveling toward the Antarctic, Viking Cruises said.

By Amanda Holpuch

A passenger died and four others were injured after a large, unexpected wave hit a cruise ship traveling toward a popular launching point for expeditions to Antarctica, Viking Cruises said.

The ship, the Viking Polaris, was struck by a “rogue wave” on Tuesday at 10:40 p.m. local time while traveling toward Ushuaia, Argentina, which is on the southern tip of South America, Viking Cruises said in a statement .

Viking Cruises did not say how the passenger was killed or provide the passenger’s name. The four passengers who were injured were treated by onboard medical staff and had non-life-threatening injuries, Viking Cruises said.

A State Department official said that a U.S. citizen died and that the department was offering consular assistance to the person’s family.

Rogue waves are unpredictable, typically twice the size of surrounding waves and often come from a different direction than the surrounding wind and waves, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Scientists are still trying to figure out how and when these uncommon waves form.

Ann Mah, of Topeka, Kan., told the news station WIBW that she and her husband were on the ship when it was hit by the wave and that it was “just like your whole house got shook really hard.”

“I mean, it was just a thud,” Ms. Mah said.

The Viking Polaris was launched this year and was designed for travel to remote destinations such as the Antarctic Peninsula. The ship is 665 feet long and can carry 378 passengers and 256 crew members.

The ship sustained “limited damage” from the wave and arrived in Ushuaia the day after it was struck, Viking Cruises said.

The cruise company canceled the Viking Polaris’s next scheduled trip, a 13-day cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula.

“We are investigating the facts surrounding this incident and will offer our support to the relevant authorities,” the company said.

Tourism to the Antarctic has steadily increased in the last 30 years, with 74,401 people traveling there in the 2019-20 season, according to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. Roughly 6,700 people traveled there in the 1992-93 season, according to the association.

In recent years, some observers have warned that the increase in tourism may not be sustainable and that it could threaten visitor safety or disrupt the fragile environment, which is already straining under the effects of climate change.

It is the beginning of the Antarctic tourism season, which coincides with its summer, beginning in late October or early November and usually lasting until March.

The death on the Viking Cruises ship this week comes after the death of two other cruise ship passengers in the Antarctic last month. Two Quark Expeditions cruise ship passengers died after one of the ship’s heavy duty inflatable Zodiac boats overturned near shore, Seatrade Cruise News reported .

Amanda Holpuch is a general assignment reporter. More about Amanda Holpuch

'Rogue wave' strikes Antarctic cruise ship, leaves 1 dead and 4 injured

The Viking Polaris ship was sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, at the time.

An American passenger on an Antarctic cruise died and four other guests were injured after their Viking ship was struck by a "rogue wave," officials said.

The incident happened on Tuesday around 10:40 p.m. local time while the Viking Polaris ship was sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, Viking said.

MORE: Carnival cruise passenger who went overboard was 'dead set' on surviving

A guest died following the incident, Viking said, though did not share further details on the cause of death. The victim's family has been notified, the company said.

The passenger killed was a U.S. citizen, a State Department spokesperson confirmed to ABC News Friday.

"We are offering all appropriate consular assistance. Out of respect for the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment," the spokesperson said.

The victim was confirmed as Sheri Zhu, 62, by Secretary of the Ushuaia Federal Court Melina Rodriguez.

Four other guests sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the incident and were treated by the ship's doctor and medical staff, Viking said.

"We are investigating the facts surrounding this incident and will offer our support to the relevant authorities," Viking said in a statement Thursday. "Our focus remains on the safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew, and we are working directly with them to arrange return travel."

The ship sustained "limited damage" from the rogue wave and arrived in Ushuaia on Wednesday "without further incident," Viking said. Images taken of the docked ship showed several damaged windows.

Passengers on board the ship described choppy conditions leading up to the incident.

Californian Beverly Spiker told ABC News that a "huge smash" against the window of her and her husband's cabin caused her window frame to break.

"Clearly something big had happened," she said. "A lot of water came shooting in."

"Luckily, our windows did hold," she added, though said other rooms on their side of the ship were "washed out."

Spiker's cousin, Suzie Gooding, of North Carolina, told ABC News that at the time, the ship was going through the Drake Passage, "which is well-known for having turbulent seas."

Gooding said despite the conditions outside looking "horrible," the inside was "like a normal cruise ship" leading up to the incident. She said she felt a "sudden shudder" that caused cabinets to open.

"It was just unbelievable," she said. "At the time that it happened, we personally wondered if, you know, we knew that we weren't by any icebergs, but it's like, did we hit an iceberg? It just was so sudden."

Spiker said she and other passengers were "shook up" afterward.

"No matter what side of the boat you're on, it was felt throughout the ship that clearly something bad had happened," she said. "So everybody was pretty shook up."

MORE: Passengers hurt aboard Norwegian cruise ship after unexpected wind strikes: I felt 'like we're going to die'

The ship is docked as passengers await further travel plans from Viking, according to Gooding, who said that two other ships in their bay in Ushuaia were also damaged, possibly by rogue waves.

The Viking Polaris ship's next departure for the Antarctic, scheduled for Dec. 5, has been canceled "after careful consideration," the cruise line said.

Rogue, or extreme storm, waves are "greater than twice the size of surrounding waves" and are "very unpredictable," according to the National Ocean Service .

Ushuaia, at the southernmost tip of South America, is a common starting point for cruises to Antarctica.

ABC News' Matthew Seyler contributed to this report.

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US Citizen Killed When ‘Rogue' Wave Hit Viking Cruise Ship in Antarctic

The 62-year-old woman was hit by broken glass when the wave broke cabin windows late tuesday during a storm, argentine authorities said, by ap and staff • published december 2, 2022 • updated on december 4, 2022 at 10:34 am.

A U.S. woman was killed and four other passengers injured when a massive wave struck the Viking Polaris cruise ship while it was sailing toward the port of Ushuaia in southern Argentina on an Antarctic cruise, authorities said.

The 62-year-old woman was hit by broken glass when the wave broke cabin windows late Tuesday during a storm, Argentine authorities said. The ship suffered limited damage and arrived in Ushuaia, 1,926 miles south of Buenos Aires, the next day.

“It is with great sadness that we confirmed a guest passed away following the incident," Viking said in a statement. “We have notified the guest’s family and shared our deepest sympathies.”

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Neither the statement nor the Argentine Naval Prefecture identified the woman or her hometown.

Viking called it a “rogue wave incident” and said the four other passengers' injuries were non-life threatening.

A North Carolina couple aboard the ship told NBC affiliate WRAL that they thought "we hit an iceberg" when the wave crashed into the cruise ship.

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"There are no icebergs out here, but that's how it felt," Suzie Gooding said.

Gooding told the news station that the impact was "shocking" because it happened so suddenly.

"We didn't know if we should get our gear ready for abandoning ship," she added.

The cruise ship was anchored near Ushuaia, where a federal court has opened a case to determine what happened.

NOAA's National Ocean Service describes these "rogue" waves as "walls of water" that are often steep-sided with unusually deep troughs.

"Rogues, called 'extreme storm waves' by scientists, are those waves which are greater than twice the size of surrounding waves, are very unpredictable, and often come unexpectedly from directions other than prevailing wind and waves," the agency explains.

The company indicated on its website that to explore remote regions of the world they have “two purpose-built, state-of-the-art small expedition-class ships: Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris.”

The Viking Polaris, a vessel that has luxury facilities and was built in 2022, has capacity for 378 passengers and 256 crew members.

This article tagged under:

'Rogue wave' kills US passenger on Antarctic cruise ship, injures four others

One person has died and four have been injured after a massive wave smashed into an Antarctic cruise ship during a storm, while sailing off the southernmost tip of South America.

Key points:

• Authorities say a 62-year-old woman from the US was hit by broken glass when a wave broke cabin windows
• Four other tourists sustained "non-life-threatening injuries" and were treated onboard
• The ship suffered minor damage and was anchored off Ushuaia, 3,200 kilometres from the capital Buenos Aires

The 62-year-old woman from the US was hit by broken glass when the wave broke cabin windows late Tuesday during a storm, Argentine authorities said.

The Viking Polaris cruise ship was sailing towards Ushuaia in Argentina -- the main starting point for expeditions to Antarctica -- when there was "a rogue wave incident," a representative of the Viking cruise company said in a statement.

"It is with great sadness that we confirmed a guest passed away following the incident. We have notified the guest's family and shared our deepest sympathies," the statement said.

Four other tourists "sustained non-life-threatening injuries" and were treated onboard.

The ship suffered minor damage and was anchored off Ushuaia, 3,200 kilometres from the capital Buenos Aires, with several windows smashed on the side, AFP journalists reported.

A federal court has opened a case to determine what happened. Viking said it was also "investigating the facts surrounding this incident."

Scientists often refer to rogue waves as extreme storm waves that surge out of nowhere, often in an unpredictable direction, and can look like a steep wall of water, up to twice the size of surrounding waves.

These rare killer waves were once seen as a myth reported by mariners or explorers.

The polar explorer Ernest Shackleton wrote in his book of a "gigantic" freak wave he encountered in Antarctica in 1916.

However, scientists have learned more about them in recent decades, studying how they emerge and how to predict the wall of water that can surge up even in calm seas.

The Viking Polaris was launched in 2022 and is the newest ship in the company's fleet, with a capacity for 378 passengers and 256 crew members.

The incident comes two weeks after two tourists died on another Antarctic cruise.

The two men, aged 76 and 80, had left the World Explorer ship for an excursion on an inflatable zodiac boat that overturned near the shore.

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Topekans rocked by blast and rogue wave during Antarctic cruise. They share their story.

One second, Pam Trusdale was sitting in a heavy-duty inflatable boat happily taking video of penguins in Antarctica.

The next, the Topeka woman was thrown into the air by an explosion.

Two other passengers also went airborne after the blast beneath the boat's floor.

One woman suffered a badly broken leg.

The other passenger spent perhaps two minutes in the water before he was pulled back onto the boat.

Trusdale, her husband, Tom, and the boat's other occupants subsequently learned that the Viking Polaris, the ship on which they were taking a cruise, wasn't capable of providing the medical attention the woman needed.

So the cruise ship headed north through gale-force winds and rough waters toward South America.

En route, it was struck by a giant rogue wave, which killed one passenger and injured four others.

Trusdale shared that account of her experiences Friday in a telephone interview with The Topeka Capital-Journal from Ushuaia, Argentina, where she and her husband were waiting to return to the United States.

"We've had a little bit of excitement that we hadn't anticipated," she said.

'Trip of a lifetime'

The trip to Antarctica was the eighth on Viking Cruise Lines for the Trusdales, who are retired and have been married for 10 years.

"We've seen a lot of the world," Pam Trusdale said.

She is the widow of Col. Mike O'Toole, wing commander of the 190th Air Refueling Wing of the Kansas Air National Guard, who died in 2003 in a plane crash on takeoff from a private airport in northeast Shawnee County.

Pam Trusdale and their adult daughter, Shannon O'Toole Mason, survived after being hospitalized for injuries suffered in that crash.

After her husband died, Pam reconnected with Tom Trusdale, her high school sweetheart.

More: Larry and Ann Mah on trip as rescuers try to get injured woman to Argentina from Antarctica

They've enjoyed numerous adventures, including climbing Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro.

Pam Trusdale said she had been particularly excited about the couple's cruise to Antarctica.

The Trusdales booked passage on the Viking Polaris, identified on  Viking Cruise Lines' website as a 665-foot-long cruise ship that was built this year and has the capacity to house 256 crew members and 378 guests.

"It was kind of our 'trip of a lifetime,'" Pam Trusdale said.

Though the Trusdales hadn't known it, others on the Antarctica cruise included Shawnee County Treasurer Larry Mah and his wife, Ann Mah , a member of the Kansas State Board of Education.

The couples spent time together on the cruise, though the Mahs weren't with the Trusdales on the excursion that turned dangerous.

'We dragged him in on his back'

The Trusdales were among three couples who made plans to ride Monday morning in a small, yellow submarine. Neither of the other couples were from Kansas.

They all got into a heavy-duty inflatable boat known as a Zodiac.

The weather was nice for Antarctica, with overcast skies and temperatures around 30 degrees, as the Zodiac's pilot took the three couples to the area where they were to board the submarine, Pam Trusdale said.

They learned they would have to wait 20 minutes, and the driver started "cruising around," she said.

At the time, Pam Trusdale was sitting at the front of the Zodiac, with her husband next to her.

As she was holding onto a rope attached to the boat with one hand and taking cell phone video of penguins with the other, she said, a "pretty significant explosion" took place beneath the floor between the front two passengers.

More: Topeka native Phil Norris explores Antarctica

'It could have been so much worse'

The woman sitting directly across from Trusdale took the brunt of the impact, suffering a badly broken leg.

Another passenger on that side was thrown from the boat.

Pam Trusdale managed to hold onto her phone. She and her husband crossed over to the other side and helped to stop the boat. Tom Trusdale, another male passenger and the Zodiac pilot pulled the man back into the Zodiac on his back, Pam Trusdale said.

"Tom knew exactly what to do," she said. "I just stayed on the floor and waited for help."

Meanwhile, a woman who was sitting on the opposite side of the boat moved over to the side the Trusdales had been sitting on to make sure it remained balanced.

"We couldn't have been with better people, because everyone was calm under pressure," Pam Trusdale said. "Everything was under control."

The Zodiac pilot responded calmly and professionally, and Viking got them all the help they needed immediately, she said.

'It was just so scary'

Pam Trusdale was wearing an ankle brace Friday because of minor injuries suffered in the accident.

"It just hurts to walk, because I bruised my heel," she said. "My left leg is worse than my right."

Pam Trusdale said while she feels lucky to be alive, she never felt the experience was life-threatening.

"It was just scary," she said. "It could have been so much worse."

The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.

A rogue wave hit the cruise ship during a storm

Ann Mah wrote on her Facebook page about the blast and its aftermath.

"They couldn’t helicopter (the woman) out in the weather, and she needs attention the boat can’t provide," she said. "So we are headed back to Ushuaia, Argentina."

The Drake passage, the body of water that lies between South America's Cape Horn, Chile, and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica, was mentioned in a message Larry Mah put Tuesday on his Facebook page.

"Evacuation options are limited, and the weather is deteriorating," he said. "So, we are returning to Ushuaia (Argentina) at top speed. The Drake Channel has gale force winds (30-60 MPH) with waves 15-20 feet high. The next 600 miles is going to be a very rough ride!!"

The cruise ship was bound for Ushuaia Tuesday when it was struck during a storm by a giant "rogue wave," which killed one person and injured four, USA Today reported .

"The rogue wave hit the side of the ship where our cabin is, but it mainly impacted Deck 2 at the front," Trusdale said. "We were on Deck 4 at the back."

Ann Mah said she and her husband were in bed in their room on Deck 4 at the front when the rogue wave struck.

"I understand water came in on 3, but nothing like 2," she said. "We had furniture get knocked over in our room, but no damage."

Viking released a statement confirming one of its guests had died.

"We have notified the guest's family and shared our deepest sympathies," it said, adding that four other passengers were treated for injuries that weren't life-threatening by the ship's onboard doctor and medical staff.

The ship "sustained limited damage during the incident," and arrived in Ushuaia on Wednesday afternoon, Viking added.

Trusdale said she learned afterward that if they hadn't been on the Polaris, which has "all the latest technology," the damage from the storm could have been much worse.

The damage from the storm caused Viking Cruise Lines to abandon its initial plans to cruise along the Chilean coast for a few days, and to instead drop off all its passengers at Ushuaia.

'This won't slow us down'

The Trusdales and Mahs remained in Ushuaia on Friday, and it wasn't clear when they might be able to fly back to Topeka.

Still, Pam Trusdale said Viking Cruise Lines has shown the "utmost professionalism" and done a good job of coping with what happened.

She said she trusts the company to provide a refund for the trip.

More: KU-based team conducts research in Antarctica

Pam Trusdale added that she and her husband plan to make separate future trips with Viking to Norway and the Mekong Delta, after which they'll have traveled with that cruise line to every continent.

"This won't slow us down," she said.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at 785-213-5934 or [email protected].

Deadly 'rogue wave' smashes into cruise ship near Antarctica — but where did it come from?

A suspected rogue wave recently crashed into a cruise ship near Antarctica killing one and injuring four others. Where did it come from?

A suspected "rogue wave" recently smashed into a cruise ship sailing from Antarctica to Argentina. The freak event killed one person and injured four others. But where do these freakishly tall waves come from? And is climate change expected to make them more common or extreme? 

On the night of Nov. 29, an unusually massive wave hit the cruise ship Viking Polaris as it was sailing through the Drake Passage in Antarctica's Southern Ocean toward Ushuaia, a port in Argentina where many Antarctic cruises start and end, French news agency AFP reported. 

The force of the massive wall of water sent passengers flying and smashed several exterior windows, which flooded some rooms and caused further structural damage inside. A 62-year-old American woman, Sheri Zhu, was killed by injuries sustained from the broken glass and four other people received non-life-threatening injuries, according to Australian news site ABC News . 

"This wave hit and came over and literally broke through windows and just washed into these rooms," Tom Trusdale, a passenger aboard the Viking Polaris when the incident happened, told ABC News. "Not only did it wash into the rooms, but it [also] broke walls down."

Related: What's the tallest wave ever recorded on Earth?

Viking, the travel company that owns the Viking Polaris, announced on Dec. 1 that the tragic event was a suspected "rogue wave incident." Upcoming cruises have been canceled until the ship can be fully repaired and a proper investigation into what happened has been carried out. 

What are rogue waves?

Rogue waves are freak waves that are at least twice as high as the surrounding sea state — the average height of the waves for a given area at a given time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The massive walls of water come from seemingly out of nowhere and without warning.

Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now

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The exact mechanisms behind the rogue waves are still unknown, but researchers think the freakish crests are formed when smaller waves merge into larger ones, either due to high surface winds or changes in ocean currents caused by storms, according to NOAA. 

It is currently unclear if the wave that hit the Viking Polaris qualifies as an official rogue wave because there is no accurate data on the wave height or the surrounding sea state. A storm was raging when the wave hit, CNN reported, which could have provided the necessary conditions for a rogue wave to form. But the Drake Passage is also a notoriously treacherous part of the Southern Ocean, with deep waters that are fed by the powerful Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which makes it capable of producing very large non-rogue waves as well, according to Britannica . 

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On Dec. 2, a passenger onboard another cruise ship in the Drake Passage shared a video of another massive, but less destructive, wave on Twitter .

The largest rogue wave ever recorded was the Draupner wave, an 84-foot-tall (25.6 meters) wave that was observed near Norway in 1995. However, the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded was the Ucluelet wave, a 58-foot-tall (17.7 m) wave that was detected by an ocean buoy off the coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia in November 2020. The Ucluelet wave is regarded as the most extreme rogue wave because it was around three times higher than surrounding waves, while the Draupner wave was only around twice as tall compared with the surrounding sea state.

In 2019, a study published in the journal Scientific Reports predicted that rogue waves could become less frequent but more extreme in the future due to the effects of human-caused climate change. 

Harry is a U.K.-based senior staff writer at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to become a journalist. He covers a wide range of topics including space exploration, planetary science, space weather, climate change, animal behavior, evolution and paleontology. His feature on the upcoming solar maximum was shortlisted in the "top scoop" category at the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) Awards for Excellence in 2023. 

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They were rocked by blast and rogue wave during Antarctic cruise. They share their story.

One second, Pam Trusdale was sitting in a heavy-duty inflatable boat happily taking video of penguins in Antarctica.

The next, the Topeka woman was thrown into the air by an explosion .

Two other passengers also went airborne after the blast beneath the boat's floor.

One woman suffered a badly broken leg.

The other passenger spent perhaps two minutes in the water before he was pulled back onto the boat.

Trusdale, her husband, Tom, and the boat's other occupants subsequently learned that the Viking Polaris, the ship on which they were taking a cruise, wasn't capable of providing the medical attention the woman needed.

So the cruise ship headed north through gale-force winds and rough waters toward South America. En route, it was struck by a giant rogue wave , which killed one passenger and injured four others.

Trusdale shared that account of her experiences Friday in a telephone interview with The Topeka Capital-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, from Ushuaia, Argentina, where she and her husband were waiting to return to the United States.

"We've had a little bit of excitement that we hadn't anticipated," she said.

'Trip of a lifetime'

The trip to Antarctica was the eighth on Viking Cruise Lines for the Trusdales, who are retired and have been married for 10 years.

"We've seen a lot of the world," Pam Trusdale said.

She is the widow of Col. Mike O'Toole, wing commander of the 190th Air Refueling Wing of the Kansas Air National Guard, who died in 2003 in a plane crash on takeoff from a private airport in northeast Shawnee County. Pam Trusdale and their adult daughter, Shannon O'Toole Mason, survived after being hospitalized for injuries suffered in that crash.

After her husband died, Pam reconnected with Tom Trusdale, her high school sweetheart. They've enjoyed numerous adventures, including climbing Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro.

Pam Trusdale said she had been particularly excited about the couple's cruise to Antarctica.

The Trusdales booked passage on the Viking Polaris, identified on  Viking Cruise Lines' website as a 665-foot-long cruise ship that was built this year and has the capacity to house 256 crew members and 378 guests.

"It was kind of our 'trip of a lifetime,'" Pam Trusdale said.

Though the Trusdales hadn't known it, others on the Antarctica cruise included Shawnee County Treasurer Larry Mah and his wife, Ann Mah , a member of the Kansas State Board of Education.

The couples spent time together on the cruise, though the Mahs weren't with the Trusdales on the excursion that turned dangerous.

'We dragged him in on his back'

The Trusdales were among three couples who made plans to ride Monday morning in a small, yellow submarine. Neither of the other couples were from Kansas.

They all got into a heavy-duty inflatable boat known as a Zodiac.

The weather was nice for Antarctica, with overcast skies and temperatures around 30 degrees, as the Zodiac's pilot took the three couples to the area where they were to board the submarine, Pam Trusdale said.

They learned they would have to wait 20 minutes, and the driver started "cruising around," she said.

At the time, Pam Trusdale was sitting at the front of the Zodiac, with her husband next to her.

As she was holding onto a rope attached to the boat with one hand and taking cell phone video of penguins with the other, she said, a "pretty significant explosion" took place beneath the floor between the front two passengers.

Watch:  'Heroic' mother comes to the rescue after raccoon attacks 5-year-old daughter, video shows

'It could have been so much worse'

The woman sitting directly across from Trusdale took the brunt of the impact, suffering a badly broken leg.

Another passenger on that side was thrown from the boat.

Pam Trusdale managed to hold onto her phone. She and her husband crossed over to the other side and helped to stop the boat. Tom Trusdale, another male passenger and the Zodiac pilot pulled the man back into the Zodiac on his back, Pam Trusdale said.

"Tom knew exactly what to do," she said. "I just stayed on the floor and waited for help."

Meanwhile, a woman who was sitting on the opposite side of the boat moved over to the side the Trusdales had been sitting on to make sure it remained balanced.

"We couldn't have been with better people, because everyone was calm under pressure," Pam Trusdale said. "Everything was under control."

The Zodiac pilot responded calmly and professionally, and Viking got them all the help they needed immediately, she said.

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'It was just so scary'

Pam Trusdale was wearing an ankle brace Friday because of minor injuries suffered in the accident.

"It just hurts to walk, because I bruised my heel," she said. "My left leg is worse than my right."

Pam Trusdale said while she feels lucky to be alive, she never felt the experience was life-threatening.

"It was just scary," she said. "It could have been so much worse."

The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.

A rogue wave hit the cruise ship during a storm

Ann Mah wrote on her Facebook page about the blast and its aftermath.

"They couldn’t helicopter (the woman) out in the weather, and she needs attention the boat can’t provide," she said. "So we are headed back to Ushuaia, Argentina."

The Drake passage, the body of water that lies between South America's Cape Horn, Chile, and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica, was mentioned in a message Larry Mah put Tuesday on his Facebook page.

"Evacuation options are limited, and the weather is deteriorating," he said. "So, we are returning to Ushuaia (Argentina) at top speed. The Drake Channel has gale force winds (30-60 MPH) with waves 15-20 feet high. The next 600 miles is going to be a very rough ride!!"

The cruise ship was bound for Ushuaia Tuesday when it was struck during a storm by a giant "rogue wave," which killed one person and injured four, USA TODAY reported .

"The rogue wave hit the side of the ship where our cabin is, but it mainly impacted Deck 2 at the front," Trusdale said. "We were on Deck 4 at the back."

Ann Mah said she and her husband were in bed in their room on Deck 4 at the front when the rogue wave struck.

"I understand water came in on 3, but nothing like 2," she said. "We had furniture get knocked over in our room, but no damage."

Viking released a statement confirming one of its guests had died.

"We have notified the guest's family and shared our deepest sympathies," it said, adding that four other passengers were treated for injuries that weren't life-threatening by the ship's onboard doctor and medical staff.

The ship "sustained limited damage during the incident," and arrived in Ushuaia on Wednesday afternoon, Viking added.

Trusdale said she learned afterward that if they hadn't been on the Polaris, which has "all the latest technology," the damage from the storm could have been much worse.

The damage from the storm caused Viking Cruise Lines to abandon its initial plans to cruise along the Chilean coast for a few days, and to instead drop off all its passengers at Ushuaia.

'This won't slow us down'

The Trusdales and Mahs remained in Ushuaia on Friday, and it wasn't clear when they might be able to fly back to Topeka.

Still, Pam Trusdale said Viking Cruise Lines has shown the "utmost professionalism" and done a good job of coping with what happened. She said she trusts the company to provide a refund for the trip.

Pam Trusdale added that she and her husband plan to make separate future trips with Viking to Norway and the Mekong Delta, after which they'll have traveled with that cruise line to every continent.

"This won't slow us down," she said.

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1 dead, 4 injured after 'rogue wave' strikes Antarctic cruise ship

The Viking Polaris ship was sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, at the time.

A passenger on an Antarctic cruise died and four others were injured after their Viking ship was struck by a "rogue wave," the cruise line said.

The incident happened on Tuesday around 10:40 p.m. local time while the Viking Polaris ship was sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, Viking said.

A guest died following the incident, Viking said, though did not share further details on the cause of death. The victim's family has been notified, the company said. The identity or nationality of the passenger was not released.

Four other guests sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the incident and were treated by the ship's doctor and medical staff, Viking said.

"We are investigating the facts surrounding this incident and will offer our support to the relevant authorities," Viking said in a statement Thursday. "Our focus remains on the safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew, and we are working directly with them to arrange return travel."

The ship sustained "limited damage" from the rogue wave and arrived in Ushuaia on Wednesday "without further incident," Viking said. Images taken of the docked ship showed several damaged windows.

Passengers on board the ship described choppy conditions leading up to the incident.

Californian Beverly Spiker told ABC News that a "huge smash" against the window of her and her husband's cabin caused her window frame to break.

"Clearly something big had happened," she said. "A lot of water came shooting in."

"Luckily, our windows did hold," she added, though said other rooms on their side of the ship were "washed out."

SEE ALSO: Cruise ship passenger who went overboard was 'dead set' on surviving during 20-hour wait for rescue

Spiker's cousin, Suzie Gooding, of North Carolina, told ABC News that at the time, the ship was going through the Drake Passage, "which is well-known for having turbulent seas."

Gooding said despite the conditions outside looking "horrible," the inside was "like a normal cruise ship" leading up to the incident. She said she felt a "sudden shudder" that caused cabinets to open.

"It was just unbelievable," she said. "At the time that it happened, we personally wondered if, you know, we knew that we weren't by any icebergs, but it's like, did we hit an iceberg? It just was so sudden."

Spiker said she and other passengers were "shook up" afterward.

"No matter what side of the boat you're on, it was felt throughout the ship that clearly something bad had happened," she said. "So everybody was pretty shook up."

The ship is docked as passengers await further travel plans from Viking, according to Gooding, who said that two other ships in their bay in Ushuaia were also damaged, possibly by rogue waves.

The Viking Polaris ship's next departure for the Antarctic, scheduled for Dec. 5, has been canceled "after careful consideration," the cruise line said.

Rogue, or extreme storm, waves are "greater than twice the size of surrounding waves" and are "very unpredictable," according to the National Ocean Service .

Ushuaia, at the southernmost tip of South America, is a common starting point for cruises to Antarctica.

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Rogue Wave Kills Passenger, Injures 4 on Antarctic Cruise Ship: 'We Wondered if We Hit an Iceberg'

Viking Cruises offered its support to the victim's family and canceled an upcoming departure after its ship was damaged by the rare and mysterious phenomenon known as a rogue wave

One person is dead and four others were injured after a rogue wave crashed into a Antarctic cruise ship on Tuesday.

The incident happened on the Viking Polaris as it was sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southernmost tip of the continent during a voyage to Antarctica, according to a statement on the company's website .

Four guests were treated for non-life threatening injuries by the ship's medical staff. The cruise ship company did not identify the passenger who died, but said it has notified their family and offered condolences as well as "our full support to the family in the hours and days ahead."

Suzie Gooding, a North Carolina woman who was on the cruise, told local news station WRAL that they felt the impact of the huge wave on the ship.

" We wondered if we hit an iceberg ," she said. "And there are no icebergs out here, but that's how it felt."

She said the wave was completely unexpected. "Everything was fine until the rogue wave hit, and it was just sudden. Shocking," Gooding said. "We didn't know if we should get our gear ready for abandoning ship."

Viking Cruises said the vessel — which just joined its fleet in September — "sustained limited damage."

Images of the ship appear to show broken windows on its lower level.

The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) defines a "rogue wave " as a one that is "greater than twice the size of surrounding waves."

The waves, which can look like "walls of water," are "very unpredictable, and often come unexpectedly from directions other than prevailing wind and waves," according to the agency.

NOAA says "exactly how and when rogue waves form is still under investigation," adding that because they are so uncommon and can form unexpectedly and disappear quickly, "measurements and analysis of this phenomenon is extremely rare."

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Viking Cruises said it is investigating the incident and "will offer our support" to authorities.

"We have made the difficult decision to cancel the ship's next scheduled departure," the company said in its statement, adding that "all impacted guests and their travel advisors have been notified directly by Viking Customer Relations."

"Our focus remains on the safety and wellbeing of our guests and crew," the company said in a statement . "We are working directly with them to arrange return travel."

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clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

Cruise passenger dies in ‘rogue wave incident’ on Antarctica trip

The large wave hit a Viking cruise ship on its way back to southern Argentina

One cruise passenger died and four others were injured during an Antarctica voyage this week when a “rogue wave” slammed into the Viking Polaris, Viking Cruises said. An image of the ship captured by Agence France-Presse shows glass windows had been smashed on several lower-level cabins.

The 378-passenger expedition ship was sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, when the wave struck around 10:40 p.m. Tuesday.

“It is with great sadness that we confirmed a guest passed away following the incident,” the cruise line said in a statement . Representatives did not say what caused the passenger’s death. Viking said the four other people who were hurt did not suffer life-threatening injuries and were treated onboard.

“We are investigating the facts surrounding this incident and will offer our support to the relevant authorities,” the company said.

Coast Guard saves overboard cruise passenger in ‘Thanksgiving miracle’

The Argentine Naval Prefecture, the country’s coast guard, could not be reached for comment.

Viking said Polaris, which joined the company’s fleet in late September, “sustained limited damage” and arrived in Ushuaia on Wednesday.

The company canceled the next departure, a 12-night Antarctic itinerary that was scheduled to start Monday.

The National Ocean Service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, describes a rogue wave as being more than twice the size of surrounding waves and says they are “very unpredictable.”

“A ‘rogue wave’ is large, unexpected, and dangerous,” the service says.

A traveler from Durham, N.C., told WRAL News in Raleigh that the impact of the wave was so strong she wondered if the ship had hit an iceberg.

“Everything was fine until the rogue wave hit, and it was just sudden — shocking,” the passenger, Suzie Gooding, told the news station. “We didn’t know if we should get our gear ready for abandoning ship.”

More cruise news

Living at sea: Travelers on a 9-month world cruise are going viral on social media. For some travelers, not even nine months was enough time on a ship; they sold cars, moved out of their homes and prepared to set sail for three years . That plan fell apart, but a 3.5-year version is waiting in the wings.

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American killed after "rogue wave" hits Antarctic cruise ship

Passengers on Antarctic cruise ship hit by deadly 'rogue wave' speak out

Tom and Pam Trusdale were enjoying a bucket list trip to Antarctica , until their trip of a lifetime turned into a deadly disaster.

"It was going real smoothly, and we were only anticipating nothing but smooth going forward," Tom Trusdale told ABC News.

The Trusdales were passengers on the Viking Polaris cruise ship sailing toward Ushuaia, Argentina, when it was hit by a "rogue wave" last week , killing an American passenger, Sheri Zhu, and injuring four others.

"Good Morning America" airs at 7 a.m. ET on ABC.

The Trusdales said the wave wasn't the only disaster. The Trusdales and ABC News later confirmed that a day before the accident, another passenger was seriously injured during a Zodiac boat excursion.

"It was a real loud, it was a boom, and I flew up in the air, and the passenger across from me flew up in the air. She came down and hit hard," Pam Trusdale said.

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MORE: 'Rogue wave' strikes Antarctic cruise ship, leaves 1 dead and 4 injured

Tom Trusdale said he saw two passengers tossed into the air from what seemed to be an apparent explosion.

"I saw the woman go, probably about 3 feet in the air, and then the gentleman straight across from me go up in the air, and then roll over into the sea," Tom Trusdale said. "So I went across and leaned over the pontoon, and I just grabbed on to the life jacket. He was face up, so he was stabilized, and I reassured him that, 'Hey, you're safe.'"

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Tom Trusdale said he and another passenger were able to quickly pull the man back on the boat, but the woman's leg was severely injured.

"She said, 'I hurt my legs. I can't feel my leg,'" Pam Trusdale said. " And then I could hear her kind of straining that, you know, I could tell that she was in a lot of pain."

The passenger's leg required surgery, which led the ship's captain to turn back to Argentina. During the trip back toward Argentina, through a known turbulent stretch of ocean, was when the "rogue wave" crashed into the cruise ship.

"This wave hit it and came over and literally broke through windows and just washed into these rooms, and not only did it wash into the rooms, but it broke walls down, and once some walls went into the next room," Tom Trusdale said.

Viking said in a statement on its website that it's investigating the wave incident and is committed to the safety and security of all guests and crew.

Viking issued a second statement about the Zodiac boat incident, saying: "On November 28, the Viking Polaris deployed a small boat with six guests and one crew member near Damoy Point, Antarctica. On this trip a guest sustained a serious but non-life-threatening leg injury while on board the small boat and was taken to the medical center on the Viking Polaris."

"Following a detailed diagnosis by the ship's medical team, the decision was taken for the ship to immediately sail to Ushuaia so that the guest could receive additional medical care from a shore-based hospital," it continued. "The guest is now recovering shoreside in Ushuaia and will then return home; Viking is continuing to support them during this period. We are committed to the safety and security of all our guests and crew, and we are investigating the cause of the incident."

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Cruise ship arrives at New York City harbor with dead whale caught on bow

The 44ft-long whale corpse was an endangered sei whale, which will now be examined to determine how it died

A cruise ship has journeyed into New York City’s harbor bearing a gruesome cargo in the form of a huge, dead whale sprawled across its bow.

The incident happened on Saturday, according to local US media reports , and the event is being held by some as further evidence of the unfortunate impact on sea life that large vessels can have.

The 44ft-long whale corpse was an endangered sei whale and was caught on the ship’s bow when it arrived at the Port of Brooklyn, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fisheries spokesperson, Andrea Gomez.

The boat involved was the Meraviglia, which docked in New York before sailing on a journey to ports in New England and Canada. It is owned by Geneva-based MSC Cruises .

“We immediately notified the relevant authorities, who are now conducting an examination of the whale,” officials with the cruise line said in a statement, who added that the company had regulations in place to avoid collisions with whales and other animals at sea.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of any marine life,” the statement said.

The whale is now the subject of a necropsy to try and determine how it died, notably if it was already dead when hit by the cruise ship. Sei whales are one of the largest whales and are a protected species.

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Cruise ship worker accused of attacking, stabbing people with scissors on board vessel

JUNEAU, Alaska ( KTUU /Gray News) - A South African citizen was arrested by the FBI in Juneau Tuesday after he allegedly stabbed a cruise ship passenger and several employees who attempted to stop him.

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska said 35-year-old Ntando Sogoni was employed on the Norwegian Cruise Lines ship Encore and was observed by other staff attempting to launch one of the ship’s lifeboats. He was then taken by security to the ship’s medical facility for an evaluation.

In the medical center, Sogoni reportedly physically attacked a nurse and a security guard. He then allegedly entered an examination room, grabbed a pair of medical scissors and attacked a woman receiving treatment, stabbing her in the arms, hand and face. When two security guards intervened, the court documents allege he stabbed one in the head and one in the back.

Once he was under authority’s control, Sogoni was held in the ship’s jail before being taken into custody and being charged with assault with a deadly weapon in maritime and territorial jurisdiction. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A federal district judge will determine the total sentencing.

Court documents say that the employee had just joined the ship’s crew at its Seattle port of call on May 5. The incident occurred approximately 16.5 miles from Vancouver Island. There is no word on whether the incident has delayed the ship or on the condition of those hurt.

The FBI Anchorage Field Office and FBI Juneau Resident Agency, and the Coast Guard Investigative Service are investigating the case.

Copyright 2024 KTUU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

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The 5 best destinations you can visit on a Viking cruise ship

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Fast-growing Viking has one of the most diverse arrays of itineraries of any cruise line.

Not only does the California-based company offer ocean cruises in almost every corner of the world, it also offers river cruises on many of the world’s major rivers.

That’s notably different from most cruise lines. Typically, cruise lines operate either ocean cruises or river cruises but not both. That gives them a smaller range of itineraries.

For more cruise guides, tips and news, sign up for TPG’s cruise newsletter .

Viking has a particularly large footprint when it comes to European river itineraries, with a wide range of sailings on nearly every European river of any note, from the Douro in Portugal to (until recently) the Volga in Russia.

The company also operates river trips on the Nile in Egypt and the Mekong in Southeast Asia, and it just began river trips on the Mississippi River .

There are 80 river ships in Viking’s fleet — an astounding number. None of its main competitors among river lines catering to North Americans, which include Avalon Waterways, Uniworld and AmaWaterways , have anywhere near that number of vessels.

Related: First look at Viking’s stylish new Nile River ship

Among ocean cruise destinations, Viking has a major presence in Scandinavia and Northern Europe, which it considers its home turf. (The company was founded by a Norwegian family.) However, you’ll find Viking’s nine traditional ocean ships everywhere from North America to Asia and Australia.

Last year, the line began cruising to Antarctica with its first expedition ship — a type of vessel built specifically for travel to remote, hard-to-reach places. Viking now has two such vessels.

Among the line’s voyages, there’s everything from eight-day cruises in the Mediterranean to 138-day around-the-world voyages.

Overwhelmed with choices? Here are the five best Viking cruise destinations where the line can truly offer you a memorable vacation.

Scandinavia and Northern Europe

Some of Viking’s most interesting itineraries are around Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea, with many beginning or ending in Norway — the homeland of the company’s founder and chairman, Torstein Hagen.

As Hagen once told me, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea are what the company considers “Viking country” — a region where it wants to dominate.

During summers, in particular, Viking devotes an unusually large number of its ships to itineraries around Scandinavia, the Baltic Sea and other Northern Europe destinations such as Iceland. Many, notably, use the relatively small but famously scenic Norwegian city of Bergen (population 286,000) as a gateway, something no other line is doing. That allows for unusual variations on the typical Baltic Sea or Norwegian fjords cruise.

The line’s most popular route in the region, “Viking Homelands,” is a two-week-long, one-way trip between Bergen and Stockholm that combines several days of exploring the fjord region of Norway’s west coast with more-typical Baltic cruise destinations such as St. Petersburg, Russia, and Helsinki.

Related: The ultimate guide to Viking ships and itineraries

Note that, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Viking has pulled the St. Petersburg stop, as well as stops in Finland and Estonia from the Viking Homelands itinerary; the trips instead feature extra stops in Norway and Denmark. It’s unlikely St. Petersburg will return to the itinerary until the war in Ukraine is resolved.

Viking also offers a 14-night itinerary that includes several stops in the northernmost part of the country above the Arctic Circle. Dubbed “Into the Midnight Sun,” the one-way route between Bergen and London is unique because it combines calls in far-north Honningsvag and Tromso, Norway, with visits to Scotland’s remote Shetland Islands and the Orkney Islands. Though part of the United Kingdom, these archipelagos have ties to Norwegian and Viking history.

Itineraries that will take you from Bergen to Iceland or even as far away as France, Portugal and Spain also are available.

Viking’s Scandinavia and Northern Europe trips range widely in length from just seven nights to a whopping 28 nights.

Among the longest sailings that Viking offers that include calls in Northern Europe are one-way, 28-night voyages between Bergen and New York City. The trips include stops in Norway, Iceland, Greenland and Canada.

In Northern Europe, Viking ships mostly sail out of Bergen, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Copenhagen and London as well as Reykjavik.

The Mediterranean

Viking has grown into a major player in Mediterranean sailings, with more than 30 distinct itineraries that include stops in the region.

The trips include voyages focused specifically on the Western Mediterranean or Eastern Mediterranean and some that include stops across both areas.

Typical of the latter is the line’s 14-night “Mediterranean Antiquities” routing, a one-way trip between Athens and Barcelona that stops in Greece, Turkey, Italy, Monaco, France and Spain.

More-focused Mediterranean itineraries include the line’s nine-night “Empires of the Mediterranean” voyages between Venice and Athens, which mostly concentrate on stops along the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea in Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro.

In the Mediterranean, the line’s main hubs are Barcelona; Civitavecchia (the port for Rome) and Venice, Italy; Piraeus (the port for Athens), Greece; and Istanbul.

Related: The complete guide to Viking cabins and suites  

Europe riverways

Viking is, quite simply, the giant of river cruising in Europe — at least among lines that cater to English speakers. The company operates around 70 river ships on a broad swath of the continent’s rivers — far more than any other river line catering to North Americans.

In all, the line accounts for about half of all river cruises taken by North Americans in the region. The next biggest player in Europe river cruises for North Americans, AmaWaterways, is less than half the size.

Among the rivers in Europe where Viking has a major presence are the Rhine, Main and Danube in Central Europe; the Seine, Rhone, Dordogne, Garonne and Gironde in France; the Douro in Portugal; and the Moselle and Elbe in Germany. Until recently, Viking also offered cruises on the Dnieper River in Ukraine. The voyages have been suspended since Russia invaded the country in early 2022.

On nearly all of the rivers, the line offers multiple itineraries with lengths ranging from seven nights to as many as 22 nights.

Among 10 different itineraries on the Rhine River alone, offerings range from a seven-night “Rhine Getaway” from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland, to a 22-night “European Sojourn” from Amsterdam to Bucharest, Romania. The latter adds travel on the Main and Danube rivers to days on the Rhine.

Viking offers some of the most intimate and elegant cruises on the Nile, with three ships including the recently unveiled, 82-passenger Viking Osiris — one of our favorite vessels on the river.

All three of Viking’s Nile ships operate the same seven-night Nile cruise itinerary that Viking pairs with a four-night stay at a hotel in Cairo (three nights before the cruise and one night after) to create an 11-night “Pharaohs and Pyramids” tour of Egypt.

Related: The ultimate guide to Viking’s loyalty program

The cruise portion of the tour includes visits to the historic temples of Luxor, Karnak, Esna, Dendera and Abu Simbel as well as a visit to the iconic Valley of the Kings. The stay in Cairo brings a visit to the pyramids of Giza, the Egyptian Museum and other sites.

Viking Osiris is the first of four sister ships that Viking plans to launch on the Nile by 2025 as it doubles its footprint in Egypt. The vessels offer a clean-lined, Scandinavian-influenced design that mimics the look of Viking’s Europe-based vessels.

Notably, the ship features an entire deck of sprawling suites that rival anything else found on the Nile for luxury and comfort. Each comes with two full-size rooms — a large living room with a residential feel and an adjacent bedroom with a walk-in closet and bathroom. Each suite also has an outdoor balcony with seating for two — something you don’t always see on Nile ships.

Viking is a newcomer to cruises to Antarctica, but the destination is a big growth area for the line. Viking recently added two new, 378-passenger expedition cruise vessels specifically built to travel to the White Continent.

Dubbed Viking Octantis, the first of these vessels began sailings to Antarctica in February 2022. The second ship in the series, Viking Polaris, has just joined its sister in Antarctica this year. Together, the two ships are already making waves in the market for Antarctica cruises, in part because they have several new and unusual features.

Most notable is The Hangar, an enclosed marina that allows passengers to transfer to two of each ship’s exploratory vessels while still in the protected interior of the ship. A first for an expedition ship, it’s something that is significantly improving the experience for passengers heading out on Antarctica exploration.

Related: The 3 types of Viking ships, explained

In another first for polar expedition cruise vessels, every cabin on both Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris has floor-to-ceiling glass walls that slide partially open from the top to create a balcony-like feel.

Viking offers several Antarctic itineraries, with the typical trip starting with a night at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, before a flight to Ushuaia, Argentina, to board one of the two expedition ships for an 11-night cruise to Antarctica and back. A longer version of the trip features 13 nights on board one of the ships and extra days in Antarctica.

Viking also offers Antarctica sailings that combine a visit to the White Continent with stops in the Falkland Islands, Uruguay and Brazil.

Viking Octantis, notably, also operated Viking’s first sailings around the Great Lakes this year. In 2023, both Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris will spend their summers in the Great Lakes.

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Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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New Sun Princess One of Five to Sail Region 

Season Also Features Total Solar Eclipse Cruise - Return to Copenhagen – Plus New Roundtrip Rome Itineraries

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. , May 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Princess Cruises is going big in Europe for 2026. The "Love Boat" line today announced that its 2026 European cruise and cruisetour season will be its biggest ever, with five Princess cruise ships sailing the region, including the sensational new Sun Princess. Set to sail on a record-breaking 222 cruises, guests will have unparalleled opportunities to explore the beauty and diversity of Europe .

Running March through November 2026 , the European season features 59 unique itineraries, visiting 101 destinations across 29 countries, ranging from five to 42 nights. Highlights of the upcoming season include an opportunity to experience the 2026 total solar eclipse; sail on the newest Princess ship – Sun Princess; the return of roundtrip cruises from Copenhagen and new itineraries from Rome . The robust season goes on sale May 23, 2024 .

"There's incredible demand for European vacations and we don't see that slowing down anytime soon," said Terry Thornton , chief commercial officer for Princess Cruises. "Guests should book early as our best pricing will be when these cruises first go on sale. Our 2026 season delivers the best of Europe with incredible voyages visiting a mix of marquee ports, as well as smaller, off-the-beaten-path spots offering guests their very own personalized journey."

2026 Europe Highlights Sun Princess , the next-level Love Boat from Princess, will sail 7-, 14- and 21-night Mediterranean voyages departing from Civitavecchia ( Rome ), Piraeus ( Athens ), and Barcelona . Guests on a 14- and 21-night voyage can enjoy an itinerary without calling to the same port twice for a Grand Mediterranean Adventure .

Itinerary Sample: A seven-night Mediterranean voyage sails roundtrip from Piraeus ( Athens ) to Barcelona , calling at Santorini, Kotor, Corfu, and Messina ( Sicily ).

The newest Princess ship is a true engineering marvel, offering an extraordinary cruise experience with not-to-be-missed culinary, entertainment and luxury accommodations. Sun Princess debuts new eye-catching experience venues including The Dome, a groundbreaking geodesic, glass-enclosed structure at the top of the ship inspired by the terraces of Santorini. The outward and suspended Sphere Atrium, the namesake of this new class of ship, takes the central Piazza hub of the ship into a new dimension. With 30 inviting restaurant and bar venues with an unprecedented collection of celebrity collaborators, high-end ingredients and culinary experiences, Sun Princess has something for every guest to love.

The 3,660-guest Sky Princess will return for its sixth year to home port in Southampton . Sky Princess takes guests on itineraries ranging from seven to 28 nights to destinations including Northern Europe , the Canary Islands, and the Mediterranean.

On August 12, 2026 , Sky Princess will sail directly into the "path of totality" on a special 14-night Total Solar Eclipse Cruise which also visits France , Spain and Portugal . The cruise departs Southampton August 8, 2026 .

NEW  for 2026 is a 28-night Northern Europe and Mediterranean itinerary sailing roundtrip Southampton and calling to Skagen, Copenhagen , Warnemunde (for Berlin ), Stockholm (overnight), Helsinki , Tallinn , Visby, Zeebrugge (for Brussels /Bruges), Southampton , Vigo, Cadiz (for Seville ), Malaga, Cartagena, Gibraltar , Lisbon , Bilbao , Le Verdon (for Bordeaux ). Departs September 12, 2026 .

NEW for 2026, the 3,660-guest Enchanted Princess offers Mediterranean itineraries roundtrip from Civitavecchia ( Rome ), ranging from five, seven, eight, and 14-nights.

Itinerary Sample: A seven-night Mediterranean & Adriatic sailing roundtrip Rome (Civitavecchia) to Dubrovnik, Kotor and Corfu.

For the first time-ever, the 3,560-guest Majestic Princess is sailing roundtrip from Southampton , offering British Isles and Northern Europe itineraries ranging from 11, 12 and 14 nights. British Isles voyages take guests to historic ports across England , Wales , Ireland , Northern Ireland and Scotland , while the Northern Europe itineraries include stops in Scandinavia, Iceland , the Netherlands , Germany , and Belgium .

Itinerary Sample: A 14-night Northern Europe cruise visits Haugesund ( Norway ), Skjolden/Sognefjord ( Norway ), Olden/Nordfjord ( Norway ), Aalesund ( Norway ), Reykjavik ( Iceland ), Isafjordur ( Iceland ), Akureyri ( Iceland ).

Princess Cruises returns to Copenhagen after six years with the 2,670-guest Sapphire Princess , providing 12-night Northern Europe itineraries.

Itinerary Sample: Visits to Skagen, Oslo , Gdynia, Klaipeda, Riga , Tallinn , Helsinki , Nynashamn (for Stockholm ), and Visby.

Prior to sailing from Copenhagen , Sapphire Princess sails in the Mediterranean for two months between March and April 2026 , from Barcelona , plus itineraries sailing roundtrip from Civitavecchia ( Rome ).

Cruisetours: Guests can combine a Europe cruise with multiple days on land to experience more of the region with five cruisetours to choose from. Guests can choose to sightsee in the cosmopolitan city of Madrid on the Highlights of Spain cruisetour, visit Florence and Rome on the Classic Italy cruisetour, explore Mediterranean treasures on the Best of Greece cruisetour or take in the spectacular landscapes of Ireland on the Ring of Kerry cruisetour.

Grand Adventures and Passages: All five ships sail ultimate transatlantic crossings, offering voyages ranging between 14- and 29-nights.

More Ashore: 19 ports include 'More Ashore' late-night stays on select itineraries, and three ports provide overnight stays – Alta, Hamburg and Stockholm .

With Princess Plus and Premier inclusive packages guests enjoy the ultimate in savings by adding popular amenities like WiFi, beverages, fitness classes, crew gratuities and more at an even greater savings of up 65% when amenities are purchased separately.

Princess Captain's Circle members can take advantage of an early booking window starting May 16, 2024 , and are eligible for a special discount if booking before August 31, 2024 .

Additional information about Princess Cruises is available through a professional travel advisor, by calling 1-800-Princess (1-800-774-6237) or by visiting www.princess.com .

About Princess Cruises Princess Cruises is The Love Boat, the world's most iconic cruise brand that delivers dream vacations to millions of guests every year in the most sought-after destinations on the largest ships that offer elite service personalization and simplicity customary of small, yacht-class ships. Well-appointed staterooms, world class dining, grand performances, award-winning casinos and entertainment, luxurious spas, imaginative experiences and boundless activities blend with exclusive Princess MedallionClass service to create meaningful connections and unforgettable moments in the most incredible settings in the world - the Caribbean , Alaska , Panama Canal, Mexican Riviera, Europe , South America , Australia / New Zealand , the South Pacific, Hawaii , Asia , Canada /New England, Antarctica, and World Cruises. The company is part of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK).

View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/princess-cruises-to-sail-largest-ever-europe-cruise-and-cruisetour-season-in-2026-302141810.html

SOURCE Princess Cruises

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