Dead Whale Found on Norwegian Joy's Bow as Cruise Ship Arrives in Alaska

Image: Norwegian Cruise Line

Passengers aboard Norwegian Joy were confronted with a distressing sight as the cruise ship approached Sitka, Alaska on Thursday morning, with a dead fin whale discovered lying across the ship's bow.

The discovery temporarily prevented Norwegian Joy from docking in Sitka while authorities and local vessels responded and worked to remove the whale.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has confirmed that the animal was a fin whale and that its Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network was responding to assess the situation and determine what happens next.

At this stage, however, there is an important unanswered question.

It has not been established whether Norwegian Joy struck and killed the whale.

While photographs and passenger accounts show the dead whale across the ship's bulbous bow, authorities have not yet determined how or when the animal died.

Content warning: This article contains an image of a deceased whale that some readers may find distressing.

Norwegian Joy was approaching Sitka on the morning of 17 September when passengers were advised that the ship could not immediately dock.

Passenger Gretchen McLaurin told KIRO Newsradio that an announcement was made at around 7:45am informing guests that operations had been halted while crews dealt with a whale on the bow.

Other passengers aboard the ship began sharing updates online as the unusual situation unfolded.

One passenger posting to Reddit said the ship had not docked because the mooring crew had reported a whale on the bow, with vessels subsequently arriving to investigate.

Updates posted from onboard described crews working around the bow for several hours before Norwegian Joy eventually began moving again.

⚠️ Passenger photos of the whale
Images taken from Norwegian Joy show the deceased whale after it was removed from the ship's bow. They may be distressing to some readers.

View the original passenger images on Reddit.

A tug-style vessel was used during the response, with passengers watching as crews worked to remove the whale from Norwegian Joy.

McLaurin described seeing the whale being pulled away from the bow on a line and said a visible wound could be seen on the animal.

The photograph you've found appears to show this stage of the operation, with the whale in the water behind a local vessel.

After the whale had been removed, Norwegian Joy was able to proceed into Sitka and passengers began disembarking.

According to updates posted by a passenger aboard the ship, the revised all-aboard time was 4:30pm, giving passengers at least some opportunity to spend time ashore despite the significant delay. 

That is the obvious question, but right now there isn't enough information to answer it.

The fact that the whale was found across Norwegian Joy's bow does not establish whether the ship struck the animal while it was alive.

NOAA explains that dead whales and other cetaceans can be found floating at sea for a variety of reasons, and examinations of deceased animals may be undertaken in an attempt to determine their cause of death. Vessel strikes are one possible cause of whale deaths, but they are far from the only one.

NOAA Fisheries has been notified of this particular incident and its Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network is responding.

Until that assessment provides further information, reports that Norwegian Joy “killed” or “hit” the whale should be treated as speculation rather than established fact.

Even the Reddit thread where passengers were documenting the incident was initially titled “NCL Joy may have had a whale strike”, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding exactly what had occurred. 

Norwegian Joy is currently sailing a 10-night round-trip Alaska cruise from Seattle, which departed on 11 September and is scheduled to return on 21 September.

The itinerary includes several of Alaska's best-known cruise destinations, including Ketchikan, Glacier Bay, Juneau, Icy Strait Point, Sitka and Skagway, followed by Victoria in British Columbia before returning to Seattle.

Sitka was scheduled as the ship's port call on Thursday before Norwegian Joy continued through its remaining Alaska itinerary.

The incident therefore occurred in waters where passengers are specifically travelling to experience Alaska's extraordinary marine environment.

For some onboard, that made Thursday morning particularly confronting.

McLaurin told KIRO Newsradio that she had actually been scheduled to take a whale-watching excursion in Sitka.

Instead, she found herself watching crews remove a dead whale from the ship she had arrived on. 

Collisions between vessels and whales are a recognised threat to large whale populations around the world.

NOAA says vessel strikes can injure or kill whales and other marine animals, and both recreational and commercial vessels can be involved.

Large ships can also be unaware that a collision has occurred.

That makes determining precisely what happened in an individual case particularly important before assigning responsibility.

For now, what is known is that a deceased fin whale was discovered across the bow of Norwegian Joy as the ship approached Sitka, the whale was subsequently removed, and Norwegian Joy was able to dock.

Exactly how the whale came to be there remains under investigation.

And until authorities know more, the images from Sitka are distressing enough without jumping to conclusions about what caused the animal's death.