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As storm-battered Western Alaska takes stock of damage and begins cleanup, officials pledge help

City work crews on Monday removed an array of debris left on Nome’s Front Street in the wake of the weekend storm. (Zachariah Hughes/ADN)

NOME — Up and down Alaska’s Bering Sea coast, the scope of destruction left by a historic storm is becoming clear.

The remnants of a Pacific typhoon pummeled roughly 1,000 miles of Western Alaska coastline over the weekend, damaging infrastructure and homes. The storm shredded sea walls, compromised drinking water systems, ripped homes from their foundation, deluged streets in Nome with sea water and left houses filled with silt.

No casualties have been reported in the storm or its aftermath. A boy, missing in Hooper Bay as the storm raged, was later found safe. Otherwise, there didn’t appear to be any reports of people still missing.

By Monday, as the storm passed, residents in dozens of remote Alaska communities with a combined population of more than 20,000 continued assessing the full extent of the damage and began cleaning up.

Residents, along with local, state and federal government officials, say they will need to work quickly to repair what’s broken. There’s not much time left before winter freeze-up in much of the region.

“We just have to impress upon our federal friends that it’s not a Florida situation where we’ve got months to work on this,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Sunday. “We’ve got several weeks.”

On Monday, the governor said the assessment work is being completed to file a federal disaster declaration request, which is expected to be submitted Tuesday. If approved, the federal government would cover up to 75% of eligible disaster costs.

Reports of damage

In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, a Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak aircrew flies over the Norton Sound village of Golovin to assess damage to houses and facilities on Sunday. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Ian Gray/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)

The state identified five communities — Hooper Bay, Scammon Bay, Golovin, Newtok and Nome — as being greatly impacted by a combination of high water, flooding, erosion and electrical issues. Nome, where one vacant home being used for storage floated down a river until it was caught by a bridge, was among the many reporting road damage after recording tidal surges 11.1 feet above normal.

[ Alaska Community Foundation, Red Cross accepting donations for storm-ravaged Western Alaska ]

State officials were looking closely at those five communities but also reaching out to every community in the region because of the numerous reports of damage, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Efforts to reach some communities have been difficult due to downed communication lines, he said.

Dunleavy was able to fly over Chevak and get on the ground to tour Hooper Bay and Scammon Bay for several hours on Monday with two of his commissioners. He said there were two houses off their foundations in Hooper Bay, and there was road and erosion damage, but the communities he visited were reopening and cleaning up after the weekend’s storms and flooding.

“The damage was not as severe as was first thought,” Dunleavy said. “There are certainly things that need to be worked on, but things seem to be getting up and functioning in the villages that we were in today.”

Dunleavy is planning to head north from Bethel Tuesday to visit Norton Sound communities like Golovin and Newtok where he is expecting to see more severe erosion damage caused by the storm. He is also planning to head to Nome.

Bryan Fisher, director of the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said Monday evening the agency has received reports of 63 homes damaged across the path of the storm, and a dozen other types of structures that have also been damaged, including commercial buildings, fish camps and cabins, but those numbers are expected to rise as more reports are received. There is a greatly varying degree of damage reported to homes, from those that were completely blown or floated off their foundations to more minor wind damage to roofs and siding, Fisher said.

Maj. Gen. Torrence Saxe, who leads the Alaska National Guard, traveled with Dunleavy Monday. He said that 20 State Defense Force members had been activated and at least 40 guardsmen would also be activated to help with the recovery process, some would be heading to Hooper Bay.

“As information comes in, we will get the troops to where they need to go, here at the hubs, and getting to the smaller communities,” Saxe said from Bethel. “That’s what we’re going to do over the next week or so.”

[ As Western Alaska floodwaters recede, damage assessments begin across hundreds of miles of coastline ]

The Department of Transportation said it had surveyed damage to state-owned runways, roads and other infrastructure. The road to Shishmaref’s landfill was damaged, said spokeswoman Shannon McCarthy.

Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson said all state runways are operating in Western Alaska, but a couple, such as in Shaktoolik and Golovin, still need their runway lights to be replaced. There are also reports of outages of some Federal Aviation Administration equipment across the region that will need to be looked at, Anderson said.

Two cruise ships scheduled to sail out of Nome rode out the storm further north, sheltering in Port Clarence. By Monday, passengers were flying into Nome and shuttled from the airport in school buses before heading out to sea. In town, small groups of tourists walked down streets as merchants and volunteers cleaned up wreckage, including the remnants of the Bering Sea Bar and Grill, which burned Saturday as a major storm hit stretches of western Alaska. (Zachariah Hughes/ADN)

The east end of Nome’s Front Street is torn apart, and on Monday, businesses were cleaning out muck left by the floodwaters in front of bars, restaurants and other businesses, some of which were still boarded up. Further east, a portion of the Nome-Council Road is completely ruined, a small bridge rendered barely navigable and a new hole entirely punched through the thin barrier island separating Safety Sound from the ocean.

“It’s bad out that way,” said Bryant Hammond, the incident commander for Nome’s emergency operations center.

A small number of miners and seasonal residents who stay on the far side of the washed-out section will have to rely on airplanes or other creative transportation solutions to transit back into town.

“We either build a new bridge or get ferry service,” Hammond said.

Many of the small seasonal camps and cabins used for subsistence by Nome residents are badly damaged, flattened or gone entirely, according to Hammond.

Most state-owned airstrips remained relatively unscathed after workers removed debris left by high tides. Shaktoolik’s runway lights are broken, but it’s not clear how extensive the problem is, McCarthy said.

Telecommunication coverage was inconsistent on Sunday in many communities. By Monday, service had largely been restored to impacted areas, said GCI spokeswoman Heather Handyside.

Intermittent outages continued in Hooper Bay, Shaktoolik, Stebbins and St. George, mainly because of power outages or flooding that impacted equipment in homes, she said.

The VPSO building in Golovin. Golovin is digging out of the storm Sept. 19, 2022. (Photo by Willow Olson)

Problems persisted in Elim and Golovin, where Handyside said stations were damaged by flooding. Mobile and internet services still were impacted in those villages on Monday, she said, but the company was working to restore services.

The American Red Cross has 50 volunteers ready to help and will be sent to communities that are most in need. The Red Cross was preparing to send small teams to Bethel and Nome, and then on to smaller villages hit by the storm to survey damage as soon as Monday night, said spokeswoman Taylar Sausen.

“We’re going to figure out where we are needed and what each community needs from us,” Sausen said.

Most support personnel will have to be flown to these communities since there are few roads in Western Alaska. Air support will be provided by the Alaska National Guard, small commuter airlines that routinely fly between these small villages and possibly bush pilots.

On Monday, each community hit by the storm was dealing with its own set of issues.

Flooded in Golovin

At least three homes in Golovin were pulled loose from their foundations and floated during the storm, said Susan Nedza, chief school administrator for Bering Strait School District.

Other dwellings that flooded were left with sheets of sand, silt and debris on Monday after waters had receded.

The bottom floor of Willow Olson's home filled with sand during the recent storm. Golovin is digging out of the storm Sept. 19, 2022. (Photo by Willow Olson)

The school and clinic were still surrounded by water on Monday, Nedza said. The school’s dry food supply was destroyed because the windows and doors broke during the storm, she said. Nedza said some portions of town had power, while others were still without on Monday. She said on Monday they were trying to get a generator going to save the frozen food for the school.

Alice Amaktoolik spent the weekend with her sister, Harriett Henry, in Nome. Henry gave birth to her first child, a girl, on Friday. On Saturday, the sisters learned that Henry’s home in Golovin was significantly damaged by floodwaters.

When Henry purchased her Golovin home it was in rough condition and not safe to live in, her sister said. During the last few years she had restored it with her family, recently purchasing new appliances and furniture.

”When it flooded there was 3, maybe 4 feet of water in her house,” Amaktoolik said. “So she’s got to replace all her appliances, her bedding, everything. And she just had a baby on Friday.”

Henry plans to fly home to Golovin on Wednesday with her baby, Amaktoolik said, but she will live with family until she’s able to clean her home and make it livable again.

”It’s just been overwhelming,” Amaktoolik said. “We’re all excited to have the baby, but now we’re kind of just here trying to figure out how we’re going to get her house back into living conditions before anything else ruins in the house. And we just have to figure out financially how we’re going to keep up with all of that.”

In Hooper Bay, relief and worry

Photos and video out of Hooper Bay, one of the largest communities on the coast with a population of more than 1,300, showed buildings inundated by the ocean. More than 300 people sought shelter at the Hooper Bay School over the weekend, said Gene Stone, superintendent with the Lower Yukon School District. Residents banded together to serve about 1,000 meals to the community. On Sunday night, moose stew was on the menu.

As dire as the weekend conditions were, by Monday local leaders said infrastructure had mostly been spared. A handful of homes had been wrenched from their foundations or otherwise damaged as to be uninhabitable, said Edgar Tall, a tribal administrator. Elders there have described the storm as the worst in their memories, he said.

The airport runway was operable, the electricity was on and the water system seemed to be functioning as of Monday afternoon, Stone said.

Tall, the tribal administrator, said he wasn’t surprised the community had largely come through the storm without serious infrastructure damage.

“This town’s been here for centuries,” he said.

The storm pounded dunes along the shoreline of Hooper Bay, peeling away sand. “You can see our dunes are practically gone,” wrote Bradley Lake on Facebook alongside a video of the erosion damage.

Damage wrought by the storm is “a good example of how erosion proceeds at all-time scales,” said Rick Thoman, a climate scientist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Dunes in the area, a protection from wave damage from other ocean storms, had been eroding for a long time but sustained “massive loss” during the storm, likely made worse by the fact that the ground is not yet frozen, he said.

[ OPINION: Typhoon Merbok pounded Alaska’s vulnerable coastal communities at a critical time ]

Disaster declarations

The governor’s office said it was working with the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to request a federal disaster declaration as early as Tuesday. A federal disaster declaration can only be approved by the president, but state officials hope that will be considered on an expedited basis.

Zidek, the spokesman for the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said if that request is granted, it would be essential for the longer-term recovery process in the region, including with establishing individual and public assistance programs. A federal disaster declaration would also mean the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency would enter into a cost-sharing agreement, with FEMA paying at least 75% of eligible costs, which would “significantly reduce the overall cost of the recovery effort,” Zidek said.

He said Monday afternoon that priorities on the ground are changing rapidly as assessments of the storm damage are made. The focus is on providing basic needs for villages hardest hit by the remnants of the typhoon such as food, water, shelter and access to medical care.

State agencies had been preparing for the storm. When Dunleavy issued a state disaster declaration Saturday morning, Zidek said it provided access to the state’s disaster relief fund.

“This will enable us to support local and tribal governments’ ongoing response,” Zidek said by email. “The focus is on the critical life, health and safety needs of those impacted. Our goal is to support the local and tribal emergency response effort with regional and state resources because it is the fastest way we can help the people in need.”

When the governor issues a state disaster declaration, state law caps spending to $1 million, but Dunleavy can write a letter to the Legislature to request additional funds. Zidek said multiple Alaska agencies were ready Saturday with resources and funding to respond.

Golovin is assessing storm damage Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (Photo by Susan Nedza)

A state emergency management specialist will head to Bethel on Tuesday, working with three members of the American Red Cross. The plan is for them to visit impacted communities, as needed, to identify and assess emergency needs.

“When everything goes wrong”

Warmer ocean temperatures allowed Typhoon Merbak to brew in an area of the Pacific Ocean that doesn’t usually produce typhoons, said Thoman, the climate scientist.

“This is a clear signal of our changing environment,” Thoman said. “We had a typhoon form much closer to Alaska in an area where they historically have very rarely formed and the atmospheric (conditions) allowed it a direct hit into Alaska.”

Conditions aligned for the storm to hit Alaska’s coast dead-on, he said. It won’t be the last time.

“Chances are, as oceans continue to warm we will see more typhoons in this area,” Thoman said.

“When everything goes wrong, these really extreme events can happen,” he said. “And no one is immune to it.”

Hughes reported from Nome, Theriault Boots and Williams from Anchorage and Maguire from Juneau. Information from the Associated Press was also used in this report.

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

Zachariah Hughes

Zachariah Hughes covers Anchorage government, the military, dog mushing, subsistence issues and general assignments for the Anchorage Daily News. He also helps produce the ADN's weekly politics podcast. Prior to joining the ADN, he worked in Alaska’s public radio network, and got his start in journalism at KNOM in Nome.

Tess Williams

Tess Williams is a reporter focusing on breaking news and public safety. Before joining the ADN in 2019, she was a reporter for the Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota. Contact her at [email protected].

Sean Maguire

Sean Maguire is a politics and general assignment reporter for the Anchorage Daily News based in Juneau. He previously reported from Juneau for Alaska's News Source. Contact him at [email protected].

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NTSB Determines Cause of a Cruise Ship Striking a Pier in Alaska

​​Radiance of the Seas pictured before the contact in St. Thomas. (Source: NTSB)​

​​WASHINGTON (June 13, 2023) — Overreliance on an electronic chart, miscommunication and an outdated navigational chart were all factors in a cruise ship damaging a cruise terminal pier last year near Sitka, Alaska, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.

The cruise ship Radiance of the Seas was docking at the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal on May 9, 2022 , when it struck and damaged a mooring dolphin. The cruise ship sustained a minor hull indentation. The mooring dolphin sustained damage to three of the four pilings supporting it. There were no reported injuries to the 1,375 passengers, 782 crew and four pilots on board. The contact resulted in $2.1 million in damages to the pier and impacted cruise ship traffic to the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal for the remainder of the 2022 season. 

​In April 2021, the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal pier was extended by 395 feet, including adding two mooring dolphins connected by a walkway and a 410-foot-long floating dock next to the existing dolphins. The Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal did not inform the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency in charge of updating U.S. coastal nautical charts, of the extension. NOAA had no record of the construction until NTSB investigators informed them of the pier’s extension after the contact. At the time of the contact, the electronic navigation chart (ENC) the cruise ship was using did not show the extended pier or added dolphins. 

​​The Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal pier is shown on June 9, 2022, with barge alongside the damaged dolphin for repairing (with catwalk removed). (Source: NTSB)

The crew of the Radiance of the Seas relied heavily on the vessel’s electronic chart and information system (ECDIS) to plan and execute their docking. The master and bridge team had other navigational technologies, including radars and cameras, available to assist them with the approach to the terminal. Even with these tools available, the crew relied solely on the ECDIS, which showed an inaccurate ENC.

While docking, the bosun and master did not confirm the type of distances that were being communicated during the docking. The bosun was relaying accurate distances to the pier’s northernmost dolphin, but the master incorrectly assumed the bosun was calling out how much clearance the ship would have as the stern passed the dolphin. 

The NTSB determined the probable cause of the contact was the master and bridge team’s overreliance on an electronic chart to identify the pier’s position relative to their planned rotation location, and the master’s misunderstanding of the clearance distances to the pier being called by the crewmember on the stern while the vessel was rotating. Contributing was the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal not reporting the extension of the pier into the waterway to the appropriate hydrographic authority in order to update the relevant navigational chart.

NTSB investigators cited two lessons learned as a result of the investigation, voyage planning and reporting port or terminal modifications. 

“Proper voyage planning includes developing a complete plan for every phase of the voyage—from the vessel’s starting port to its end port (berth to berth), including leaving the dock and mooring,” the report said. “Reference points for maneuvering should be identified, measured precisely, and reported clearly. Vessel bridge teams should also ensure that they have the most up-to-date data before getting underway and consult with the local pilot(s) on the accuracy of navigation charts to ensure depictions of ports and/or terminals are correct.”

“Ports and terminals should immediately report significant modifications to port or terminal configurations to the appropriate hydrographic authority (for example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) so that charts can be updated and the changes made readily available to vessel owners, operators, and crews/bridge teams,” the report said.

Marine Investigation Report 23-10 ​ is available online.​      ​

To report an incident/accident or if you are a public safety agency, please call 1-844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290 to speak to a Watch Officer at the NTSB Response Operations Center (ROC) in Washington, DC (24/7).

Powerful storm strikes Alaska bringing historic surge and coastal flooding

One of the strongest storms in at least a decade struck Alaska Saturday with hurricane force winds, high seas and rain that caused coastal flooding.

A low pressure front in the Bering Straight was spinning as wide and strong as any winter storm, but instead of bringing cold weather, it was fed by the volatile air from the former Typhoon Merbok, forecasters said.

The result was 5 inches of rain along the coast south of Anchorage on Saturday, with a flood warning in effect for that coastline through 10 p.m., federal forecasters said.

The storm conditions, including wind gusts above 50 mph, were expected overnight for the state's Arctic and west coasts, prompting Gov. Mike Dunleavy to declare a disaster for affected areas .

The declaration included the opening of an emergency operations center. Dunleavy said Saturday no injuries were reported.

Charlie Brown, mayor of the tribal community of Golovin, said about 40 people have been displaced to higher ground as floodwaters inundated the lower half of city.

In Nome on Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service noted there had been “dangerous coastal flooding” and blamed "a very angry sea."

"Waves and storm surge are pushing into the community," the office tweeted.

Flooding was also reported in Shaktoolik, a small city on the Bering Sea coast. Overnight, multiple gusts of greater than 75 mph, which would qualify them as hurricane-force, were recorded at Adak Island , part of the Aleutian Islands.

The extreme weather prompted Alaska Airlines to cancel its Saturday flights to Nome and Kotzebue as well as a morning flight to Bethel, it said in a statement.

Flight tracker FlightAware said eight flights to or from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport had been canceled Saturday, and 35 had been delayed.

The front, which was moving north, represents a strange brew for earth scientists.

“It derives its energy from the warm sea surface,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Shriver, who spoke from Anchorage. “This is an exceptionally rare event.”

The National Weather Service office in Fairbanks warned the storm could be the strongest in over a decade.

“Impacts may exceed the 2011 Bering Sea Superstorm, and some locations may experience their worst coastal flooding in nearly 50 years,” it said in a tweet Thursday. “Peak water levels will persist for 10 to 14 hours before water recedes.”

At video briefing on the storm Saturday, National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Plumb said the front surpassed those expectations, at least when it came to storm surge, which measured 6 to 8 feet above median high tide Saturday at Point Hope in the Chukchi Sea and at 10 to 12 feet along the Bering Sea coastline.

"The surge at Nome surpassed the superstorm of 2011 and the great storm of 1974," he said.

On the west coast of the state, Plumb said the storm had yet to peak, which was expected Saturday night. The Yukon Delta could see its worst flooding of the event.

"We're expecting water levels to continue to rise," he said.

Buoys on Friday recorded waves of more than 50 feet in the south central Bering Sea, and the lowest pressure ever measured in the sea in September was recorded Friday, but remained unverified, Shriver said.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Ian Gray said Saturday that seas along the state's west coast were 25 to 30 feet, with winds of 30 mph. Small boats were advised to stay at port, and the agency had at least two cutters in the Bering Sea and two helicopters staged on Kodiak.

"We are ready," Gray said.

The state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management called for a heightened state of awareness because a "strong storm" was en route.

“There hasn’t been a September storm this strong in the northern Bering Sea region in the past 70 years,” tweeted Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy.

A coastal flood warning and high wind warning was in effect through Sunday for Alaska's Southern Seward Peninsula Coast.

High winds and heavy rain can be expected for much of next week on mainland Alaska, federal forecasters said. A second, weaker pulse related to the front was expected to come ashore Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service.

Calm on the mainland was possible by the end of the week, forecasters said.

By then, however, Alaska’s winter weather machine may have already started churning out the kind of low pressure systems that are a trademark of December, January, February, and March — with a few days of summer still left on the calendar.

"It could be the start of our busy time of the year," Shriver said.

Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital. 

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Cruise ship that hit iceberg in Alaska returns to Seattle

A cruise ship is docked back in Seattle after hitting an iceberg off the coast of Alaska Saturday.

The 2,000-passenger Norwegian Sun cruise ship hit an iceberg near Hubbard Glacier, according to passengers on board.

A spokesperson for the cruise line told KTOO that the accident happened during “dense fog, limiting visibility.”

The iceberg that hit the ship is known as a “growler,” meaning it had less than 3.3 feet showing above the water and is under 6.6 feet across, according to USA Today .

After hitting the iceberg, the cruise ship rerouted to Juneau instead of its planned destination of Skagway so divers could inspect it, according to the Juneau Empire.

The Juneau Empire was told that divers determined the damage needed to be repaired back in Seattle.

Dave Morgan, a passenger on the ship, told KIRO 7 News that a repair person at the shipyard told him the damage was 14 inches by 10 feet and that the plan was to bring in a welder to put a piece of metal over the damage.

Morgan said passengers were not allowed off the boat during the inspection in Juneau.

“The whole boat came to a complete stop from the impact,” passenger Alicia Amador told the Juneau Empire . “It was a scary experience.”

“The ship had a severe judder,” Jason Newman, a passenger from Georgia, told KTOO . “You could feel the strike. And then it listed minorly.”

The ship returned to Seattle at about 4 a.m. Thursday.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line said, “On June 25, 2022, while transiting to Hubbard Glacier in Alaska, Norwegian Sun made contact with a growler. The ship sailed to Juneau, Alaska for further assessment, where it was decided that the current voyage would be shortened, and the cruise scheduled to embark on June 30, 2022 will be canceled, so that the necessary repairs can be made. The ship was given clearance by the United States Coast Guard and other local maritime authorities to return to Seattle at reduced speed. All guests currently onboard will disembark in Seattle as originally planned. We are communicating with all impacted guests directly. Additional information will be provided as appropriate.”

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Cruise ship that hit iceberg in Alaska returns to Seattle

A cruise ship is docked back in Seattle after hitting an iceberg off the coast of Alaska Saturday.

The 2,000-passenger Norwegian Sun cruise ship hit an iceberg near Hubbard Glacier, according to passengers on board.

A spokesperson for the cruise line told KTOO that the accident happened during “dense fog, limiting visibility.”

The iceberg that hit the ship is known as a “growler,” meaning it had less than 3.3 feet showing above the water and is under 6.6 feet across, according to USA Today .

After hitting the iceberg, the cruise ship rerouted to Juneau instead of its planned destination of Skagway so divers could inspect it, according to the Juneau Empire.

The Juneau Empire was told that divers determined the damage needed to be repaired back in Seattle.

Dave Morgan, a passenger on the ship, told KIRO 7 News that a repair person at the shipyard told him the damage was 14 inches by 10 feet and that the plan was to bring in a welder to put a piece of metal over the damage.

RAW: Iceberg strikes cruise ship in Alaska

Morgan said passengers were not allowed off the boat during the inspection in Juneau.

“The whole boat came to a complete stop from the impact,” passenger Alicia Amador told the Juneau Empire . “It was a scary experience.”

“The ship had a severe judder,” Jason Newman, a passenger from Georgia, told KTOO . “You could feel the strike. And then it listed minorly.”

The ship returned to Seattle at about 4 a.m. Thursday.

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line said, “On June 25, 2022, while transiting to Hubbard Glacier in Alaska, Norwegian Sun made contact with a growler. The ship sailed to Juneau, Alaska for further assessment, where it was decided that the current voyage would be shortened, and the cruise scheduled to embark on June 30, 2022 will be canceled, so that the necessary repairs can be made. The ship was given clearance by the United States Coast Guard and other local maritime authorities to return to Seattle at reduced speed. All guests currently onboard will disembark in Seattle as originally planned. We are communicating with all impacted guests directly. Additional information will be provided as appropriate.”

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Coast Guard checks Cruise West ships after most recent grounding in Alaska

After Spirt of Glacier Bay went aground in Southeast Alaska, the Coast Guard is checking safety and maintenance of ships run by Seattle-based Cruise West

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The Spirit of Glacier Bay cruise ship, which ran aground earlier this week in Alaska, is in Juneau for repairs, and the U.S. Coast Guard is checking ships of its owner Cruise West for safety and maintenance.

The 207-foot Spirit of Glacier Bay, run by Seattle-based Cruise West, this summer has been sailing three- and four-night cruises in Southeast Alaska, including in Glacier Bay National Park where it went aground on Monday.

The ship had 51 passengers and crew aboard. There were no injuries and a Coast Guard boat freed the ship; it then headed to Auke Bay near Juneau.

Because of previous mechanical problems and groundings the Coast Guard is inspecting Cruise West’s other ships, Capt. Scott Robert, the Coast Guard sector Juneau commander, told the Anchorage Daily News. Safety plans, equipment and maintenance policies are being examined, Robert told the newspaper. The Coast Guard also will talk to crew members about safety awareness and conditions.

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The Coast Guard said there was no breach of the external hull of the Spirit of Glacier Bay. However, the ship does have some structural damage which must be repaired before it can again carry passengers. The cause of the grounding remains under investigation.

The same ship, formerly called the Spirit of Nantucket, began taking on water in November 2007 on an Intracoastal Waterway cruise near Virginia Beach, Va, after it hit a submerged object. The captain ran it aground to prevent it from sinking.

This June, another Cruise West ship, the Spirit of Alaska, touched bottom on a Southeast Alaska cruise, damaging its rudder and cutting short a cruise. And in May, the company’s Spirit of Columbia had power and propeller problems and was diverted to Juneau. There were no injuries in either incident.

Kristin Jackson of Seattle Times Travel contributed to this report.

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Alaska storm could bring "worst coastal flooding in 50 years"

Alaska is bracing for dangerous weather as the remnants of Typhoon Merbok move toward the Bering Sea region. Forecasters predict that the storm , set to hit on Friday, could bring "potentially historical" flooding, with some coastal areas seeing water levels up to 11 feet higher than the normal high tide.

"Latest models show coastal surge higher than the November 2011 storm that brought significant flooding to the area," the National Weather Service forecasted early Friday morning, adding that the flooding could be "potentially historical."

"This is a dangerous storm that will produce widespread coastal flooding south of the Bering strait with water levels above those seen in nearly 50 years," the service said.

The state is expected to see hurricane-force winds with gusts up to 90 mph, according to the service, and wave heights up to 48 feet. Coastal flooding could go beyond 12 feet over the western mainland. Depending on the location, other areas can see gusts between 40 and 80 miles per hour between Friday and Saturday night. The main concern, according to the service, is flooding, structural damage and blown-down power lines .

GOES-W is getting a look at Tropical Storm Merbok rapidly transitioning to an extratropical low as it lifts into the Bering Sea, bringing wave heights up to 48 ft, wind gusts to 90 mph, and coastal floods exceeding 12 ft over W. Mainland AK and the Aleutians through the weekend. pic.twitter.com/hAGsk64J2f — NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) September 15, 2022

Much of Alaska's west coast is already under warning and watches. All areas along the coastline from Quinhagak to Point Hope are under coastal flood and high wind warnings, while Cape Lisburne and northern coastal areas stretching to Teshekpuk Lake are under coastal flooding watches. In Nome, water levels will be up to 11 feet above normal high tide and the city's mayor said on Thursday that residents of Belmont Point should " prepare for possible evacuation ."

In Golovin, water levels could go up to 13 feet above normal. The National Weather Service's Anchorage office said that the overall moisture content of the storm is "quite extreme" with enough moisture that equates to "200 to 300% of normal."

Widespread power outages are also expected, the National Weather Service said, and the worst water levels are expected on Saturday.

Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, said that the situation is "a near worst case coastal flooding scenario" for the Bering Sea coast. The storm extends " roughly 500 miles  in all directions from the low center," the weather service's Anchorage office reported. 

"This is very serious: in some communities there's the potential for the worst coastal flooding in 50 years," Thoman said, echoing the National Weather Service's warning.

Wx models locked in: 36 hour pressure & wind forecast valid Sat 4am AKDT. Storm center western tip St. Lawrence Island & gale-storm force winds across most of the ern Bering. A near worst case coastal flooding scenario for nrn Bering Sea coast. #akwx @Climatologist49 @knomradio pic.twitter.com/OfY3uQtbxc — Rick Thoman (@AlaskaWx) September 16, 2022

Meteorologist Ed Plumb told the Associated Press that the storm will be "the deepest or strongest storm we've ever seen in September," a fact that makes it "quite an unusual storm."

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Former Typhoon Merbok blasts western Alaska with historic storm surge, 90 mph wind and 50-foot seas

What used to be Typhoon Merbok morphed into a powerful northern Pacific storm as it raced nearly due north and pushed through the Aleutian Islands Friday and into the Bering Sea Saturday, bringing a dangerous storm surge inundating coastal villages and towns under several feet of water for hours.

Typhoon causes major coastal flooding in Alaska

NWS Fairbanks Meteorologist Jonathan Chriest says Typhoon Merbok was the strongest storm to enter the Bering Sea in September in 70 years. Chriest noted to FOX Weather that the city of Nome saw water 9 feet above the normal high tide line. 

GOLOVIN, Alaska – A historic storm blasted western Alaska Friday and Saturday with hurricane-force winds, over 50-foot seas and coastal flooding not seen in decades, leaving homes flooded, roads washed away and power out to a wide area. 

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy declared a state disaster area Saturday morning and was set to ask the U.S. government for a federal disaster declaration on Monday. But Dunleavy says despite the record-breaking impacts, the emergency operation center had not received any reports of injuries.

As the storm weakened and passed into the Arctic, towns and villages along the Bering Sea began cleaning up debris that had washed ashore. Dozens of homes and buildings flooded as the Bering Sea pushed inland, and several roads left damaged.

In Nome, where waters the storm surge reached just over 10 feet – 7 feet above the high tide line, high waters carried debris into the Snake River Bridge, causing damage. Pavement was missing from East Front street, according to Alaska's Department of Transportation.

Alaska city pummeled by massive storm surge

Nome Mayor John Handeland tells FOX Weather the powerful northern Pacific storm that slammed western Alaska over the weekend was stronger than the superstorm of 1974. 

Water levels in Unalakleet peaked just over 13 feet Saturday morning – about 9-10 feet above high tide line – reaching one of the largest peaks on record, according to the National Weather Service, with debris covering roads in town.

Major flooding was reported in Golovin where a one-two punch of rain and wind raked the coastal town. A much as 6 feet of water came into the community along with a peak wind gust of 63 mph. The old Golovin airport was under water and photos from town showed debris littered across the area.

Storm surge damage in Golovin, Alaska (Heidi Varga)

Storm surge damage in Nome, Alaska (Christian Noah Graham/Facebook)

Storm surge floods the town of Golovin, Alaska as a massive storm moves through on Sept. 17, 2022. (C. Lewis via National Weather Service, Fairbanks)

Significant flooding was also reported in Skaktoolik, Kotlik, Scammon Bay, and Newtok, where a dozen homes flooded leaving and over 35 people were displaced, according to KTUU-TV. Some communities lost over 100 feet of shoreline due to erosion, according to the Alaska DOT.

The Bering Sea was pushing over berms along Shaktoolik and water was entering the coastal community, getting close to flooding homes. Residents have evacuated to the town's school and clinic.

However, the state seems to have dodged a bullet when it comes to avoiding significant damage to their critical airport network which is crucial for supplies.

"Overall our airport system was resilient in the face of this storm event," a spokesperson with the Alaska DOT said in a storm update posted on their web page . "With so many communities affected by this event, we have confirmed that we haven’t seen major damages on our runways, although we have had personnel out clearing debris off of runway surfaces, and are hearing that access to roads to the airports have been compromised."  They did note some runway damage reported in Shaktoolik, Scammon Bay and Newtok.

Winds reach over 90 mph in spots

The storm surge was pushed by powerful winds circulating the deep storm center, which had reached as low as 937 millibars on its approach to the Aleutian Islands. 

Cape Romanzof measured a gust of 91 mph while gusts reached 74 mph on St. Paul Island, and 63 mph in Golovin.

(FOX Weather)

"Even though it is not officially a typhoon – which is what we could call a hurricane in the (U.S.) – it still has all of that powerful energy," said FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin. "With strong winds, you’re pushing in a lot of water, and that means the sea levels (are) going to rise and coastal flooding is a concern as well as storm surge."

Offshore, the storm triggered monster seas in excess of 50 feet. A buoy 310 miles north of Adak reported wave heights of nearly 52 feet late Friday morning amid 74 mph wind gusts.  But despite the near hurricane conditions offshore, the Coast Guard said so far, no boats reported in distress as of late Saturday.

"We are standing by to see if anyone needs assistance, but so far the Coast Guard has received no requests for rescues," a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson said.

ALASKA EXPERIENCES AN EARTHQUAKE EVERY 10 MINUTES, SCIENTISTS SAY

What's worse, as the storm slows on its exit toward the Arctic, high water levels lingered for hours allowing wind-driven waves on top of the surge to push far inland and produce additional damage.  Water levels were not expected to return to average tidal levels until Monday across much of the affected region.

"Impacts may exceed the 2011 Bering Sea Superstorm, and some locations may experience their worst coastal flooding in nearly 50 years," National Weather Service forecasters in Fairbanks wrote early Friday morning.

937 mb low a record for September

Intense storm systems are common for Alaska, but seeing an extra-tropical cyclone with a pressure of less than 940 millibars is not frequent. 

The storm's central pressure dropped to 937 mb which was the deepest low for September in at least the last 17 years measured in the region. 

"It’s definitely going to be a significant event. It’s shaping up to be one of the worst events that we’ve seen for years," the National Weather Service office in Fairbanks, Alaska, said.

Threatened region contributes $5 billion to Alaska's economy

Communities such as Adak, Unalaska, St. Paul, St. Johns and Bethel will all be near the center of the storm.

"For most of those Alaskan communities, when a storm is bearing down, they don’t have the capability for evacuations. So, what they normally do is they’ll go to a community shelter, which is the safe option," said Jeremy Zidek, public information officer at Alaska’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. "Supply chain issues, transportation issues and weather issues are kind of a regular occurrence, so people have to be pretty resilient to even live in those areas."

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Meteorologists and first responders were most concerned about the maritime community, which produces most of the nation’s seafood.

Pacific salmon, crab, Pacific cod, shrimp, herring, sablefish pollock, and Pacific halibut are all harvested from Alaska and lead to more than $5 billion in economic activity in Alaska every year. 

Fomer Typhoon Merbok to have affect on U.S. weather

Typhoon Merbok is one of several significant storm systems from the West Pacific that are expected to get caught up in the jet stream and impact U.S. weather.

Abnormally warm water in the North Pacific is one of the ingredients helping to enhance the lifecycle and strength of the northern cyclones but not enough to help them sustain their tropical cyclone identity into the northern latitudes. 

Similar to the Atlantic basin, the Northwest Pacific typhoon season is running behind normal, only seeing about half the storms that they are used to seeing by mid-September.

During recent weeks, the West Pacific has seen an uptick in activity with typhoons Muifa, Hinnamnor and Merbok, and now Nanmadol.

Most, if not all, will lead to impacts in Alaska with rain, wind and high seas, meaning that the 49th state might be in store for a rainy time period.

Experts with the NWS’ Climate Prediction Center expect several weeks of above-average rainfall in the state.

Forecasters believe there will be increased rainfall chances across Alaska during the next several days.

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Revelry and Unease in Alaska as Cruises Return

Ships are carrying fewer passengers than they did before the pandemic, but in port towns where the bulk of the economy depends on cruise travel, business owners say they are “grateful for what we have.”

By Maria Cramer

Even before a rock slide in early July shut down one of the berths for the season, only about 275,000 passengers had disembarked in May and June from cruise ships in Skagway, Alaska.

That number, tallied by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, was nearly 40 percent lower than what it would have been if the ships were full when they pulled into the borough, a Gold Rush-era destination nestled in a valley by the Tongass National Forest.

Ships coming into the state’s capital, Juneau, and Ketchikan, another southeast Alaskan town that relies heavily on cruise tourism, were on average about 70 percent full in July, said Renée Limoge Reeve, vice president of government and community relations at the Cruise Lines International Association of Alaska .

That would appear to paint a bleak picture for Alaska’s cruise industry, particularly for Skagway, which welcomed more than one million cruise passengers in 2019. But that is not how many locals are describing it.

“Glorious,” said Mike Healy, the owner and general manager of Skagway Brewing Company. “Absolutely glorious.”

Two years after the pandemic crushed Alaska’s cruise industry and dealt a heavy blow to the state’s port towns, the sight of tourists ambling down the gangway, even in reduced numbers, has business owners and tour operators breathing a sigh of relief.

Andrew Cremata, the mayor of Skagway, said that he estimates the year will end with a total of about 600,000 visitors from cruises. Still, he said he is happy to see the town busy again.

“We’re surviving,” Mr. Cremata said. “And we’re so glad to be back in business.”

In April 2021, cruise lines in the United States began putting their fleets back out to sea after more than a year under a “no sail” order. But in Alaska, the industry would remain stalled for nearly three more months, in large part because of a law that forced cruise ships to stop in Canada, which had banned cruise ships until 2022 because of the pandemic.

The shutdown in 2020 and the “no sail order” from Canada had “catastrophic” effects on the southeastern part of the state, according to a 2021 study by several state agencies.

The state lost at least $1.7 billion in revenues in 2020, and during the first months of 2021 towns and port communities that rely on the cruise industry lost more than 22,000 jobs, according to the report.

In May 2021, Congress passed the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act, which allowed cruise ships to sail directly to Alaska without having to stop in Canada. But industry leaders still needed to come up with agreements with port communities, which needed reassurances that their fragile health systems would not be overwhelmed should there be an outbreak of Covid, said Ms. Limoge Reeve.

Ships then had to complete the process of bringing back their crews, said Anne Madison, a spokeswoman for the Cruise Lines International Association .

“It takes about 90 days to stand up a ship and have it ready to sail,” she said.

The Alaska cruise season is brief — it typically runs from April through October — and the 2021 season was barely salvaged. A total of about 57,000 passengers came through Skagway that year, said Mr. Cremata.

Statewide, there were 124,000 cruise passengers, said Ms. Limoge Reeve.

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It was a period of terrible stress on businesses and residents, recalled Tina Cyr, who owns a small local art gallery with her partner in Skagway.

“We were just living on our savings,” she said.

But there was also a respite from the normally taxing summer season, she said. Ms. Cyr said she and her partner took a summer vacation for the first time in years. “All of us were going, ‘It’s great to have our town back,’” Ms. Cyr said. “I heard that a lot.”

The streets were so quiet that a family of foxes was regularly seen running downtown, said Jaime Bricker, Skagway’s tourism director, who visited nearby Glacier Point, a popular tourist destination, for the first time in her life.

“My family and I embraced the quiet every chance we got,” Ms. Bricker said.

Fewer tourists, more whales

Around Glacier Bay National Park , a haven for seals, whales, dolphins and bears about 90 miles west of Juneau, the cruise ships were not missed, said Stephen Van Derhoff, one of the owners of Spirit Walker Expeditions of Alaska in Gustavus, a town of about 500 people near the park.

Mr. Derhoff’s business takes people to Glacier Bay in small kayaks and caters to independent travelers who want a more intimate wilderness experience.

“To see the giant cruises going by and the exhaust and smoke coming off them can have a negative impact,” Mr. Van Derhoff said. “For the first half of 2021 there was very little cruise ship traffic and that was actually very nice.”

Fewer ships at sea also gave scientists the opportunity to see the effects on humpback whales.

In 2020, researchers from the University of Alaska identified 63 adult whales, the most they had seen in a five-year period, said Heidi Pearson, an associate professor of biology at the University of Alaska Southeast. Dr. Pearson, who is conducting the study with Shannon Atkinson, a professor in the fisheries department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said that it was too early to say whether fewer vessels at sea were the principal factor.

In Skagway, no one wanted the cruise ships gone for long, said Mr. Cremata, the mayor.

“I know there are some places that have a love-hate relationship with tourists,” he said. “But we love our tourists.”

More are coming, according to cruise companies, which in general have been offering discounts as they find their ships have room, in part because passengers are waiting longer to book.

Norwegian Cruise Line said it has five vessels sailing in the Alaskan region.

For the first time, Hurtigruten Expeditions, a smaller cruise company that specializes in trips to remote locations like Antarctica and the Arctic has operated trips to Alaska this year for the first time.

Ms. Limoge Reeve said industry officials project Alaska will see more than a million cruise passengers in 2022. “We’re really hopeful for next year,” she said. “Alaska continues to be a bucket list destination for people.”

Yet some wonder about the future of the cruise industry in Alaska.

Nicole Church, the owner of the Black Bear Inn in Ketchikan, said she believes people are now generally wary of boarding a ship filled with thousands of people.

Ms. Church said her inn has been booked since June, not with traditional cruise passengers but with guests who made their own way to the city or traveled on smaller cruise lines.

“They want to take an entire day hike, and go to Ward Lake and watch the white swans,” she said.

Dr. Atkinson, one of the professors studying humpback whales, described “mixed” feelings about the return of cruises.

While she is concerned about their effects on the environment, she said cruise ships, with their ability to take thousands of people to see the receding glaciers of Alaska, have an incredible opportunity to educate passengers about climate change.

“They have a captive audience,” Dr. Atkinson said.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation.

Maria Cramer is a breaking news reporter on the Express Desk.  More about Maria Cramer

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Port of Alaska sees first cruise ship in 2 years

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - It was a sight for sore eyes this morning for Anchorage residents as a cruise ship approached the Port of Alaska for the first time in two years.

On Thursday morning around 10 a.m. the Holland America Cruise cruise line ship Nieuw Amsterdam docked a the port. This is the first cruise ship that has stopped in Anchorage since the COVID-19 pandemic and will be the only ship seen this season according to Visit Anchorage Community Engagement Director Jack Bonney.

“Today is a little bit unusual compared to the rest of the summer season,” Bonney said. “This is the one time that cruise ship calls directory to the port of Anchorage. Most of the cruise visitation that Anchorage sees comes through the ports of Seward or Whittier.”

Passengers anxiously waited on board for their opportunity to depart the ship, ready to hit vacation mode.

“Oh, very, very excited. Are you kidding,” said passenger Angela Bellwood. “They make our food. They make our beds.”

“They make everything for us,” Regisann Myton said.

Bellwood and Myton were excited to explore the downtown Anchorage sights.

“It’s a little chillier than I thought,” Myton said.

“It’s bigger than I thought it would be,” Bellwood said. “It’s a quite bustling city.”

After a two-year dry spell caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the ship’s stop in Anchorage provided the city with a last-minute economic tourism boost for the city at the end of the typical tourist season.

“For a port of call this is a really long one by Alaska standards and by most of the world. So there is an opportunity to do a little bit more here in Anchorage. Even during a port of call that only lasts a single day,” Bonney said. “So things like restaurants, gift shops, day tours, this is a really big deal for them because its something that you can do in a day.”

However, Bonney said that the tourist activity Anchorage saw this summer shows a bounce back from pandemic lows.

“2021 I think turned out a little bit better than we expected and 2022 is on track to be a really big year and maybe even equal a couple of benchmarks,” Bonney said.

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How Cruise Lines Handle Storms, Fog, Bomb Cyclones, and More

By Fran Golden

Water sloshing across the deck, waves lapping at cabin windows, furniture flying, dishes smashing. We’ve all seen terrifying videos of what happens when a cruise ship gets caught in a major storm. But the toughest reality might be this: generally, it looks worse than it is. Though we can’t control Mother Nature, when bad weather strikes, cruise lines are prepared. Want to know their strategies—how they handle it, and what that means for when you cruise? We talked to the cruise lines directly to find out.

Ships are made for moving

When in the throes of a storm—whether in a plane, a car, or a ship—it’s easy to get nervous about the turbulence and forget that today’s methods of transportation are fairly capable of enduring bouts of bad weather. “Ships can go through rough seas,” says captain Ben Lyons, who helmed small ships for Lindblad Expeditions for years, and is now CEO of Expedition Voyage Consultants, which advises cruise lines on best practices for planning and executing expedition sailings. “It’s more uncomfortable for the guests, but ships can take it.”

Cruise ships are made of heavy steel that’s even heavier with a full load of passengers and crew onboard. With all that weight, they can roll with the waves. In the roughest seas a ship may list, or tilt to one side, but even that’s unlikely—shipbuilders test things such as buoyancy and center of gravity during construction, which includes putting scale models of ships through all sorts of storm simulations. In short, those ships are built to handle storms, even in hurricane season.

Monitoring the weather

Take heed, budding armchair meteorologists: Modern cruise ships have the latest and greatest weather forecasting equipment—far beyond what you can look up on your phone. The bridge (the command center where the captain works) has an entire arsenal of weather maps, satellite images of storms, even computer models from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and third-party meteorologists. The crew and officers monitor it all constantly.

Safety is a priority for all cruise lines, and even with these on-ship set-ups, many companies add additional layers of precaution. In January 2017, Royal Caribbean hired James Van Fleet as the first-in-the-industry dedicated cruise line meteorologist; he previously worked as a TV meteorologist for more than 20 years. During the hurricane and typhoon season, which is June to November, he’s in the Miami headquarters monitoring a 25-foot wall of weather screens and sharing information with the company’s 26 ships and the executive team.

In most cases, he says, he can see storms seven to 10 days out, and advise ships on avoidance strategies. “I know what the models are suggesting, and they [the crews] are getting the word sooner so they don’t have to scramble,” Van Fleet says. “If there is a typhoon in the western Pacific and we may need to reroute a couple of ships, I can be talking to them two or three times a day.”

Carnival Cruise Line , meanwhile, monitors weather from a multi-million-dollar command center that it opened last year. “One of the many ways that we keep our guests, crew, and vessels safe is through our new state-of-the-art Fleet Operations Center (FOC) at our Miami headquarters,” says Lars Ljoen, executive vice president of marine operations for Carnival Cruise Line.

The first facility of its kind in Southern Florida, the 35,000-square-foot operations center is staffed 24/7 and has a 74-foot-long video wall with 57 LED screens that shows the status of all the line’s 27 ships, including weather, itinerary, and safety updates—some captured by a software called Argos, a management tool developed in-house.

“During hurricane season, our Fleet Operations Center is an invaluable tool as it provides a comprehensive, at-a-glance look at the exact locations of our ships, allowing us to closely monitor their position in relation to the path of the storm and ultimately deploy vessels elsewhere,” says its director, John Rowley.

When to reroute a ship

Cruise ships tend to stick to destinations where they can avoid bad weather, such as the Caribbean in winter and Alaska’s inside passage and the Mediterranean in summer, but there are exceptions: cruising in the Caribbean in summer when the kids are out of school has become popular for families, for example, even though it’s during hurricane season. At any time of year, too, the weather can be unpredictable.

Steph Koyfman

Shannon McMahon

Charlie Hobbs

When seas get rough, modern cruise ships have onboard technology that helps stabilize them. But if it looks like a more serious storm is in their path, cruise ships generally try to outrun or avoid them.

“We’ve steered our ships around typhoons, hurricanes, fog, massive storms with rapid intensification—which gets the term ‘bomb cyclones,’” Van Fleet says. “But we’ve moved. If you are on our ship and there’s a hurricane out there, I can move you. I can get you to better weather,” he adds, noting that land-based hotels and resorts don’t have that option.

There are situations where a ship may have no choice other than encountering some weather, such as during a North Atlantic crossing in the fall. But even in these cases ships try to find the calmest patch of sea. If adverse weather is unavoidable, the cruise line may change your itinerary , possibly switching your Bermuda cruise with one along the coast of New England and Canada, or shortening or lengthening your cruise by a day or two.

Those decisions are made collaboratively with captains, with guest comfort in mind, Van Fleet says. For instance, to avoid heavy rain, he might suggest a ship stay at sea and arrive at a port a few hours later than planned. By contrast, a port may be skipped altogether if seas are too rough—especially if the port doesn’t have a deep-water dock, meaning passengers have to board tenders, or small boats to get to shore, which is a difficult and dangerous operation in windy conditions.

In those cases, the ship may dock at an alternative port, possibly one you didn’t expect to visit; change the order of the ports that are on the itinerary; or seek a sunny spot at sea. Cruise lines are adept at handling these situations and outline this possibility for guests, along with their policies for how they handle them. If this happens to you, talk to the cruise line directly about refunds or other means of recompense—especially if your ship’s return to its homeport needs to be delayed and affects your flights home.

What to expect if your ship hits bad weather

If you’re already on a ship and meet rough conditions, listen to the instructions of the captain and crew. It’s common for the crew to put down non-slip mats and add signage reminding you to exercise caution when walking. Van Fleet says part of his job is communicating with the crew when such procedures may be necessary.

Every day, listen to the captain’s report from the bridge, which includes a description of sea conditions, to decide what preparations you may need to make for the day. If you get seasick , be prepared with over-the-counter motion sickness medications, homeopathic remedies, or a prescription patch from your doctor.

Note that attractions such as the pool and waterslides may shut down, or the outdoor decks may be closed altogether. In very rare situations, the Captain may require all passengers stay in their cabins. In general, you’ll likely feel some rolling—but that goes for the entirety of your trip, too. “You’re on a ship on the ocean; you’re signing on for some movement,” Van Fleet says. “But my job is to make sure it’s an acceptable, safe amount that you can enjoy your vacation with.”

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Norwegian sun cruise ship hits iceberg near alaska, video shows.

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Chilling video from terrified passengers on board a Norwegian Cruise ship captured an iceberg the “size of a semi-truck” that was struck by the vessel near Alaska over the weekend.

The Norwegian Sun ship was transitioning to Hubbard Glacier in Alaska as part of a nine-night trip when it suddenly plowed into the “growler” iceberg on Saturday, the cruise line said.

One of the 2,000 passengers on board, Jennifer Lopez, told Fox Weather that she had been jogging on the ship’s running track when she was suddenly knocked over by the impact.

“It was a pretty hard hit,” she told the outlet.

Lopez immediately started filming and captured the remnants of the iceberg bobbing in the water.

“It seems that we sliced the glacier right through the middle,” Lopez said, adding that her video captured just one portion of the iceberg.

A fellow passenger, Alicia Amador, told the Juneau Empire that “the whole boat came to a complete stop from the impact. It was a scary experience.”

Amador recalled hearing a “big noise” when the ship first made contact with the iceberg, which she described as being the same size of a semi-truck.

The ship, which immediately rerouted to the Alaskan town of Juneau for assessment, suffered damage to the front right of the vessel after striking the iceberg, the US Coast Guard said.

The cruise docked for two days in Juneau before being given the all-clear to sail back to Seattle at a reduced speed.

“Contracted divers along with a member from the Coast Guard Sector Juneau Prevention Team assessed the damage and deemed it seaworthy to make way to its home port in Seattle for repairs,” a Coast Guard spokesperson said.

A growler is a small iceberg that only has less than 3.3 feet of ice showing above the water, according to the National Snow & Ice Data Center.

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Typhoon Merbok-Alaska cruise

By Calli50 , September 16, 2022 in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Just read the remnants of Typhoon Merdok could be hitting Alaska.. high winds flooding. Read it could be the worse storm since 2011. Not to be selfish, but anybody know how past big storms have affected cruises? I leave on the Encore the 25th. Obviously I hope everyone there is ok first and foremost.

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www3traveler

From what I am reading from the Weather Service, the storm is projected to be North of where most of the cruise ships would be.  Exception would be those sailing into and out Seward.

Ports of call South of Seward could get some wind and rain-- typical Fall storm system.  Rough ride for a few hours.

BirdTravels

First and foremost, NCL does not cancel cruises. Unless the embarkation port is closed for a protracted period of time, the cruise will sail. "Hitting Alaska" is a broad statement with hundreds and hundreds of miles of coastline... like saying "hitting the West Coast" of the US. Some places will get a lot of wind (rough seas) and rain. Most will not. Ships avoid sailing directly through large storms. Cruise ports economy is based on having cruise ships call there, so unless there is damage to the docks (Skagway), they will receive the ships. 

My aunt lives in Kenai but they are not too concerned since this storm is mainly on Alaska's west coast.

On 9/15/2022 at 8:52 PM, Calli50 said: Just read the remnants of Typhoon Merdok could be hitting Alaska.. high winds flooding. Read it could be the worse storm since 2011. Not to be selfish, but anybody know how past big storms have affected cruises? I leave on the Encore the 25th. Obviously I hope everyone there is ok first and foremost.

Was on a cruise crossing the Gulf of Alaska towards the main land. Ship was hit by the tail end of a typhoon. Heavy, heavy winds and 60 foot seas. Thankfully the typhoon was aft of the ship ‘pushing’ it along. Two thirds of the passengers stayed in their cabins. The dining room was almost deserted. Just a few of us hardy souls. All activities were cancelled until the weather moderated. It was quite an experience but not one for which I would volunteer. 

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Sailing the Oceans of Alaska

From spunky inflatable skiffs to a fully equipped 120-foot research ship, boats give our scientists access to the immense 6,640 mile coastline of Alaska (over 30,000 miles if you count all the islands. Which we do.). Boats also help us to study the wildlife that depends on the diverse marine waters of two oceans with three different seas (the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans, along with the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas). It’s a big, watery world out there, and we invite you to join us for a brief cruise on three of our vessels as they sail the remote reaches of the state.

The R/V  Tiĝlax̂ Captain: John Faris Home Port: Homer, Alaska

Visiting the far-flung islands and coast of Alaska Maritime Refuge almost always requires a boat. The refuge’s 3.4 million acres include the spectacular volcanic islands of the Aleutian chain, the seabird cliffs of the remote Pribilofs, and icebound lands washed by the Chukchi Sea, and provides essential habitat for some 40 million seabirds, representing more than 30 species.

Since 1987, the R/V  Tiĝlax̂ has been plying the wild waters of coastal Alaska, ferrying biologists to remote camps and serving as a platform for nearshore research. The Tiĝlax̂ (TEKH-lah — Unangam Tunuu for eagle) and its crew are a vital to managing the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, which stretches from Southeast Alaska to the far western end of the Aleutian Chain, and into the Bering Sea. She is steady but not speedy; the  Tiĝlax̂ typically travels 12,000 to 20,000 nautical miles a year at a speed of 10 knots (about 11 mph).

Keeping Watch for Oceanic Change

Researchers aboard the Tiĝlax̂   study ocean conditions and the marine food web in the nearshore waters adjacent to critical seabird colonies and marine mammal rookeries in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Watching for change is critical to understanding species decline and possible causes, including climate change climate change Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale. Learn more about climate change . The  Tiĝlax̂ sets out and picks up seabird monitoring field camps (eight different sites spread out through the islands of the refuge) and visits periodically during the summer, bringing news and fresh food to the uninhabitated islands where the work is carried out. The crew also makes time for village visits and hosts educational tours for summer campers in remote communities.

R/V Ursa Major II Captain: Jeff Lewis Home Port: Kodiak, Alaska

The famous furry resident of Kodiak (Ursus arctos middendorffi) and the Great Bear constellation inspired the name of the research vessel built for Kodiak Refuge, the R/V Ursa Major II. This 49-foot boat carries a small crew each year to survey the seabirds and marine mammals of the Kodiak area. Nestled in the Gulf of Alaska, south of the Kenai Peninsula, the Kodiak Archipelago is a group of islands bound by the sea with over a thousand miles of convoluted coastline. The nearly 2 million acre refuge spans the main island of Kodiak (the second largest island in the United States), Ban and Uganik Islands, and the northwestern portion of Afognak Island.

For several weeks during the summer, the refuge’s avian biologist and two or three volunteers live aboard the Ursa Major II, which can sleep six people. Like the Tiglax, this small vessel is self-contained and carries everything the researchers will need to conduct their surveys along remote coastlines, including a skiff that can run five-kilometer transects across ocean waters.

The shelter of island cliffs and the bounty of the North Pacific Ocean support colonies of breeding seabirds, including black-legged kittiwakes, tufted and horned puffins, Arctic and Aleutian terns, cormorants, and pigeon guillemots. By monitoring the populations of seabirds over time, scientists can gather a lot of information about the overall health of oceans. In Kodiak, researchers are especially interested in the apparent decline of Aleutian and Arctic tern colonies along the coast, and are trying to learn more about the possible causes.

Welcome Aboard!

The R/V Ursa Major II home ports in the fishing community of Kodiak year round, where boats are a big part of life. In addition to hosting research and carrying supplies to the roadless refuge, the Ursa also welcomes visitors and volunteers aboard for education and citizen science, including the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Each year, the Ursa Major II brings exhibits and displays about the refuge in a “floating visitor center” to one of six remote coastal communities: Ouzinkie, Port Lions, Akhiok, Larsen Bay, Karluk, or Old Harbor. Local school classes join the captain aboard and learn about how the boat supports science.

Arctic Inflatables Skiff Captains: Elyssa Watford, Elizabeth Schell, and Will Wiese Home Port: the Arctic Coast

The barrier islands of the Arctic coast are a unique ecosystem: narrow edges of gravel and sand that separate large spaces of protected lagoon waters from the open ocean and drifting sea ice. Mostly flat and with little vegetation, they catch “wrack lines” of weathered driftwood from rivers hundreds of miles away.

Birds make their home here, gulls call and wheel overhead, and tiny chicks run up and down the water‘s edge under the midnight sun of June and July. Common eiders are an indicator species for this ecosystem: by studying their health and learning more about them, we can better understand the conditions of other birds that call the barrier islands home. As the Arctic warms, the extent of sea ice becomes more sparse in the summer and into the fall, leaving these island edges and their nesting inhabitants more vulnerable to storm surges and flooding from the open water.

The crew that studies the common eider along these wild islands rely on two inflatable boats and can operate self-sustained with proper camping and safety equipment. Over several days, they might travel from a refuge base camp to the eastern boundary of Alaska and Canada in Demarcation Bay and back, living in small tents and monitoring nests and islands along the way.

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