High Winds Cause Princess Cruise Ship To Tilt, Dumping Out Swimming Pools And Injuring 16

Taking a cruise is not as easy and problem-free as the brochures suggest. From outbreaks of stomach bugs and hot tubs that can kill you, to dirty conditions and mysterious disappearances, you might be better off staying on land. We've seen time and again how high winds during a storm can cause extreme tilting in cruise ships and that exact scenario has happened last week aboard a Princess Cruises ship over the coast of New Zealand, injuring over a dozen people.

The Princess Cruises ship Crown Princess encountered rough seas off the coast of New Zealand last week. Eighty-six mile per hour winds hit the ship, causing extreme tilting on the ship and chaos with the passengers. The ship tilted so far that water reportedly leaked out of some of the on board pools, flooding some areas. Guests were shaken up as well with 16 of the 3,090 people on board suffering injuries because of the tilt. Martin Wise, one of the passengers on board, detailed what was going on to New Zealand site Stuff as the Crown Princess tilted 14 degrees, according to NBC News:

"I felt the boat starting to slant and tip. Then it lent over quite a bit and really started moving along at a high speed and we could see the sea looking very high out of the restaurant windows. And crashing could be heard around the area and a huge crash from the kitchen."

Wise says the Captain informed passengers that the strong winds not only tilted the ship, but it also increased its speed briefly as well. Wise is no stranger to cruises, telling Stuff that this is his seventh Princess Cruises trip. He rated the scariness of the experience an " 8.5 to 10" but said this won't keep him or his family from going on another trip. 

The Crown Princess was on a two-week round trip cruise from Sydney to New Zealand when it encountered the rough seas. A statement from Princess Cruises mentioned the damage and injuries on board, but said that the ship was able to be stabilized and that " at no point was the safety of the ship compromised."

You might be thinking to yourself "cruises can't be that bad right?" Think again. Data gathered from the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of Transportation and collected in the Maritime Injury Guide show that in the 18 year period from 2005 to 2023, there were 448 accidents involving cruise ships. Those accidents include 15 sinkings and 16 deaths. Those numbers don't include people falling overboard; since 2000, 300 people have fallen overboard on cruise ships, 17 of which occurred in 2017.