| Date |
Ship |
2013 |
Incident |
| January 15 | Silver Explorer | CruiseInd reports four people are confirmed to have been injured after a huge wave hit the ship while on her way to Antarctica. The 1A ice classed vessel had set sail at the beginning of the year from Ushuaia with 130 passengers onboard when she sailed into a storm near Tierra del Fuego. 8 meter swells had been battering the ship when one window on the bridge blew out. Silversea Cruises released this statement: The vessel has full power and control, with stabilizers in good working order. She is now on her way back to port. The cruise has been ended early, the next cruise scheduled for Jan 21 has been canceled to allow for repairs to be completed. | Wave damages bridge |
| Date |
Ship |
2012 |
Incident |
| September 9 | Silver Shadow | The US Coast Guard reports the ship experienced a "material failure" | Material failure |
| March 19 | Silver Shadow | CNN reports the ship collided in deep fog with a container ship off Vietnam, punching a hole in the container ship and knocking passengers off their feet, a passenger told CNN Monday. "No one was hurt on our ship; everyone was certainly shaken up," said passenger Andrew Lock about the incident, which occurred Friday. "When the ship appeared out of the fog, we knew five seconds before to brace for impact," he said. "We hit full force into the side of this container ship." He said a "gaping hole" was punched in the other vessel. The ships scraped against each other after the impact, he said. "It was surreal, to see this very large ship appear literally right in front of us. It was as if we were perfectly lined up to hit it. It was surreal. Bizarre." After the impact, he said, passengers gathered a few of their possessions and headed to the muster stations. "The crew was calm, but the passengers -- some were scared, or even frantic," Lock said. But after about 10 minutes, the captain announced that there was no imminent danger, he said. The ship went on to anchor in Ha Long Bay, as had been planned. "The next day, we went to a nearby port and once we were off the ship we could see how extensive the damage was," Lock said. Silversea Cruises downplayed the incident in its official statement. Here is a YouTube video of the damage. UPDATE: A subsequent CNN story reports "The Vietnamese ship rolled over -- at a 90-degree angle. In fact, we thought it was going to capsize. It then righted itself. And with the forward momentum of our ship, it pushed the Vietnamese ship around, so that it actually came down the side, the length of our ship, scraping along the side as it went. And from that viewpoint, we could see just how much damage had been done to THAT ship, and it was substantial." Cruise liner in collision off Vietnam He said he wasn't aware of any injuries aboard the luxury vessel, which had a hole dug in its bow, but said the other vessel was badly damaged. "We struck the other ship in several places that we could see -- we struck it at the bridge, where they would operate from. We literally crushed the ship inwards. And we also struck the sides of the ship, causing a tear along the side, a vertical tear, quite substantial. And as we passed by the other ship, I personally saw several of their crew members just lying on the deck." | Collision with container ship |
| March 4 | Silver Explorer | I Love Chile reports all three ships have canceled port calls to Puerto Chacabuco, Chile (Patagonia region) because of protests by the Aysen "Tu Problema Es Mi Problema" Civil Movement. | Port call canceled |
| Date |
Ship |
2011 |
Incident |
| October 12 | Silver Whisper | From a passenger: We were on Silver Whisper from Oct 1, 2011 until Oct 11. After leaving Quebec on the St. Laurence River we were advised that the weather ahead did not look good. About the time we reached St. Laurence Sound we were advised that the winds were going to be 65MPH and the seas 20 to 30 feet so that we were not going to reach Charlottetown or the next two ports. The skipper decided to turn around and proceed back up the river to a safe port where we spent a great night. The next morning we proceeded on our way down the St. Laurence once again following the storm that was ahead of us. We had an evening of fairly rough weather, but basically a following sea. The rest of the trip to Bar Harbor, Boston and and Newport were fantastic. Really congratulate the Captain on his decision which turned what could have been a terrible trip into a great one, with only minor disappointment on the missed ports. Much better decision than the Queen Mary... | Missed ports |
| April 7 | Silver Spirit | Travel Weekly reports nearly 200 taxi drivers blocked the entrance to Phuket’s cruise port on Wednesday, preventing passengers from boarding buses for shore excursions. The drivers were protesting the use of tour buses rather than their own services. After a reported four-hour standoff and negotiations with port officials, the taxi drivers agreed to transport 250 passengers out of the 475 who were planning excursions. But the ship, which had docked at 8 a.m., was due to leave Phuket at 2 p.m., so the port call was a lost opportunity for passengers. A Silversea spokesman said the cruise line had no advance warning that the taxi situation was going to occur. | Protest prevents disembarkation |
| March 20 | Prince Albert II | A website from Tristan da Cunha reports crew from the ship helped transfer 10 crew members from the crippled cargo ship to a fishing vessel, MV Edinburgh. The ship (MS Oliva) became crippled when it grounded off the shore of Nightengale Island (St. Helena) on March 16. It subsequently broke apart on March 18th, with serious concern about environmental implications on sea life and environment (including Northern Rockhopper penguins). | Rescue from sinking ship |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2010 |
Incident |
| 25.10.10 | Silver Whisper | A passenger writes: The ship had to dock at the West end of Bermuda for an over night stay on Oct 16 to Oct 17 instead of Docking at St George Bermuda. This was announced as we were in site of Bermuda The port call at St. Barts was canceled and instead we anchored off of the French side of St Martin on Oct 21. They claimed that the roads were washed out and the small landing for their tenders was damaged from storms. Again short notice about the change. | Skipped ports |
| 12.5.10 | Prince Albert II | The BBC reports the ship was impounded for several hours in Portsmouth amid safety fears. One concern was that it was overloaded. The other concern was that senior officers had not had enough rest. V.Ships, which manages the vessel, said although officers had rested, records had been incorrectly recorded. The excess load was also removed. The vessel left for Scotland shortly after 0000 BST on Tuesday, four hours later than it was scheduled to leave. UPDATE June 22: The Portsmouth News reports the ship was overloaded by 100 tonnes and the ship was held for 24 hours. A report released yesterday said investigators found 18 deficiencies, four of which gave grounds for detention. These included the vessel being overloaded to the point the port and starboard 'load line' marks were submerged. The report also says the ship's lifeboats were 'not ready for use'. Other problems found included infrequent staff breaks, three unsafe emergency routes in case of fire, and an air bubble in the ship's magnetic compass. | Impounded |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2009 |
Incident |
| 22.11.09 | Silver Shadow | The Miami Herald reports a Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued Ronald Shulman, 62, who went overboard the cruise ship around 3 a.m. Sunday morning. He was found swimming 20 miles southeast of Government Cut (near Miami) around 7:45 a.m. It is not known how Shulman, who was traveling alone, went overboard. Cruise operators noticed Shulman was missing and contacted the Coast Guard. A crew from Air Station Miami recovered the man, lowering a rescue swimmer from a helicopter. Shulman was back on the cruise ship Sunday morning, with a touch of hypothermia from his long night in the water, according to a Coast Guard spokeswoman. | Overbroard - Rescued alive |
| 1.9.09 | Silver Shadow | The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on July 2 and July 24 exceeded the allowable level of copper. | Environmental |
| 4.3.09 | Prince Albert II | The ships visit to Castro in Isla Chiloe (listed on the brochure as the trip's highlight) on its cruise of Antarctica to Chile was cancelled because of a 15 hour delay caused by a storm. However, the delay was caused not just by the storm. According to a blog from onboard, at 9:00 a.m., the Captain announced over the ship's public address system that last night's storm was considerably worse than anticipated, and a decision had been made to return south to the fjords to seek shelter. This decision was prompted, in part, due to a door being blown open at the front of the ship by the force of the seas in the early-morning hours. The Captain added that whilst this had been dealt with very quickly by the crew, it nonetheless led to approximately two tonnes of seawater entering the ship. The door had no alarm, so it was the fire patrol that found the door open and water spilling into the ship. Most damage was to private properties of the crew members who have their cabins under the forecastle. Some passenger cabins (including ours) had the carpet wet, but no damage to properties. | Cancelled port -- Scary event |
| dd/mm/yy |
Ship |
2008 and earlier |
Incident |
| 9.10.08 |
Prince Albert II |
Because of tropical storm Odile, the captain today decided
to give passengers the option of disembarking tomorrow at Puerto
Vallarta, instead of Acapulco in 3 days, which would coincide with the
storm approaching Acapulco. The ship is expected to arrive with a delay
of 24 hours in Acapulco, because the ship will try to circunavigate the
storm, giving it wide berth. |
Itinerary change |
| 13.12.04 |
Silver Shadow |
The ship reported that an unusual number of passengers and some crew members were experiencing GI illness. The ship’s medical staff reported that 11 of 275 (4%) passengers and 20 of 291 (6.87%) crew members were ill. Predominant symptoms are diarrhea and vomiting. The cruise ends in San Diego on December 14. | Illness |
| 9.12.04 |
Silver Wind |
A crew member was lost at sea between Montevideo, Uraguay
and Punta Arenas, Chile. The exact date was either December 9 or 10,
2004. Suicide note indicated marital complications. The event occured
at approximately 4AM and according to the captain, the ship was turned
around and a two hour search was conducted to no avail. |
Suicide |
| 5.8.04 | Silver Shadow |
On August 4, the ship reported that 13 passengers (3.5%) and 5 crew (1.73%) had reported illness consistent with norovirus. The cruise ran from July 26 - August 6, ending in San Framcisco. | Illness |