Passengers on Quark Expeditions’ Ocean Explorer ship heading back from Antarctica experienced a harrowing journey through the turbulent Drake Passage, where the expedition cruise ship hit waves as high as 30 to 40 feet.  Passengers described the 48 hour experience as being trapped on a “never-ending roller coaster at sea.”

One passenger, travel blogger Lesley Anne Murphy, documented the ordeal in the video below:

It looks like great fun. But when I first watched the video, I felt nervous. I instantly thought that the window facing the bow of the cruise ship might blow in causing a disastrous influx of water into the ship.

This is exactly what occurred when a large wave hit the Louis Majesty Cruise Ship sailing in Mediterranean waters in 2010, killing two passengers and injuring fourteen others. (The Ocean Explorer has stronger bow windows, hopefully?) You can read about the disaster in our article at the time: Monster Waves Hit Louis Majesty Cruise Ship. Our YouTube page shows a video produced by CBS News about the deadly incident:

The wave and wind conditions at the time of the Louis Majesty catastrophe should have clearly alerted the officers on duty to warn the passengers to secure themselves in their cabins.  The Master should have instructed the passengers to keep away from the public windows, particularly at the vessel’s bow. The cruise ship was heading directly into the waves and those passengers killed and injured were particularly vulnerable in the public areas at the bow.  

All cruise ships have what are called “safety management systems” (SMS) or “safety and quality” (SQM) protocols which address how the vessel should be operated in rough weather and the types of precautions which should be considered to protect the passengers.  What type of safety procedures did the cruise ship have at the time? Did the vessel’s officers ignore them?

I can’t help but think what the officers aboard the Ocean Explorer were thinking with passengers walking outside of their cabin while the ship was encountering these weather conditions?

The Louis Majesty used to be NCL’s Norwegian Majesty and, before that, the Royal Majesty operated by Majesty Cruise Lines from 1992 – 1997.  Long before I began representing passengers and crewmembers, I represented Majesty Cruise Lines (around 1995) when this cruise ship was based in Miami.  I have been on this ship and in the area where the glass blew out.  It was unimaginable fifteen years ago that passengers lost their lives on this ship. It’s baffling to me that just last week the Ocean Explorer didn’t implement safety precautions. 

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Image credit: Ocean Explorer – Ulstein; video – Storyful / Lesley Anne Murphy; Louis Majesty – CBS News.