The Norwegian Escape cruise ship has been spotted with damage after she hit the pier wall recently at one of Italy’s main cruise homeports of Civitavecchia, the main cruise port for Rome. The collision actually took place in December, but reports are now only starting to come out.
Norwegian Escape Hits Pier Wall
The Norwegian cruise ship received some damage recently on its starboard side after it hit the pier wall in the Port of Civitavecchia. Crew Center is the first site to report this and details of the collision are only now starting to come out.
The site reported that the NCL cruise ship came in contact with the concrete wall’s edge as the ship was departing the port on December 17, 2020. This makes sense as the damage is to the starboard side of the large cruise ship. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported.
A photo of the damage has already been posted on social media and even though the scrape looks intense and deep, it was above the waterline and the ship has remained seaworthy since.
The hull’s damage is partly over the sea turtle, part of the Norwegian Escape’s hull artwork designed by artist Guy Harvey. Andrea ROMANIN took the photo as the Breakway-plus class ship arrived at the Port of Genoa on Friday morning at approximately 9:30 AM. Repairs are to be made, and the hull will look all shiny and new once again.
It was originally reported that the vessel hit the pier when arriving and maneuvering toward the dock, but now this seems not to be the case. It’s not clear why or how the vessel hit the pier wall but usually, in these accidents, weather plays a major part.
You can see where the pier wall is located at the Port of Civitavecchia just to the right of the entrance. In this case, you can see the Norwegian Epic departing the port:
Related: 13 Things to Know About the Norwegian Escape Cruise Ship
This isn’t the first pier collision that’s occurred in recent years, and it won’t be the last. One of the most memorable ones was when the Carnival Horizon was maneuvering at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. The ship, which was new at the time, was docking at Pier 90 in August 2018, and she struck the pier causing damage to the ship and the pier.
Norwegian Escape has remained on hold since the cruise line first suspended operations in March 2020. It was just recently announced that the cruise ship will also no longer resume sailings in March and is now delayed until April along with Norwegian Encore and Norwegian Joy.
Norwegian Escape first entered service in 2015 and is the first in her class; She’s over 165,000 gross tons with a guest capacity of over 4,200. The ship is currently scheduled to resume cruises on April 3 out of Port Canaveral on a 7-day cruise in the western Caribbean.
Main Photo Credit: MartinLueke / Shutterstock.com
