Key Aspects:
- Norwegian Joy had a deceased fin whale on its bulbous bow as the ship approached Sitka on Thursday, September 17, 2026.
- The ship’s docking was delayed and the whale carcass will now be assessed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- To compensate for the later arrival, guests on Reddit report that Norwegian Joy remained in Sitka an hour later than originally planned, but no other itinerary changes are confirmed.
It was a sad day aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Joy arriving in Sitka, Alaska on Thursday, September 17, 2026 when a dead fin whale was discovered on the ship’s bow.
According to My Northwest / KIRO Newsradio, the ship was briefly delayed in order to remove the cetacean. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has its Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Network team assessing the whale and determining what additional steps may be necessary.
“We are deeply saddened by this situation, and we are cooperating with the appropriate authorities and any relevant scientific and wildlife experts as part of the assessment process,” Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement.
“This is a sobering reminder of the importance of ongoing collaboration among the maritime, scientific and conservation communities. We remain committed to operating responsibly, complying with applicable laws and regulations and supporting efforts that contribute to the long-term health of marine life.”
Norwegian Joy had departed Seattle on Friday, September 11, 2026 for a 10-night roundtrip sailing, the ship’s next-to-last Alaskan itinerary of the season. Sitka is the ship’s fourth port of call visit, following Ketchikan on Sunday, September 13; Juneau on Tuesday, September 15; and Icy Strait Point on Wednesday, September 16.
The ship also spent time in Glacier Bay for scenic cruising on Monday, September 14.
It is not known where Norwegian Joy may have impacted the whale, or if the whale was already deceased at the time it got caught on the ship’s bulbous bow, the protrusion just below the waterline that helps improve a ship’s fuel efficiency.
Guests onboard the ship have shared the situation on Reddit, including how it impacted the ship’s visit time in Sitka.
Originally, the 3,802-guest ship was scheduled to be in port from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. The Reddit poster Alternative-Hat-9627 noted that the ship did not begin docking until roughly 10 a.m., but that an extra hour was added to the visit to make up for some of the lost time.
Photos posted to the Reddit thread by different users show the whale being towed away from the ship. The whale is belly up and appears to have a wound near its tail.
It is standard procedure in these cases for authorities to conduct a necropsy on the whale to determine the cause of death.
Norwegian Joy is still scheduled to visit Skagway on Friday, September 18 and Victoria, British Columbia on Sunday, September 20 before returning to Seattle for debarkation on Monday, September 21. At this time, there is no confirmation of any further itinerary adjustment for the ship.
Not the First Whale Strike in 2026
Sadly, this incident with Norwegian Joy is not the first whale strike by a cruise ship in 2026.
Cruise Hive previously reported that on Friday, June 19, Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas arrived in Seward, Alaska with a dead fin whale on its bulbous bow.
In that incident, the ship docked with the whale still on the bow, but the carcass was covered with a tarp until it could be removed and towed to a nearby protected lagoon for examination. It was later determined the whale had been pregnant at the time it died.
Several days later, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a letter to Royal Caribbean Group executives urging slower speeds in known whale habitat areas. The cruise company has not publicly responded.
Additional whale incidents have been noted with other cruise lines as well. In May 2024, MSC Cruises’ MSC Meraviglia arrived in New York with a whale on its bow, while in 2016, Holland America Line’s Zaandam hit a young male fin whale near Seward.
