Celebrity Summit arrives in Alaska with dead whale on bow

Celebrity Cruises' 965-foot cruise ship, Summit, arrived at Seward, Alaska (the port of Anchorage) last week with a dead 25 to 30-foot whale pinned to its bow, according to an Associated Press report printed in the Seattle Times August 21. The Summit's crew, reportedly, were surprised when longshoremen working at the port spotted the whale.

Officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are investigating, but are quoted as saying it didn't appear the 2000-passenger vessel's crew did anything wrong. It was not immediately apparent if the whale, tentatively identified as a humpback, was alive when it was struck.

The whale was lodged on the bulbous portion of the bow that protrudes underwater in front of the vessel. A necropsy failed to make a cause of death immediately apparent; that determination may now take weeks or months.

Celebrity Cruises operates three ships during the Alaska cruise season, which covers May to September. Itineraries range from seven to eleven days and depart from Seattle, Vancouver, and Seward. The Summit, inaugurated in October of 2001, is the newest of the cruise line's Alaska ships.