Small Boat Scrapes Docked Carnival Cruise Ship

Carnival Jubilee’s present crusing simply began with a bang – actually.

The 7-night Western Caribbean Cruise kicked off from the port of Galveston, Texas, on Saturday, March 1, 2025. 

However whereas the latest ship in Carnival’s fleet was nonetheless docked, a small boat by chance collided with the facet of it – scratching the 182,800-gross ton vessel near her bow. 

It’s unclear why the small boat hit the ship, however witnesses mentioned that it appeared just like the smaller vessel appeared to sail immediately into the facet of the largest Carnival Cruise ship.

“Actually although, how do you hit that?” an onlooker requested in a video exhibiting the aftermath of the collision. 

“I don’t know. He went, like, straight into it…I feel he went, like, curved, and went, like, straight into it,” another person replied.

As native stories confirmed the forecast in Galveston to be sunny with low winds – and even the video confirmed sunshine with only small waves on the water’s surface – this possible wasn’t a scenario the place the situations induced the sailors to lose management. 

It’s extra possible that one thing would have gone unsuitable onboard the smaller craft that led to the collision – resembling a chunk of apparatus malfunctioning – however the reason being at present unknown.

After the crash, the smaller boat’s mast appeared to get quickly caught below Carnival Jubilee’s bow. 

However with the assistance of specialists onboard a pilot boat, the smaller vessel was in a position to maneuver away from the cruise ship. Fortunately, early stories point out that nobody was injured within the incident. 

It’s unclear what injury the privately owned boat could have sustained – but it surely was nonetheless upright within the witness recorded movies and the collision appeared to happen at low speeds. 

Cruise Hive reached out to Carnival Cruise Line for remark, and can replace this text once we obtain their assertion. 

Is the Itinerary Impacted?

Except for a scratch – which seems to only be beauty – Carnival Jubilee appears to have made it again to sea largely unscathed. 

According to cruise tracking data, the 2023-launched ship departed the Galveston Cruise Port on time on March 1 – setting sail at roughly 4 p.m. CST. 

On the time of this writing, she is crusing at customary speeds – of round 16 knots (or 18 miles per hour) – as she heads towards her first port of name. 

For context, her common velocity is 17 knots, however she will sail at speeds of as much as 23 knots per hour. The crusing will first visit Roatan, Honduras, earlier than calling on Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico. 

Per posts from Cruise Director Kyndall “Hearth” Magyar, who’s onboard for her remaining crusing earlier than going on break from March 8 – May 17, 2025, it’s enterprise as traditional for the as much as 5,374 visitors. 

On the identical day because the collision, she shared footage of her remaining sailaway celebration (for now) – which appeared simply as vigorous and entertaining as ever. 

Whereas it might be a coincidence, the caption of the video could be a nod to the occasions of the day. 

“It’s nearly Trip Time! One final cruise and we’re gonna exit with a BANG!,” she wrote with the clip.

Learn Additionally: From Mishaps to Maydays – Cruise Ship Accidents

On the finish of the day, it’s excellent news that no folks have been injured and the injury is minimal – permitting the enjoyable to proceed onboard the Enjoyable Ship with out interruption. However whereas collisions like this are uncommon, they do occur infrequently. 

Most lately, a small yacht crashed into Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas whereas the Oasis-class ship was docked in Nassau, Bahamas, in December of 2024. 

In keeping with visitors who have been onboard the 6,780-guest ship on the time, the unidentified yacht misplaced energy and drifted into the ship’s stern – fortunately at a low velocity.

Whereas the mega-ship left the incident unhurt, the yacht couldn’t say the identical – with the crash leading to a damaged mast.