'Titanic Moment': Carnival Cruise Ship Smashes Into Large Piece of Floating Ice

A Carnival Cruise Line ship collided with a large piece of floating ice while traveling in the Tracy Arm Fjord in Alaska on September 5.

Cassandra Goskie was a passenger on the ship, named the Carnival Spirit, and recorded the moment it struck the piece of ice. She told Storyful she was standing on her balcony when she noticed they were getting pretty close.

“If we die, it was damn well worth it. It’s a Titanic moment,” Goskie said as they approached the ice.

In another clip, a smaller boat can be seen examining the ship as the cruise director confirms there was no damage.

In a statement to news outlets, Carnival said the ship struck “an errant piece of drifting ice last Thursday while sailing in Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska” and added that “the vessel continued on its cruise and there has been no impact to operations.”

While Goskie made a comparison to the Titanic which sank after striking an iceberg in 1912, the ice the cruise ship struck would not be classified as an iceberg. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an iceberg is a piece of ice with a height greater than 16 feet above sea level, with a thickness of at least 98 feet, and must cover an area of at least 5,382 square feet. Credit: Cassandra Goskie via Storyful

Video transcript

If we die, it was damn well worth it.

It's a Titanic moment.

It's a big glacier.

We're heading the glacier.

Oh gosh.

Oh, we are hitting it.

Mhm.

Damn.

B was on Good afternoon.

Car Spirit Family.

This is all your cruise record.

Just give you an update.

Everything is still fine.

Like the captain said, we listened to the side just so that we can check to make sure that there was no damage and we have found no damage to the shed.

As we said before, nothing has been damaged.

Everything is fine, but we're going to stay where we are for the time being when we have any further updates, we'll let you know.

Thank you very much for your attention.