Alaska cruise ship Empress has crash history

May 14, 2007

Juneau, Alaska - A Seattle-based cruise ship that crashed on the rocks in Alaska on Monday has history of incidents and has grounded at least four times since 2002.

A Seattle-based cruise ship that crashed on the rocks in Alaska on Monday has history of incidents and has grounded at least four times since 2002.

In this latest incident, the $50 million Empress of the North crashed on the rocks just west of Juneau near Hanus Reef in Lynn Canal.

Nov 27th 2003: During the evening on a voyage up the Columbia River the vessel developed steering problems and ran aground 80 miles NW of Portland. Two crew and a passenger suffered minor injuries.

Oct. 24, 2003, while transiting a lock on the Snake River the vessel grounded with no reported injuries.

In March of 2006, it grounded on a sand bar in the Columbia near Washougal.

In March 2007, the Empress of the North had a suspected norovirus outbreak that sickened 26 passengers.

Among violations the ship was cited for was too little chlorine disinfectant in its potable water supply

Perishable foods at too-high temperatures and leaving dirty items outside of authorized areas were also violations.