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Spirit of Discovery accidents and incidents

Spirit of Discovery cruise ship
Rating:

Former names
Saga Olympic

Length (LOA)
236 m / 774 ft

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CruiseMapper's Spirit of Discovery cruise ship accidents, incidents and law news reports relate to a 999-passenger vessel owned by Saga Ocean Cruises (Saga Cruises). Our Spirit of Discovery accidents page contains reports made by using official data from renown online news media sources, US Coast Guard and Wikipedia.

Here are also reported latest updates on cruise law news related to ashore and shipboard crimes still investigated by the police. Among those could be arrests, filed lawsuits against the shipowner / cruise line company, charges and fines, grievances, settled / withdrawn legal actions, lost cases, virus outbreaks, etc.

  • crew/passenger injuries - 2023 (listing due to bad weather)

06 November 2023Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

At ~12:30 PM SBT (~11:30 UTC) on November 6, 2023, while navigating in the Biscay Bay, Spirit of Discovery's propulsion safety system activated causing the vessel to change course automatically.

The incident was due to adverse weather ("gale-force winds and 9-meter high waves") and resulted in 100 injured passengers (out of ~1000) and two canceled port calls. Of the injured, 5 incurred more serious injuries and were treated at the Infirmary/ship's medical clinic. Upon the ship's arrival at Portsmouth International Port (Portsea Island, England) these passengers were offloaded and ambulanced to a local hospital.

The ship's Master (Captain Franko Papic) opted to maintain the vessel's position for ~ 18 hours until the storm and gales had abated.

While en route from the Canary Islands to La Coruna, the Master received information that Port La Coruna would be closed (due to bad weather). Consequently, he made a choice to return to the UK earlier than scheduled, in an effort to stay ahead of the impending storm. Shipping forecasts indicated that either retracing the route or opting for an alternative course would have resulted in a direct encounter with the storm. Saga Cruises also confirmed that preparations had been made for the vessel to navigate through challenging conditions during the crossing of the Bay of Biscay.

Saga's statement said "The ship remained safe at all times, but due to the impact of the storm some guests sustained injuries. All were treated immediately by onboard medical staff. While the weather is clearly beyond our control, we want to offer our sincere apologies to all those affected who are now safely on their way home in calmer seas".

The accident occurred at the end of the 14-day "Canary Island Quintet Cruise" (itinerary October 24 through November 7, roundtrip from Portsmouth) visiting Funchal Madeira (Oct 28), Santa Cruz de la Palma (Oct 29), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Oct 30), Arrecife Lanzarote (Oct 31), Puerto del Rosario Fuerteventura (Nov 1), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Nov 2/canceled) and La Coruna (Nov 5/canceled).

You can add more details on reported here accident or submit new / your own Spirit of Discovery ship incident ("Cruise Minus" report) via CruiseMapper's contact form.