Sunsetz
On June 6, 2025, just a week into a 113-day world cruise, Crown Princess experienced some less-than-ideal weather off the southern coast of Australia.
While en route from Sydney to Adelaide, the ship was already encountering rough seas when sailing near the border of Victoria and South Australia.
Unexpectedly, the wind shifted from 45 knots on one side of the ship to 50 knots on the other, causing it to list 7°.
Captain Christopher Lye shared an announcement on the public PA system to all guests onboard shortly after the tilting had concluded.
“Apologies for the inconvenience, it is Captain speaking from the bridge,” Lye said. “As you may have felt, we encountered a strong change and sudden shift of the wind.”
e went on to share that the increasing wind on one side of the ship was the reason it began to list.
“We listed approximately 6° to 7°, which is not unusual,” explained Lye, who has been working on ships for over 46 years.
“We are now turning the ship around to make sure we are ok with our sailing onboard,” the Captain noted at the end of the announcement.
The turn was executed off the coast of Nora Creina, Australia — and the ship resumed sailing towards Adelaide shortly after, where it will arrive on June 7, 2025.
Unfortunately, even though the tilt was not more than 7°, it did its fair share of damage and caused multiple onboard cancellations.
As a result of the tilting on June 6, 2025, in the onboard shops, purses and other items, such as bottles, were thrown to the floor, and several glass displays shattered as well.
Beyond that, most of the activities had to be cancelled or closed due to safety concerns. This included all shops, theater performances, the silent disco, all band performances, and even the use of the casino.
However, the bars did remain open, so at the very least, guests could try to take the edge off by enjoying a cocktail.
Weather reports for June 6 and June 7 included multiple wind warnings, including gale warnings in Investigator Strait, Adelaide Metropolitan Waters, and Gulf St Vincent — all of which are on Crown Princess’ path to Adelaide.
The vessel is currently sailing a 113-day World Cruise, which started out of Auckland, New Zealand on May 31, 2025. This is just one segment of that huge voyage, and the cruise line has, so far, not announced any delay with its arrival at Adelaide, Australia on June 7.
Does Tilting Cause Damage?
While most modern cruise ships will always do their best to take routes that will be the most comfortable for guests, they do not have full control over Mother Nature.
Sudden wind shifts, like what happened on the 113,561 gross-ton Crown Princess, are not unheard of.
In fact, Crown Princess has only been at its new homeport in Sydney since October of 2024, but has already had a tilting incident in the time since then.
On February 24, 2025, while entering Milford Sound in New Zealand, the ship listed 14°, causing 13 people and three crew to sustain minor injuries.
It was also an occurrence of unexpected wind, which is not unusual in Milford Sound — but it was extreme enough to cause the ship to tilt.
Read Also: Can a Cruise Ship Tip Over? – All You Need to Know
This ship also tilted just a month after launching in 2006, but that incident was due to human error, which is usually unheard of.
That being said, most tilting accidents happen at sea and as a result of unpredictable weather, like what happened on June 6 and February 24, 2025.
At the end of the day, listing is extremely uncommon, as stabilizers help to reduce up to 90% of tilting. What happened on Crown Princess was unfortunate, but there have been no reported injuries so far.
Do not stress too much — chances are, most cruisers will never experience this!
