Hapag Lloyd’s MS Bremen is anchored in Frederick Sound near Sandy Beach Park Tuesday, July 25. Another ship also scheduled to anchor up nearby, the World of Residensea, skipped a planned stop here. (Joe Viechnicki/KFSK)
One of the larger cruise ships scheduled to call in Petersburg this summer had to skip its stop here Tuesday, July 25 because of a medical emergency.
The World of Residensea is 644 feet long. It’s a little different from other cruise ships in that it has 165 cabins permanently owned by its passengers. Tuesday’s visit to Petersburg was the only one on the schedule this summer for The World. The ship is too large to transit the Wrangell Narrows and it has anchored in Frederick Sound and lightered passengers into town for its past visits.
Around 9 p.m. Monday July 24 outside of Wrangell, the ship contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and requested a medevac for one of the ship pilots. Those are people inserted onto larger ships, required by state law to navigate ships through Alaska waters. The pilot was reportedly showing signs of having suffered a stroke according to Coast Guard public affairs. The ship began making its way back to Wrangell. Search and rescue volunteers from Wrangell transported the pilot from the ship to the hospital in that community.
That diversion threw off the schedule for the ship and it ended up cancelling the planned stop in Petersburg and continued on to Tracy Arm.
Before the cancellation, Tuesday was to be a busier day for cruise visitors in Petersburg. The 365-foot ship Bremen is anchored up in Frederick Sound near Sandy Beach Park. That ship has capacity for up to 155 passengers. It’s on the schedule twice this month and once in early August.
