Celebrity Edge recently broke loose from its mooring while docked in Juneau, Alaska, after the ship was struck by a strong wind squall.
(Photo Left: Celebrity Edge drifting during storm in Juneau, Alaska. Shared on YouTube by user The Undead Kennedy)
The incident occurred on June 16, 2025 while Celebrity Edge was sailing on a 7-night cruise around Alaska, which departed on June 13, 2025 from Seattle, Washington. The scary episode was caught on video by passengers both onboard Celebrity Edge and ashore in Juneau when the wind squall struck.
In the videos, the mooring lines on Celebrity Edge can be seen snapping dramatically as wind gusts pick up. According to a video shared on YouTube by user Jonkelley7255, the forward lines on Celebrity Edge snapped first, which triggered a cascade of snapping lines along the ship.
(Celebrity Edge drifting during storm in Juneau, Alaska. Shared on Youtube by Johnkelly7255)
As the lines break, the ship begins to drift away from the dock amid heavy rain and strengthening winds. Guests waiting on the pier can be heard gasping in the video while the ship’s mooring lines snap one by one. Because of the strong winds, Celebrity Edge drifted into the harbor near other ships.
In a statement made to USA Today, a spokesperson for Royal Caribbean Group stated, “The ship drifted from the pier due to a sudden wind squall. Our Captain maneuvered the ship back to the dock where passengers and crew boarded to resume the scheduled itinerary.”
Fortunately, no injuries were reported and the ship did not sustain any damage from the storm. According to USA Today and AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Chad Merrill, Juneau experienced heavy afternoon rain and wind gusts between 30 and 35 miles per hour during the mishap.
(Celebrity Edge drifting during storm in Juneau, Alaska. Shared on Youtube by Johnkelly7255)
CruiseMapper shows that Celebrity Edge has continued with its intended voyage, as the ship is currently docked in Skagway, Alaska as scheduled. The 7-night itinerary features stops in Ketchikan, Tracy Arm Fjord, Juneau, and Victoria in British Columbia. Celebrity Edge is scheduled to return to Seattle, Washington on June 20, 2025.
Guests aboard the sailing shared their first-hand accounts on social media.
(Celebrity Edge drifting during storm in Juneau, Alaska. Shared on YouTube by user The Undead Kennedy)
Following the mishap in Juneau, many of Celebrity Edge's guests shared their videos on social media. For instance, one user posted on the r/Cruise thread on Reddit about their experience and titled their post, "Celebrity Edge Alaska Juneau Bay broke away from the dock."
The user explains, “Ship broke away from [mooring] and supposedly [slammed] back into the dock. No communications from Celebrity whatsoever. Celebrity has an app but [is not] posting any communications.”
The user continued, “The bus driver to take us back to the has ship has been giving us some updates. If we weren’t on the bus we wouldn’t know anything that is going on."
“I'm on the ship. The are going to re-dock on the port side. First, they need to remove the snapped ropes from the water. That is what has been reported over the announcements,” replied another cruiser.
(Celebrity Edge drifting during storm in Juneau, Alaska. Shared on YouTube by user The Undead Kennedy)
Other guests shared that rumors were swirling about potential damage to the ship, and lack of communication from Celebrity Cruises was frustrating.
One cruiser shared, “The problem was the telephone game. Heard from one bus driver that the ship was damaged and slammed into the dock. Thankfully that wasn't true. But that's probably why you saw so many dramatic posts. No one knew what was going on”
In particular, one Reddit user commented on Celebrity’s perpendicular docking position contributing to the incident’s cause: “Doesn’t help that Celebrity’s docking position is the most exposed, and almost perpendicular to the wind down the valley (versus say Holland America’s ship in the video taking the wind head on).”
(Celebrity Edge drifting during storm in Juneau, Alaska. Shared on YouTube by user The Undead Kennedy)
“There was a huge, extreme wind storm with hail that came in. We were on the ship next to it as it drifted towards us,” shared one cruiser in the comment section.
In many of the videos, other vessels docked in Juneau at the same time can be seen remaining secure to their dock. However, others praised the crew on Celebrity Edge for handling the situation swiftly. One Reddit user commented, “The crew handled this like a boss. Felt like they got the ship staple pretty quickly and kept everyone onboard pretty chill.”
Celebrity Edge isn't the first ship recently to encounter this type of scary mishap.
This incident with Celebrity Edge follows a series of other ships that have broken loose from their mooring recently because of severe weather. Just a few weeks ago, in Ketchikan, Alaska, Holland America’s Westerdam drifted away from the pier and after the ship's mooring lines snapped during a storm. This caused the gangway to collapse with wind gusts up to 60 knots before tugs secured the vessel.
The same week, MSC Seascape was docked at Ocean Cay, Bahamas, when it was hit by a sudden wind squall. This also caused the ship's mooring lines to snap and the gangway fell into the water. According to reports, one passenger had minor injuries because of the mishap.
Finally, just a few weeks ago, Norwegian Epic broke loose from its moorings because of strong winds while docked in Catania, Sicily. This caused the gangway to collapse into the water with one guest plummeting into the sea. The passenger's husband supposedly jumped into the water to save her, and both were transported to the hospital. Boarding was delayed for several hours with guests stranded on the pier as the ship sailed back to sea temporarily.
