Royal Caribbean Faces Investigation After 'Gruesome Death' of Pregnant Endangered Whale

Earlier this month, a pregnant endangered whale was found dead on the bow of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship upon the vessel's arrival in Alaska.

Now, the popular cruise line is reportedly facing an investigation from federal authorities as well as some strong pushback from wildlife conservationists.

Pregnant Endangered Whale Found Dead

On June 19, Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas arrived in Seward, Alaska, with the body of a dead 61-foot pregnant endangered female fin whale draped over its bow.

According to People, Federal officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration performed a necropsy, an animal autopsy, and determined the whale died from blunt force trauma to its spine, ribs and jaw. Obviously, these injuries are consistent with a ship strike.

The necropsy also determined that the whale was pregnant, had died only recently, and was otherwise healthy. However, officials said the whale's official cause of death will not be confirmed until additional testing is complete, which could take months.

Conservationists Outraged

Following the incident, the Center for Biological Diversity sent a letter to Royal Caribbean urging the popular cruise line to limit its ships to 10 knots, or about 11 mph, when traveling through areas known to be home to whales. The letter says that reducing ship speeds would lower the risk of deadly collisions, giving both whales and crews more time to avoid one another.

"I'm infuriated that this supersized cruise ship hit an endangered whale in such a horrific way," Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in the letter. "The death of this mother and baby fin whale sets back the entire population. Royal Caribbean must be held accountable for this gruesome death and take immediate action to avoid this happening again."

Fin whales, the world's second-largest animals, are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Royal Caribbean Faces Investigation

As the Center for Biological Diversity points out, killing a whale – even accidentally – is illegal under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act for protected species like fin whales.

As a result, the group says that the latest incident is "under investigation by federal authorities."

"People deserve to know how this happened, including whether the crew knew there were whales in the ship's way and how fast the ship was traveling," Freeman said. "For years we've been calling on the federal government to implement mandatory vessel speed reductions in whale hot spots, but Royal Caribbean can take immediate action to avoid hitting more whales with its ships. It's so frustrating that government and industry fail to enact common-sense solutions to this problem while our endangered whales suffer deadly consequences."

Royal Caribbean has issued a short statement on the incident, indicating that it plans to fully cooperate with the investigation.

"We are saddened to hear that one of our ships struck a whale while on its way to Seward. We take any impact to marine ecosystems very seriously," the cruise line wrote in a statement to People. "The ship immediately reported the incident to the proper authorities. We are cooperating fully with NOAA and are awaiting the necropsy results."

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the Travel section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 27, 2026 at 11:23 AM.