M/S "Viking Sky" Looses Propulsion Off Norway In Bad Weather

On that video it looks like they have some propulsion and are at least pointing into the waves. AIS show them slowly making way into the weather

They got 1 engine started and are making way.
139 pax evacuated, 3 seriously injured.
They keep evacuating people through the night.
Ocean going tug on the scene.
Earlier today they were 2.5 NM from shore with the anchor holding.
38 knots wind.
(Translated from local Norwegian newspaper)

In the same area and the same storm, a cargo ship also had loss of propulsion, recieved some damage from the storm, gained some dangerous list and declared emergency. Norseman, it looks like Your Norwegian Coast Guard buddies are busy at the moment.

Viking Sky is a 2017 Fincantieri built cruise ship. Amazing, today a cruise ship with a capacity of 1.300 passengers is concidered a "small" cruiseship.

I take off my hat to all those life savers, coast guard men and women, SAR pilots and other rescue people. Every day, they risk their life and health in order to save the souls of those in danger.

This would be the cargo ship:
https://www.vg.no/i/6j956L
Yes, the Coast Guard is busy up there.
The cruise ship is in a bad area called Hustadvika, (I sailed there as a youngster, 15 years old and the most junior boy aboard, peeling potatoes up and down the coast while on vacations from school.)
That piece of the coast is famous for heavy seas when it is blowing, the wrong area to lose probulsion in a gale for sure.
Now 166 pax is evacuated, another 1000 + to go.

Why do cruise ships sail in these conditions in the first place.

It would have been okay, to a degree, if them engines did not stop.

2 year old ship, near new ship, top of the lines cruise ship, LOOSING PROPULSION???
Wisky Tango Foxtrot???

Worst case scenario for sure, storm and loss of power.
El Faro too..

180 pax evacuated now.

It's hard compare a 2 year old cruise ship with an out dated reef material candidate operated with death wish operators. Please don't get El Faro compared to this.

Aye mate, no comparison expect they both lost power in bad weather.

Thank you my friend. No comparison past that.

Another newsfeed link:

Cruise ship off Norway evacuating 1,300 passengers by helicopter in rough seas
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-ne-cruise-ship-norway-evacuate-20190323-story.html

Evacuation halted after 463 pax were lifted off. Each chopper takes 15 pax indicating 31 flights.
The ship got 3 out of 4 engines running and now proceeding to the port of Molde.
She was drifting as close as 300 feet from the rocks before the anchor held.
The coastal pilot on the bridge described the situation as tense..
Link to article in Norwegian with pictures and video clips.

https://www.vg.no/i/e8MPpM

So the bigger question is.... how do you lose power to ALL FOUR engines.....

There's some flaw in design there...... me thinks..... but what do I know....

>>The coastal pilot on the bridge described the situation as tense..<<

There's that Teutonic sense of understatement again.....LOL.

Do they use pods on this ship or shafts?

They lost power to 3 of the 4 engines, after dragging Anchor it finally held 100 meters from the rocks, then they used the remaining good engine in forward to take some of the load of the anchor.
Finally they got 3 engines going, got a line onboard from a tug and limped to the nearest port.

OK.... still would like to know how you lose more than one engine at a time.

For reference....I'm an aviator and in rare instances losing more than one can happen... but it generally involves catastrophic failures that cannot be designed for. Doesn't sound like that was the case here.