The definition of what exactly counts as an iceberg leaves room for interpretation.
"A large floating mass of ice detached from a glacier or ice sheet and carried out to sea" is the Dictionary.com definition.
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The problem is that "mass" is open to interpretation and one person's iceberg might be another's chunk of ice.
But when a cruise ship bumps into some floating ice, it's very tempting to describe the ice as an iceberg. Cruise ships and icebergs may have a limited history, but their shared past involves the fourth-highest-grossing movie of all time.
Cruise lines have a mixed opinion about "Titanic." Passengers on Royal Caribbean's World Cruise said they were warned not to mention the doomed ship while Celebrity Cruise Line, a Royal Caribbean brand, offers a class on the disaster on some sailings.
When a cruise ship hits a piece of ice of any type, however, that's very tempting for the news media. On Sept. 9 Carnival Spirit had an ice-related incident, and both media and social media had varying takes on the issue.
The headlines ranged from responsible to sensational.
USA Today, for example, took a very measured approach. "Carnival cruise ship grazes ice in Alaska, assessment finds no damage."
Fox News was a little more sensational. "'Titanic moment': Carnival cruise ship from Seattle hits iceberg in Alaska."
Reddit had perhaps the boldest take in its r/news group, "Carnival cruise ship collides with iceberg."
The reality was something very different.
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Image source: Pixabay.
Carnival Cruise Line responds to 'iceberg incident'
Videos posted on social media show the ship bumping into what could more accurately be called a piece of ice than an iceberg.
Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald pointed that out by sharing a picture of a large iceberg on his Facebook page.
And by the way. A quick message to some of the sensationalist Cruise websites and a story about the Carnival Spirit in Alaska last week let me say;
THIS IS AN ICEBERG !
Oh FFS
"FFS" is "for fun's sake" in Heald's unique language.
Some of his followers backed up that interpretation of the incident.
"Was on Spirit last week and as the comedian said 'please don't tell people you hit an iceberg...you hit an ice cube," Jeane Burns wrote.
Many on board noted that passengers might make light of the incident as it happened.
"I was on the Spirit, last week when we had the iceberg encounter. Actually, I think it floated into us, as we were almost sitting still in the fjord. Some creative souls on our ship did some hilarious reenactments of the Titanic, btw," added Nancy Squyres.
Carnival did take the incident seriously
While an iceberg may be largely below the water, the many videos of the Carnival Spirit incident show that this was clearly not that. The chunk of ice was free-floating and not the tip of a larger obstruction.
"We cruised to Alaska in June and we saw lots of chunks of ice floating in the water. So we knew that the story of Carnival Spirit hitting an iceberg was an exaggerated story!" posted Tammie Gibbs.
"The actual iceberg that these chunks of ice came off of was nowhere near the ship! You have to take an excursion on a much smaller boat to get that close,"
Carol Feather shared a similar opinion (although she was not on the affected sailing).
"Glad they got to stop at [Qaqortok]. We got to stop at both Greenland ports last year, it was wonderful. And I agree that the large floating ice cube in Alaska that the Spirit bumped into was not an iceberg. Talk about your overblown stories," she wrote.
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The cruise line's official statement backs up that description.
“Carnival Spirit made contact with an errant piece of drifting ice last Thursday while sailing in Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska,” spokesperson Matt Lupoli told USA Today in an emailed statement. “An assessment determined no damage to the ship’s hull and the vessel continued on its cruise and there has been no impact to operations.”
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