Scenic Eclipse II is an ultra-luxury cruise ship, but passengers were stuck in thick ice, colder than their champagne, until the US Coast Guard came along.
While sailing through the Ross Sea near Antarctica, the luxury cruise ship Scenic Eclipse II had to be rescued. The luxurious ship got stuck in a sheet of thick ice and couldn’t move until the US Coast Guard came along to free it.
The US Coast Guard “Icebreaker” vessel came to the heroic rescue of the cruise ship on January 17. The USCGC Polar Star is the United States’ only heavy icebreaker and was able to free the ship and lead it to safety, as can be seen in the video.
The USCGC Polar Star responded to a request for assistance from an Australian-owned cruise ship, Scenic Eclipse II, which found itself stuck in the Ross Sea, Antarctica on Saturday 17 January.
“Icebreaker” ships free other vessels by ramming the ice to fracture it, loosening a… pic.twitter.com/cEZmt6wOjA
— The Independent (@Independent) January 24, 2026
In the clip, the USCGC Polar Star can be seen cutting its way through the ice sheet, while making its way towards the stranded cruise ship. Meanwhile, the Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours ship can be seen far in the distance, stuck in the ice. According to the cruise line’s website, the small cruise ship can hold up to 228 passengers and 176 crew members.
As the clip continues, large cracks can be seen forming in the ice as the USCGC Polar Star makes its way towards the luxury cruise ship. This made it possible for the coast guard vessel to pass through the ice and finally arrive at the Scenic Eclipse II’s location.
The Coast Guard vessel can be seen circling the cruise ship, tearing its way through the ice, until it can be seen moving backward and forward as it frees itself. While the Polar Star creates a path of open water for the ship to sail through, this allows the cruise ship to finally follow the icebreaker out of the thick ice.
In the January 23 press release, the Coast Guard detailed the incident, saying that it had helped to “free and escort” the cruise ship that was “trapped in pack ice.”
“The Australian-owned cruise ship Scenic Eclipse II contacted Polar Star at approximately 11 p.m., local time Friday after becoming beset in pack ice roughly eight nautical miles from McMurdo Sound,” the release adds. “Polar Star’s crew conducted two close passes to break the vessel free, then escorted it approximately four nautical miles to open water.”
It turns out it was an important day for the US Coast Guard, as the rescue coincided with the USCGC Polar Star’s 50th birthday.
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According to a post shared on the US Coast Guard Pacific Area’s official Instagram account, the rescue happened to occur on the USCGC Polar Star’s 50th birthday.
Meanwhile, the vessel was commissioned on January 17th. 1976, and was sailing to Antarctica for Operation Deep Freeze 2026. Reportedly, the icebreaker is the “most powerful ship in the US Coast Guard, and is the United States’ “only heavy icebreaker.”
Not only did the USCGC Polar Star rescue the cruise ship, Operation Deep Freeze is an annual mission that sees the ship travel to Antarctica through the Ross Sea to “resupply the United States Antarctic stations in support of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the lead agency for the United States Antarctic Program.”
No doubt, passengers on the USCGC Polar Star were relieved to be freed from the thick ice, but what an experience they had while on the cruise.
