A Princess Cruises passenger is facing charges that he killed his wife while on a Princess Cruises vessel off Alaska.

Documents filed with a US federal court show that Utah Kenneth Manzanares is accused of killing his wife Kristy while the the pair was in their cabin on the 3,110-berth Emerald Princess (built 2007).

Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Michael Watson told the court that company security officer Peter Brust, of Carnival Corp's Holland America Group, informed the agency of the alleged crime.