“The boys are holding onto their beds”.
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“The captain told everyone this morning that the day was among his most challenging – if not his most challenging – at sea”, Huschka said. For the next eight hours she and her husband remained in their room, propping themselves against the walls to maintain their footing because the ship was swaying so much.
Weather experts have said outright in recent interviews that – given the information that was available to the cruise line prior the storm – Royal Caribbean should not have made a decision to sail the ship into the growing weather system.
The St. Paul woman said she was traveling with three other Minnesotans for Passages Deaf Travel and has been on cruise ships before – although not like this one. “Not only would the boat go up and then come smashing down violently, but at one point we went all the way over, and I looked at my wife and I said, “It’s over”.
“At this time there have not been any serious injuries reported. It was scary”, said passenger George Sycip.
But the captain reassures guests, to whom the video was initially directed on stateroom televisions, that the ship was never in any danger of succumbing to the weather and that it actually handled it very well.
“They said, ‘Oh, help yourself to the minibar free of charge, and we’ll give you free movies'”.
Allison Musante and Scerbo were lying face down on the mattress of their bed as the ship listed in the Atlantic Ocean. “So we’re going to do a complete review of this situation”, said Bill Baumgartner, Senior Vice President, Global Marine Ops for RCCL.
The couple and Lipman now question the decision to continue on the original itinerary despite the storm. The company decided Monday afternoon the ship would return to Cape Liberty.
“It’s a little disappointing”.
Water seeped into the ship through the doorways before watertight doors were closed, a passenger posting on a message board at CruiseCritic.com reported while another passenger said a large white structure broke off the top of the vessel and landed in a pool.
He’s not alone. Fewer than 24 hours after the incident, U.S. Sen. Nelson said from the Senate floor Monday. The captain had asked passengers to stay in their cabins as powerful winds and waves as high as 30 feet tossed the vessel around.
Tarra Grammenos was working as a sign language interpreter on the Anthem of the Seas, a almost quarter-mile long cruise ship launched past year.
How the dust will settle is still to be seen, but the Anthem of the Seas and Royal Caribbean International are sure to set sail for smoother waters soon. “If so, I would say it was negligent for them to sail through that area given that passenger safety should be their first priority”, McLeod said. Now many are questioning why Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas didn’t heed high wind warnings and veer off course.
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Captain Claus Anderson broadcast updates on the intercom throughout the storm, interspersed with reports from the cruise director who reiterated that the captain was vigilantly navigating the storm.
