BAYONNE, N.J. (AP) A cruise ship is returning early to its New Jersey port after it was battered by a major storm in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship turned around and headed back to New Jersey after sustaining “cosmetic damage”, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
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“We can’t ask guests coming for a dream vacation to deal with those conditions”, says Bill Baumgartner, SVP of Global Marine Operations for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
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The severity of Sunday’s storm, with its sustained 120-mph winds, far exceeded forecasts.
By Sunday afternoon, Mother Nature started hitting the ship harder. This is when the winds picked up to about 70 miles per hour and the water got rough.
The cruise contracts specific to each cruise line that passengers agree to before boarding spell out exactly what passengers are entitled to in various situations that might occur at sea, Cruise Critic’s McDaniel said. A jet carrying hundreds of passengers wouldn’t just go up “and ride it out”, so why should the cruise industry be excused for doing it?
Mr Partridge said: “It was certainly a pretty frightening experience and the severity of the storm is only really becoming apparent now we are on dry land”. But she said, “The captain did a great job for what he had to deal with”. Luckily, thanks to the skill of the crew, no one was seriously injured and the ship returned safely to port.
“You could hear the waves crashing against the hull, metal twisting and banging all night long”.
The Company owns various brands, such as Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises, CDF Croisieres de France and a 50% joint venture interest in TUI Cruises. Nelson said Monday on the Senate floor.
Royal Caribbean said it will be “strengthening its storm avoidance policy” and hiring more support personnel in its Miami office. The NTSB may combine the potential cruise inquiry with an existing investigation into the El Faro cargo ship, which sank in October after leaving Florida for Puerto Rico.
“The winds were so strong that I thought the phone would blow from my hands”, Sam Lairson, of Ocean City, New Jersey, said in an email.
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The cruise line has not responded to CNN’s calls, and emails requesting additional details on why the decision was made to continue on the original itinerary despite the storm. “We are actively engaged with our USA and global partners to determine what would be the best course of action, in accordance with established worldwide protocols”, the agency said in a statement. “Though that system has performed well through many instances of severe weather around the world, what happened this week showed that we need to do better”.
