Passengers are supposed to experience the seven-night cruise to Bahamas when officials of the ship chose to turn back after experiencing an unstable and rocky journey. It is expected to dock on Wednesday.
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Royal Caribbean’s “Anthem of the Seas” was hit hard when it was off the coast of the Carolinas overnight.
Some compared it to Hurricane Isabel, which was fitting because on Sunday afternoon it was boasting 160 kph winds – the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane.
Sen. Bill Nelson has called for the National Transportation Safety Board to investigate the voyage that forced frightened passengers into their cabins overnight Sunday as their belongings flew about, waves rose as high as 9 metres, and winds howled outside.
The cruise line has said the ship’s current itinerary has been cancelled and the vessel will now return Cape Liberty, New Jersey.
“I want the National (Transportation) Safety Board to come up with answers very quickly and make an admonition to mariners: When the storm is brewing you don’t go out of port”, Nelson said during remarks on the Senate floor.
The National Weather Service says its Ocean Prediction Center had issued an alert for a strong storm four days in advance of the cruise ship running into trouble in the Atlantic.
Hurricane-force winds and giant waves lashed Anthem for hours during the storm, sending furniture tumbling, smashing glass and collapsing part of a ceiling in a public corridor. “Several panicked passengers had tweeted rumours that the ship was sinking”.
Leanne Moskovitz, a pediatric dental assistant from Manalapan, NJ, told Good Day New York on Tuesday that it was terrifying.
30-foot waves battered Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas and whipped chairs off its deck. “He said it was the worst storm he’d ever experienced”. “I was saying my last wishes”.
She said the boat rolled through the storm for 12 hours, “and there were times we thought we were going to flip, but we didn’t”.
Claus Andre Andersen, captain of Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas, is seen addressing passengers in a video shared by passenger Sean Ferguson on February 8, 2016. In an abundance of caution, the Captain asked all guests to stay in their stareroom until the weather improved. The ship “encountered an unexpectedly severe storm off Cape Hatteras”, the company said in a statement.
The ship at that point appeared to be southeast of Wilmington.
Shara Strand of New York City described to The Associated Press via Facebook the fear she experienced of being caught in the storm.
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Royal Caribbean noted Monday that the ship’s seaworthiness had not been affected in spite of the “extreme wind and sea conditions” which included “wind speeds higher than what was forecasted”.
