The captain of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that was in the midst of a savage storm in the Eastern Mediterranean on Sunday morning said today it was something he had never seen in 35 years at sea.
“It was a horrifying experience for us crew members as much as it was for the passengers,” Captain Erik Tengelsen said.
The Brilliance of the Seas (80,000 tons) was on a 12-day cruise from Spain to Italy, Greece and Egypt with Malta meant to be the last port of call when it encountered 30 foot waves and hurricane force winds as it approached Alexandria.
The captain said he had followed normal procedure for bad weather. The weather forecast was of 45 knot winds yet the storm produced wind of between 50 and 68 knots.
Terrifying as the experience was, he stressed that the ship was built to withstand such weather and was “very far” from disaster.
The Brilliance of the Seas sailed into Grand Harbour for minor repairs this morning, having opted to drop its stop in Egypt.
It appeared none the worse, externally, as it berthed at the Valletta Waterfront at dawn.
Passengers, however, reported having gone through a 'nightmare'. A few suffered slight injuries but two suffered fractures.
As they disembarked this morning, they soaked up the sunny weather as they recounted the “terrifying” experience when the ship battled the rough seas.
All the passengers who spoke to timesofmalta.com praised the crew for the professional way in which they handled the situation and tried to see to everyone’s needs.
Most people were in their cabins, at about 2.30 a.m.. when suddenly the ship shook violently.
Television sets, telephones and bedside tables were slammed onto the decks as passengers tried to keep their balance in a “nightmare” that lasted a few minutes
One couple, whose cabin was towards the bottom of the ship, described how they momentarily feared for their lives since, through their porthole, they could see they were underwater.
A woman and her daughter-in-law said that they laughed through the scary experience “because we didn’t know what else to do”.
Dominic Paul, Royal Carribbean’s managing director for the UK and Ireland, said that the weather had been twice as bad as forecast.
He assured passengers that the ship remained seaworthy as it had suffered no external damage.
Although the incident could not have been predicted, he said, the company felt that passengers had gone through an ordeal and deserved compensation. All passengers received a full refund of their cruise fare.
American passenger Evelyn Hoffa told CBS' The Early Show it was "horrifying" as the waves crashed above the ship's 10th floor windows. She said water was all over the passenger quarters as ice buckets and papers flew across cabins.
Another American on the ship, Lorraine Brewer, told "The Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith she woke up to "very rough" seas before being hurled back and forth in her cabin with her husband for about five minutes.
See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIuJSFzwXCY