Cruise Ship 'Destroyed' After Being Hit by Hurricane-Force Winds

Table Of Content

• Build a ReportBuild your own weather report and choose the ports of call you would like.
• Another Sailing for Carnival Pride Has Its Homeport Adjusted
• Dramatic video shows Royal Caribbean cruise ship passengers panic during freak storm
• CRUISE HIVE NEWSLETTER
• Frost Weather Warning Issued for 15 States as Temperatures Plummet
• What it's like if your cruise is extended because of a hurricane?

The ship departed Port Canaveral on Thursday, December 14, on what was to have been a 4-night “Perfect Day & Bahamas” cruise to CocoCay and Nassau. Instead, guests were notified at embarkation that the original itinerary was no longer possible. "Hands down, one of the scariest nights of my life in gale force winds and 11 meter (36 feet) waves." A rogue wave terrified cruise ship passengers on the North Sea on Thursday as it towered over and tossed the ship, Tour Operator Thorsten Hansen told TMX. A Carnival Cruise Line ship was rocked by rough weather on its way back to the U.S. over the weekend. Carnival Sunshine had been sailing on a round-trip Bahamas cruise from Charleston, South Carolina, when it got delayed ahead of its return Saturday.

Build a ReportBuild your own weather report and choose the ports of call you would like.

Cruise ship hit by rogue wave during storm, loses ability to navigate - Fox Business

Cruise ship hit by rogue wave during storm, loses ability to navigate.

Posted: Fri, 22 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Beyond a 48 or 72 hour window, tropical storm predictions can vary considerably with many possibilities. With Hurricane Ian, the models were rarely in agreement, and most of the time there were wide arcs of possibilities. As anyone that deals with hurricanes a lot will tell you, the forecasts for tropical storms are quite variable and prone to changes that greatly benefit or penalize your situation. One day it might look like your ship will be clear of any issues, and the next, it looks like you're stuck.

Another Sailing for Carnival Pride Has Its Homeport Adjusted

All port fees and applicable taxes were refunded to the guests, as well as $200 in onboard credit. Hurricane or not, there can be "motion in the ocean", so no cruise is immune from waves. However, the reality is the cruise has been quite smooth sailing in terms of wave height. In both cases, the issue was Port Canaveral closed and that prevented the ship from getting back into port. Sailing on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas this week, I found myself unexpectedly dodging Hurricane Ian as our ship got out of Florida right before the storm was projected to hit, and safely away during the worst of the impact. The cruise line initially reported no serious injuries, but German media reported that three passengers were taken to a hospital upon disembarking.

Dramatic video shows Royal Caribbean cruise ship passengers panic during freak storm

Besides the warning of rougher seas earlier Friday and one Saturday morning after they’d weathered the storm, Branham said they weren’t given any official updates on their situation. A Norwegian cruise liner carrying hundreds of passengers weathered a “terrifying” storm before a rogue wave temporarily took out its power, stomach-churning footage showed. The storm’s intensity created onboard flooding, furniture damage, glass breakage, and other impacts, but fortunately, no severe injuries were reported and the ship returned to Galveston as scheduled. One passenger, Alan Grisedale, filmed the enormous waves that rocked Spirit of Discovery in the Bay of Biscay and shared the footage with BBC News. Grisedale said the force against the ship was so great that his wife was knocked over, and furniture was pushed around inside their cabin, the BBC reported. Another passenger on the ship recalled in comments to the BBC that "tables were flying" and waves were "throwing people around all up and down the place."

Princess Cruises Details New Exclusive Ship-Within-a-Ship Spaces

The ship’s main engine is still functioning, so the vessel can be steered from the engine room. Every time we move we nearly go flying,” one passenger commented under Hansen’s post. Royal Caribbean International’s Voyager of the Seas recently encountered a severe squall in the Gulf of Mexico while finishing her most recent sailing. “This could have ruined somebody’s cruise experience where they’ll never take another cruise again,” the travel agent added.

CRUISE HIVE NEWSLETTER

Water flowed into rooms and sunbeds were strewn across the deck as the vessel was battered by the fierce weather conditions. In the early hours of Saturday, Taylor said staff changed the television screens to tell passengers to stand by for an announcement. "We were no longer able to see where we were going, how fast we were going, what the wind speed was, or anything. We were blind to what was going on," he said. At that point, the captain "turned the ship from sailing northwest toward Charleston to head north/northeast heading directly into the eye of the storm system," Taylor said. "We had a 40 foot wave hit our side of the ship,.. we almost fell out the bed.. things were crashing all around us and the carpet on my side of the bed was soaked bc water came in thru our balcony door," Goodwin Sherbert wrote.

Cruise Ship 'Destroyed' After Being Hit by Hurricane-Force Winds

While skipping Roatan is not ideal, it's something you have to assume could happen with any cruise on any sailing. Itinerary changes are not uncommon, regardless of if it's hurricane season or not. Another Royal Caribbean ship, the 139,863-gross-ton, Voyager-class Mariner of the Seas has shifted her entire weekend itinerary to avoid the stormy seas.

Frost Weather Warning Issued for 15 States as Temperatures Plummet

Though the storm lasted only minutes, he said it was "exceptionally strong." The footage emerged after another Royal Caribbean ship, Serenade of the Seas, reportedly flooded last month. Christa Seifert-Alicea, another passenger, told ABC News 4 that passengers did not receive communication for over 12 hours.

What it's like if your cruise is extended because of a hurricane?

Passengers of a cruise who were expecting a sunny getaway in the Bahamas this week were instead sailed to a much colder climate due to severe weather. The Spirit of Discovery, a vessel run by Saga Cruises, was carrying about 1,000 people on what was supposed to be a two-week cruise around the Canary Islands, the outlet reported. Meenan said the crew announced that they were heading into some rough weather on Friday afternoon, advising them to hold onto handrails and warning of a potential delay, but did not communicate further until the following morning.

Other passengers on the ship shared details of their ordeal on social media, with some complaining about a lack of communication from the ship's crew. The official Atlantic Hurricane Season runs from June 1 through November 30. On this very first day of the season, remnants of what was Hurricane Agatha in the Pacific Ocean have crossed over central America and are now interacting with more moisture and tropical temperatures near Mexico and Belize. Despite Carnival Cruise Line's best efforts to visit replacement ports of call, they were unable to do so.

100 cruise passengers injured as ship lurches to a halt in storm - CNN

100 cruise passengers injured as ship lurches to a halt in storm.

Posted: Wed, 08 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

"The aftermath aboard Carnival Sunshine after a severe storm," the post read. "The crew from Deck 0-4 evacuated to the theater, and anywhere they could rest… the crew bar destroyed." Meenan also noted that the crew worked hard to make the remainder of the sailing pleasant for passengers. “Even the next day, they all had smiles on their faces and tried their best to make it a nice day for us,” she said. Sailing around the storm can take longer than the original route and disrupt the company’s cruise schedule, leading to delays or cancellations. The cruise line may have to reimburse passengers or provide them with future credits because of the inconvenience.

Carnival Cruise Line’s 133,596-gross-ton Carnival Vista, which was just involved with an at-sea rescue of stranded crew members from a capsized cargo vessel, was forced to skip the scheduled stop in Grand Turk on Thursday, December 14. Instead, the ship enjoyed an extra day at sea on her way back to Port Canaveral. MSC Meraviglia’s December 16 sailing out of New York City was originally scheduled to visit Port Canaveral in Florida, Nassau in the Bahamas, and its private island of Ocean Cay, also in the Bahamas. Instead, the ship is spending an overnight in Boston, along with calls at Portland and St. John in Canada, before returning to the Big Apple on December 23. Carnival Cruise Line has informed guests arriving for their Carnival Pride December 17 departure from Port Tampa Bay that embarkation is delayed by two hours. The Spirit-class ship is still scheduled to visit Cozumel, Belize, and Costa Maya during its six-night voyage.