Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas was badly damaged after it sailed into a storm from New York to Port Canaveral in Florida.
The cruise line has now offered a full refund and 50 per cent off the passengers’ next cruise.
Many passengers are reportedly furious, after the captain knowingly sailed into a massive nor’easter off the coast of South Carolina.
Passenger Shara Strand said she was ‘shaking all over’ and suffering panic attacks. The seasoned cruiser, who said she had been on more than 20 cruises, had never experience anything like her cruise on Anthem of the Seas.
“I’m not being over dramatic by saying it was the scariest moments of my life – having no control in hurricane-like winds for hours on end with baby onboard, not being able to leave our cabins.
“Royal Caribbean should be ashamed of themselves for continuing on a course Mother Nature deemed unfit,” she wrote on Facebook.
Another passenger, Adam Middleton from London told the Mirror, “The captain said it’s the worst day at sea he’s ever had. He had to turn the ship around when it got bad.
“We had to take things off the tables and secure fragile belongings as everything was sliding around. The captain held the ship in a stationary position against 150mph winds. He said ship was handling very well as its designed to. It was scary because we didn’t expect it to be so bad. But we felt okay in our room as we closed the curtain and put a movie on.”
The ship was battered by 30-foot waves and hurricane winds up to 150 miles per hour.
The fierce weather forced the captain to confine passengers to their cabins until the storm passed early on Monday.
Video footage posted on YouTube shows one of the world’s biggest ship, being rocked by the ferocious storm.
The user, Bands1999, videoed the damage onboard Anthem of the Seas with large plant pots smashed throughout the ship as well as overturned chairs and tables in some of the ship’s lounge areas.
Robert Hushka, the executive editor of the Detroit Free Press told USA Today, “The captain told everyone this morning that the day was among his most challenging – if not his most challenging – at sea.”
Another passenger recounted the storm on cruisecritic.com saying, “Captain tried to turn ship but waited too long. Captain said they are in communication with the Coast Guard, struggling to point ship into wind but can’t move forward. All passengers told to stay in cabins water entered ship on upper decks, large white structure broke off top of ship landed in pool.”
The ship turned around and returned to New York.
In a statement on Monday, Royal Caribbean said the decision to return to the New York area was made due to forecasts of poor weather over the next few days.
“We are also sensitive to the fact that our guests have already been through an uncomfortable ride. Returning to Cape Liberty minimizes the risks of further bad weather affecting our guests’ voyage; we are optimistic that they will have a smooth sail home.”
