Cruise ship damaged by wind in Atlantic; no guest injuries

The cruise has now been cancelled and the ship has turned around and on Monday afternoon was heading back to New Jersey, where it left from on Saturday.

From passenger photos, damage to the ship appeared to be mostly minor with furniture tossed around and broken décor.

Petty Officer Mark Barney, of the public affairs office of the U.S. Coast Guard, said that coast guard officials contacted the captain of Anthem of the Seas on Sunday knowing they were in heavy seas and after seeing social media posts. Martinez confirmed that passengers were asked to stay in their rooms and said they were given complimentary access to their minibars.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoy off the Carolina coast recorded a gust of 76 miles per hour, above hurricane-force winds, and waves of 30 feet high, CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said.

The cruise line said in a statement Monday that the ship Anthem of the Seas was damaged in some public areas and guest staterooms.

Four injuries have been reported, but none were serious.

He said the ship’s captain said “the strength of the storm had surprised everyone and that the ship would hold position and try to turn into it”. “It was very well-forecast and for a ship to go into a bombing storm like this kind of baffles me”.

Royal Caribbean’s 168,666-tonne Anthem of the Seas experienced “extreme wind and sea conditions” that were not expected as it was sailing south from New Jersey to Port Canaveral, Florida, according to a Royal Caribbean statement.

For the 4,000 passengers aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, all they knew for certain that trouble was coming quickly.

A passenger aboard a cruise ship that was damaged in rough seas says the weather forced people to stay in their cabins as items flew across the rooms, but she says the storm calmed less than 12 hours later.

“This decision was made due to weather forecasted for the next few days that is likely to impact the ship’s original itinerary”, said Royal Caribbean spokesman Owen Torres in an email.

“The captain is holding the ship in place against the wind possibly by sheer will. My cabin is making weird noises”.

“These ships are created to handle these kind of conditions, though they prefer not to encounter them”, Royal Caribbean tweeted. He says he’s relieved the ship is returning to its New Jersey home port.

Robert Huschka, the executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, was onboard and started tweeting when the inclement weather hit. “They did everything they could to make us feel comfortable even though they were not allowed to be out around the ship that often”, she wrote to The AP on Facebook.

“I’m not going to lie: It was truly terrifying”, Mr Huschka said. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has become an internet sensation after being upstaged by Beyonce at the Super Bowl halftime show.

Cribbs said the ship “leaned way over as the captain fought the winds”. “Perfect TV picture throughout storm!”