The Tribune

US Federal transportation officials might soon be investigating a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that ran into high winds and rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend on its way to Florida and the Bahamas.

Senator Bill Nelson has called for the National Transportation Safety Board to look into the voyage that forced terrified passengers aboard the Anthem of the Seas – one of the world’s largest and most modern liners – into their cabins on Sunday night and Monday morning as furniture flew about the heavily listing ship, waves rose as high as 30 feet and hurricane-force winds howled outside.

“The thing about this storm was that it was forecast for days. So why in the world would a cruise ship with thousands of passengers go sailing right into it?” Sen Nelson asked.

The National Weather Service’s Ocean Prediction Centre had issued an alert for a strong storm four days in advance. The first warning was issued on Saturday for possible hurricane-force winds in the area off the Virginia coast the ship was scheduled to sail through.

Royal Caribbean announced on Monday that the ship was turning around and sailing back to its home port in Bayonne, New Jersey. Four passengers were reported injured, none seriously, and the ship suffered only minor damage, a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said.

“I was shaking all over,” Shara Strand, a passenger from New York City, posted on Facebook. “Panic attack, things like that ... I’ve been on over 20 cruises, I’ve been through a hurricane, it was never like this. Never.”

Gabriella Lairson, 16, said she and her father, Sam, could feel the 168,000-ton ship begin to sway by 2.30pm on Sunday. The captain directed passengers to their cabins. There, the Lairsons heard glasses shatter in the bathroom, and they put their belongings in drawers and closets to prevent them from flying across the room. They ventured to the balcony, where Mr Lairson shot video of wave after wave rising below as the ship held position.

“The winds were so strong that I thought the phone would blow from my hands,” Mr Lairson, of Ocean City, New Jersey, said in an email. “After that we had to keep the doors to the balconies sealed.”

Passengers tweeting from Anthem described hurricane-force winds and giant waves that rocked the vessel wildly, overturning furniture, smashing glassware and collapsing part of a ceiling in a public corridor. Photos show damage in several areas.

A buoy in the Atlantic about 260 miles south of Cape Hatteras reported wave heights of 30 feet and wind gusts of 74mph late on Sunday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A screen shot of the wind gauge on Anthem cabin TVs posted by a passenger on Twitter shows wind speeds as high as 106 knots, the equivalent of 122mph. The storm was the most powerful in the western Atlantic this winter.

A passenger posting on a message board at CruiseCritic.com reported waves crashing as high as the Deck 5 promenade, with water seeping into the ship through the doorways before watertight doors were closed. Another said a large white structure broke off the top of the vessel and landed in a pool. At times the ship was listing at 45 degrees.

The ship - with more than 4,500 guests and 1,600 crew - resumed sailing around 1am on Monday. It had sailed from Cape Liberty, New Jersey, on Saturday for a seven-night cruise and was scheduled to put in at Port Canaveral, Florida, at noon on Monday, then move on to the Bahamas. But Royal Caribbean said on its corporate Twitter account that the ship would turn around and sail back to Cape Liberty and that the cruise was cancelled.

“This decision was made for guests’ comfort due to weather forecasts” that would continue to affect the ship’s itinerary,” Royal Caribbean tweeted. A later statement read: “We are also sensitive to the fact that our guests have already been through an uncomfortable ride. Returning to Cape Liberty minimises the risks of further bad weather affecting our guests’ voyage; we are optimistic that they will have a smooth sail home. We know it was tough day on Sunday and apologise for (passenger) discomfort. Safety is our highest priority and ships are designed to withstand even more extreme circumstances than Anthem of the Seas encountered. While the weather was unpleasant, the ship remained seaworthy at all times.”

Guests will get a full refund and a certificate toward a future cruise.

Gabriella Lairson said that by early Monday morning, people were out and about on the ship, checking out the minor damage in some public areas. She praised the crew and captain. “They did everything they could to make us feel comfortable,” she wrote on Facebook. She said she and her father were a little disappointed the ship was turning around, but she called it “the best thing for the safety of everyone”.

“I can’t wait to get home and kiss the ground,” said Jacob Ibrag, who saw water flowing down stairs and helped some people who were stuck in an elevator on Sunday as he made his way to his cabin as per the captain’s orders. The 25-year-old from Queens, New York, then stayed in his cabin until noon on Monday, at one point filling his backpack with essentials in case of an evacuation.

Robert Huschka, the executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, told USA Today that the ordeal was “truly terrifying”. He described the cruise director nervously giving updates, and he later posted photos of shattered glass panels on a pool deck.

But Mr Huschka was among passengers who found a silver lining in the storm. On Monday, he posted: “The good news? They never lost the Super Bowl signal. Perfect TV picture throughout storm!”

And despite her own worries, Strand said her daughter, eight-month-old Alexa, slept through the entire episode.

Christened in April 2015, Anthem is the third-largest cruise ship ever built.

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