A Cruise ship – Carnival Sunshine was rocked by stormy waves over the weekend, with water surging into the rooms, frightening passengers and delaying the ship’s return to port in Charleston, South Carolina.
The bad weather also delayed the cruise ship’s departure to its next voyage.
Carnival Cruise Line announced the weather disruption in a statement:
“Carnival Sunshine’s return to Charleston was impacted by the weather and rough seas on Saturday. The weather’s prolonged impact on the Charleston area delayed the ship’s arrival on Sunday and as a result, the next voyage’s embarkation was also delayed.”
A first-time passenger, William B. Blackburn, who was on Carnival Cruise with his family spoke with CNN about his experience during the storm, saying “It was terrifying”.
“It felt like the ship ran into a wall, all of our stuff went flying off the counters, baggage fell over and slid around,” he said.
“The wind was howling, all I could see outside was a solid wall of water spray and rain mixed. The balcony divider door for the cabin next to us had broken its latches and was slamming back and forth something awful. The ceiling and walls were creaking, and the ship was making horrible noises, and sometimes violently vibrating like the engines were struggling against the surging waves.”
“We stayed in our cabin, and prayed we’d be OK, and they took note of where the life jackets were stored.
“[We] discussed the fact that it would be very unlikely to survive in the water even with life jackets and doubted that life boats could even be launched in those conditions.”
