Cruise Ship Should Have Never Left Port, Passenger Says

Monmouth County, NJ - The Royal Caribbean cruise ship that left from Bayonne Saturday and was battered by an “extreme storm” Sunday in the Atlantic Ocean should have never left port, a Monmouth County passenger aboard tells Patch.

The 169,000-ton Anthem of the Seas was slammed by 157 mph hurricane-force winds and 50-foot waves, and four passengers were injured, although none seriously. The captain, Claus Anderson, ordered all 4,500 passengers to stay in their cabins as freezing cold ocean water washed over the decks. He made the decision to turn the boat around and it is due back in Bayonne Wednesday evening.

“The shaking of the boat was extremely violent. It felt like it would never end,” said Manasquan resident Courtney Leonard Glackin, who spoke with Patch from on board the ship as it limped back to Bayonne Wednesday afternoon. “You had to stay in your bed because you really couldn’t stand or walk. If you needed to go anywhere, you had to hold onto furniture or railings. The floor seemed sideways often.”

“In all honesty they probably shouldn’t have sailed,” she said. “I don’t think it occurred to me that it could sink. There wasn’t really time to think about it.”

“I have no idea how we wound up in the middle of something so severe. We were where we shouldn’t have been,” another passenger, Virgil Hollender, told the Asbury Park Press.

Glackin said she tried to keep a positive attitude throughout the ordeal so her 7-year-old daughter wouldn’t get scared.

“If we aren’t laughing, she won’t laugh,” said Glackin, who is also traveling with her husband, mother, aunt and uncle.

Ship’s captain, Claus Anderson, seemed nervous, passengers say

It was supposed to be a mid-winter family vacation to to Florida and the Bahamas. Instead, it turned into a white-knuckle attempt not to get seasick, or fall as the boat pitched non-stop in the storm.

“The captain told everyone (Sunday) that the day was among his most challenging — if not his most challenging — at sea,” passenger Robert Huschka told USA TODAY.

Glackin agreed the captain often seemed nervous when he would address the passengers, and some on board wished he had sounded more confident when he told everyone things would be OK.

“The captain was frazzled,” she said. “Some feel he could have been more confident in his speeches.”

But a Middletown man aboard the Anthem, Bernie Erickson, praised Captain Anderson to the Asbury Park Press.

“We were lucky to have such a skilled captain. If not, things could have gone very differently,” Erickson said.

“The experience was frightening ... It took a day or two to actually believe it happened,” Glackin said. “All I can say is that the crew was taking care of us well, and they looked exhausted.”

Passengers will receive full refunds, plus 50% off an additional trip with Royal Caribbean.

Photos: Anthem of the Seas, Dickelbers Cropped and contrast adjusted by Ahecht - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons. The second photo, taken by Courtney Glackin, shows damage on the deck after the storm.