Wednesday night in Cozumel, Mexico the Carnival Legend (a Carnival Cruise Line ship) was pulling out of the port when it collided with the Enchantment of the Seas (a Royal Caribbean Cruise Line ship). Carnival says the 2,124 passenger ship had just untied from its berth when it was caught by heavy winds and pushed into the other ship.
"Extremely strong winds pushed the vessel up against the side of Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas," the line says in a statement to USA Today. "The (Royal Caaribbean) ship was at dock when the incident occurred. The Carnival Legend sustained broken glass and other minor damage to some open deck areas."
The USA Today is reporting that a Royal Caribbean spokeswomen is saying the Enchantment of the Seas suffered what appears to be minor damage to the stern of the ship and ship railings. They have also noted spokespeople for both cruise lines say they have received no reports of injuries on board their respective ships resulting from the incident.
"All appropriate authorities have been notified," Carnival says in its statement. "Following an examination of the vessel by Mexican authorities, the Carnival Legend was cleared to sail on to Belize, its next scheduled port of call."
A passenger onboard the Enchantment of the Seas wrote this on his personal blog page about the incident: "OK, so we're sitting in port. A few of us are on the pool deck watching the Carnival Legend pull out of port. As we're watching it, it's getting closer and closer. It looked like the wind was pushing the other ship toward us. I looked down and saw a tug boat try to get between the two boats, but it was too late. Then the collison became inevitable. There was some crunching and breaking glass noises and the ship rocked to one side a little. It was such a slow crash that it was barely noticeable. We could see scraped paint on the other ship. Really, nobody was hurt and we're waiting for the all-clear from the harbor master to leave port."
The USA Today also reports that they spoke to a client onboard the Enchantment of the Seas named Greg Land. This passenger watched the ship from the balcony of his suite. He states "A storm began to kick up over the area with gusts up to 60 knots, and this caused the Carnival Legend to be carried by the currents closer and closer to the Enchantment. We happened to be out on the deck and saw the Legend getting closer and closer to us. The side of the legend was dented badly, and the glass railings on the (Legend's) promenade deck were shattered with broken glass everywhere. Immediately, crew members on both ships were called into their emergency positions and passenger ran up on deck to see what had bumped and rattled the two ships so badly."
The passenger also notes it took several attempts to pull the Carnival Legend back into its dock space due to the heavy winds. Cozumel authorities eventually cleared both ships after the incident, and both ships are heading to their next stops . . . which is Belize City, Belize for both ships.
Written by Denise Blackmore
Posted by Denise at October 1, 2009 09:33 AM