Yesterday afternoon Royal Caribbeans “Enchantment of the Seas,” and Carnival Cruise Lines “Legend,” had a not-so pleasant afternoon.
The 88,500-ton, 2,124-passenger Lengend and the 80,700-ton, 2,252-passenger Enchantment were in Cozumel, Mexico preparing to get underway to the next port of call (Belize) when a strong gust of wind (40 knots) pushed the Carnival Legend into the docked Enchantment of the Seas.
A passenger on the Enchantment recalls the events on his blog “From the Enchantment of the seas. 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 collision 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.”
Both ships sustained minor damage and were cleared to leave the port and proceed to their next port of call. The Enchantment suffered some scratches and bent rails on the stern while the Legend has some bent rails, bruises, and broken glass along the rails. The Carnival Legend will be repaired enroute to Belize.
My guess is that this will raise some serious questions of separation and practices of the captains docking and undocking their own vessels.
Photos are courtesy of Enchanted Travel.
