“First day of our cruise from Civitavecchia,” she wrote. “Drama as the #QueenMary2 broke away from its moorings and almost ran into our ship, the Norwegian Breakaway. 3 tugboats came to the rescue.”
Later, Wade posted a follow-up image, which showed the Queen Mary 2 being pulled back to the docks by a tug boat, while the gangways dangled from the side of the vessel.
Guests on board the ship shared details about the situation on Cruise Critic, a popular cruise ship review site.
“Captain has just updated us, he couldn’t before as his top priority has been to secure and make this ship safe. By use of anchor and bow thrusters, he’s managed to bring the ship to the shore but the other side of the dock,” one passenger wrote.
The next step was to retrieve passengers who were still waiting to board the vessel and try to collect one of the gangways that fell into the sea.
“Everyone is safe and thanks to the Captain’s quick action there has been no casualties,” they added.
Another said things became “quite hairy at one point” when they drifted close to two other cruise ships but agreed that no one was hurt and no ships were damaged aside from the snapped ropes.
However, the weather was still a little wild on board.
“Currently sailing to Valencia in 9 on the Beaufort scale wind, so choppy doesn’t come close!!!” the person said, referencing the 12-point wind scale.
The vessel was inspected for any lasting damage on August 6, whilst in its next port in Valencia, Cruise Hive reported.
This isn’t the first time a large cruise ship has broken free and drifted into the great blue.
Just last month, the Norwegian Primia broke free from her moorings in Northern Europe. No injuries resulted.
