Royal Caribbean Ship Survives Major Storm At Sea
MIAMI (CBS4) - More than two dozen passengers aboard a Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. cruise ship were injured over the weekend after their ship was caught in a ferocious winter storm in the Mediterranean.
The Miami based Royal Caribbean said the Brilliance of the Seas was on a twelve day cruise with stops in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Egypt. It's now trying to head back toward Malta.
The storm pounded the eastern Mediterranean with hurricane force winds and thirty foot waves.
When the Brilliance of the Seas hit the storm the ship rolled violently; throwing furniture, passengers and the ship's Christmas tree around. Passengers onboard, many of them American, said waves slammed the ship from side to side, sometimes crashing about the ship's 10th floor windows.
Lorraine Brewer told "The Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith she woke up to "very rough" seas before being hurled back and forth in her cabin with her husband for about five minutes.
Brewer said her husband got a "little banged up" and she knew others on board had received some cuts and scrapes, but she was unaware of any serious injuries.
It's been a bad month for cruising. The Clelia 2 with 88 Americans on board was hit last week by a massive storm between South American and Antarctica and had to limp back to port.
Last month a fire in an engine room left the Carnival Splendor stranded without power off the coast of Mexico.
