Cruise ship Ruby Princess strikes dock on arrival at San Francisco pier
SAN FRANCISCO -- Crews are assessing the damage to a Princess cruise ship in San Francisco after the ship struck the dock upon arrival Thursday morning.
Princess Cruises confirmed in a statement to KPIX that the Ruby Princess cruise ship "made unexpected contact with the dock at Pier 27."
UPDATE: Ruby Princess set to depart San Francisco after repairing Pier 27 collision damage
The incident happened at 6:05 a.m. There were no injuries and Princess Cruises said no guests or crew were in danger. The ship eventually docked safely and passengers were able to disembark.
UPDATE: Ruby Princess remains docked in San Francisco after collision with pier
There was no immediate word on what caused the collision.
The damage could be seen from Chopper 5, and on the ground, passengers embarking on the Ruby Princess' next 10-day trip to Alaska got an up-close look.
"I was certainly thinking about how the Titanic's been in the news lately and so all of a sudden, I didn't know anything about this until she told me, the next person in line, and I'm thinking there's a hole in the boat? it feels a little iffy," said Maryann Will.
But Will, a resident of Monterey, still got in line with about 3,300 other passengers to board the Ruby Princess. The process began at 11:30 am.
"I've come all this way and was planning for three years so here we are," she said. "We planned once and then the COVID..."
There were no injuries and Princess Cruises said no guests or crew were in any danger. An assessment of the damage to both the ship and the pier was underway.
"I just happened to see it on the news from my hotel room, I was waiting to check out," said Ann Portillo from Scottsdale, Arizona. "I'm sure they know what's best, I have been on many cruises and I don't see this as being a huge issue, it didn't look that bad."
The collision didn't dull the excitement for some passengers like Rence Dimalanta.
"It's my first cruise so I'm still excited about it," he said.
"I just hope it's safe because of what happened this morning, I'm sure they wouldn't let everybody get on the boat unless it was safe," said Debbie McIntosh.
"As long as the lifeboats work," Mike McIntosh said as he laughed.
The San Francisco Bar Pilots spokesperson said in a statement to KPIX 5:
"We can confirm a pilot was involved in an incident at Pier 27 this morning. We are cooperating with all necessary agencies in looking into this matter and cannot comment further."
"I guess I'm willing to accept that they wouldn't be getting all these people on a boat if they had concerns is my hope," added Will.
