Close call: Princess, Holland America ships battle strong winds
Gusty winds made it dangerously difficult for two cruise ships to stay docked in one West Coast port.
Strong winds are often the reason that cruise ships are forced to skip ports, but sometimes, even winds that aren’t high enough to warrant a port closure still create hazards.
Recently, cruise passengers sailing on one Princess Cruises ship and a Holland America Line ship learned about the dangers firsthand as their ships struggled to stay docked in one West Coast cruise port.
Related: Another cruise line set to take Princess Cruises’ dropped homeport
To some, the incidents probably felt like a bad April Fool’s Day prank from Mother Nature since on-and-off gusty winds seemed to play tricks on the iconic coastal city on April 1.
The situation was really no laughing matter, as one passenger explained in the Princess Cruises community on Reddit.
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Princess cruise ship’s mooring lines snap at San Francisco pier
“This evening docked at San Francisco, the Discovery Princess experienced a line snap and we left the dock due to high winds,” dreama7 shared in the Reddit community. “An all deck crew emergency was called and we are just sitting here waiting now until we can get tied back up again.”
Mooring line snaps are extremely dangerous for crew members and dock workers; they can lead to serious injuries for anyone in the snap-back zone. They can also send a ship drifting away from its berth, possibly leading to a collision, which is what nearly happened to Discovery Princess.
Luckily, the ship’s captain had made the decision earlier in the day to disconnect from shore power and turn on the ship’s engines due to the weather conditions. Because the engines were running, the ship was able to recover before crashing into the next pier.
Related: Video: Carnival Cruise Line ship hit by driving rainstorm
“Just before 5 p.m. all 6 aft lines snapped at once. Since the engines were on, they were able to get an aft thruster going quickly and ultimately that was what saved us from hitting the dock next to us,” dreama7 later wrote after the ship’s captain provided an update to passengers.
“Without the decision to turn the engines on, it would have been a huge disaster and so much worse.”
The captain decided to turn on the engines shortly after learning that Holland America Line’s Koningsdam experienced an incident at a nearby pier earlier in the day.
Pier bollard failure sends Holland America Line ship drifting
A passenger cruising on Holland America Line’s Koningsdam chimed in on the Reddit thread to share details of their ship’s similar struggles to stay docked in San Francisco amid the strong winds.
“Wow, on Koningsdam (next pier over from you), our Captain had just made the official announcement regarding why our bow thrusters and azipods have been running for over 30 hours in port (plus anchor down),” CloudSurferA220 replied. “Yesterday, a pier bollard failed completely, ripping out after attaching bow lines.”
Like Discovery Princess’s line snap, this sent the ship drifting dangerously toward the next pier.
Related: Here’s how Celebrity Cruises deals with rough seas
“The ship began to drift from the dock, and the gangway fell from the ship. No injuries. The team reacted quickly, and the ship was stopped before colliding with the next pier,” CloudSurferA220 explained. “With strong winds continuing, they made the decision to run thrusters to hold the ship firmly against our dock. Sounds like he made a smart decision.”
Luckily, neither incident resulted in injuries or collisions, and both ships safely departed San Francisco later to continue on their West Coast cruise voyages.
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