Stranded Cruise Ship Freed Off Bermuda

Thousands of passengers spent the night stranded, albeit in comfort a few miles off the coast of Bermuda. The Norwegian Cruise Line says that when its Norwegian Dawn ship temporarily lost power yesterday as it was departing a Bermudian port, the "propulsion was affected" and "the vessel made contact with the channel bed," CNN reports. After being stuck for more than six hours, the high tide helped push the ship back out to deeper waters, where it dropped anchor last night to await inspection, the AP reports. "All guests and crew are safe and there were absolutely no injuries" to the 3,500 or so passengers and crew members, Norwegian said in a statement, per the AP.

"We definitely felt it," a passenger tells the AP. "There was a shudder for maybe 30 seconds to a minute and then there was a sudden stop." She says there were some "crew members running around in a panic, and we felt like we had to panic," but most crew remained calm and the ship's evening entertainment proceeded as usual. The US Coast Guard dispatched a dive team, which found no damage to the ship's hull from the reef, and experts will inspect the rest of the ship today before it's allowed to continue on its journey to Boston, NBC News reports. Passengers tell NBC they've been told they won't be on the move again until today at the earliest. (A Florida woman spends $164,000 a year to live on a cruise ship.)