Cruise Ship Passengers Tell Of Wild Grand Princess Ride

As they disembarked the cruise ship Grand Princess on Saturday following a weeklong trip, passengers described a wild ride when the ship made an emergency turnaround just after the trip began. They said that the ship tipped sharply on its side during an emergency turnaround two hours after the 2,600-passenger Grand Princess left the Port of Galveston Feb. 4. A passenger who suffered a heart attack had required urgent onshore medical attention. A company spokeswoman said that the passenger was transferred to a waiting Coast Guard cutter.Grand Princess"We just thought we were going overboard," Woney Peters, a resident of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, told reporters. "The boat just started tipping, and tipping and tipping." Peters said that water from the ship's pools spilled into the dinning area as well as some of the staterooms. Earlier in the week, Princess Cruises spokeswoman Karen Tetherow said that several passengers and crew had minor injuries from the turnaround. She also said some items onboard like glassware and china broke. "I saw glass and stuff breaking, but that was about it," said Ron Harris of Loco, Okla. "There wasn't much to it." A message left for Tetherow on Saturday by The Associated Press was not immediately returned. Princess Cruises is operated by Miami-based Carnival Corp.