Local Couple Returns After Ship Gets Stuck In Storm
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, P.A., (CBS) -- Travelers from our area were among the thousands of passengers stranded on board a Royal Caribbean ship involved in a recent storm at sea.
One local couple is now happy to be back on dry land.
They didn't go kissing the ground, but Michael Lyszowski and his fiancé, Lauren Goldschmidt, are happy to be back in their Montgomery County home.
It was all smiles when the experienced cruisers set sail out of North Jersey for what should have been a 7-day trip to the Bahamas.
"Before, the water was supposed to get really choppy and I thought 'eh, something just doesn't feel right'," Goldschmidt said.
Early on, the captain of The Anthem of the Seas warned that weather may get rough. "Mike was like, 'this is going to be fun,' and I I'm like, 'I don't know about that'," she added.
By Sunday, the captain made it clear they were caught in something much bigger than expected.
"He got on and basically said we are experiencing wind gusts of 150 knots which equates to about 180 mph winds and it's just astonishing," Lyszowski described.
Several passengers told Eyewitness News the weather was too extreme to board on lifeboats. Once waters calmed, they made the decision to turn back to port.
Of the over 6,000 on board, only four suffered minor injuries. The company credits that to the professionalism of the staff.
All passengers did get a refund and 50 percent off the value of the trip towards their next. The question for the couple is, will there be another trip.
