There, just a short distance away, the 2,850-passenger Celebrity Equinox was headed straight toward them.
"No! Stop!" his wife Yasmine yelled at the cruise ship. "Too close! Get out!"
Bill Todhunter, a former U.S. Olympics women's curling coach, has lived in the area since 2010 and is used to seeing ships sail past the couple's home hundreds of times a week. "It's one of our favorite parts of the day, to go out and wave at the cruise ships," he says.
But this time, Todhunter says, the Equinox wasn't taking the usual route used by cruise ship captains and harbor pilots. As the ship continued floating menacingly toward them, he and his wife
"We didn't know how hard it was going to hit," Todhunter says.
Thankfully, that didn't happen. Celebrity Cruises spokesman Owen Torres tells New Times the ship docked safely.
"As Equinox departed on Friday, March 3, she was in her assigned channel at all times under the guidance of specialized local port pilots," Torres said in a statement. "The ship operated safely and did not put guests or crew at risk. We can also confirm the ship did not touch bottom."
Though it's unclear exactly what happened, news reports indicate the ship wasn't able to come into the port or dock at its regular spot because a tanker truck had spilled 8,000 gallons of fuel at Port Everglades. Todhunter says the cruise line, which is owned by Royal Caribbean, has yet to respond to his emails, although the company shared the same statement on his Facebook post:
According to Port Everglades personnel, the cruise ships are controlled by harbor pilots from the Port Everglades Pilots Association, not the cruise lines' captains, when entering or exiting the port. The association did not respond to a New Times email requesting an explanation Tuesday.
(H/T: Jim Walker, Cruise Law News)
