A cruise ship damaged by a freak seven-story wave passed through New York Harbor on Monday and docked at a Hudson River pier.

The Norwegian Dawn had docked in the Charleston, S.C., harbor for repairs and a Coast Guard inspection after running into rough weather Saturday while returning to New York from the Bahamas.

Some passengers got off the ship in Charleston.   About 2,100 remained onboard when the 965-foot vessel left South Carolina early Sunday.

The ship docked at Pier 88 around 9:30 a.m. EDT, near New York’s Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum.   Passengers were scheduled to disembark around 11 a.m. EDT.

The wave had sent furniture sailing through the air, knocked Jacuzzis overboard and forced some passengers to sleep in hallways in life jackets.

“The ship was hit by a freak wave that caused two windows to break in two different cabins,” Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement.   It said 62 cabins were flooded and four passengers had cuts and bruises.   The wave reached as high as deck 10 on the ship, company spokeswoman Susan Robison said Sunday.

James Fraley, who was taking a honeymoon cruise with his wife, said they called their loved ones as the wave pounded the boat because they thought the ship was going down.

“It was pure hell.   We’re talking 47-foot waves hitting the 10th floor, knocking Jacuzzis on the 12th floor overboard — people sleeping in hallways in life jackets,” Fraley told WCBD-TV in Charleston.   “Just pure pandemonium.” Bill and Ellen Tesauro of Wayne, N.J., said they went to the ship’s casino when waves started slamming the vessel.

“We figured it would take our minds off this (and) that’s when the captain announced that drinks are free all night,” Bill Tesauro told the Daily News of New York.   “But then there was another horrendous slap on the water.” The panicked couple decided to return to their suite.

“A desk went flying across the room,” Ellen Tesauro said.   “And a glass table toppled down, with glasses and food on it.” Stacy Maryland of Hamilton, N.J., woke up to find shoes and magazines floating in a foot of water.

“I thought I heard water sloshing around, and then I woke up and saw it, and it was surreal,” she told the newspaper.

The cruise line said passengers whose cabins were flooded were flown home from Charleston and the safety of the ship “was in no way compromised by this incident.”   Each passenger on the ship got a refund of half the trip’s cost and a voucher for half the price of a future cruise, Robison said.

The ship left New York on April 10 with 2,500 passengers aboard.   Robison said about 300 passengers decided not to return by ship from Charleston.   About 100 were flown back to New York and the rest made their own arrangements, Robison said.

“I rented a car and drove nine hours,” said Fraley, of Keansburg, N.J., who kissed his driveway when he got home.   “No more time on the Titanic for me.”

Earlier story

Trip was hell on the high seas

BY NICOLE BODE, CARRIE MELAGO and JONATHAN LEMIRE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Passengers on an ill-fated cruise ship slammed by a 70-foot wave awoke with water rushing into their cabins, furniture crashing and glass shattering - and the luxury liner's pianist rode out the storm by playing the theme to "Titanic."

"The sea was scary as hell," said Ellen Tesauro, 47, of Wayne, N.J.   "I thought, 'When this ship goes down, how can I save myself so I can go back to my kids?'"

As the battered Norwegian Dawn began to steam home to New York in calmer waters yesterday, the Coast Guard launched an investigation into whether the ship's captain sent a distress call during the rollicking storm.

At least four passengers were injured and 62 cabins were flooded during the hell on the high seas.

The first sign of danger for the 1,000-foot-long ship came soon after its departure from New York last Sunday when shaken travelers saw the powerful storm coming on CNN - and realized they would be standing helpless in its path.

But the sand and sun in Port Canaveral near Orlando, Miami and a small Caribbean island over the next three days calmed the fears of the 2,200 passengers - until the seas turned rough and the sky threatened Friday as the ship steamed to New York.

"We had no idea we'd have almost 48 hours of 40-foot swells," said a choked-up Kathleen Riccardi, 31, of Brooklyn.   "I called my mother from the boat and told her I loved her because I wasn't sure I'd ever see her again," she said.

The storm hit Friday night, as tiles exploded out of the ceiling and vases and glasses shattered, sending terrified passengers scurrying for cover as the liner rocked side to side.

"We felt the whole front of the ship come up and it must have left the water because it slammed and hit the water," said Bill Tesauro, 56, Ellen's husband.

As the crew announced that drinks would be free until the Dawn cleared the storm, seasick passengers lurched through the hallways vainly trying to find stable ground.

Some travelers - who had paid from $800 to $26,000 for the week-long cruise - sought refuge in the casino only to be met with an overturned blackjack table, flying poker chips and soaked playing cards.

Others whose rooms were slammed by walls of water huddled under blankets in the atrium, where they stared at the ship's singing piano player who repeatedly performed the theme from "Titanic."

A petrified Dawn Lepore, 47, spent a sleepless night in her cabin listening to the wind howl when, at 6 a.m., she felt the roar of the rogue 70-foot wave that smashed windows as high as the ship's 10th floor.

"The glass was flying all over, what wasn't nailed down was on the ground," said Lepore, of Carteret, N.J.   Her aunt Diane Nowicki, 69, of Somerville, N.C., awoke to see her slippers floating by in shin-high water.

"Drawers were opening and closing," said Nowicki.

The freak wave knocked out the electricity to the ninth-floor cabin Caterina Russo, 39, shared with her daughters.   She staggered into the hallway and saw several passengers bloodied from flying glass.

"They looked like zombies," said Russo, of Wayne, N.J.

The wounded ship abandoned its journey to New York - it had been scheduled to arrive yesterday - and instead retired to the port of Charleston, S.C.

According to the Norwegian Cruise Lines, the veteran captain of the ship, Niklas Peterstam, had signaled to the Coast Guard that the ship had come under duress.   But the Coast Guard said yesterday that it has no record of a distress call.

Petty Officer Bobby Nash of the Florida Coast Guard said the incident was under investigation.

Norwegian Cruise Lines spokeswoman Susan Robison said the ship was never in any danger.   She confirmed the cruise canceled its normal stop in the Bahamas in order to arrive earlier in New York so it could load new equipment.

After undergoing repairs and a Coast Guard inspection, the ship steamed out of Charleston yesterday and was expected to arrive in New York today.

Passengers whose cabins were damaged were placed on a charter jet that returned to Newark at 2 a.m. yesterday.   Others opted to drive home rather than stay on the boat.

"I rented a car and drove nine hours," said James Fraley, 31, of Keansburg, N.J, who kissed his driveway when he reached home.   "No more time on the Titanic for me."



Terrified passengers were told, 'Drinks are free all night'