Friday morning, two Carnival cruise ships – the Glory and the Legend – crashed into each other while the Glory docked in Cozumel, Mexico, just before 9 a.m. Joe and Jana Merritt; their three daughters; and Jana’s mother, Janice Taylor, all of Douglas, were passengers on the Legend when the accident happened.
According to media reports, Carnival has called the accident an “allision” instead of a collision because one of the ships – the Legend – was docked at the time. Video footage shows the stern of the Glory coming into contact with the bow of the Legend as the Glory docked. The Glory received most of the damage while the Legend escaped relatively unscathed.
Joe Merritt and his daughters – Jayden, Johanna, and Jaycee – were on land in Cozumel and saw the accident take place from shore. Jana and Janice were on the ship at the time. “Joe and the girls were in disbelief as they saw it happen,” states Jana. She and her mother didn’t know the two boats had hit each other. “We didn’t feel anything other than the rough waters we had experienced the entire trip. So anything we felt we assumed was just a wave,” Jana added. She said that she didn’t know anything happened until she and Janice went to breakfast. It was there that they heard other passengers talking about the incident.
The Legend passed its ensuing inspection and was not delayed in returning home. The ship left as scheduled and returned to Tampa Sunday morning. The Glory was delayed a few hours but eventually left for New Orleans a little later than expected.
Carnival reported that six people sustained minor injuries as a result of the accident. Jana states that she heard one passenger say that her daughter was taking a shower at the time of impact and fell down but was otherwise uninjured.
Carnival has blamed the accident on wind gusts and rough seas.