'We saw a wave that covered the entire ship': Passengers describe what it was like on the cruise ship where 1,300 people were stranded

• Over the weekend, over 1,300 passengers were left stranded when the Viking Sky cruise ship motored right into choppy storm waters off of Norway's coast.
• Over 400 people had to be rescued from the boat.
• From that, 28 people were transported to the hospital. Of that figure, nine people remained hospitalized and one person is in critical condition, according to reports.
• Passengers accounts from aboard the ship include calling loved ones to say goodbye, falling furniture, and huge waves.

Over the weekend, over 1,300 passengers were left stranded when the Viking Sky cruise ship motored right into choppy storm waters off of Norway's coast.

The ship ran into engine troubles in an unpredictable area of the Norwegian coast known for difficult to navigate, frigid waters, according to the Associated Press. The crew issued a mayday call Saturday afternoon.

What happened next was truly the stuff of nightmares. By the time the boat reached the dock, over 400 people had been rescued.

From that, 28 people were transported to the hospital. Of that group, nine people remained hospitalized and one person is in critical condition, according to reports.

As passengers disembark, tales from the high seas have started to circulate. And they are, in one word, harrowing. 

"When the windows and door flew open and the 2 meters (6 feet) of water swept people and tables 20 to 30 feet that was the breaker. I said to myself, ‘This is it,'" American passenger Rodney Hor gen told The Associated Press. "I grabbed my wife but I couldn't hold on. And she was thrown across the room. And then she got thrown back again by the wave coming back."

Read more: A cruise ship was filmed crashing into a pier in Puerto Rico

Other passengers have similar tales. 

Steve and Shelly Eitel of Colorado were eating lunch when they were physically jerked by the rocky waters.

"We went flying on our couches and chairs to the other side of the deck," Shelly said of the moment. "I mean we lost our food obviously, but everything was going everywhere." 

The American couple was ultimately taken off the boat via helicopter. But they weren't the only ones who were absolutely stunned by the 30-foot-high waves.

"We saw a wave that covered the entire ship and it broke through the glass door," Ann Decker from New Hampshire told the "Today" show.

Decker said things seemed bleak. "We got ocean in our mouths," she told the morning show. "We thought it was it. The ship was tilted. Things were just moving all the way down. They're still cleaning up blood on the floor."

Another couple, Victor and Gina, called their "panicking and crying" family from the boat to tell them something had gone horribly wrong. The California couple said that their family was relieved when they were back on land. 

But even getting back to land wasn't so easy.

A woman named Janet Jacob said that the winds were "like a tornado." 

"I was afraid," she told Norwegian news outlet NRK of her helicopter ride. "I've never experienced anything so scary."

A man named John Curry told NRK that he would "rather not think about" the helicopter ride, which he described as "chaos" and "not nice."

The ship was towed to a port in Molde, Norway, on Sunday afternoon. The emergency derailed the ship from its scheduled arrival at a British port on Tuesday.

• Read more:
• A couple says that a cruise abandoned them in Mexico in the midst of a medical emergency
• Several people were injured after a 'sudden, extreme gust of wind' caused a cruise ship to tilt on its side
• The Instagram-famous woman who was filmed watching her Bahamas cruise ship float away told us she ended up on a flight in her bikini

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