Port-Canaveral based Norwegian Epic crashes into dock in Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (FOX 35 Orlando) - The Norwegian Epic cruise ship left Port Canaveral on Saturday. Passengers said it's been anything but smooth sailing. 

Passengers' photos showed the deep scars along the Norwegian Epic's hull where it crashed into a San Juan dock, leaving pieces of the walkway dangling in the water. Passenger Patrick Kuhn said it was only the latest mishap. 

A video was posted of the incident and is going viral. You can watch it below.

“The issues started roughly a day-and-a-half ago, we received word that one of the primary ship engines went down,” he said, “we were idling at sea before official word came down that they were unable to repair the issues.”

Passenger James Smith said the problems forced the ship to cancel two of their three planned stops. “It's not what we expected,” he said, “we were supposed to go to the St. Thomas port and Tortola, those two ports were cancelled and we're here in San Juan, Puerto Rico.”

Norwegian said in a statement that as two tugboats were helping the Epic to port, a prevailing wind came up and pushed the ship into the dock. Sailor Richard Harris said they always have to be careful. “If it doesn't have all the motors, then it's at the mercy of the prevailing winds, that may blow it away or into a dock.”

Norwegian said the hull had only superficial damage, but it still worried passengers like Kuhn. “You're on a nautical vessel. The last think you want to see is hull damage on the ship,” he said.

Passengers showed us a letter from the captain offering them fifty percent of their ticket's value toward another Norwegian cruise. “It's like going to a restaurant that's given you food poisoning and they're saying, 'Ok, we'll give you fifty percent off your next meal,’” Smith said.

The ship was scheduled to make a stop at Norwegian’s private island before coming back to Port Canaveral on Saturday. There's been no word from the company to Fox35 News or passengers about their next stops. 

This story was written out of Orlando, Florida.