Cruise ships are supposed to be restful trips, all about eating and drinking, and lazing about on the deck listening to sub-par entertainers.

That is mostly the case, but as we have seen in a few recent cases – like the MSC Musica being trapped off the coast of Cape Town, or the Norwegian Escape that was battered en route from New York to Florida – sometimes things take a turn for the worse.

The latest ‘cruise ship gone wild’ saga involves the Viking Sky, which ran into massive trouble off the coast of Molde in Norway, with more than 1 300 people stranded.

According to the BBC, “the Viking Sky lost power on Saturday and sent out a distress signal after it began drifting towards land”:

Fisherman Jan Erik Fiskerstrand, whose boat was one of the first to come to help Viking Sky, told Aftenposten newspaper, “it was just minutes before this could have gone really wrong”.

The ship could have hit the rocks “if they had not started the engine and fastened the anchor” he added.

Five helicopters and several rescue ships were called in but poor weather meant the lifeboats were forced to turn back.

The authorities decided to launch airlifts rather than leave people on board and hundreds were hoisted to safety.

Many of the guests on board filmed videos of the ship being battered, and Mashable compiled a few.

I think it’s safe to assume that there were quite a few cases of seasickness:

Still waiting for evacuation. #VikingSky #Mayday pic.twitter.com/6EvcAjf5D2

— Alexus Sheppard ️‍ (@alexus309) March 23, 2019

OK, that’s completely terrifying.

The weather really was turning nasty:

#vikingsky #hustadvika heavy sea pic.twitter.com/hoiAkYnVI9

— Ludviken (@Ludvikeen) March 23, 2019

Those waiting to be evacuated didn’t stay dry for too long:

#vikingsky emergency pic.twitter.com/9bxdRpB2zV

— David Hernandez (@oxman78) March 23, 2019

Thankfully for all on board, the rescue operation sprung into action, leading to scenes like this:

In all, 479 people were airlifted to safety, before the weather subsided and towing could begin.

One man who was particularly relieved is former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith, whose parents were on board the cruise ship.

He first tweeted on Saturday evening:

Then again on Sunday:

The ship has now reached the safety of the port, with around 20 injured passengers taken to hospital.

Pretty sure there are plenty of people who will be delighted to set foot on dry land.

[sources:bbc&mashable]