A dream vacation to
The Bahamas
became a living nightmare
for cruise passengers
after severe weather
violently rocked the carnival sunshine.
The ship was returning to South Carolina
over the weekend when it hit rough seas
rough, putting it mildly,
leaving passengers
frightened, wondering
if they would make it back home.
This, of course,
according to one of our next guests,
Bill Hassler,
who was there for all of the fun.
Not so sure it was fun.
Let's show you this video that he shot.
You can see all sorts of debris
being tossed around this ship.
Also, water
rushing into hallways and rooms.
Carnival said this in a statement.
Quote, Carnival sunshine
return to Charleston was impacted
by the weather
and rough seas on Saturday.
The weather's prolonged impact
on the Charleston area, delayed
the ship's arrival on Sunday.
And as a result,
the next Voyages embarkation
was also delayed.
We appreciate the patience
and understanding of all our guests.
Carnival Sunshine
is now sailing on its next
cruise will house
or was on that ship and joins us now.
Good morning for now.
I told you, I grew up going on cruises.
Never,
never did I see something like this.
What was it like to live through?
Actually, I'm surprised I'm still alive.
Really? Yeah, it was at that. It's
I've seen the looks on
people's face when
I was a crane up here in New York City
and I was running a locomotive
for the sand hugs
and I flipped the train over
and saw the 650 feet on the roof.
And when I climbed out of that train,
the look of fear and death,
they thought it was like
I seen ghosts, like they seen ghosts.
And when I got off the ship at six, 7:00
Saturday evening,
when I was supposed to dock
at eight in the morning,
the look of that looked at
I seen on these faces years ago
was the same
look I seen on all these people
coming off the ship.
Like they were just white waves, ghosts.
You said at one point
it seemed like Carnival was playing God
with your life.
Yeah, exactly.
I mean,
why would you sail into this storm
with 80 mile an hour plus winds
I mean, who does that?
I mean, I was a crane operator
and everybody that worked around me
around a crane or any equipment I was on,
their lives were in my hands.
So when the winds were bad
or the weather was bad,
we'd shut the job down
and not work for safety.
What were they thinking?
Well,
what do you think they should have done?
I think they should have stayed down
in port in the Bahamas,
waited a day for the storm
to subside a little bit and then go
or when they got into a storm,
why didn't they go further out
into the ocean
to get to the other side of it,
you know, the backside.
How how accessible in the statement,
Poppy, just shared, they
thank you for your patience
and your understand
How much communication was
there as all of this was happening?
Was there information
on the loudspeakers?
Were you told to go into certain areas?
No. Very little.
I don't even think the crew knew
what they were doing.
I don't think they were trained
enough for a situation like that.
They were actually at one point
scavenging to get the life boats ready
to throw us out into
the sea with 40 plus foot waves.
I don't even know how you would
even get in the lifeboat
if that thing went down.
We were all dead.
Wow. Yeah.
At one point,
a wave hit my window
and broke my window
and water was coming in.
Coming into the boat.
Into your state? Yes.
What did you do at that point?
I put on my life preserver.
You did? Yeah.
I actually fell asleep at one point
for a little while
with my life preserver on.
You heard us read Carnival Statement
I wonder if you want something else
from them.
I mean, it
sounds like you're very concerned
that preparations weren't made
and safety wasn't prioritized.
They shouldn't went through a storm,
and they need to be held accountable.
What does that look like to you?
Is it meaning as far as what?
Well, just not in terms of
just you being compensated for that.
Do you fear that could happen again?
Oh, yeah. Listen.
It was like a coin toss for them,
and they got lucky.
Maybe the next time
they won't be as lucky.
You know, what do you think should then?
You know, just to follow up on Poppy's
point there, what should change?
What do you want to see?
There's got to be different laws
about heading into storms,
especially when you're not in one.
How do you sell out of sun into a storm
like that?
It made no sense.
Yeah.
We're glad you're okay.
And I'm sure it's traumatizing
and it's probably all just starting to,
like, soak in, right?
I got home Sunday night.
I had to crack open a beer
and think about it.
And I started shaking really?
Because it just said it like that.
Like,
I couldn't even believe I'm still here.
Like,
you know, when they say kiss the ground,
they stick around. Yeah.
And you're staying on dry
land for a while. Yeah.
Staying away from the ocean.
We're so glad you're okay.
Thank you very much.