Holland America Ship Skips Port After Mooring Lines Break
Holland America Line’s Rotterdam has been having rough seas recently in more ways than one. On the current sailing, trouble with the mooring lines amid rough swells caused the ship to skip her anticipated visit to Port Limon, Costa Rica, and spend a day at sea instead.
The ship was attempting to dock as planned at 8 a.m. on Monday morning, March 24, 2025, but the extreme conditions proved too much for safe gangway use.
At the time Rotterdam was attempting to dock, winds from the west-southwest were creating higher than anticipated water levels in the harbor along with high swells.
This created instability with the gangways, and ultimately, too much stress on the ship’s mooring lines.
Passengers Brad and Linda Sylvester were onboard, waiting in the ship’s main theater for their shore excursion departure, when the captain announced it would not be safe to disembark. Brad described the calm sense of waiting for different tours to be called, but some delays in getting started.
Shortly thereafter, the shipwide announcement was made as the captain called extra crew members to assist as “the mooring lines are snapping, the mooring lines are snapping.”
At no point was the ship in danger or released completely from her docking attempt. After discussion with the local pilot, however, it was decided that Rotterdam would be unable to remain safely docked and the port visit was cancelled.
The captain did explain that another ship in port that day – TUI Cruises’ Mein Schiff 1 – was able to safely dock and disembark because the vessel was sheltered on the inland side of the dock. Rotterdam, however, was fully exposed to the swells without any mitigating cover.
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All Holland America Line shore excursions booked for Port Limon were automatically cancelled and fully refunded to guests’ shipboard accounts.
Guests were asked not to immediately swarm to the excursion desk as the process would happen automatically. The Sylvesters noted that no one did rush to the desk, trusting instead in the professionalism of the crew.
“We recognize that the cancellation of a port of call, regardless of the circumstances, can be disappointing, and we sincerely appreciate your understanding,” a letter delivered to guests’ staterooms later that day read. “On behalf of all officers and crew, we thank you for your continued trust in us.”
Rotterdam continued on her way with a day at sea en route to Ocho Rios, Jamaica and the last port visit of the 12-night “Panama Canal Sunfarer” sailing. The ship will return to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Friday, March 28.
The 99,863-gross ton, Pinnacle class ship can welcome 2,668 guests aboard at double occupancy, or up to 4,173 guests when fully booked. Also onboard are just over 1,000 international team members and officers.
Mooring Line Woes
Rough weather can put tremendous strain on a cruise ship’s mooring lines, the ropes that keep a vessel snug against a pier when docked. If those lines give way, the ship could be cast adrift and gangways could become unstable or even collapse if the ship moves too far from the pier.
This can happen in nearly any port, depending on wind speeds and wind direction. MSC Cruises’ MSC Musica snapped her mooring lines while docked in Brazil in February 2023, while Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Prima had the same problem in Belgium in July 2023.
Fortunately, no guests were injured in either incident. Likewise, the quick thinking and concern for safety by Rotterdam‘s officers and crew undoubtedly kept everyone aboard safe during the tumultuous docking attempt.
Hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here on for Rotterdam and everyone aboard, as this latest incident follows two different outbreaks of norovirus aboard earlier this year.