Another Cruise Ship Drama

Cruise boat nightmare: Dinner and comedy show turns into overnight sleepover after boat is stranded
By Nina Mandell
Daily News Staff Writer
Sunday, December 12th 2010, 12:38 PM

The Showboat Branson Belle was stuck overnight after high winds pushed it ashore.

A relaxing dinner cruise turned into an unwanted sleepover for the more than 600 people stranded on a Missouri lake cruise boat Saturday night.

After setting off on what was supposed to be a dinner cruise and a comedy show on the Showboat Branson Belle, the boat ran into problems after strong winds and problems with its thrusters pushed it against a shoreline, CNN reported.

"We were almost back to the dock, when we heard a couple of loud noises. The comedian said something funny and we all laughed," Jim Wellborn, a passenger on the boat, told CNN.

But then the captain interrupted the show to tell them something had gone very wrong and they would be stuck for a little while.

The 640 crew members and guests on board weren't harmed and had heat, electrical power, food and beverages on board, a spokesman for the boat company told reporters.

Nine passengers with pre-existing medical conditions - including two who reportedly had seizures on board - were rescued early from the boat, which was supposed to be on water for only a few hours when it set out to sea around 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The rest of the passengers on the Showboat Branson Belle finally began disembarking around 9 a.m. Sunday morning after spending the night on the cruise ship.

To rescue the passengers, response crews built a temporary road and ramp to get to the stranded boat, which gained enough propulsion to push itself to an inlet cove, local television station KSFX reported.

A Missouri lake cruise boat set out to sea? Cruise boat nightmare? No icebergs or giant waves, no collision with another ship? Sounds like they disembarked into a cornfield and onto a hay wagon which was towed back to civilization by a large John Deere tractor. Where was the Coast Guard?