During gale force winds, which were said to reach force 10, the QM 2 broke her mooring lines at Zeebrugge yesterday.

Three tugs were nearby and helped her in berthing again.

She was reported as having some damage to her stern and was about four hours late in sailing, due to the damage, while a survey was carried out.

Photo of the ship with tugs below !

Wow...must have been some wind to break mooring lines!

yeah I'm glad I am not on QM2 at the moment

Some photos of the damage being repaired on the Q M 2 .

It would appear some welding work was required on the hull !

I wonder what the thickness is of the hull plates.

I was on this particular cruise. Not only was there damage to the ship but the two passenger walkways for getting on and off were dislodged and fell into the water. A crane was used to retrieve them and put them back in place. All this took a long time and I was in one of about ten coaches parked on the quayside waiting to transfer passengers back on to the ship. We had to wait for over an hour and weren't allowed off the coach which was made worse by the fact that its air conditioning broke down. An insurance assessor had to be summoned and the ship couldn't sail until he had given the ok. I think we were about four or five hours late in leaving for Rotterdam that evening.
Jo-Jo

I was on this cruise too. Fortunately we were back on board having gone to Blankenberg independently and were in the Golden Lion Pub awaiting the 4.30 Trivia Quiz when the incident happened. As we were on Deck 2 (with windows quayside) we were on hand to watch the entire proceedings. Apparently there were 22 coachloads unable to reboard until gangways were reinstated, some were in the coaches for almost 2 hrs. Could have been very nasty had anyone been on the gangways. A thunderstorm had caused the squall.

Incidentally, the weather was very warm at times - I ended up with what looked like a heat rash above my ankles. Next day in Holland we met friends in Scheveningen, one a nurse, who said it looked like burst blood vessels. Now back home and online I have 'googled' my symptoms and discovered it to be Golfer's Vasculitis, caused by a lot of walking (miles, compared to what I normally do!) and heat! I think I will live ok!

By the way, this was our first cruise and we thoroughly enjoyed it. What a magnificent ship! The sea was amazingly calm, I didn't feel any movement at any time! And the sailways from Rotterdam and Cherbourg were incredible.

Yes, I agree, the QM2 is a fabulous ship. Our stateroom on the 9th deck was like a luxury apartment and the food was excellent too. Unfortunately we did not spend enough time on board (having booked excursions in advance for every day) to fully appreciate the many facilites available.
Jo-Jo.

Jo-Jo, you were just above me! We were on the 8th, beside Lifeboat 1. I thought it was a great location, along to library, up to Commodore Club, and down to King's Court. A great introduction to cruising, but has set a very high standard for the future!

We were in 9011. I think we were above lifeboat 3, so we were very close considering how much accommodation there is on board. I enjoyed all the excursions we went on but my favourite was on Thursday when we did the coach tour of the Saire Valley; very picturesque.
Jo-Jo.

Thanks to both of you for posting your first hand accounts of the incident.

Welcome to Cruising Talk Jo-Jo...always happy to have new members in this little family.