The passenger boarding bridge, center, in front of the Carnival Pride docked at the Cruise Maryland Terminal at South Locust Point, was damaged Sunday morning. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

The Carnival Pride cruise ship struck a gangway as the ship was docking in Baltimore on Sunday morning, sending the gangway crashing down on three parked vehicles.

Some passengers said they felt a thud as the bow of the ship struck the gangway but they weren’t sure what it was. No one was injured in the incident and the pickup trucks that were crushed were unoccupied, officials said.

Some on the cruise, which was returning from an eight-day trip to the Bahamas, said they weren’t too concerned about the incident after learning no one was hurt.

“Accidents happen,” said Esther Smith, of Wellsville, Pa. She and her husband, Eric Smith, were celebrating her 50th birthday on the cruise.

“The fact that no one was hurt changed the whole mood of it,” Eric Smith said.

Passengers returning from a cruise wait for rides at the Cruise Maryland Terminal at South Locust Point. Behind them is the Carnival Pride and at center, the passenger boarding bridge which was partially damaged Sunday morning. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

No one was using the gangway, which is used by passengers to get on and off the ship, when the ship made contact with it, said Jennifer De La Cruz, a spokeswoman for Carnival. The pickup trucks belong to cruise employees.

The Carnival Pride is one of two cruise ships that have a home port in Baltimore, port spokesman Richard Scher said.

The incident caused minor damage to the ship, but De la Cruz said it planned to deport on time Sunday afternoon for another cruise. Passengers getting on and off the ship had to use a crew gangway at the pier level.

“I was just so thankful that no one was hurt,” said Michele Church, 56, of Wilmington, Del. She saw the aftermath of the incident from her ninth-floor room. “Because someone could easily got killed.”

Nicole Newsome, a friend of Church’s from Wilmington who was part of an eight-person group of friends, said she felt a “hard thump” when the gangway was struck.

“We just thought that’s what happens when you dock,” said Newsome, 45.

Carol Francis, 68, of Towson said it sounded like a “big boom” and was initially concerned about someone being trapped in the truck that was crushed. But she said she wasn’t worried for her own safety. “It wasn’t like we were in the middle of the ocean,” she said.