Mike Davis

@byMikeDavis

If at first you don't succeed — sail, sail again.

Seven months after the Anthem of the Seas was badly damaged while sailing through a nor'easter, it sailed into then-Hurricane Hermine — giving passengers aboard the 169,000-ton ship the ride of their life.

Unlike the ill-fated February journey, which was cut short, the Anthem of the Seas completed its journey to Bermuda. But the ship was rocked by waves as high as 50 feet and 90-knot winds, passenger Derek Beidermann said, resulting in nausea for many of the passengers.

FLASHBACK: Royal Caribbean's 'cruise from hell'

"All was good until about early morning," Beidermann said in a Sunday video. "That’s when the ship started swaying a bit here. ... Eating in the restaurant, the dishes were going all over the place.

"It was pretty exciting — exciting for me, but half the ship is in their room right now over the toilet. I'm having a good time," he said.

When passengers arrived on the ship, they were greeted with a recorded video of the ship’s captain laying out the track of the storm and his plan to avoid it, Point Pleasant resident Robert McHugh said.

“The captain explained the storm was expected to stall off New Jersey and the ship would sail east to get past it, then south to the island,” McHugh said. “It seemed to make sense to me and jelled with the news reports on the local networks. I was more worried about New Jersey than our ship.”

Sunday brought the worst of the storm for Anthem of the Seas passengers, McHugh said. The crew cancelled all activities for day and those brave enough to eat a meal – most of McHugh’s family were sick in their cabins — often saw it disrupted by moving dishware, tables and chairs. At one point, a woman sitting nearby slid at least 10 feet.

But McHugh wasn’t worried: “It’s a big ship designed with this weather in mind. (It would be) far worse on a far smaller ship with a lobster fisherman,” he said.

Fordham University Law School adjunct professor Larry Brennan, a maritime law expert, said Hermine was "pretty well forecast." If Royal Caribbean was determined to sail through the storm, it should have warned passengers that it could result in an "uncomfortable voyage," he said.

"This was foreseeable. This was predicted. With basic second-grade geography, you could see that heading south or southeast would run a risk to the comfort of the passengers on the ship," Brennan said. "Fortunately, that's all it seems to be — an uncomfortable voyage. It could have been a lot worse."

MORE: Who's at fault for 'cruise from hell?'

A Royal Caribbean spokeswoman did not return requests for comment.

In February, the cruise line cut short two voyages due to storm activity. A Feb. 5 voyage was sent home after its propulsion system was badly damaged while sailing through a nor'easter. During that storm, the ship tilted up to 45 degrees in each direction as it was hit by 30-foot waves and 120 mph winds.

It returned to its home port in Bayonne with only one of its two propulsion systems functioning.

Another voyage in February was cut short a few weeks later, which the cruise line attributed to a new "storm avoidance policy," put in place after the initial voyage was cut short.

At least two lawsuits have been filed over the February trip, including a class action suit filed by Cinnaminson resident Frank DeLuca. According to DeLuca's lawsuit, the cruise line was negligent in ignoring warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association in the days leading up to the trip.

A half-hour before the ship left port, the NOAA warned of hurricane-force winds off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Brennan said there likely wasn't the same risk for litigation on the Labor Day cruise.

Mike Davis: 732-643-4223; mdavis@gannettnj.com