Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas docked in Bayonne at around 9 p.m. this evening after the ship encountered hurricane storm in the Atlantic. The ship left for Port Canaveral on Saturday but was forced to turn around on Monday after suffering damages in public areas and staterooms. All 4500 passengers disembarked the ship late last night praising the captain and the crew for the way they handled during the storm.

Royal Caribbean provided prompt updates during and after the storm and released the following statement regarding the cruise ship's return to Bayonne:

"Anthem of the Seas will return to Cape Liberty, NJ this evening, and we are grateful for the safe return of our guests and crew. We apologize for exposing our guests and crew to the weather they faced, and for what they went through. Our ship and our crew performed very well to keep everyone safe during severe weather. Of more than 6000 people on board, only four minor injuries were reported.

Despite that fact, the event, exceptional as it was, identified gaps in our planning system that we are addressing. Though that system has performed well through many instances of severe weather around the world, what happened this week showed that we need to do better.

The severity of Sunday's storm, with its sustained 120-mph winds, far exceeded forecasts. Even so, it is our responsibility to eliminate every surprise we possibly can. As of today, we are strengthening our storm avoidance policy, and have added resources at our Miami headquarters to provide additional guidance to our ships' captains. As for Anthem of the Seas, much of the superficial damage caused by the storm has been repaired. We expect to resume her planned itinerary for next week's cruise. Again, we offer our apologies to our guests and crew."