KEY POINTS

  • The Harmony of the Seas crashed into a dock in Falmouth, Jamaica, because the pilot was badly directed at the time
  • It suffered "cosmetic damage," but no guests or crew members on board the vessel were injured
  • The damage to the port, which did not disrupt cruise shipping operations or schedules, is now being repaired

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas cruise ship crashed into a dock in northwest Jamaica last week due to pilot error, Jamaican officials said.

The incident, which saw the Harmony of the Seas' aft colliding with a concrete mooring pylon at a dock in Falmouth as the vessel was backing into its assigned berth at around 7 a.m. Thursday, happened because the pilot was badly directed at the time, newspaper Jamaica Gleaner reported, citing the country's Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett.

The affected mooring pylon collapsed into the water as a result of the crash.

Meanwhile, the Oasis-class Harmony of the Seas suffered "cosmetic damage" to its stern, Royal Caribbean told News 6 in a statement.

No guests or crew members on board the vessel were injured, the company said.

The Harmony of the Seas was inspected and repaired within hours of the incident. Passengers were even able to disembark the vessel and carry out their scheduled activities after the cruise ship was moored "without delay," the Port Authority of Jamaica said Friday.

"The good news is that nobody got hurt and the damage was minimal to the vessel and it was able to continue its journey unfazed and really unaffected," Bartlett said.

Jamaican authorities are now repairing the damage caused to the dock, which they said did not disrupt cruise shipping operations or schedules.

"We are repairing the damaged areas at the port now. The divers are there now recovering the broken elements and we should be back in full order for the ships that come next week," Bartlett said.

Despite what happened at Falmouth, the Harmony of the Seas was able to follow the planned schedule for its seven-night western Caribbean itinerary.

The ship, which carried more than 7,000 passengers at the time of the crash, was set to return to Port Canaveral in Florida Sunday after visiting Royal Caribbean's private destination in Labadee, Haiti.

Another Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Radiance of the Seas, went through a similar experience earlier this month when it struck a dock structure at the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal in Alaska.

harmony of the seas
The Harmony of the Seas (Oasis 3) class ship leaves the STX Les Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard site in St. Nazaire, France, March 10, 2016. Reuters/Stephane Mahe