JUNEAU, Alaska — What began as a 40th wedding anniversary cruise for a St. Augustine couple turned into an unforgettable experience Monday when a rare and powerful storm battered the Celebrity Edge cruise ship, snapping its dock lines and sending it adrift in the harbor in Juneau, Alaska.

Tena Crook and her husband, high school sweethearts from St. Augustine, were enjoying blue skies from their 11th-floor balcony when the weather took a sudden turn.

“It was like this wall of wind just started hitting us,” Crook said. “We went inside for two minutes, and when we came back out, the back end of the ship had already broken away from the pier.”

Cell phone video captured the chaos as heavy winds snapping the ship’s lines. In the footage, passengers can be heard shouting, “Look, look, they’re snapping!” followed by screams as the ship drifted away from the dock.

The captain issued a code “echo echo echo,” signaling the ship was adrift and crew members rushed to their emergency positions

“You start seeing all of the crew members just very determined, going to their positions,” Crook said. “We’re Floridians, we do hurricanes, but we’ve never seen cruise ship lines snap and then drift toward other cruise ships in the harbor. That was a new one.”

As the ship drifted dangerously close to other vessels, Crook said she and her husband tried to stay calm.

“We weren’t really scared for our safety at first, but it was nerve-wracking when we realized how close we were getting to the other ships,” she said.

It took four hours for the crew to regain control and safely re-dock the Celebrity Edge.

The storm forced the cancellation of the Crooks’ much-anticipated dog sledding excursion.

“We just ended up hitting the martini bar,” Crook said.

Despite the scare, Crook said the experience hasn’t soured her on cruising.

“No, it doesn’t change our mind,” she said. “How many times do you hear something like this happening? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event.”

Crook and her husband are continuing their cruise, now under calmer skies, grateful for their safety and another remarkable story to add to forty years of adventures together.

First Coast News reached out to Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean for comment. We have not heard back at this time.