GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands -- Salvage workers weighing 24 anchors finally freed the luxury liner Rhapsody 78 days after it went aground on a coral reef off Grand Cayman Island.
The 24,000-ton cruise ship was freed early Thursday, and a spokeswoman for its owner -- Paquet French Cruises -- said 'it is essentially undamaged.
It will be reballasted and certified by the Coast Guard.'
Several attempts had been made to free the ship since it went aground March 28. Then, salvage workers using 24 anchors, 1,000 tons of tugging pressure and a special barge finally freed the vessel from its Caribbean trap.
'I had champagne for breakfast,' Jean-Claude Potier, executive vice president of Paquet French Cruises, said after the rescue.
The Paquet spokeswoman said the 600-foot ship will be placed in drydock in Galveston, Texas, and undergo a complete checkup. 'It should resume sailing very shortly unless something develops that we don't know about,' she added.
Nearly 800 passengers were aboard the Rhapsody when she went aground. They were flown back to Miami, and the ship line was forced to cancel 12 other cruises.
The Rhapsody is scheduled to begin an Alaskan cruise July 12.
A crew of about 120 remained aboard the vessel since it ran aground just off the coast of Grand Cayman Island, south of Cuba.
A spokesman for the government of the island nation said an inspection of the reef was continuing, to determine the extent of the damage caused by the shipping mishap.
