Pacific Princess has been in the wars (or walls to be precise)

So this week has been a bad week for the Pacific Princess as 10 days into a 12-night voyage it has emerged that she has been in an accident in Nice Harbour.  It appears that as she was moving across the harbour in strong winds she has collided with part of the breakwater wall causing her to take on water from a hole under the water line.  Many passengers reported to hear a loud bang he collision that went on to echo through the harbour

Thankfully neither crew nor passengers were injured during the incident, and the captain reacted quickly to close the water tight doors to secure the ship.  Princess have been forced to cancel the current cruise and following sailing whist divers are assessing the damage, as she goes in for repairs.  All customers have been issued a refund and a future cruise certificate and have been transported by Princess to meet their travel arrangements home.

My question would be, that in a modern ship that was sailing in a heavily chartered port that is regularly used by many a cruise ship, how do incidents like this happen?  Surely the Captain would be aware of the high winds and that the ship would act almost as a sail in these conditions and so can easily be blown of course.  Then why would they be sailing so close to the breakwater wall?

This could have been a lot worse for the people on board and when people still have the Costa Concordia incident in their recent memory, could this potentially damage the Princess Cruises reputation?  My guess, probably not, as Costa themselves have proven, and the incident seems to have made little noise in the media, but it does go to highlight that accidents still can and do happen when you least expect them to.

Let me know your thoughts below