Bridgewater Couple Safe After Nightmare Cruise: 'I've Never Prayed So Hard In My Life'

BOSTON (CBS) -- A couple from Bridgewater was among the hundreds of people stranded on a cruise ship off the coast of Norway last week. Pamela and Melvin Haddad are happy to be on dry land after being aboard the Viking Sky cruise when it lost engine power during stormy weather.

The retired teacher and veterinarian were celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary and Melvin's 77th birthday. They said they spend more than $20,000 on the trip.

"I tell you, I've never prayed so hard in my life. Just asked God to shine his light down and calm the sea and help this captain turn the ship," said Pamela.

"[Melvin] said, 'Look at me. You have to have faith. We are not going to die tonight. And I said, 'well, OK, you've got to hold yourself together, Pam and just get through this.' It was pretty hard," she continued.

Rescue teams airlifted 479 people from the ship after it was left adrift in stormy seas Saturday with 1,300 passengers and crew on board.

"The deck is wet. The boat is going like this. The choppers are fighting the wind. They put you on a line, If you had a big gust of wind, the person on that line goes slamming into the superstructure. No thank you," said Melvin.

Meanwhile, the Haddads said a representative for the cruise line was taking down names and room numbers, possibly in case the ship went down.

"Those waves were whamming -- I've never heard a wham like that -- whamming and whamming. It was kind of worse than turbulence on a plane," said Pamela.

Dozens of people were injured, some hospitalized. But Melvin, a Vietnam War veteran, stayed calm.

"There's one poor guy, he's younger than I am, holding on, 'I can't believe I'm going to die this way.' I said, 'You're not going to die.  I've been in worse situations than this.' 'Like what?' I pointed to my hat. I said, 'Don't worry we're going to get out of this," said Melvin in his 25th Infantry Division Vietnam Veteran hat.