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"It looked like a really bad remake of the 'Titanic,' " said Linda Starn, an Apple Valley, Calif., resident who was aboard the Empress of the North when it ran aground Monday off Alaska.

As Starn and other passengers gathered in the ballroom, waiting to be rescued, they sang "oldies but goodies" with a piano player and singer as the ship slowly listed. One of the tunes was "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

It wasn't immediately clear why the riverboat-style ship, carrying 206 passengers and 75 crew members, ran aground. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the mishap, which resulted in one person being taken to a hospital for observation, according to a Juneau city official.

Starn said that when she was jolted awake Monday, she thought an earthquake had struck.

Starn and her husband, Jack, were on their first cruise when the ship hit a rock in Alaska's Inside Passage, forcing the evacuation of more than 200 passengers. Starn said that she was terrified at first but that the rescue went smoothly. "No one got excited. No one panicked," she said.

When Coast Guard helicopters reached the area, the vessel was listing at the southern end of Icy Strait, about 50 miles southwest of Juneau, and it was taking on water, the Coast Guard said.

As the ship's pumps worked to remove the water, the passengers were transferred to other boats in the area and then to an Alaska state ferry to be taken to Juneau.

"It couldn't have been better orchestrated, the way things fell into place," said Petty Officer Barry Lane. The Empress of the North floated free of the rock during the evacuation, and the crew was able to stabilize the ship, said the Coast Guard. State officials said the hull was significantly damaged.

The passengers were bused to Juneau's convention center, where, tired and disheveled, they got food and a place to lie down. Arrangements were being made to fly everyone home the same day.

The Empress of the North is operated by Majestic America Line, of Seattle. The ship has 112 staterooms and a three-story paddlewheel, according to its website. The American-built ship also was used on cruises on the Columbia River between Washington state and Oregon.

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