Alaska ? A riverboat-style cruise ship ran aground off the Alaska coast early Monday, forcing an evacuation of more than 200 passengers before it could move again with a Coast Guard escort.

All passengers were evacuated from the Empress of the North by 7 a.m. and returned to Juneau aboard a ferry. One person was taken to a hospital for observation, a city employee said.

Passengers said they were jolted awake when the ship hit the rocks in a remote part of a southeast Alaska archipelago in the middle of the night. They were ordered to don lifejackets and gather in the ballroom, where a singer and piano player entertained them with songs including “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” as they waited for rescue.

“The Coast Guard was amazing. The crew was amazing, and because of that everyone was extremely calm. No one got excited. No one panicked,” said Linda Starn, of Apple Valley, Calif.

Mary Zanis Crosby, 83, of Seattle, said that “the rumble was horrendous” when the ship ran aground, but that she was never frightened during the ordeal.

“I considered it an adventure, although I’d have rather been doing something else,” she said with a laugh.