Three Cambridge, Ontario residents were onboard a cruise ship targeted by pirates over the weekend off the coast of Somalia.

Travel agent Barbara Donaldson and her neighbours Gord and Celia Chaplin were on board the Seabourn Spirit as it was violently attacked Saturday morning.

"All of a sudden I heard this incredible bang," Barbara Donaldson told CTV News. "I looked out the window and I could see these boats, with men in them, with rockets, a grenade launcher, and machine guns."

Pirates wearing ski masks in speedboats chased the cruise ship firing rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles.

After the first strike on the luxury liner, the captain ordered passengers and crew to huddle in the middle of the dining room for safety.

"It was a very awful feeling, my stomach did a flip for sure," Donaldson said.

The attack happened about 160 kilometres off the coast of Somalia. The pirates got very close to the ship, but didn't manage to climb aboard.

The cruise ship is run by Seabourn Cruise Line, a unit of Carnival Corp. The company says one member of its 161-person crew was hurt by shrapnel.

The captain managed to keep the attackers off his boat by outrunning them, and changing course.

"He kept us informed very very well," Donaldson said. "He said what we're trying to do is not let these people get aboard this ship."

The ship is registered in the Bahamas, and made its first trip in 1989. It's 440-feet long, and can carry 208 guests plus crew.

According to Dan McTeague, the parliamentary secretary for Canadians abroad, it's believed more than 300 people were on board, of which 18 were Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

This isn't the first case of piracy in Somali waters. In the past year Somali warlords have hijacked a number of United Nations and cargo ships.

The Seabourn Spirit was headed for Mombasa, Kenya when it was attacked.

The International Maritime Bureau says there have been 25 pirate attacks within 240 km. of Somalia's coast since March 15th. That compares to just two in 2004.

The agency is warning ships to stay at least 240 km. away from shore.

A travel agent who works with Donaldson says this is the first time she's heard of an attack on a luxury passenger ship.

"Apparently in that area of the world these attacks are not entirely uncommon. I don't think they often target cruise ships," Michele Dickinson told CTV News.

Somalia has been without a navy or effective central government since 1991 when opposition leaders ousted a dictatorship. The opposition leaders then turned on one another. What remains is a county with seven million people and a number of warlords.

The country's Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has asked neighbouring countries to help patrol the coast. The shore is the longest in Africa, and follows main shipping routes connecting the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean.

NATO and American warships patrol the waters further from shore, but they're not allowed into Somali waters.

On Sunday, a Kenyan official told the Associated Press the same group of pirates who attacked the cruise ship likely seized a United Nations ship in June.

The ship was on a humanitarian mission to Somalia, carrying food. The crew was held for 100 days until the ship ran out of fuel.

The Seabourn Spirit was on a 16-day cruise which started in Alexandria, Egypt and was wrapping up.

The ship is now safely docked in the Seychelle Islands, in the Indian Ocean, off the east coast of Africa.

After arriving, passengers boarded busses for tours of the islands, and reporters were kept away. Many passengers are going to head to Singapore from the Seychelles. But, others who planned to tour Mombasa will head to Kenya aboard a chartered plane.

Since the attack, Seabourn officials have started re-evaluating their cruises traveling along the Somali coast.

"I think that in the future, Seabourn and any other cruise lines, if they are going to come into this part of the world, are going to have to pay for escort service to come through these areas," Donaldson said.

With a report from CTV's Nicole Lampa.