Bane Macleod

MIAMI (Reuters) - Pirates firing rocket-mounted grenades and machine guns tried to board a U.S.-owned cruise ship in the Indian Ocean on Saturday but the vessel carrying more than 300 people escaped and no one was hurt, its owners said.

Men in two small boats approached the Seabourn Cruise Line ship Spirit about 100 miles off the Somali coast, fired on it and sought to board the 10,000-ton vessel in an apparent bid to rob the passengers and crew, cruise line spokesman Bruce Good said.

"The crew responded with a trained response that they do to keep people from getting on the ship. They managed to evade them, repel them and keep them off the ship," Good said.

The 161-member crew gathered the 151 passengers into a central lounge away from windows and decks during the attack, he said.

"There were some windows broken, nothing that affected seaworthiness," Good said. "The crew did an excellent job and those guys gave up. ... These guys didn't plan this too well."

The cruise line's president, Deborah Natansohn, told CNN that the attackers used machine guns and rocket-mounted grenades.