A damaged hull forced a cruise ship to return to Honolulu this week for repairs days after it had left Maui on a course for Mexico.

The Grand Princess, a Princess Cruises ship that holds more than 2,600 passengers and 1,150 crew members, according to the company’s website, docked back at Honolulu Harbor on Monday after one of the vessel’s tender platforms broke loose, according to passengers who had disembarked and were walking near Aloha Tower.

The problem with the ship platform, which enables passengers to board and disembark, became apparent late last week after the Grand Princess had departed Lahaina and was sailing through heavy seas east of the Hawaiian Islands, they said.

Santa Clarita, Calif.-based representatives for Princess Cruises did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. However, Gina Cramer, associate editor of cruise-review website Cruise Critic, posted a statement on that site that she said came from the company.

“Although the platform is not part of the watertight integrity of the vessel, as a result of it opening, the hull sustained minor localized damage which has been secured,” the statement posted on Cruise Critic read.

Interviewed near Aloha Tower, Oregon resident Delfina Marquez said Tuesday that the crew told passengers after they secured the leak that the ship had taken on some water.

Similarly, a passenger posted to Cruise Critic, “We have been reassured that, though we are taking on some water, the bulkhead doors have been closed and that the ship is safe.”

It then took about two days to return to Hawaii, moving at about half the speed it was traveling toward Mexico, Marquez and other passengers said.

Crews on smaller vessels could be seen Monday working on the Grand Princess’ starboard hull where the damage had occurred. The ship had visited Hilo, Honolulu and Lahaina, and was about one day into an approximately four-day trip to Ensenada, Mexico, when the platform broke loose, Marquez and others said.

The cruise was supposed to take about two weeks and end where it started, in San Francisco, but the Princess staff was arranging to fly all the passengers home early from Honolulu, they added.

The passengers were slated to get a 50 percent refund on the cruise, plus they would be eligible for a 50 percent discount on a future cruise, they said.

Sacramento, Calif., residents Sandie and Bill Garner said they and their fellow passengers were in good spirits. “Nobody seemed really upset” — and the couple preferred to stay in Hawaii a bit longer instead of going to Mexico, they said.

Marquez said she was told the Grand Princess had already been scheduled for dry-dock maintenance immediately following this cruise.