Freak waves spark chaos aboard Carnival Spirit cruise ship

Passengers have recounted terrifying scenes aboard the Carnival Spirit cruise ship after it was rocked by wild weather off the coast of New South Wales last Friday.

Photos posted online show the chaos wreaked inside the ship, with plates and spilled condiments strewn haphazardly across the floor of a buffet room, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Another photo shows monster wales, visible just through the porthole window of another passenger’s cabin.

Winds of up to 100km/h threw the cruise liner from side to side during the wild weather.

Passenger Judith Spence posted pictures and video of the incident to social media.

"Thought we were going to roll over," she wrote.

"Everything banging in the night. That was scary," fellow passenger Jacqui Clark wrote.

Third passenger Melissa Kauter said she was "never so glad to be on solid ground".

Two people were hurt after metal cladding was torn off a building at a railway station and onto a pedestrian walkway in Sydney’s CBD by the gale force winds.

Across Sydney, the intense winds left a trail of destruction as the SES responded to at least 898 calls for help.