Tag Archives: cruise ships

Disney cruise stages dramatic rescue

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Disney cruise stages dramatic rescue of passenger who fell overboard from passing Royal Caribbean liner after holidaymakers spot him in water

  • 22-year-old had been a guest on Royal Caribbean ship Oasis of the Seas
  • Spotted in the water by crew aboard Disney Magic vessel later in the day
  • A lifeboat was dispatch to rescue the passenger near Cozumel, Mexico
  • Questions raised over cruise ship passenger detection technology

A passenger who went overboard during a luxury cruise was rescued by a passing Disney liner.

The 22-year-old, who had been a guest on Royal Caribbean ship Oasis of the Seas, was only spotted in the water by the eagle-eyed passengers and crew of the Disney Magic vessel as it passed by later in the day.

The incident happened on Thursday morning as the Magic was approaching Cozumel off the coast of Mexico.

The passenger can be seen on the far left of the picture as the rescue vessel approaches

It is not yet known how the passenger came to be in the water.

However, the incident is raising questions over whether cruise ships have the proper technology to detect when someone goes overboard.

Disney has credited a combination of passengers and crew from the Magic with spotting the man in the water, lowering a lifeboat, and getting him aboard the Magic.

Below is the Video of the Rescue.

The rescue mission was launched by Disney Magic after passengers and crew spotted someone bobbing in the water

The rescue mission was launched by Disney Magic after passengers and crew spotted someone bobbing in the water

The man was immediately transported to shore for treatment.

In a statement, Royal Caribbean said the ‘22-year-old male guest from Oasis of the Seas went overboard near Cozumel, Mexico.

‘He was spotted by a crew member from another cruise ship, and picked up. We are grateful for the other ship’s assistance.’

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said the cruise line has not yet provided additional comment, beyond its statement.

Scott Sanders, founder of The Disney Cruise Line Blog, said such a rescue at sea by the Magic crew is unusual.

The rescue mission was launched by Disney Magic after passengers and crew spotted someone bobbing in the water

‘It’s pretty darn fortunate that they were sailing in the vicinity,’ said Sanders, whose blog is not affiliated with Disney.

Jim Walker, a maritime attorney who reported on the incident on his Cruise Law News website, said the case points out the need for cruise ships to have better monitoring systems for detecting when someone falls off or jumps from a ship.

He said systems he would support include motion sensors and thermal detection systems that would indicate if someone goes overboard.

He also favours linking such systems to an alarm notification for crew so that an immediate search-and-rescue operation could begin.

The Oasis of the Seas is the world’s largest cruise ship, with a capacity of 6,360. The ship — which is based at Port Everglades, near Fort Lauderdale — was on a seven-night cruise to the Western Caribbean when the incident occurred.

The vessel has the capacity to house 5,400 passengers and 2,394 crew. It cost £800m and took three years to build in Turku, Finland before it was launched in 2009.

At 1,187ft, the Oasis of the Seas is longer than the Shard and wider than Boeing 747.

Cruise lines have mixed success on sanitation inspections in 2014

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The cruise industry had fewer ships in 2014 that received “not satisfactory” grades after inspection by the U.S Centers for Disease Control, but also fewer that scored a perfect 100.

Twelve vessels failed to grade out at 85, the minimum score needed to achieve a satisfactory rating, during inspections conducted in 2014.

Most were smaller, older ships carrying less than 1,000 passengers. Only one of the ships, the 2,348-passenger Norwegian Star, carried more than 2,000 passengers. The Star received an unsatisfactory grade on Feb. 16, then received a 95 on its next inspection on April 25.

The Bahamas Celebration, operated from West Palm Beach by Celebration Cruise Line, was the only ship to receive an unsatisfactory grade twice in 2014. It also did once in 2013. It was recently replaced by Grand Celebration, operated by a reorganized company, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line.

Un-Cruise Adventures, an operator of smaller ships along the U.S. West coast, had two ships receive unsatisfactory grades in 2014, the Safari Endeavor and Safari Quest. The 86-passenger Safari Endeavor also did once in 2013.

The newly launched Pearl Mist operated by Pearl Seas Cruises was graded 61 in an inspection on July 15.  Pearl Seas is a new cruise line that hadn’t operated ocean cruise ships before.

The low score of 31 was given to Schooner Zodiac, a 26-passenger two-masted tall ship sailing out of Belllingham, Wash.

Following their unsatisfactory grades, the Bahamas Celebration received a 90 on Sept. 3, the Safari Endeavor a 93 on Sept. 7, and the Safari Quest an 87 on July 18. The Pearl Mist submitted a nine-page corrective-action report but has not been reinspected. The Schooner Zodiac has not submitted a corrective-action report and has not been reinspected.

This year, 26 ships received perfect scores, down from 39 in 2013. Carnival Cruise Lines had eight ships that got perfect 100s, and Royal Caribbean International had six. Other lines with ships getting perfect scores were Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Disney Cruise Line.

Last year, 17 ships received unsatisfactory scores below 85, according to CDC records.

9 Fun Facts about Cruise Lines

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9 Fun Facts about Cruise Lines

9 Fun Facts about Cruise Lines:

1. An average cruise ship could have six huge diesel engines producing one hundred four horse powers and guzzling three thousand gallons of fuel per hour.

 

2. Cruise ships on modern design can actually cost about six hundred sixty million dollars.

 

3. There are nine brand new ships that entered service around the North America coast line every year.

 

4. A modern luxury cruise vessel is able to be built, fitted out and tested in one-and-a half years though it usually takes about three years.

 

5. On the average, there are one hundred five thousand meals are prepared every single week onboard a cruise ship. The meals include twenty thousand pounds of beef, twelve thousand pounds of chicken and twenty eight thousands of eggs.

 

6. There are about one thousand crew members on board the average ships to cater to passengers every need. These people are experts from engineers to waiter to navigators.

 

7. A modern cruise liner are able to hold three thousand passengers aboard in an absolute luxury.

 

8. Caribbean is the most popular cruising destination in the world with almost every cruise line operator.

 

9. The cruise line industry produces two thousand five hundred fifty five gallons of gray water and thirty thousand gallons of black water every single day. Gray waters are wastes from sinks, showers and bath while black waters is what you flush down the toilets.