Tour Bus accident during our FOS July 19, 2012

I was on the FOS this past week and there was a terrible accident on one of RCCL shore excursion's while at St. Marteen Island. Here is a link to the accident. I was wondering if there were others on this ship that knew about it too. I am hoping the hurt passengers are doing much better today. How scary and frightening it must of been for the passengers. I have heard conflicting stories of how Royal handled the hurt passengers and hope they were treated greatly by Royal.

http://www.todaysxm.com/2012/07/20/few-injured-but-many-shaken-at-loterie-farm/

Here is another link and pictures http://www.sxmislandtime.com/component/k2/item/19371-serious-accident-at-pic-paridis-thursday-tourist-injured.html

It sounds like it could have been a lot worse...thankfully nobody was seriously hurt.

Wow, that's scary!

Just plain lucky that more were not badly injured, hope the taxi driver recovers ok. That must have been extremely frightening for everyone.

Having done some excursions which required buses and large open air cattle cars, I found them a tad scary.

Since then, I never do any excursions that require such transportation.

I was on the FOS this past week and there was a terrible accident on one of RCCL shore excursion's while at St. Marteen Island. Here is a link to the accident. I was wondering if there were others on this ship that knew about it too. I am hoping the hurt passengers are doing much better today. How scary and frightening it must of been for the passengers. I have heard conflicting stories of how Royal handled the hurt passengers and hope they were treated greatly by Royal.

http://www.todaysxm.com/2012/07/20/few-injured-but-many-shaken-at-loterie-farm/

Here is another link and pictures http://www.sxmislandtime.com/component/k2/item/19371-serious-accident-at-pic-paridis-thursday-tourist-injured.html

I was on the bus sitting front row, directly behind the driver. My twin boys were sitting front row on the passenger side. No other passenger saw what I saw - it was the most frightening experience of our lives and one which will haunt us forever. I got seriously banged up and required stitches as well as one of my sons. Had I not dove over to protect them and absorbe their impact before we hit they would have been much more seriously injured. How no one was killed is a miracle. This should never been an endorsed excursion by the cruise line - not for the zip line part itself, but for the access in and out of the property and lack of safety guidelines that one would assume would be a stricked requirement of the operators moving passengers. My son and I were transported by separate ambulances...ambulance attendants had to get out of the ambulance to make it up this ski hill of an access into this excursion. I have much more to say but prefer to remain silent at this time.

So glad to hear that you and your boys are recovering.

This could also have happened at home though. Accidents are just that....accidents. I will agree that the roads in St. Maarten are atrocious at times having driven all over that island. And RCCL could have accessed this excursion better to make it safer. I also have heard that they are trying to improve their roads lately so hope this gets done. Wonder if anyone of you are thinking of sueing the farm. Sounds like a private road up there.

We were thinking about Loterie for our upcoming cruise. I think we're now considering a sail instead. Thanks for the report.

Having traveled much of Europe, Mexico, South America, Africa, even the US, on a bus, to places, that were safer and others unbelievably dangerous IMHO, and survived to tell about it again and again, what memories. It is just the travel experience and not setting in a recliner at home or taking your lifestyle with you when you travel.

Stuff happens ANYWHERE, always feel for the people it happens to but that is lifes journey.

Glad they are all alive.

Just in the past 4 days there have been 2 head on crashes around Raleigh, NC. where people died including an 18 month old. Unfortunately accidents happen and you hope to live to tell the tale. Glad no one was hurt seriously.

Must say, I've never seen a Dutch or French (or any Western European) territory that one can consider "Third World", especially having been to real Third World countries.

OK, fine. Shame on me.

Let me re-phrase. When travelling just about anywhere, I have found that in many foreign countries, their transportation vehicles, in conjunction with their transportation infrastructure (bridges, roads, etc.) have a lot to be desired.

Because of this, I do not take excursions that require cattle cars or buses.

St. Martin and especially St. Thomas are two places I have found this to be the case.

OK, fine. Shame on me.

 

Let me re-phrase. When travelling just about anywhere, I have found that in many foreign countries, their transportation vehicles, in conjunction with their transportation infrastructure (bridges, roads, etc.) have a lot to be desired.

 

Because of this, I do not take excursions that require cattle cars or buses.

 

St. Martin and especially St. Thomas are two places I have found this to be the case.

Fair enough. However, the US is often regarded as having some of the worst infrastructure in the first world, so that is something to keep in mind - this stuff can happen anywhere. In regards to vehicles, how long ago was it that a bus flipped off the highway in NYC and killed a several people? Not long. Or if you grab a taxi in just about any major US city, how insane does the driver drive? Always seems to be one move away from crashing in to pedestrians...and that does happen several times a year around the country. My cousin saw it happen last year outside the Embassy Suites in Chicago.

I'm not criticizing you, I'm just saying...this stuff can happen anywhere.

Just in the past 4 days there have been 2 head on crashes around Raleigh, NC. where people died including an 18 month old. Unfortunately accidents happen and you hope to live to tell the tale. Glad no one was hurt seriously.

And one in south Texas this weekend with 11 killed, and 12 injured....when a pick up truck carrying all 23 (yes, all 23 were in an F-250 pickup) went off the road and struck 2 trees. Several of the injured have life threatening injuries. Things like this happen everywhere.

Also glad no one was hurt seriously in the St. Martin incident.

 

I'm not criticizing you, I'm just saying...this stuff can happen anywhere.

Yes and no.

No being ... I will not be killed in a foreign country inside a cattle car or bus.

They might run me over:eek:, but, I will not be inside.

Yes and no.

 

No being ... I will not be killed in a foreign country inside a cattle car or bus.

 

They might run me over:eek:, but, I will not be inside.

OK...what happens if you're inside a bus in the US and die? It's not unheard of. That's all I am getting at. I travel to some pretty sketchy places and have felt worried for my safety inside a bus or taxi...but have also felt the same level of worry inside a taxi in Atlanta, and inside a bus in Chicago.

And I've almost been run over by a bus so many times, you get used to it ;)

 

That is a bit over the top.

 

But, transportation vehicles in third world countries, in conjunction with their transportation infrastructure (bridges, roads, etc.) has a lot to be desired.

 

Been there, done it, not again.

Amen to that Jonneeo. We took a "tour bus" trip through St. Thomas last year...stick-shift pick-up with a cab on the back of it doing 50mph on one-lane streets twisting and turning blinding against opposing traffic doing the same blindly. A few months later that same tour flip down the side of a cliff, injuring many. Scary and never again.

It sounds like it could have been a lot worse...thankfully nobody was seriously hurt.

Having been in a van that rolled over, it certainly looks like it could have been much worse. Definitely something that sticks with you.

Here is one from St. Thomas...yikes!

I was on the bus sitting front row, directly behind the driver. My twin boys were sitting front row on the passenger side. No other passenger saw what I saw - it was the most frightening experience of our lives and one which will haunt us forever. I got seriously banged up and required stitches as well as one of my sons. Had I not dove over to protect them and absorbe their impact before we hit they would have been much more seriously injured. How no one was killed is a miracle. This should never been an endorsed excursion by the cruise line - not for the zip line part itself, but for the access in and out of the property and lack of safety guidelines that one would assume would be a stricked requirement of the operators moving passengers. My son and I were transported by separate ambulances...ambulance attendants had to get out of the ambulance to make it up this ski hill of an access into this excursion. I have much more to say but prefer to remain silent at this time.

What a terrible experience for you and your boys to go through.

Hope you have recovered physically from this, emotionally is something that takes time.

I respect your privacy and hope that you will come back to tell us more when you are ready. Thank you for posting.

***

OK, fine. Shame on me.

 

Let me re-phrase. When travelling just about anywhere, I have found that in many foreign countries, their transportation vehicles, in conjunction with their transportation infrastructure (bridges, roads, etc.) have a lot to be desired.

 

Because of this, I do not take excursions that require cattle cars or buses.

 

St. Martin and especially St. Thomas are two places I have found this to be the case.

Those open air vehicles they use in St. Thomas are particularly unsafe.

Before I get in a taxi in St. Martin or St. Thomas I take a good look at it. Particularly at the tires.

It sounds like it could have been a lot worse...thankfully nobody was seriously hurt.

A men.......

Probably calling it third world because it doesn't have five star resorts and the golf course needs work. :p

I stayed there for a week this past June. It has all of the amenities of most places in the US. It just has a lot more hills. Some of those driveways are scary and I agree that riding in a bus on one doesn't rank very highly for me.

Glad the injuries were relatively minor and that folks will recover from them. I hope Royal (and other cruise lines) reconsider using buses for those steep drives. I also hope it doesn't turn people off to SXM. It really is a wonderful place to visit. Having been there three times on cruise ships, we went back for a full week and it was wonderful. We're already planning to go back.

Not only did I not feel safe riding on this "bus," but it took us to some seedy neighborhoods. I get that it is the reality of the situation, but a few places it took us, I just didn't feel as safe as I should.

I was on the bus sitting front row, directly behind the driver. My twin boys were sitting front row on the passenger side. No other passenger saw what I saw - it was the most frightening experience of our lives and one which will haunt us forever. I got seriously banged up and required stitches as well as one of my sons. Had I not dove over to protect them and absorbe their impact before we hit they would have been much more seriously injured. How no one was killed is a miracle. This should never been an endorsed excursion by the cruise line - not for the zip line part itself, but for the access in and out of the property and lack of safety guidelines that one would assume would be a stricked requirement of the operators moving passengers. My son and I were transported by separate ambulances...ambulance attendants had to get out of the ambulance to make it up this ski hill of an access into this excursion. I have much more to say but prefer to remain silent at this time.

I was on the bus sitting front row, directly behind the driver. My twin boys were sitting front row on the passenger side. No other passenger saw what I saw - it was the most frightening experience of our lives and one which will haunt us forever. I got seriously banged up and required stitches as well as one of my sons. Had I not dove over to protect them and absorbe their impact before we hit they would have been much more seriously injured. How no one was killed is a miracle. This should never been an endorsed excursion by the cruise line - not for the zip line part itself, but for the access in and out of the property and lack of safety guidelines that one would assume would be a stricked requirement of the operators moving passengers. My son and I were transported by separate ambulances...ambulance attendants had to get out of the ambulance to make it up this ski hill of an access into this excursion. I have much more to say but prefer to remain silent at this time.

Were you the dark haired man at the guest services desk talking to a guest services person when I was there? That was the only time I heard anyone talk about the accident and it was pretty obvious that the guest services person was going to stonewall you (if that was you, of course), just like they stonewalled me. If they cannot help you with an instant fix that is within their authority, they just keep standing there looking at you until you feel a little foolish and walk away. I got perfect satisfaction in the end, but no one ever called and told me that my problem was fixed and much better than I thought it would be.

Anyway, if you want to talk, here we are.

My entire family (16 of us) were also on this sailing and heard absolutely nothing about this accident. I'm grateful that no one was seriously injured and everyone was able to return to the ship.

I completely agree with peteukmcr that once again, a thread has migrated to everything but the original topic. It's for this reason, I won't post my numerous list of issues with this sailing on these boards. Instead I plan on sharing them directly with RCI Customer Service. I'm afraid the "Loyal to Royalers" will take my Diamond C&A head off if I say anything negative.