Water Rides—Use at Your Risk

[CincyJen]

We were also on this cruise.  Although we really didn't consider riding the water slides anyway, we were puzzled as to why the looping slide was closed for the remainder of the cruise, after Tuesday (Day 4, St. Thomas.)  We didn't find out about the accident until we were off the ship, and only heard about it from another cruiser here at CC.  Weird that you never hear about this stuff on board, isn't it?  We watched from our balcony on Deck 15 when, in Nassau, the ambulance pulled up and appeared to evacuate someone from our ship.  It's interesting to me that, if the accident occurred on Tuesday, that the woman wasn't taken by ambulance in Tortola, which was the next day, Wednesday, and was instead taken away on Friday, in Nassau.  Any idea why there was such a delay?

 

I really hope she's OK.  Very scary story.  Thank you for sharing.  And it wasn't in the least bit "melodramatic," either.  Grrrrr. 

[Oldgoat61]

I went down that side many times last May.  As one poster said earlier, they have 3 crew members for that slide.  One at the top, one at the bottom, and the third in the "middle/trap door", close to where you go up the circular stairs.  The crew had to be asleep at the wheel not to notice that someone got stuck in the tube.  The tube had issues with women wearing one piece bathing suits.

Edited December 13, 2018 by Oldgoat61

[ArgoZ]

Yes, please stay away from these dangerous slides! If in turn, the lines are considerably shorter for myself, bonus!

[Sue Do-Over]

If they were using a slide with inner-tubes, I could see how a woman could get tangled (maybe her hair got caught?) and her tube went on without her. That could explain the scalp injury/tear, rather than injuries to arms or legs if she got sideways and jammed up.

If she's basically hanging on by her hair, the guys in tubes could have banged into her inside that larger tube without becoming stuck themselves.  Either way, horrifying.

I hope the injury was far enough up in her hairline that the scars will be less visible, and that the on-board doctor did a decent job of closing up the wound.

[nekocrouton]

On 12/3/2018 at 8:53 PM, Cruise Master 55 said:

1) It would actually be unusual to have a head wound that required 12 stitches and not have some swelling.

 

 

You have a medical degree to back up your diagnosis?  There's a pretty big difference between surface/subcutaneous swelling and cranial swelling.   Cranial swelling is quite serious and requires immediate medical attention.  The ship should have turned around and gone back to port if they really suspected cranial swelling, instead of waiting three more days.

 

Yes, riding any of those rides on a cruise ship is at your own risk, but it sounds like NCL may be liable if the attendants weren't  doing their job of making sure that the tube was clear before they sent another rider down.  I'm not a lawyer though, just my opinion.

 

It's amazing to me how people around here will defend a cruise line to death over someone getting seriously injured, and with a potential life-threatening injury at that.  The lack of empathy is disappointing. 

 

And I don't think that the original post is dramatic.  The OP just wanted to inform us of a situation that happened on his cruise in order to warn others to be careful.  Nothing wrong with that.  The people who think it's dramatic seem to be the ones who are stanning a cruise line like their life depends upon it.  Corporations are not your friends, and they're definitely not going to give you anything special for defending them on a random cruise message board in the depths of the internet.

[Laszlo]

On 12/5/2018 at 8:17 AM, mjkacmom said:

So many memories, almost drowning in the wave pool and scars from the Alpine slide, my friends and I loved traction park! It was unique because many of the attractions were not generic rides and slides, but built into the terrain. It reopened a few years ago. 

 

 

LOVED That place, I'm surprised my friends and I are still alive to talk about it Lol

[cheersforbeers]

11 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

 

LOVED That place, I'm surprised my friends and I are still alive to talk about it Lol

Laszlo, First thing I noticed was no helmet.  Also I can remember back in the day Parents taking responsibility for their kids and not just trusting them to  attendants. IMHO 

[cathi007]

6 hours ago, cheersforbeers said:

Laszlo, First thing I noticed was no helmet.  Also I can remember back in the day Parents taking responsibility for their kids and not just trusting them to  attendants. IMHO 

I remember going there when I was a kid. I got cement burn from the alpine slide, lol  good times

[Laszlo]

9 hours ago, cathi007 said:

I remember going there when I was a kid. I got cement burn from the alpine slide, lol  good times

 

Ah, The carefree days of the early 1980's, times like that will never happen again

[snoozcroozr]

I was on the Escape last week and noticed a few things different on the drop slide than when I rode the ones on the Breakaway a few years ago.  Now they weigh you before they let you down...even if you are way above the minimum weight limit.  Plus the water flow seems to be so great now that you can barely keep your eyes open during the ride.  It might have been like that a few years ago, but my DW would have remembered it.

 

On the next to last day, after coming out of the gym around 4:30pm, I rinsed off in the open shower and decided to keep my gym shirt on because of the cold and wind when riding the slide.  I felt this weird sensation in the midst of the ride and realized I was sliding backward.  I looked something resembling a hatch and banged on it and was let out right away, asked if I was ok and had to give my name and room number so they can log it.  At the time, I though it was strange they did that since it was more of an embarrassment.  I asked why I would get stuck and was told it was probably my shirt.  There was no scare of anyone hitting me, since the hatch person is the one giving the all clear, and being cold and late, nobody was using the slides anymore.

 

I did have issues with the slides on the Breakaway though, the regular slide's g-force was so high that if I kept upright, blood would flow away from my head and I would sometimes come out dizzy and light-headed.  I still miss that ride compared to the tube ride.