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Excursion boat capsized!

LuvTheBoat

By LuvTheBoat,
in Costa Cruises

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LuvTheBoat

LuvTheBoat

Posted
Posted

Just got off the 4/2 Costa mediterranea sailing, when we were in Grand Cayman a excursion boat turned over heading to stingray city. 40+ people onboard. We were about 100 feet away on another boat. Anyone else hear about this? I have tried to find links to stories about it but haven't found any. Some of the people that were on the boat were talking about suing costa. I seriously doubt costa would have to take any responsability for this, we had to sign a release when we got on our boat to stingray city. Anyone hear anything about this or have any links to stories?

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LuvTheBoat

LuvTheBoat

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I agree....but you know how people are....any excuse to sue someone.. It's crazy. Totally without merit.....but pretty entertaining watching them yell at the guest service people about wanting satisfaction for their misfortune. They got the shore excursion for free, costa did that for them.....but that's not enough I guess.

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joetrizeo

joetrizeo

Posted
Posted

WOW!

 

I bet costa will not be working with that excursion outfit anymore!

 

i hope everyone was ok and was abel to swim away and get life vests on.

 

with all the publicity the media is shoving down our throats about the 'dangers of cruising' between the star princess fire and the bus flipped over, i'm SURE this will get media attention.

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drew sailbum

drew sailbum

Posted
Posted

I did not see what occurred, but have read the news account in the local paper.

 

Winds and seas were rather light that day. The news account indicates that the vessel had taken on some water and passengers all shifted to one side of the vessel.

 

Reports indicate it was carrying 54 passengers, 3 crew, and 1 representative of the cruise line. "It is not believed that anyone was seriously hurt."

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cusyl

cusyl

Posted
Posted
I did not see what occurred, but have read the news account in the local paper.

 

Winds and seas were rather light that day. The news account indicates that the vessel had taken on some water and passengers all shifted to one side of the vessel.

 

Reports indicate it was carrying 54 passengers, 3 crew, and 1 representative of the cruise line. "It is not believed that anyone was seriously hurt."

Could you please post the link to the newspaper article? Thank you...

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audreyt26

audreyt26

Posted
Posted

We actually saw it just after it happened on our way back from Stingray City with our independent tour booked with Capt Marvins. It was awful, people weren't hurt but they were packed like cattle on that boat. We had maybe 10 people on a nice cruiser and had a great time. I never heard good things about the ship excursions and am glad that we didn't take it. The day would have been ruined for us since my DH and DS can't swim!:confused:

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darin

darin

Posted
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I was on this tour with my wife, three daughters, their best friend, brother in law and my pregnant sister in law. I have to tell you that this is the most traumatic experience I have ever had in my life.

 

I am not sure where these people are getting their information from; I attended two meetings with Costa reps and the Captain of the Costa Mediterranea –I never once heard the mention of people suing Costa – What was requested was that Costa assist in helping us get our items replaced – Costa’s position is that it is the tour operators responsibility to take care of this – not Costa. We booked with Costa, and I expect them to take care of my damaged and lost items. Costa even gave us a letter explaining that this was an “Independent Tour” and that it was the tour operator’s responsibility to make things right with us.

 

Let me give you some facts:

 

The crew was inexperienced – many passengers kept commenting on the water on board the boat – their response was “we can take on a lot more water”

 

One of the crewmembers was from Argentina – he could not effectively communicate with the two other crewmembers. The Captain joked about the lack of communication skills during the introduction – I watched the crew member from Argentina motion to the Captain who was on the deck above that he was concerned about the water below.

 

When the boat flipped, I was standing in 6-8” of water – I was walking to towards the back of the boat with my two oldest daughters and their friend. I heard a lady scream “oh my god we are going to flip” and in a matter of seconds we did. There was no wind, there was not a sudden movement of people – there was just a tremendous amount of water on board, the weight of the water finally caused the boat to set low enough for the sea to catch it.

 

This was not a “Slow process of taking on water and gradually falling in the water”. You were immediately thrown into the side of the boat or out into the sea. Both my wife and I have bruises from the sudden sinking.

 

I went under water along with my two daughters and their friend, when we came up out of the water there was a barrier between us. The girls were petrified – it was if they could not think or understand what had just happened – I pulled all three girls through the metal divider – It was chaos – everyone was screaming help, calling out for people – I found my wife, youngest daughter and in-laws 10-15 feet away from the boat. I instructed the girls to swim over to them.

 

My family was picked up by a local person from the island (Jeff) – he had a float tube with a rope attached – my brother in-law and myself swam back to the boat twice to help people – I was not clear if the boat was going to flip over on top of us – people were petrified – they were refusing to let go of the portion of the boat sticking out of the water – I personally placed several people on this float. People were still screaming, looking for their loved ones. By this time the entire area around the boat was covered with diesel fuel and oil – that is what we were swimming in. Debris was everywhere – it looked as if a bomb had gone off.

 

Where was the crew? They were sitting on the piece of the boat that was still sticking out of the water. I have photos of this from a person who was on another ship that had taken the Stingray City tour. The crew did NOTHING to help – it was all the passengers helping out one another.

 

Not everyone had life vests on – my youngest daughter included. The first life vest we found for her did not work – the second one did. I assisted one other person whose vest would not hold air. My vest took on water – although it still functioned.

 

Once we returned to the ship I was informed by the Port Agent that he would have to escort me to the local Police station to fill out a report due to the lost Passports. I spent the rest of the day at the police department getting the necessary paperwork. I was the last person on the ship – while waiting for the tender to return – I observed a Cayman official try to return several containers of items that were recovered from the incident. The security official with Costa refused to take them back to the ship.

 

Once I retuned to the ship, the crew explained that the Cayman police needed a report from me – I was taken to a room where officials were taking reports from people who were on the tour. There were several officers from the ship that were insistent that the police hurry with their reports, as the ship needed to leave the port.

 

In closing – this was the scariest incident I have ever experienced in my life.I thank God that no lives were lost. In the future I would suggest for all to deal with facts and not here say. Your comments about suing have prompted a number of responses, again, just for the record I was there and never heard anyone mention suing. The reason that people wanted to have closure with Costa was that they live all over the world – Russia, France, and Canada.

 

darinhill@independence.net

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cusyl

cusyl

Posted
Posted

darin, sorry you and your family had to experience that, it must have been terrifying. drew, thank you for posting the links to the story.

It reminds us that we have to always be vigil on these islands to be sure the excursions and equipment used are safe.

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kehlx2

kehlx2

Posted
Posted
I was on this tour with my wife, three daughters, their best friend, brother in law and my pregnant sister in law. I have to tell you that this is the most traumatic experience I have ever had in my life.

 

I am not sure where these people are getting their information from; I attended two meetings with Costa reps and the Captain of the Costa Mediterranea –I never once heard the mention of people suing Costa – What was requested was that Costa assist in helping us get our items replaced – Costa’s position is that it is the tour operators responsibility to take care of this – not Costa. We booked with Costa, and I expect them to take care of my damaged and lost items. Costa even gave us a letter explaining that this was an “Independent Tour” and that it was the tour operator’s responsibility to make things right with us.

 

 

darinhill@independence.net

 

Oh my goodness how HORRIBLE for you & your family and everyone..I have always said in 'other' countries there are 'often' over booked tours & I have been on a train in Italy & we booked 2nd class--had to stand in the area where bathrooms were & connecting to the other cars--I said then if we crashed it would be over instantly. We booked a tour on Princess & flew into MX to Chizen Itza--well due to time difference on our ship & Grand Caymen--we were at the OLD airport & no facilities in MX--even no lights (no bathrooms-NOTHING except concrete to sit on)--it was dusk before our plane arrived(remember no landing lights either on ground)--the ship DID wait(ship had taxis lined up for 33 of us (one couple having their 50th anniversary-& family) to wisk us back to ship-missed 1st sitting dinner)--but I know there were a few people-that made issues & got their money back--for us it was only a bit of stress & a great story to tell. Now in your case I wouldn't want to even imagine..I am glad no one was injured enough for hosp (I assume as it wasn't mentioned)--I most likely would think twice about another tour--which is too bad. The fright has got to be horriflying. This would have been the month before our trip to Caymen on this ship. Again..I am so sorry for what you all went thru & I am sure those YOU helped are very happy you were there, also hope your SIL is ok from this tour also.

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jmoraski8

jmoraski8

Posted
Posted

i was wondering why we were delayed leaving port, I thought that someone must have gotten hurt or gone missing- I am so sorry to hear what happened to you- were you able to enjoy the day at sea afterwards? Were your children or in-laws bruised as well? Thank god you all survived.

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