Oasis 2/1 Cruise

[bjsurman]

We are Just off the Oasis 2/1 cruise. Last night we had a bit of excitement. We picked up a raft with 8Cuban refuges. I wasn't able to get any other information as to what kind of shape they were in and wondered if anyone knew what happened to them?

[ksg]

We are Just off the Oasis 2/1 cruise. Last night we had a bit of excitement. We picked up a raft with 8Cuban refuges. I wasn't able to get any other information as to what kind of shape they were in and wondered if anyone knew what happened to them?

 

We were on that sailing. According to a security crew member we were talking to after the Coast Guard came to get them, here's what transpired.

 

There were 18 Cubans on a falling apart raft - no children and most in their 20s I don't know if all male or a mix male/female. The motor failed about 15 miles away from Cuba and they were in the water for 5 days. A number of cargo ships did not heed their SOS call (disgusting!). When rescued, they were dehydrated and one had a broken leg from being hit by either an oar or the mast. Oasis crew went out to get them in a dingy and pulled their raft in. Once off the raft, crew painted "Rescued" on the raft and let it go out to sea. The refugees were taken care of on board and the U.S. Coast Guard was called. We watched the Coast Guard take them off the ship several hours after the rescue - I want to say they took them four at a time and put them on the Coast Guard ship. Then according to the security crew member, they will be taken back to Cuba.

 

We were delayed by Customs/Immigration getting off the ship yesterday - take note folks - it was a nail-biter to make a 1:00 pm flight, but we did check one of the later boxes to get off, preferring to stay on the ship than cooling our heels at the airport for hours. I wonder if the delay had anything to do with picking up the Cubans?

 

We had a great time on the cruise, by the way. Weather was perfect. Now we are cold again.

[cruisegirl1976]

We were on that sailing. According to a security crew member we were talking to after the Coast Guard came to get them, here's what transpired.

 

There were 18 Cubans on a falling apart raft - no children and most in their 20s I don't know if all male or a mix male/female. The motor failed about 15 miles away from Cuba and they were in the water for 5 days. A number of cargo ships did not heed their SOS call (disgusting!). When rescued, they were dehydrated and one had a broken leg from being hit by either an oar or the mast. Oasis crew went out to get them in a dingy and pulled their raft in. Once off the raft, crew painted "Rescued" on the raft and let it go out to sea. The refugees were taken care of on board and the U.S. Coast Guard was called. We watched the Coast Guard take them off the ship several hours after the rescue - I want to say they took them four at a time and put them on the Coast Guard ship. Then according to the security crew member, they will be taken back to Cuba.

 

We were delayed by Customs/Immigration getting off the ship yesterday - take note folks - it was a nail-biter to make a 1:00 pm flight, but we did check one of the later boxes to get off, preferring to stay on the ship than cooling our heels at the airport for hours. I wonder if the delay had anything to do with picking up the Cubans?

 

We had a great time on the cruise, by the way. Weather was perfect. Now we are cold again.

 

We were on the same cruise and had no trouble at customs/immigration , we were off the ship by 8:45am.. I wonder if something happened after?