Capsized Shore Excursion Boat

[darin]

 

 

F.Y.I.

 

I was on an excursion in the Cayman Islands with my family last Friday, the boat that we were on capsized and sent all 56 passengers into the sea. Go to the Costa board if you would like more information.

 

This is a photo of the boat right after it capsized on Friday April 7th.

 

We did book this tour through the cruise line. The name of the tour was Reef and Rays.

 

Kirk Sea Tours was the name of the excursion operator.

[wrp96]

darin, I'm sorry your family had to go through this. Hopefully nobody else will.

 

This is the link to the thread on the Costa board http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=6348760#post6348760.

[toledo]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. I can't beleive everyone was o.k. I really wonder if there are enough life jackets on board these boats and even the tender boats that take you to and from Grand Cayman. Did anyone even have time to grab one?

[darin]

I can't believe everyone survived also, I can't stop thinking about it. No everyone did not have life jackets, most did though, as we were required to wear while snorkeling, but not while on the boat. My youngest daughter did not have a life jacket on when the boat capsized. Debris was floating everywhere (some life jackets included) the first life jacket we put on her had a leak and would not inflate - the second worked. Just an observation - the life jackets were the type that only went around your waist, they did not have the strap that went between your legs. In all the commotion we had to hold the life jacket on our youngest child due to the lack of this strap.

[tcrny]

Darin, I'm so sorry about that. How thankful everyone was alright. How did it happen? Was it because of weather? That is very scary. We were just in GC 2 weeks ago and booked our own excursion for the stingrays. Unfortunately the winds kicked up in the early afternoon, and the waves were a little to high for us to even stand in the sandbar with the stingrays. Plus the waves kind of scared them away. I hear it is very common for strange weather to come in to GC often. I'm just glad you are all okay. Cathy/NY

[shirleygr]

darin,

thank you so much for posting your experiences. I can't believe no-one was gravely injured or worse. Certainly the angels had you all in their hands. I was so grateful to read your sil and her baby were okay. Just so scary for us to read, I can't imagine how terrifying (sp?) it was for you, your family, and everyone else on that boat. I hope you get everything resolved with the cruiseline to your satisfaction.

[martdm]

Oh Darin, I am so very sorry you all had to experience such a trauma. Thank goodness everyone is OK, including your sister-in-law & the baby! I'm sure the physical bumps & bruises will heal long before the emotional ones do and I wish you all nothing but positive thoughts as you cope with this experience!

 

I got a bit of a chill reading your story and thinking back on our visit to GC last Wednesday. We had booked a non-ship excursion consisting of a Jeep tour of the island and a couple hours at Rum Point. As we left we commented to our guide about the massive amounts of people starting to arrive at the dock there & how we were glad to beat the rush. He told us he views many of these boats as dangerous due to serious problems of them not being completely seaworthy, not having experienced crews, and being overloaded with far too many people. He stated that they were an accident waiting to happen and, unfortunately, he was apparently correct!

 

I'm shocked at the stance Costa has taken regarding this tour. OK, it is an independent company but, as a ship sponsored tour, passengers are entitled to some level of assurance that these companies are safe and reliable. Certainly in this case they could offer some assistance regarding replacement items or even accepting the recovered items to be returned to their owners. To wipe their hands of everything but refunding the excursion fee is appalling! Celebrity went above and beyond the call for their passengers affected by a tragedy on a non-ship sponsored tour and Costa seems to be thumbing their noses at everyone whose life was endangered on their sponsored tour. What a horrifying experience all the way around!