Carnival Celebration Makes Late-Night Rescue as Makeshift Boat Takes On Water
Even though cruise ships are very focused on offering a memorable cruise vacation, there are times when more serious situations arise, and a ship must switch. This was the case with the 5,362-passenger Carnival Celebration.
During the ship’s February 15 Caribbean sailing, the Carnival Celebration came to the rescue of five people aboard a makeshift boat. According to a passenger who got in touch with Cruise Hive, the rescue took place approximately 10:00 PM on Tuesday, February 18.
One passenger told Cruise Hive, whose cabin was right above and watching it all unfold, said, “Well, the Carnival Celebration rescued 5 Cuban immigrants on Tuesday night. It was around 10ish at night. It was almost directly under our balcony.“
The small makeshift boat was apparently taking on water, and the five people onboard were trying to paddle as fast as they could. The Carnival Celebration managed to get alongside the boat to pull them to safety.
“They were bailing water as fast as possible with what looked like a 5 gallon ice cream container. They were paddling faster than I’ve ever seen anyone paddle. We watched them have to take their shirts off, I’m guessing they checked for guns, and hauled them in one by one. We we went inside their boat was still attached with 2 ropes but we don’t know what happened to their boat,” the Carnival Celebration passenger said to Cruise Hive.
The rescue took place as the Excel-class ship was heading for the Bahamas, after departing Roatan in Honduras earlier in the evening on Tuesday.
At this time, the Carnival ship is still on course for its scheduled visit to the cruise line’s private destination of Celebration Key in the Bahamas, with an arrival on Sunday, February 21. The 7-night Western Caribbean cruise is set to come to an end back in Miami, Florida, on February 22.
Cruise Hive has reached out to Carnival Cruise Line for further details and will update this story.
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Carnival Celebration Makes Late-Night Rescue as Makeshift Boat Takes On Water