Allure passenger killed on zip line tour

[Biker19]

I can't fathom how this could be due to the "poor operation" of the couple.

On some zip lines the customer can go on their own and not be limited by operating staff - or went anyway despite operator not providing clearance.

[CruisingNole]

On some zip lines the customer can go on their own and not be limited by operating staff - or went anyway despite operator not providing clearance.

 

Explain what you mean by "go on their own and not be limited by operating staff." I've NEVER seen a zip line open to your average Joe on a cruise ship that wasn't in full control at all times by an operator. If it weren't, it would be incredibly unsafe.

[Biker19]

Explain what you mean by "go on their own and not be limited by operating staff." I've NEVER seen a zip line open to your average Joe on a cruise ship that wasn't in full control at all times by an operator. If it weren't, it would be incredibly unsafe.

The customer could just ignore the operator or not wait for the go signal and just launch - one of those stupid "watch this" moments.

[awestover89]

The customer could just ignore the operator or not wait for the go signal and just launch - one of those stupid "watch this" moments.

 

In our experience, the zip line operator won't even hook the next customer onto the line until they get the go ahead from the employee at the other end. We've mostly done ziplines in the US though, only one in the Caribbean. How it should be done is:

 

Passenger one hooked onto the line

Passenger one sent down the line

Employee brings in passenger one, unhooks them, and moves them off the landing platform

Employee radios back to the employee at the start platform

Repeat with Passenger two

[A&L_Ont]

In our experience, the zip line operator won't even hook the next customer onto the line until they get the go ahead from the employee at the other end. We've mostly done ziplines in the US though, only one in the Caribbean. How it should be done is:

 

Passenger one hooked onto the line

Passenger one sent down the line

Employee brings in passenger one, unhooks them, and moves them off the landing platform

Employee radios back to the employee at the start platform

Repeat with Passenger two

 

 

That is my experience as well in Hawaii. If you go to the July 8th update that I linked below it says there were no 2 way radios for communication. I don’t really like the website I linked, but it might paint a clearer picture of what happened.

 

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/

[Ourusualbeach]

That is my experience as well in Hawaii. If you go to the July 8th update that I linked below it says there were no 2 way radios for communication. I don’t really like the website I linked, but it might paint a clearer picture of what happened.

 

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/

 

Not sure if you caught this but he’s also the same one that wrote the article that was quoted at the beginning of this thread.

 

The only thing that we know for sure is that what should have happened and what did happen are two entirely different things that unfortunately ended in a tragedy.

[A&L_Ont]

Not sure if you caught this but he’s also the same one that wrote the article that was quoted at the beginning of this thread.

 

The only thing that we know for sure is that what should have happened and what did happen are two entirely different things that unfortunately ended in a tragedy.

 

I did see that when it read it. I didn’t think the first link included the update of July 8th. I agree wholeheartedly with you, the intended plan and the outcome are extremely unfortunate.

[YlangYlangF9PB3E]

The customer could just ignore the operator or not wait for the go signal and just launch - one of those stupid "watch this" moments.

And what do you suppose is the likelihood that happened here? I’d say slim to 0%. Come on.

[A&L_Ont]

And what do you suppose is the likelihood that happened here? I’d say slim to 0%. Come on.

 

I would agree.

 

That being said I have watched people been given instruction for the flowrider and seconds later do the exact opposite of what they were told. That being said I would think one would listen more attentively to a zip line instruction than flow riding, due to the inherently bigger risk.

 

No matter the case an extremely unfortunate event.

[CruisingNole]

And what do you suppose is the likelihood that happened here? I’d say slim to 0%. Come on.

 

Agreed. And also, how is it even possible for that scenario to happen if two-way radios were in use, and only one passenger was hooked onto the line at a time? I can answer that...it's not possible.

[Big_G]

Very sad story. There are a few things I'm not willing to do in the Caribbean and that's one of them. Call me paranoid but it's a trust thing.

[rsharp83]

I was literally going to book a zip line tour in Rotan tomorrow. I remembered last night that we hadn’t booked that yet and so I was planning on doing so. Then woke up to this news today of death and tragedy on the zip line. The wife said no way.

 

 

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[bobmacliberty]

I've never done a zip line but evidently this is standard practice to have multiple people on the same zip line starting with a staggered time.

 

I've done zip lines in Hawaii and in Jamaica. Both times, the second person was not hooked in until the first person was unhooked at the end of the zip. Based only on my 2 data points, I'd say that it's standard procedure to only have one person on a line at a time.

[LBumb]

very sad

[Sotermarler]

Very sad story. There are a few things I'm not willing to do in the Caribbean and that's one of them. Call me paranoid but it's a trust thing.

 

 

 

I’m with you on that.

 

 

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[Smiley525]

Only way I can see it’s the couples fault is if she lied about her minimum weight. You have to weigh enough to get down the zip line...

[ONECRUISER]

Very sad story. There are a few things I'm not willing to do in the Caribbean and that's one of them. Call me paranoid but it's a trust thing.

Agree. I also never had any desire to Bungee Jump when that became popular 30yrs ago...

[debshomespun]

Only way I can see it’s the couples fault is if she lied about her minimum weight. You have to weigh enough to get down the zip line...

Minimum weight is usually 80 lbs. I would think she probably weighed that much, maybe not much more though.

 

We have zip lined 4 times, once in US, 1 X Puerto Vallarta, 1X Jamaica, & 1 X Dominica. Each time, only 1 person hooked ATA time on zip. After person #1 would leave, next 1 would get hooked, but operator would stand and hold you until they got tbe, "OK" all was clear. My estimation is it was the Operators fault. Especially after reading (as long as this is true), the operators were not using 2 way radios to communicate. So how were they communicating? Obviously not too well.

 

RIP to the husband and a speedy recovery to the wife. How sad and tragic.

 

Hopefully RC will discontinue using this zip line tour operator.

 

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[MEGADAN]

We were on this sailing. Didn’t hear about it until we got off the ship on Sunday. The ship was late leaving Roatan on Thursday. So sad.

[CruisingNole]

Only way I can see it’s the couples fault is if she lied about her minimum weight. You have to weigh enough to get down the zip line...

 

But even if she lied about her weight, how does that impact the two way radio system? The all-clear shouldn't be given until the person is safely off the line. You can try to come up with excuses all you want, but this was an amateur hour excursion RC sent these folks on and as a result, someone died. RC can expect to pay out tens of millions of dollars in an upcoming lawsuit.

[A&L_Ont]

But even if she lied about her weight, how does that impact the two way radio system? The all-clear shouldn't be given until the person is safely off the line. You can try to come up with excuses all you want, but this was an amateur hour excursion RC sent these folks on and as a result, someone died. RC can expect to pay out tens of millions of dollars in an upcoming lawsuit.

 

It has been reported that there was no radio use by the tour provider.

[leisuretraveler223]

On the internet, everyone is an expert on EVERYTHING!!!

[A&L_Ont]

On the internet, everyone is an expert on EVERYTHING!!!

 

Thumbs up to that.

[BillOh]

According to reports of the accident, the zipline operators were grossly negligent.

 

doesn't give one much confidence in Royal's excursion operator vetting process.

 

 

But if you ask any questions about excursions, the first thing out of their mouth is, "They safety of our guests is our first priority"

[Mal]

We were on this sailing and this is the first we have heard of this tragedy. The weather was bad in Roatan last Thursday. We left our leaky beach palapa to go back to the ship on our own dime. Note: Just before the diving show on Allure on Tuesday evening, a teen was stuck on the Allure zip line and had to be rescued by staff. He was swinging his feet and dangling them straight down the entire time, and we thought then that he did not respect his predicament. I just know it rained hard many times that day, and a zip line is the last place you would find me in that weather.