Zipline Fatality

[GJClay]

Not being witty, 'SNAP' is current 'lingo', look it up....

 

I'm not trying to start anything, but the fact that "snap" was followed by "no pun intended", leads one to believe a pun was slightly intended. I'm pretty sure we all know what "snap" means in current lingo. Sorry for taking sides but I could not resist since this woman died.

[mckinna]

This is very scary. We are scheduled to do the ziplines this coming week in Roatan, from Voyager. Booked the excursion through Victor Bodden. I've never done ziplines before, and was really apprehensive about doing it at all. We'll still do it though, just makes me wary.

 

I didn't see in the article that the woman was on a cruise. Does anyone know?

[Aprille]

This is very scary. We are scheduled to do the ziplines this coming week in Roatan, from Voyager. Booked the excursion through Victor Bodden. I've never done ziplines before, and was really apprehensive about doing it at all. We'll still do it though, just makes me wary.

 

I didn't see in the article that the woman was on a cruise. Does anyone know?

The only article I have been able to find is the one linked in the original post of this thread. It states that the woman and her family had been in Honduras for a week which indicates they were on a land vacation.

 

I have also not been able to find out definitely which course it was. There is a thread on the Roatan board where one poster states it is Pirates of the Caribbean extreme course and another who states it was a cruise ship sponsored excursion at a different course. Neither have provided any sources and I have not been able to find anything online except what is already linked in this thread.

 

Pirates is the one our Victor Bodden driver took us to 3 weeks ago. DH did the extreme course. It is the only course VB shows on his website but I believe you can ask to go to South Shore if you want.

 

I would think this is probably the safest time to zip line as they are probably being more diligent checking equipment. Still couldn't get me to do it but I wouldn't do it before. As I stated earlier in this thread, the drive up to the first platform to take a picture of DH was more than adventurous enough for me! :eek:

[klfhngr]

I'm not trying to start anything, but the fact that "snap" was followed by "no pun intended", leads one to believe a pun was slightly intended. I'm pretty sure we all know what "snap" means in current lingo. Sorry for taking sides but I could not resist since this woman died.

 

Not a problem, I understand... My apologies to anyone that I might have offended, I sincerely mean that.

[Cindy]

This is very scary. We are scheduled to do the ziplines this coming week in Roatan, from Voyager. Booked the excursion through Victor Bodden. I've never done ziplines before, and was really apprehensive about doing it at all. We'll still do it though, just makes me wary.

 

I didn't see in the article that the woman was on a cruise. Does anyone know?

 

We just got off the Voyager. While we were in Cozumel on Friday we played golf with a guy who was on the Norwegian Spirit. He told us this woman was on his ship, and she was one of two passengers on his cruise to die on a shore excursion. He told us about the zip line accident, and also about a passenger who died when he dove off a boat where it was shallow and hit the coral.

[hawt1]

Well one has a greater chance of getting killed in a car accident on the way to the cruise ship then zip line.

 

Not exactly a fair comparison given that there are a few more people in cars any given day than there are on ziplines.

 

On another note, there seem to be two types of ziplines with respect to safety. The first type has two cables that go across the ravines and your harness has one link that goes around both cables. The second that I have seen has one cable but two links, one from each side of the harness...both provide some level of safety but I would think that the harness remains the weakest link - someone said upthread that they thought full body harnesses would make the most sense rather than just the "butt" harness that we used when we went. This could prevent the "flip and fall out" that is remotely possible.

 

Those that say the harnesses are checked for wear and tear may be overly optimistic...I am not sure that internal wear and tear on the strap can alwasy be seen and what if the wear and tear is on the link itself...if the actual clasp breaks....and that is very possible as it likely holds alot of the weight. This is where the double clasp seems a little more safe than the double wire to me.

 

Just thinking out loud. Sincere condolences to the family. Have done tis myself but woudl not do it again for a variety of reasons. Had decided that prior to this tragic accident.

[laurashelby]

I guess a lot of conflicting reports will come out until someone makes an official statement, but I was out to dinner with my 8 year old Godchild on Friday night and she told me that her aunt had been injured and was in a coma on a Zipline accident while on her cruise. (She was on the NCL Spirit out of New Orleans) Turns out her Aunt Barbie is the woman who died. It was her dad's sister and he hadn't told her of her aunt's death yet. Very tragic and sad...she was very upset that her cousin's had lost their mother at such a young age. They had just had dinner with them when they were on their way from Houston to New Orleans to board the ship.

 

My Godchild's mom sent me this info today:

 

Don't know if you remember xxxxx, her mom works for Barbie's other brother. She was in Houston last week on spring break when all this happened. She said that the brother flew to Honduras and is still not back.

 

She said that Barbie was with her son and friend when accident occured. Her friend had just gone on the zip line and her son was behind her. It was not the harness as it has said in articles, it was the cable that broke.

 

Prayers for the family would be greatly appreciated!

 

Laura

[jaxbeach12]

Wow! I'm still trying to process this story.

 

We are leaving for our FIRST cruise on Sat and I have reserved a zipline tour in Antigua for the following Tue (through RCCL) I had planned it as a surprise for my DH. I did an amazing zipline while I was in Costa Rica (land stay) about 5 years ago. I was really looking forward to sharing this experience with my husband because it was a highlight of my Costa Rican vacation. I am a mother now and even though our little boy won't be with us I wonder if we should take the risk in doing this? I have to admit when I did it 5 years ago the last zipline was about 500ft up and I did think about the cable breaking while I was going across it. It was very scary and very amazing all at the same time. I don't know what to do - Do you think you could cancel based on this reason and RCCL would refund our payment?

[dirtgirl]

Wow! I'm still trying to process this story.

 

We are leaving for our FIRST cruise on Sat and I have reserved a zipline tour in Antigua for the following Tue (through RCCL) I had planned it as a surprise for my DH. I did an amazing zipline while I was in Costa Rica (land stay) about 5 years ago. I was really looking forward to sharing this experience with my husband because it was a highlight of my Costa Rican vacation. I am a mother now and even though our little boy won't be with us I wonder if we should take the risk in doing this? I have to admit when I did it 5 years ago the last zipline was about 500ft up and I did think about the cable breaking while I was going across it. It was very scary and very amazing all at the same time. I don't know what to do - Do you think you could cancel based on this reason and RCCL would refund our payment?

 

You can cancel for any reason up to 24 hours prior to the excursion. Just go to the Shore Excursion desk when you board. You can't do it online as you are past the 10 day cut-off point.;)

[JoKen1]

There have been thousands of people who do the zip line and they have been fine. Yes things will happen but just because it does once does not mean you will have the same thing happen.

 

Look at Alaska where three helicopters crashed. How sad but yet people still take those rides every day and have been fine.

 

Planes crash, do you stop flying? Ships sink, but you are still going on a cruise.

 

My only thing is to be careful. But don't stop living because of fear.

 

I believe zip lines are still safe. The track record speaks for itself.

 

Yes it is very very sad this lady died but when one does things like zipline, fly, swim in the ocean you are taking that risk.

 

Remember how Steve Irwin died from a stingray? People are still going on those excursions that have you swim with them.

 

But, if you are to scared to do the excursion then by all means don't do it. It won't be worth it for you. Find something else to do. Just remember that whatever you pick comes with risk too.

[Rancher Dave]

It is tragic but you must remember that most foreign countries do not have strict saftey rules like most states do.

 

This situation is very sad. Like SSANTOW said the safety regs elsewhere in the world can be lax. In fact I am not a big fan of Mexico in particular for lax safety rules and few liability issues that make operators really work to be safe and maintain equipment etc... DW can't understand why I would not dive in Coz but to me I am not confident of the safety procedures from most of the operators there and would rather save diving money for a safer place. GBR off Cairns Australia is a great place with strong safety rules to keep diving there safer...just a bit longer flight to get there and back home.

[hawt1]

The Roatan board has several people who were on the Norwegian Spirit who have posted that it was not the harness that broke but the cable.

 

For those who think that inspecting their harness in the future may help avoid this...how do you inspect a cable and its anchors?

[Rancher Dave]

The Roatan board has several people who were on the Norwegian Spirit who have posted that it was not the harness that broke but the cable.

 

For those who think that inspecting their harness in the future may help avoid this...how do you inspect a cable and its anchors?

 

Yikes!!!! I know good cranes are changing out cable on a periodic basis, but I agree it would be hard to inspect. Such a sad situation regardless of what broke.

[Cindy]

The Roatan board has several people who were on the Norwegian Spirit who have posted that it was not the harness that broke but the cable.

 

For those who think that inspecting their harness in the future may help avoid this...how do you inspect a cable and its anchors?

 

The guy from the Norwegian Spirit who we played golf with for a while on Friday said the cable snapped.

[klfhngr]

My kids wanted to zip in P/V, not sure if I'll let them now... What a way to go... I'd probably have a half smile on my face (I'm on vacation!), but never would I want my kids to suffer this way...

[mojitodiva]

I will not do the Zip on my next cruise in June not because of the terrible accident but because of the price.

$80. per person is too much money. I'll go to six flags in the summer and pay half the price of zip and ride coasters all day long. :D

[bigpuma]

I will not do the Zip on my next cruise in June not because of the terrible accident but because of the price.

$80. per person is too much money. I'll go to six flags in the summer and pay half the price of zip and ride coasters all day long. :D

 

We only paid $45 when we did the south beach canopy 2 weeks ago.

[mojitodiva]

We only paid $45 when we did the south beach canopy 2 weeks ago.

 

$45. Is alot better. :D Labadee wants $80. pp for the two of us $160. :eek:

[bigpuma]

$45. Is alot better. :D Labadee wants $80. pp for the two of us $160. :eek:

 

Less competition in Labadee than in Roatan. :p

[jaxbeach12]

This is from the Roatan Board - Just wanted everyone over here to be aware of this new information.

 

"I was on this excursion at Gumbalimba... my mother, boyfriend, and myself were the last to zip before Barbie. We heard that she got stuck in the middle, and a guide came along to help her. He undid her safety clip so that he could get in front of her to taxi her along to the next platform. While this was happening, the line fell. I think the combined weight of the guide and Barbie was too much... she was not over the weight limit. She didn't regain consiousness, and she died in a hospital on the mainland.

 

Her two kids and husband are just in shock... all of us are. No one expected this to happen. Our families were vacationing together on the Spirit and we miss her so much."

[dirtgirl]

I will not do the Zip on my next cruise in June not because of the terrible accident but because of the price.

$80. per person is too much money. I'll go to six flags in the summer and pay half the price of zip and ride coasters all day long. :D

 

 

You obviously haven't costed out Alaskan excursions!!!

[dirtgirl]

This is from the Roatan Board - Just wanted everyone over here to be aware of this new information.

 

"I was on this excursion at Gumbalimba... my mother, boyfriend, and myself were the last to zip before Barbie. We heard that she got stuck in the middle, and a guide came along to help her. He undid her safety clip so that he could get in front of her to taxi her along to the next platform. While this was happening, the line fell. I think the combined weight of the guide and Barbie was too much... she was not over the weight limit. She didn't regain consiousness, and she died in a hospital on the mainland.

 

Her two kids and husband are just in shock... all of us are. No one expected this to happen. Our families were vacationing together on the Spirit and we miss her so much."

 

 

What happened to the guide?

[KelJ]

This is from the Roatan Board - Just wanted everyone over here to be aware of this new information.

 

"I was on this excursion at Gumbalimba... my mother, boyfriend, and myself were the last to zip before Barbie. We heard that she got stuck in the middle, and a guide came along to help her. He undid her safety clip so that he could get in front of her to taxi her along to the next platform. While this was happening, the line fell. I think the combined weight of the guide and Barbie was too much... she was not over the weight limit. She didn't regain consiousness, and she died in a hospital on the mainland.

 

Her two kids and husband are just in shock... all of us are. No one expected this to happen. Our families were vacationing together on the Spirit and we miss her so much."

 

How awful! Her poor family.

I have a zipline scheduled in Belize in a few weeks. I am a little nervous now, but I still plan to do it. Steve Irwin died shortly before we were to go to Grand Cayman to swim with the stingrays. We still did it, and it was great fun. But tragedies like this make me a little more aware and a little more cautious.

[ljkool]

I am going to stand in the middle of traffic on the expressway right after I skydive with no parachute, because if it my time well, then its my time. Right????

[bc61972]

WOW!! My wife and I did ziplines last October, I was right at the weight limit. No more.