Cave Tubing Death

[TicTac#2]

All pasengers aboard Carnival Glory today recieved a letter from the cruise lines informing us of a death of a passenger while Cave Tubing in Belize.The letter is as follows: Dear Carnival Guest,As some of you know, there was a tragic accident earlier today during a cave tubing excurision that regettably resulted in the loss of on of our guest. We are all deply saddended by this loss and extend our heartfelt condolences to the family. A member of Carnival's Team staff has remained in Belize with thefamily to provide any and all assistance.We know that some of you also participated in this excursion and we are sorry that you experienced what some of you have described as rough conditions. The saftey and well being of our guests is our paramount concern. We understand that this experience must have been disturbing for those of you who participated in the excursion. Our Medical Center staff is available to provide comlimantry assistance to anyone who may require attention. Additionally, we are making arrangements to have a team of psychologtists board the ship on Friday in Freeport to offer their services to those who may want to speak to a professional conselor.We want to assure you that we are very concerned over the reports we recieved and are conduction a fulll investigation of the events. Additionally we have suspended the tour pending the results of the investigation. We would appreciate any information you may have that will assist us in our investigation. For those of you that can provide assistance, please come by the Purser's infodrmation desk on Lobby Deck 3 forward, to complete a statement.Lastly, please join us in keeping this family in our thoughts and prayers.SincerelyGarry CahillPresident & CEO Carnival Curise LinesThis poster cannot add much to the official letter. I know that the person who died was a female and that her husband was with her on the excurison.It is also my understanding that she hit her head and the cause of death wasdrowning. I was not on this excursion, but have taken this trip in the past, and thought it to be safe. I did confirm that the water was not very deepbut, as you know, a person can drown in just five inches of water. I did hearthat the husband tried to save her. Thats all I know at this point, perhaps other Cruise Critics aboard can add some information.

[cathyoo]

Thank you for sharing.. what an awful outcome for that family. A wonderful vacation ending in such awful tragedy.

[CruisingCarolina]

That is a shame

I am sorry to hear about the accident.

WOW

I want to thank you very much for posting for us

Thanks

[Carnival Game]

First the ziplining death and now this. Neither one of which ever interested me in the first place.

 

How sad for the family.

[SunnyinMA]

So horrible. You never expect something like this to happen. My heart goes out to her family at this terrible time.

 

Thanks for letting us know.

[Prairie_Gal]

My heart goes out to this passenger's family.

[cruzn buckeye]

this is so sad. I have done this excursion with Yhony, not Carnival, and they take very good care to make sure that they keep everyone together and safe. However, I am not sure that I would do it again now. I would feel sad just thinking of this young lady and her husband.

As far as Belize, I don't really care for it.

cave tubing is one of the biggest excursions that they offer, they have no beaches. Well, they have beaches but you have to take about a 45 minute boat ride to get to it. Carnival will probably leave this excursion off of their tours, I don't blame them. while it is fun, it is not worth even one passenger losing their life.

Prayers go out to her family.

 

Cruzn

[vacruizer]

Wow. It's so sad to see this. :( How horrible for that family. I also did cave tubing independently with Yhony and they were so concerned for our safety - keeping everyone together at all times. But we saw the ships tour that day and my DH has remarked several times since then that it's a wonder no one gets killed on that tour. :eek: :mad:

 

We saw some really unsafe stuff going on with the Carnival tour and that was two years ago. When we were there - people from the ship tour were just turned loose in the caves, many had headlamps that didn't work, and they had no guides in the caves with them. Several people were stuck and yelling for help - our private guides had to go help them out since their guides were not in the caves with them. We were also told the water was 90 feet deep at spots inside the caves so it would be pretty easy for someone to drown.

 

We actually said to each other that if someone turned over and disappeared in there - the ship tour people probably wouldn't even figure out someone was missing. Add to that the old school busses with the baldest tires I've ever seen that they used for transportation and this tour didn't seem to be very well run.

 

Luckily, this seems to be isolated and I think most of Carnival's tours are pretty safe. I've done a few since then when there was no independent alternative to what we wanted and they turned out great.

[cusyl]

How very sad.. when you go on vacation you never expect this outcome. Would be interested in hearing how she happened to hit her head. The letter said it was rough, so perhaps she was thrown into a rock?

I found this on the other CC thread about the accident. http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=12244

[DqALEX]

Very sad. I feel bad for her family

[adamsfly]

My condolences and prayers are with this family. May god bless them.

[SandyToes1978]

How very sad for the family. What a horrible thing to happen. I can't even imagine losing a family member on what's supposed to be a wonderful vacation!:(

 

We just got back from the Liberty cruise that went Western instead of Eastern. We really didn't have time to book indepentdent tours, so we took the Carnival cave tubing tour. What I can say is the guides we had worked their you know what's off to ensure our safety. It was their number one priority. While we were in the cave, they made sure that everyone was linked togeteher and no one got separated. I never felt unsafe. Not saying that it can't happen, but I just wanted to say how good our guides were.

[waitin4acruise]

My Prayers go out to the family and everyone involved GOD BLESS!!

[themnms]

this sounds like a horrendous accident and I too send my deepest sympathies. We have done this excursion twice, and with what sounds like the accused dot com company. I have to say the last time I took a family group of 18 and whilst in the caves our guide actually did go and assist a person "lost" in the caves from the ships group..

 

I am wondering that if the cave tubing is removed from the tour options,unless you dive or fish, what else one would do...

[MM1998]

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=12244

 

Here is a new article stating that some tours were cancelled. Before everyone starts slaming tour operators there must be cold hard evidence. I cannot believe that signed statements from Glory passengers are being made public at this time. Just my 2 cents.

 

 

 

I agree with you! With all the legal situations that are sure to come out of this and further investigation, there is no way that Carnival is releasing ANY statements made from tour operators or cruise guest. Anything said at this point is hearsay and rumors that are sure to fly around about the ship.

 

My heart goes out to this family. Such a tragic event.

[Wennfred]

There has been many near mishaps on these cave tubing excursions, when the water is high it gets dangerous.

 

I wonder if they took a private tour or a carnival tour.

 

 

Fred

[Bunkie103]

We've done this excursion but not with Carnival. Felt very safe the whole time and if I recall correctly we were required to wear life vests also. We were there in October and the water didn't seem to be that deep, but maybe the tropical storms this year resulted in deeper water. Very sad.

[agrip76]

It is AWFUL, although I don't think it matters what company it was. Accidents happen no matter where you are or who you are with. There is no one to blame.

[LizaMM]

I also have my doubts about any "witnes accounts" being reported second hand at this time. The news article makes no mention of other people however it does begin to describe a kind of frantic situation. The story will come out eventually. Perhaps even a fellow CC was there and will post.

 

Either way....this is a sad story and tragic for the family involved. My thoughts are with them all.

[terryde]

I also feel for the family and pray that they will be ok. But in response to Buckeye, each of us have our favorite ports, and Belize is one of mine. There are so many things to do there and such a diversity in excursions, and I also believe that the companies operate very safe excursions. Frankly, we have done some rafting all over the US and had very dangerous situations and someone could have died there, close to home. We do a good job, I think, posting here in cruisecritic about our opinions to help each other out picking excursions that will be safe but affordable.

 

When we went cave tubing about four years ago in Belize it was with Yhony. There were six in our group and the Carnival group behind us had 90. I think it was much easier for our guide to keep track of only six of us.

 

So sad to have such a tragedy.

[Cincy Gal]

My prayers go out to the family.

[LHP]

There has been many near mishaps on these cave tubing excursions, when the water is high it gets dangerous.

 

I wonder if they took a private tour or a carnival tour.

 

 

Fred

 

I am speculating (and mind you this is only a guess) that it was a Carnival tour.

 

The one distinguishing thing between Carnival tubes and independent tours is that independent tours "link" their people together. You are not just floating off on your own.

 

Carnival does not link their people. They just give you a tube and say 'have at".

 

Also independent groups are usually smaller and since they are linked...easier to manage.

 

A sad situation indeed.

[SandyToes1978]

I am speculating (and mind you this is only a guess) that it was a Carnival tour.

 

The one distinguishing thing between Carnival tubes and independent tours is that independent tours "link" their people together. You are not just floating off on your own.

 

Carnival does not link their people. They just give you a tube and say 'have at".

 

Also independent groups are usually smaller and since they are linked...easier to manage.

 

A sad situation indeed.

 

 

This is not necissarily the case: I already stated earlier in the thread that we just returned from W. Carib. and did the tour thru Carnival on Sept. 10th. We were on the Liberty cruise that was diverted to W. Carib. due to Ike, so we really didn't have time to explore other options or independent tours. Our guides on the Carnival tour made sure that everyone in our group was linked together, especially in the caves. They worked so hard, helping anyone who was stuck, no one at any one time was "on their own". I thought the Carnival tour was very well run and there were no safety issues. I can not speak for the other companies, but I do know that our guides' number one priority was the safety of everyone in their group.

[Kurbanfan]

It is AWFUL, although I don't think it matters what company it was. Accidents happen no matter where you are or who you are with. There is no one to blame.

 

I suppose the investigation will find that out;)

[Carnival Game]

Carnival does not link their people. They just give you a tube and say 'have at".

 

/quote]

 

How nice of them. :rolleyes: