Friday, December 20, 2024

Celebrity Cruises’ Ship Rescues Lone Sailor From Damaged Boat


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The captain and crew of Celebrity Cruises' Celebrity Reflection rescued a lone sailor from a dinghy about 40 miles from Cuba. The sailor had abandoned what appeared to be a capsized catamaran.

The 3,000-guest Celebrity Reflection was on the second day of her 6-night Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale when the incident happened at about 11 a.m. on December 16, 2024.

The ship was bound for her first port of call, Cozumel, Mexico, when the ship's officers received an emergency distress signal. Guests, who had spotted the man in a small boat, saw that he had sent up at least one flare.

Celebrity Reflection diverted to the location of the distress signal and dispatched a rescue vessel to try to reach the sailor. Big swells and high winds hampered efforts, video of the rescue shows, and the operation took about an hour to complete.

"The wife and I were on the balcony when we came by the first time and saw him shouting. His first flare went into the water then he shot off the second right in front of our eyes. Glad he was safe," one guest posted on Reddit

"It got harrowing at moments when he lost his kayak and he got into his little plastic boat and just seemed so exhausted," the guest added.

Crew members finally reached the sailor, who was safely brought onboard the Solstice-class ship exhausted but seemingly not injured. It was not known how long the sailor had been foundering at sea.

A crew member onboard the Celebrity Cruises ship with the Facebook page named Khing At Sea also captured the rescue unfold:

One guest posted his reaction to the scene that unfolded before his eyes.

"When I tell you I never thought I would see a rescue at sea lol. Right in front of my cabin too. 40 miles off the coast of Havana Cuba. Our Captain and his crew saved a man this morning!!  What a great day!!!" the guest wrote on Facebook.

The sailor was expected to disembark the ship when it called at Cozumel on December 17, 2024. The ship will continue on to Grand Cayman and Bimini before returning to Fort Lauderdale. No changes to Celebrity Reflection's itinerary were made as a result of the rescue.

The Celebrity Reflection incident was the second time in a day that a cruise ship came to the rescue of sailors in distress. On December 16, 2024, Costa Cruises' Costa Fascinosa came to the aid of a stranded sailing yacht that had run out of fuel.

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Both ships were sailing transatlantic voyages. The yacht was headed to St. Martin from the Canary Islands when it experienced a mechanical failure that impacted her ability to sail. The yacht needed more fuel to complete the crossing, and the Costa Cruises' ship obliged by refueling the sailing vessel.

After the transfer, both ships continued on their journeys. Another transatlantic rescue happened a few weeks earlier, in November 2024, when Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas came to the aid of a family and their dog off the coast of Morocco.

The family's sailboat lost engine power and its masts. All those aboard were transferred to Voyager of the Seas.

Under International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) rules, all vessels are required to assist those in distress at sea. Cruise ships routinely help stranded and foundering boats, and those with refugees onboard.

Celebrity Reflection Rescue

Celebrity Reflection Rescue

Donna Tunney

Donna Tunney

Donna Tunney

Donna Tunney is a travel news/feature writer and editor with 20-plus years covering cruise news, luxury travel, and Europe and UK destinations. A former staffer at Travel Weekly and at the USAToday Network, she also was a luxury travel columnist at Travel Market Report, and a cruise columnist at Sherman's Travel.

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