A ? for my fellow cruisers on the 12/6 re: death of woman

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

We were on the 12/6 Western and were speaking to a stateroom neighbor while waiting for our laundry to dry. We were in Grand Cayman and were talking about our days excursions, when he told us that the fellow he was traveling with did the excursion on Snorkeling. He asked him how it was and the fellow said horrible, some poor woman drowned!!! Seems she got water in her snorkle, panicked and drowned. He said that it was a woman from the Disney Magic. I heard rumors on the ship that stated the same. In fact, while we were shopping in town, we heard ambulances and saw police cars with their lights on - which would have been around the same time this accident occurred. Also saw some luggage up around Guest Services that night too.

What a horrible thing to happen. We did ask a cm that we were friendly with about it, but he said he hadn't heard a thing (which could or could not be true). We said a little prayer that night for the poor woman's family - wherever they were.

 

[Favorite Auntie]

Wow, that is horrible! I hope it is not true....

 

[Cruisin]

Something like that would probably make the newspapers in that country.

Would you be able to check online newspapers for a mention of it?

I don't know what language is used there.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

I'm trying to do a search now. We were in the parks for our honeymoon 10 years ago and while we were on Splash Mt., the ride was stopped for about 20 minutes. Turns out a man had a massive coronary on the way down and had to be rushed to Celebration Hospital - was pronounced dead. That never made the papers or news. I had a very good friend who was a cm on that ride and confirmed that it was true.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by LOVETHATMOUSE
Turns out a man had a massive coronary on the way down and had to be rushed to Celebration Hospital - was pronounced dead. That never made the papers or news. I had a very good friend who was a cm on that ride and confirmed that it was true.

WDW will NEVER pronounce anyone dead in their park(even if a person is decapitated ). And very rarely will it even make the newspapers. Remember.... this is the "happiest place" in the world.....no bad press.

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

if the story of the death is true it might pop up on the website.
http://www.caymannetnews.com/ and click on todays newspaper. i hope this helps and the was no death

 

[TCPluto]

We were on the ship for this sailing as well and we heard that it was a 60 year old woman who drowned, but that she was not from our ship. They cancelled the 1pm Stingray City snorkel trip, and the official reason was the possibility of inclement weather.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

Originally posted by Nick@ VB+OKW
WDW will NEVER pronounce anyone dead in their park(even if a person is decapitated ). And very rarely will it even make the newspapers. Remember.... this is the "happiest place" in the world.....no bad press.

I know that - that is why he was taken out of the parks to be pronounced. My friend just confirmed what we already now. Regarding the drowning, that's why I posted the ?? here.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

Originally posted by TCPluto
We were on the ship for this sailing as well and we heard that it was a 60 year old woman who drowned, but that she was not from our ship. They cancelled the 1pm Stingray City snorkel trip, and the official reason was the possibility of inclement weather.

Is that a picture of your daughter? Is her name Courtney? If so, she was in the kids club with my daughter Courtney! My daughter played with her a few times and thought she was very nice, but was too shy to ask for her email to keep in touch! Hope you all had a great time like we did. Were you booked on that trip? We did the dolpin swim instead of stingray city - LOVED IT! Being in Grand Cayman that day - there was no sign of inclement weather, so that story must be true. It was so sunny/hot that day.

 

[jvp727]

I was on the 12/6 cruise and a woman did drown in Grand Cayman but I do not know if she was on the Disney Magic or not.

We were on a 11:15 Capt. Marvin Snorkel/Stingray city tour and were headed out to our snorkeling spot when we were flagged down by another boat, similiar in size to Capt. Marvins (about 40'), I didn't catch the name of it. They flagged us down and asked if anyone on board knew CPR because a woman had drowned. Our captain (i think he was the younger marvin) and a crew member jumped in and swam to the boat. The woman was on the back of the boat and they began doing CPR on her. They debated moving her to our boat because ours may have been faster than theirs but decided not to and headed back to shore - we were about 20 mins from land. Their crew member fell off the back of the boat when they took off and she swam over to ours and stayed on board w/us for the rest of our tour, we dropped her off at a different dock when we returned. Our capt. went w/the other boat to help assist, he ended up swimming back to our boat about 5 mins later. He said when he had left she was still not revived and that he had cleared out a lot of water from her lungs.

It was a diving boat, so I'm not sure if she was diving or snorkeling. It definitely put a damper on our boat and people were a bit hesitant to go in the water snorkeling but most did and it was a good trip but very scary seeing something like that. She looked younger than 60 to me but I couldn't say for sure. I did hear from others on the ship that the afternoon excursions were cancelled, the waters were a bit rough but they didn't seem rough enough to cancel, and we did get a rain shower that afternoon as well.

Julie

 

[SeaSpray]

I've seen many shows on the Travel Channel about the various Caribbean islands and several people who live on the islands and operate these water/sports excursions have commented about how often people are dying while on vacation there. They said that it's due to many reasons. But many people have never snorkeled before or have done any of the different sports/activities that they suddenly decide to participate in because they're on "vacation". You do need to be in reasonably good health to do most of the physical excursions, including something as (relatively) simple as snorkeling. You also need to be a STRONG swimmer. These islands are not Disney World where everything is (for the most part) safe and all an "illusion". No one should try to push themselves farther than they go in their normal day to day lives. People who are out of shape while at home are STILL out of shape while on vacation! (me included!)

Just a word of warning.... Please be careful while out on these excursions. That's a heck of a way for a vacation to turn out for yourself as well as your loved ones

P.S. Yes, I do realize that accidents do happen even to the best athlete and swimmer, but for the rest of us, it's smart to be very careful when choosing excursions that require physical fitness.

 

[jvp727]

I was on the 12/6 cruise and a woman did drown in Grand Cayman but I do not know if she was on the Disney Magic or not.

We were on a 11:15 Capt. Marvin Snorkel/Stingray city tour and were headed out to our snorkeling spot when we were flagged down by another boat, similiar in size to Capt. Marvins (about 40'), I didn't catch the name of it. They flagged us down and asked if anyone on board knew CPR because a woman had drowned. Our captain (i think he was the younger marvin) and a crew member jumped in and swam to the boat. The woman was on the back of the boat and they began doing CPR on her. They debated moving her to our boat because ours may have been faster than theirs but decided not to and headed back to shore - we were about 20 mins from land. Their crew member fell off the back of the boat when they took off and she swam over to ours and stayed on board w/us for the rest of our tour, we dropped her off at a different dock when we returned. Our capt. went w/the other boat to help assist, he ended up swimming back to our boat about 5 mins later. He said when he had left she was still not revived and that he had cleared out a lot of water from her lungs.

It was a diving boat, so I'm not sure if she was diving or snorkeling. It definitely put a damper on our boat and people were a bit hesitant to go in the water snorkeling but most did and it was a good trip but very scary seeing something like that. She looked younger than 60 to me but I couldn't say for sure. I did hear from others on the ship that the afternoon excursions were cancelled, the waters were a bit rough but they didn't seem rough enough to cancel, and we did get a rain shower that afternoon as well.

Julie

 

[TCPluto]

Yes, that is her in my signature and she did play with your Courtney in the kids club! Apparently there were three Courtney's in the lab. Courtney enjoyed the lab very much, as all the kids seemed to. She enjoyed playing with your daughter as well. I'll pm you her email address, she has her own.

We tried to find the DIS meet at the sail away, but we were travelling with a party of 42 and were a bit late and couldn't "identify" anyone. I was on crutches with a broken leg , so I'm sure I got in your way at some point!

 

[pippy]

We were on the 12/6 cruise also. My DH was talking to a fellow cruise member and he was told it was a 60 year old woman on the celebration which was at Grand Caymen the same time the magic was. She was snorkling and had a heart attack while her family was watching from afar. She died. So sad to watch something like that happen, and not be able to do anything.

 

[inkkognito]

I think that this probably does happen with some frequency, as the same thing happened to the husband of a co-worker of mine a couple years ago. They were snorkeling with their children on an excursion in the Caribbean. They were on vacation but not on a cruise. The husband and son were separated from the wife. She went back to the boat, and a while later her young son showed up alone. They found her husband drowned a short time later. It was very strange because he was a strong swimmer, with no known health problems. She works in another dept., and she never talked much about it, so I don't know what the cause ended up being. But from what I heard, he had passed out for some reason and that's how he drowned. It was a very, very sad situation.
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

Originally posted by TCPluto
Yes, that is her in my signature and she did play with your Courtney in the kids club! Apparently there were three Courtney's in the lab. Courtney enjoyed the lab very much, as all the kids seemed to. She enjoyed playing with your daughter as well. I'll pm you her email address, she has her own.

We tried to find the DIS meet at the sail away, but we were travelling with a party of 42 and were a bit late and couldn't "identify" anyone. I was on crutches with a broken leg , so I'm sure I got in your way at some point!

What a coincidence! I am also sure that you were the gentleman who rode with us from Budget to the Terminal on Saturday. You had crutches and a bag of water? LOL!! We didn't get to go to the meet either - couldn't find it. Oh well, I have put names to faces other ways this cruise. Happy Holidays!!

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

I am so sorry for the family. I was hoping that it wasn't true, but it looks like it is. Pixie Dust to whomever is out there. What a horrible thing to happen to a family.

Everyone... PLEASE be careful on your excursions. Let's all be safe out there.

 

[Jestocost]

Originally posted by Nick@ VB+OKW
WDW will NEVER pronounce anyone dead in their park(even if a person is decapitated ). And very rarely will it even make the newspapers. Remember.... this is the "happiest place" in the world.....no bad press.

Ah the power of urban legends…

http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/declare.htm

 

[mrsfuzzmo]

This type of thing happens more often than anyone would think. I used to work on a ship and it happened almost once a month (a death on board or onshore). In addition to that, I have cruised many times and once my parents table mates did not return. Seems she died of a heart attack snorkeling at buck island... another cruise we had a man have a heart attack on one of our snorkel tours on St. Kitts, though I don't know if he died or not. On my second to last cruise, we had to stay aboard on the last day until immagration (or someone like that) cleared the ship due to a death of a non-U.S. citizen. So, I don't find it that unusual. Tragic, but not unusual. Many ships that carry a heavy passenger load of seniors (HAL, Princess and the like) have this happen fairly often, mostly because of the age group.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

This is all so sad!

I can see a heart attack happening though, especially for older people? I went on the little snorkeling thing at Typhoon Lagoon and it took me a minute to get used to breathing properly through the snorkeling equipment. Ofcourse I also was basically hyperventilating at first because I'm really not "big" on having fish around me- even little safe ones. So about halfway across- I wasn't breathing right at all and my heart was pounding HARD.. I finally calmed down and started breathing properly just about the time I was about to get to the other side- and it's very small, as I'm sure most of you know. I could see if I'd had a weak heart, maybe just an older heart or any heart condition at all- that precipitating or causing a heart attack or something of that nature. I'm only 34yrs old and in good health- and it didn't feel good at all. Just scared and inexperienced at snorkeling I guess.

Prayers for the families...