Disney crew rescues Royal Caribbean passenger

Dave Berman | Florida Today

Show Caption Hide Caption Watch Disney crew rescue man who fell off cruise ship Crewmembers from a nearby Disney Cruise ship rescued a Royal Carribbean passenger who fell overboard off the coast of Mexico. Hear from the man who shot video of the dramatic rescue.

CAPE CANAVERAL — The rescue of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship passenger by the crew of a Port Canaveral-based Disney cruise ship from the water off the coast of Mexico is generating buzz on cruise-focused social media.

It's also raising questions about how the Oasis of the Seas passenger got into the water, and whether cruise ships have the proper technology to detect when someone on the ship goes overboard.

Disney Cruise Line said someone aboard the Disney Magic spotted the Royal Caribbean passenger in the water Thursday morning, as the Magic was approaching Cozumel, along the Caribbean Sea, for a scheduled port-of-call stop.

Disney credited a combination of passengers and crew from the Magic with spotting the man in the water, lowering a lifeboat, and getting him aboard the Magic. The man was transported to shore for treatment.

In a statement, Royal Caribbean said the "22-year-old male guest from Oasis of the Seas went overboard near Cozumel, Mexico. He was spotted by a crew member from another cruise ship, and picked up. We are grateful for the other ship's assistance."

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said the cruise line has not provided additional comment, beyond its statement.

Scott Sanders, founder of The Disney Cruise Line Blog, said such a rescue at sea by the Magic crew of the Oasis of the Seas passenger is unusual.

"It's pretty darn fortunate that they were sailing in the vicinity," said Sanders, whose blog is not affiliated with Disney.

Jim Walker, a maritime attorney who reported on the incident on his Cruise Law News website, said the case points out the need for cruise ships to have better monitoring systems for detecting when someone falls off or jumps from a ship.

Walker said cruise lines generally have been hesitant to discuss such systems they may have in place or have planned for their ships.

But he said systems he would support include motion sensors and thermal detection systems that would indicate if someone goes overboard. He favors linking such systems to an alarm notification to ship crew so that an immediate search-and-rescue operation could begin.

The Oasis of the Seas is one of the world's largest cruise ships, with a capacity of 6,360. The ship — which is based at Port Everglades, near Fort Lauderdale — was on a seven-night cruise to the Western Caribbean when the incident occurred.