Breaking News: World’s Largest Cruise Ship Rescues 14 Stranded Sea-goers After a Week

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The largest cruise ship in the world rescued 14 people Sunday who had been stranded on a small boat for eight days.

Alessandra Amodio was traveling on Royal Caribbeans’s Icon of the Seas with her family when the rescue happened.

“We were really surprised and honestly a little freaked out,” Amodio said. “We’ve been on a handful of cruises and never seen something like this happen. It was crazy to think that these people were stuck at sea for so long, and we were all on board excited and relieved that the ship was able to rescue them.”

She observed the minute vessel from the buffet windows. Individuals on the minuscule craft were energetically gesturing with a big white flag.

“We steered the ship back in their direction and approached them as closely as possible before halting,” remarked Amodio. “A small zodiac-like rescue boat was deployed by RCC (Royal Caribbean) to assess the situation.”

One can envisage that maneuvering the world’s largest cruise ship in reverse would take a considerable amount of time.

In order to get near to a tiny boat without submerging it in the ship’s wake, one must exhibit precise expertise.

The detour and rescue took about two hours, according to Amodio.

“Everyone around us was watching from the windows with us and just talking about how this isn’t something we ever thought to experience, and we hoped everyone on board was OK,” she said. “But never were we afraid for ourselves.”

She described the boat as a small dot in the vastness of the sea.

Royal Caribbean didn’t provide much information about the rescue.

“On March 3, 2024, Icon of the Seas encountered a small vessel adrift and in need of assistance,” the company said in a statement. “The ship’s crew immediately launched a rescue operation, safely bringing 14 people onboard. The crew provided them with medical attention, and is working closely with the US Coast Guard.”

Amodio said the crew had to take several trips to the small boat to rescue everyone.

This was the ship’s first full day of cruising.

The eight-day vacation started in Miami and the ship was headed for Honduras.

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Amodio deduced from a map that the Icon of the Seas was sailing between Cozumel, Mexico and the western part of Cuba.

Amodio reported that the crew announced “Code Oscar, Code Oscar, Code Oscar,” over the loudspeakers around 3 p.m.

“Not long after this, the ship’s captain informed everyone via the speakers that a distressed vessel had been spotted and that we were going to reroute to investigate,” she explained.

Following the rescue operation, the captain declared that 14 individuals who had been stranded at sea for a period of eight days had been rescued by the crew. The captain admitted that he was uncertain as to their country of origin.

All the rescued individuals disembarked from the ship the following day when it was docked in Roatan, Honduras, according to sources.

Based on maritime law, there is a legal and moral responsibility for a ship and its crew to assist in the preservation of human life.

The International Maritime Organization clarified, “When a shipmaster is on the sea and is in a position to provide assistance upon receiving a signal from any source that there are people distressed at sea, he or she is obligated to proceed at full speed towards providing assistance.”

The code ‘Oscar’ is a unique code implemented by Royal Caribbean, as reported by Marine Insight.

The emergency code is usually used when a person falls overboard. Captains use the signal instead of shouting orders to “prevent the potentiality of chaos.”

This is the Icon of the Seas’ inaugural season. Its very first voyage with passengers was early this year, and FOX Weather got a tour.

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