Two drowning incidents occurred at Disney’s Castaway Cay last week. Disney Cruise Lines has its own private island in the Bahamas where their passengers could partake in various aquatic activities. These activates include snorkeling, stingray encounters and simply swimming at the beach. With so many aquatic activates comes the danger of passengers drowning. This sadly occurred last week. A 28-year-old passenger from New York drowned while swimming at the adult beach. He was found unresponsive in the water and later pronounced dead by Bahamian authorities. A second incident involved an adult passenger who was snorkeling. The man was found unconscious in the water, was stabilized then evacuated to Miami for additional medical care. His condition is currently unknown.

Even though these incidents occurred off the cruise ship, maritime law governs Disney’s legal responsibilities owed to the passenger. The law requires Disney to exercise reasonable care for their passengers’ safety. This includes warning of known dangers the passengers may encounter while at Castaway Cay as well as implementing a reasonable safety precautions. Disney is one of the only cruise lines that hire life guards. In is unknown how many life guards were on duty or whether there was a sufficient number to monitor the hundreds of Disney passengers at Castaway Cay.

Our condolences to the family of the passenger who died and our best wishes for a speedy recovery to the passenger who was rescued.