Carnival Pride Dream Cruise Ends in Tragedy
71-year female dies snorkeling
By Mike Groves
Tributes have been pouring for 71-year-old Carol Olsen, a committed and active Christian in her community who sadly died during a Carnival excursion on Friday, April 30. Mrs. Olsen boarded the Carnival Pride in Baltimore on Sunday, April 25 with her husband and fellow church members for what should have been a dream vacation to the Bahamas. But, alas Mrs. Olsen would die in Freeport during a snorkeling excursion organized by Carnival Cruise Lines.
Carnival Pride Dream Cruise Ends in Tragedy
71-year female dies snorkeling with Carnival Pride
By Mike Groves QGM
Cruise Bruise Security And Safety Advisor
May 5, 2010
Fellow passengers have already criticized Carnival regarding this particular excursion, citing the company failed in their duty to fully and accurately explain the nature of the excursion and went on to question whether the level of activity on such a tour was appropriate for Mrs Olson?
One media group conducted their own on line checks and noted that Carnival labeled the excursion as a moderate activity. However, Mrs Olsen later got into difficulties and all attempts to revive her failed.
Concerns where also raised that the crew running the snorkeling trip were not adequately trained to deliver CPR and did not have appropriate emergency equipment with them.
It would appear that Carnival is running a complete cowboy operation when it comes to some tours, not having suitable emergency care systems in place is unforgivable. Far too many guests have been afforded too little protection in the past and one would hope they had learnt their lesson.
Mrs. Olson was a committed member of her local church and was clearly loved and respected by all who knew her. She also organized the cruise for her church party. Pastor Tim Feaser of Trinity Lutheran Church in Reisterstown described Mrs Olsen as a lady full of energy and drive with the church forming a big part of her life.
Carnival have responded to the incident but with a somewhat cold statement, addressing Mrs Olsen purely as ‘the guest’ –
"The guest had been participating in a snorkeling tour provided by a third party shore excursion operator and sold through the ship. Carnival Cruise Lines extends its heartfelt condolences to the guest’s family and has been providing full assistance to her spouse, who has been accompanied by CareTeam representatives throughout his time in the Bahamas following this tragic event. The snorkeling tour has been suspended until further notice."
It is interesting to see that even at this stage Carnival are already using the phrase – 'provided by a third party’. As the old saying goes what came first, the chicken or the egg - IE did the 'third party' contact Carnival about these excursions or was it the other way around? It really matters not, because the cruise line sold it through their ship and this makes them accountable in my book; vicarious liability! Cruise operators have a duty of care to ensure participants [their guests] are fully informed about all organized tours, in this case the level of activity that could be expected. They also have to be robust enough to judge which guests should really be participating; placing their well being first above sales, it would appear Carnival failed on all counts?
It is known that Mrs Olsen was not new to snorkeling but, so it would appear, adequate medical equipment was not in place and crew appeared to struggle to conduct CPR correctly?
Our condolences go to Mrs Olsens husbands, family and friends.
