Personal Injury Law

Cruise ship passengers injured in St. Thomas tour bus crash

By Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A.

(7:30 AM) -- More than two dozen passengers from Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas were taken to the hospital Wednesday after the amphibious tour bus in which they were traveling crashed in St. Thomas.

Royal Caribbean says in a statement the passengers were on a "Pirate Duck Adventure" tour organized by the line at the time of the accident. The tour bus, which has a boat-like hull for traveling in water and wheels to move on land, veered off the road at a low rate of speed, the statement says.

Royal Caribbean says 49 passengers were on the tour bus at the time of accident, and 29 were taken to the hospital. Of those, nine sustained non-life threatening injuries, and a spokeswoman tells USA TODAY all but one were able to return to the ship before it set sail late Wednesday.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez says the Freedom's captain held the ship's departure last night so the injured passengers could make it back on board.

?Our thoughts are with our guests that were involved in this unfortunate accident,? Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein says in the statement. ?The safety and well-being of our guests is our highest priority, and we will continue to do our very best to assist them.?

The passengers were traveling on The Duckaneer, a popular tour option for cruisers visiting St. Thomas that is hard to miss when it motors down the roads of St. Thomas' port, Charlotte Amalie.

The Freedom of the Seas is on a seven-night cruise of the Eastern Caribbean out of Port Canaveral, Florida that also includes stops in CocoCay, Bahamas; and Philipsburg, St. Maarten.

Full post as published by Cruise Ship Law on July 06, 2009 (boomark / email).