Cruise guest injured following unexpected wind gust

A Royal Caribbean International passenger was injured after one of its cruise ships was hit by strong wind.
The cruise line’s Explorer of the Seas “experienced sudden movement” during an unexpected gust of wind near Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, a company spokesperson told USA TODAY. The vessel is currently sailing a nearly two-week cruise from Barcelona to Miami, Florida, according to CruiseMapper.
“One of our guests was injured and requires additional medical care, so the ship will make a call in Las Palmas, Spain for a medical disembarkation,” the Royal Caribbean spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We are communicating these changes directly with our guests.”
Jo Belle Gunthorpes, another guest on board, felt the ship tilt around 7:15 p.m. on Thursday. The 39-year-old, who is from New York, was in her suite with her family at the time. “All of our plates that were on the table, they slid off and they all broke,” she told USA TODAY.
Gunthorpes’ 6-year-old daughter was crying, and they held onto a railing to stabilize themselves. She said they take at least five cruises yearly but had never experienced anything like it. “We definitely were scared,” she said.
The roughest part lasted about six minutes, according to Gunthorpes, and the captain announced the ship had been caught in a wind squall of 73 knots. The Royal Caribbean spokesperson did not comment on the speed of the wind or other specifics of her experience.
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Gunthorpes noted that the ship’s crew had been communicative with guests following the incident and offered several hours of free Wi-Fi, in part so passengers could communicate with loved ones.
Cruise lines work hard to avoid storms, but the incident is not the only recent one of its kind. Parts of Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas flooded in January off the coast of South America following heavy rain and wind, and a Carnival Cruise Line ship was rocked by rough weather on its way back to the U.S. from a Bahamas cruise last year.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].