BEWARE XCARET excursion
 

I visit Cancun almost yearly for the last 8 years and have spent lots of time there during spring break and later on with family. One of the most beautiful places near there is the Xcaret ecological park but I was shocked to here the news of a man who was snorkeling at the underground river who was struck in the head by a boulder from about 20 feet high. The family bought the tckets from their Carnival cruise line and when he got hit by the stone, no one from the ship helped. They disembarked and left his luggage in Cancun. Makes me think twice about going on that underground river swim.

I sort of missed the point. Was the ship supposed to wait for him to recover, or was the he supposed to board the ship with an open head, because of a freak accident???<BR>

Hey you stupid a.. the man died. Now take that one to your stupid a remarks.

Now, where extactly was the "dying" part included in the thread?<BR>Sorry, duhhhh.........<BR><BR>And??????<BR>

My friend,<BR><BR>I live in Mexico and have not heard of any accident in Xcaret. I was in Cancun for 1 week during March-April and did not know anything about it. I have also researched in the internet and found nothing. Do you have any link to that news or any other source to try to investigate a little bit more of what happened?<BR><BR>Cheers,<BR><BR>McH

The story was aired on NBC Nightly news with Tom Brokaw about 2 weeks ago. The man did die in MExico. I would try looking at NBC's website to see if they have anything on it since I am not sure when the actual event took place.

TROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, for the previous poster, I am not a troll. I am just relaying the news that I hard on NBC nightly news to fellow fodorites. If you don't believe it, then don't. Just making others aware.

I too saw the news relaying the unfortunate accident at xcaret. The widow of the man who was killed expressed her views re the Carnival Cruise line, namely they offererd her no assistance at all. <BR>

USA Today and Yahoo News carried a story on Carnival Cruise.Dated April 25th,2002.<BR><BR>They were fined $18,000,000 (for felonies they admitted to )for dumping oily discharge into the water.<BR><BR>They was Two other Cruise lines one in 1998-1999 fined $27,000,000 and $2,000,000 for similiar offenses.<BR><BR>This is not enviromentally Friendly activity.<BR><BR>Link<BR>http://www.usatoday.com/life/travel/...6-carnival.htm

Here is a link to yahoo news just put Carnival Cruise in search at top.<BR>http://dailynews.yahoo.com/

See, <BR>I knew I wasnt crazy.

Hi again!<BR><BR>I have a question, what does the oil dumping has to do with the accident? It seems that the whole story of the fines are based on the first and not on the second one.<BR><BR>Trying to clarify things,<BR><BR>McH

I'm calling bulls--t on this one. A search on Xcaret in Yahoo News and MSNBC turns up exactly zero news stories. Searching both of them for Carnival turns up zero stories about anyone being killed at Xcaret, and I went back pretty far. Seems like someone has a gripe with Carnival and is posting this message in other forums, too, alternaltely attributing the story to NBC or CBS.

Jim,<BR>It's not BS since I have no gripe against Carnival since I';ve never cruised with them. I have been to Xcaret a few times and love the beauty of the place but still wonder about the hidden dangers of the underground river snorkel. I too went online and did searches and could not find anything on the subject but it was played on NBC nightly news a little while ago.

Possibly they were not clear on what type of medical emergency the Cruise line was responsible for. <BR>What could needed to be addressed was do you need extra medical coverage on a cruise.<BR><BR>What I find interesting is that these Cruise Ships are like Cities and they are dumping into the very oceans that we swim in.<BR>I did a Google Search on Cruise Ships Pollution and did It turn up a windfall.

To author Jim. The story regarding the man who died was not a myth. I watched it on NBC around the 17th April. I have no gripe with Carnival, and it is true that all off shore excursions are not the responsibility of the cruise line, however it would have been good customer relations to at least extended some human sympathy to the woman and her children. This is a travel forum and as such it is a place to discuss , give caveats and praise when due.

When someone can point me to one legitmate news story about the Xcaret "incident" I'll agree with you. If this really happened it would be in a newspaper that we can view online.

It definitely happened. I checked with a news service I use at work. The story is dated 4/24/02, and NBC News is cited. Unfortunately I can't view the whole article, just a synopsis, because I pay quite a bit for each article I actually use. You might want to look at NBC's archives.

When someone posts a link here to show me the story, I will believe it. Well.....we're waiting....

Well, you don't have to believe me, but notice that I always post my real name and e-mail. I have never been to Xcaret, never taken a cruise, and had no real interest in this thread but a curiosity about whether I could find any news involving it. I am a researcher by profession and took it as a small diversionary challenge. However, I refuse to pay $3 to give you the text of the article I cited. Go find it yourself. Try NBC News, Google, and other resources. Now, if you don't consider NBC a legitimate news story, there is nothing more to do.

Wow, after much discussion and lots of claims no one has provided any real documentation that the claimed event actually happened. So, I will make a deal. If someone can provide documentation I will eat my gorrita. Any takers?

Wow - Loser! How much more documentation do you need! NBC aired the whole story on Dateline two weeks or so ago. More than one person on this thread has told you to check with NBC, but obivioiusly you cant or wont. My question is do you work for Xcaret or are you thier lawyer? Stop being lazy and look it up your self.

I searched high and low and found not a trace that this is a true story. Perhaps someone can provide a link to NBC? I searched there and found nothing. Frankly if it's true I feel terrible for the family but I'm more inclined to think someone is pushing an agenda.

My source says: "Profile: Family's dream vacation turns into worst nightmare"<BR>NBC News: Nightly News, 04/24/2002<BR>BRIAN WILLIAMS, co-anchor

Ok, lets say it's true. I'm a believer!!!! <BR>1. Don't you think this is a freak accident, or do you expecto to do the river thing with a helmet on?<BR>2. Carnival Cruise, had no responsabiity in the rock falling, right? Should they have been more compassionate? Maybe, they could have left a representative and given support to the family. But, don't they have an obligation to the rest of the tourists also? <BR><BR>Once on a scub tour on a sailboat with about 25 other persons, I got REALLY SEASICK. I mean the throw up, almost died, green in the face sick type seasickness. Even though I got on my knees to ask for them to leave me ashore, the captain wouldn't "because there were 24 other passengers that had paid for the cruise, and the show goes on".. At the time I was furious, but then I understood that the world does not revolve around ME. <BR><BR>

An obligation to their passengers! What about the enviroment and the rest of the world. Dumping their slag into the very oceans they are touting their passengers off to sea. What happens to that stuff. It washes up on Beaches, affects wildlife, the ocean eco system, the fragile reefs. <BR><BR>Possibly the first person was pointing out their lack of responsiblty when it comes to handling critical matters.

Anony: this thread is treating the subject of a traveler with an unfortunate accident OUTSIDE the ship. I am not praising or condemning, just stating the facts as they are.<BR> <BR>If you want to discuss oil spillage, go the Green Peace board and discuss all you want.<BR>

"because I pay quite a bit for each article I actually use"<BR><BR>$3? Thats big bucks? I will send you $3 to post the link to the story where we can all read it. I looked everywhere I know and found not a sniff of the story, including on NBCs site.<BR><BR>Otherwise, this story still smells.

Who cares if you beleive it Jim. From your thread it seems you just want to keep this "Thomas act " up , but we are bored . We are interested in travel, and as such it seems most folks pointed out that off shore excursions are not the ships responsibility. However some cruise lines do provide advice and compassion in the event their passengers do encounter difficulties.

Carnival Cruise was fined for Falisfying Records. That was what the $18,000,000 fine was for.<BR><BR>For more enviromental news go to www.enn.com and search cruise ships.

This is starting to get humerous. I too went in search of a article link. So far all I have found is this note, kind of in a trip report but sounds like its writtten by a travel writer...<BR><BR>"A note of caution, however: if the river is crowded, get out of the water! There are many places where you can climb out and rest until the congestion eases. My nine-year-old son was bumped against a rock wall by pushy swimmers in a rush to catch a bus. (!) He hurt his head: not seriously, but enough to spoil his river run." The link to that is:<BR><BR>http://travelwithkids.about.com/library/mexico/blxcaret.htm?iam=dpile_1&terms=xcaret+accident<BR> <BR>

The verdict is in. This story was made up by anti-Carnival or environmentalist folks pushing their agenda. RIP.

Agreed. Again, I offer to pay the poster the $3 it would cost him to get a link to the story on NBC.com. Or else, I offer the same $3 to anyone who can find a link to this specific boulder-on-the-head story.<BR>

I fully agree. I have a friend in Mexico who I have written to about this, and he says he has no knowledge of a death at that park.<BR><BR>Troll!!!!!!!!!

I also did a search on the news archives and found nothing however, it was aired on the news regarding the accident. for the above poster, if you friend did not hear anything about the accident then it MUST not of happened right? I bet you didn't know about Katherine Kennedy Townsend running for Maryland governor but it did happen. But since you live in the US and you didn't hear about it then it must not have occured.

I can't give you a link to the story. I use a pay service to view these articles, and I can't link to articles I view, only the service's homepage. I can tell you the victim was from Elkart, Indiana. I admit it is extremely hard to find information on this event. I would try looking in Indiana media Web sites if you really want to know more or contact NBC to get a transcript.

KKT is running for governor of Maryland and its on the front page of the Washington Post. What the hell is your point?

If the event wasn't so tragic, it would actually be funny.<BR><BR>