On Monday, the crew of a Carnival cruise ship rescued two stranded men in the Gulf of Mexico.
Workers aboard the Carnival Jubilee spotted the pair paddling in a small yellow and orange kayak off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico.
The men rowed their kayaks alongside the large cruise ship and helped the crew pull it aboard, according to cruise lines and rescue photos.
They said their boat sank and they used kayaks to stay afloat, according to a statement from Carnival.
Once aboard the cruise ship, the two were examined by Carnival medical staff and given first aid, food and water.
The crew notified staff at Carnival’s fleet operations center in Miami of the rescue, and both parties contacted Mexican naval officials. Carnival said they arranged transportation and a Navy boat came to pick up the two kayakers shortly after the initial rescue.
The cruise ship then continued its voyage to Mahogany Bay on Roatan, which we visited on Tuesday.
The rescue marks the second time in just over a month that a Carnival ship has rescued people stranded at sea.
On December 13, the crew of the Carnival Vista rescued six men floating in a life raft in dark waters off the coast of the Dominican Republic.
The captain received an emergency alert about the stranded people and immediately maneuvered the ship towards them and away from the planned course to save them.
Carnival officials on board the ship spotted the men in a bright orange reflective liferaft in the early morning darkness and brought them aboard.
The men’s small cargo boat capsized overnight, and the other six people on the boat, who were in separate liferafts, were later found and rescued by the coast guard.
The dramatic rescue was filmed by a Carnival Vista passenger who posted the clip to TikTok. In the video, a person off-camera can be heard exclaiming how “insane” the experience was.
