Crew members aboard Carnival Cruise Line’s Port Canaveral, Florida-based Mardi Gras played an unexpected role this week. They rescued a couple stranded at sea.
Carnival said its Mardi Gras crew received a call from the U.S. Coast Guard to help rescue a man and a woman from a sailboat early Monday.
The couple was stranded about 20 miles from Castle Island, Bahamas, and Mardi Gras was less than 9 miles from them when the ship’s officers received a call from the Coast Guard.
As the Mardi Gras approached the sailboat, the crew lowered a lifeboat to make the rescue just after 1 a.m. Monday.
Once on board the Mardi Gras, the man was admitted to the ship’s medical center, Carnival said, adding that both of them “are being assisted and supported by the ship’s team.”
Carnival said it was unable to provide additional details about the couple’s identity or the man’s medical condition. A photo provided by Carnival showed the man coming aboard the ship in a wheelchair.
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The Mardi Gras left Port Canaveral on Saturday on an eight-day Caribbean sailing. The ship is continuing its planned itinerary, with a stop Tuesday in Aruba. It is scheduled to return to Port Canaveral next Sunday.
Mardi Gras carries more than 6,000 passengers and more than 1,700 crew members. It is Carnival’s second-largest ship, and one of three Carnival ships now based at Port Canaveral, along with the Freedom and the Liberty.
Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com, on Twitter at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54
