Cruise ship rescues 11 people adrift between Cuba and Mexico

The cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas approaches the Miraflores Locks in the Panama Canal in October 2024. (Enea Lebrun/Reuters/FILE via CNN Newsource)

The cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas rescued 11 people adrift in the Gulf of Mexico between Cuba and Mexico on Wednesday, according to VACAYA, an LGBT+ vacation company that chartered the ship.

The Royal Caribbean cruise line ship departed New Orleans on Saturday for a seven-night cruise. On Wednesday, the captain spotted a boat in the distance “that appeared to be in distress,” said Randle Roper, the CEO of VACAYA, who was onboard the ship.

“The captain calls me immediately as the charterer of the ship to let me know that they are going to turn around and investigate, and that’s exactly what they did,” Roper recounted later in a recorded interview shared with CNN Travel. “They sent a pilot boat with Brilliance of the Seas crew members out to the stranded vessel.”

Roper said the 11 people were refugees, but he didn’t know where they were from.

“I can only imagine the fear that they must have been feeling to be out in the open Gulf with no other vessels around,” Roper said.

‘They were clearly in distress’

When the refugees spotted the ship, Roper said that “they started waving that white flag of distress” and that passengers on the chartered cruises went to the decks to witness the rescue.

“They had determined from a distance that there were 10 or more people … on the boat. They could also see that they were clearly in distress,” Roper said. “The refugees on the boat were literally bailing out the water out of the boat, so their boat had clearly become stricken, and they were just adrift sea and taking on water.”

He said they later learned that they were out there between one and two days.

Among the passengers who saw the rescue unfold was former MTV host Julie Brown, who was performing on the ship. She was recorded on video witnessing and commenting on the rescue, noting that people were ferried three at the time from the failing boat and that the ones remaining were brought life jackets.

“As they were coming toward the boat, I waved at them and they all waved back to me, so they’re obviously in good spirits as well,” Brown said in the video.

‘In great spirits’

As for the condition of the rescued people once onboard, “They were pretty malnourished and exhausted. But we’ve got them here on board safe and sound. They’re being fed, getting lots and lots of water to rehydrate. … They’re in great spirits,” Roper said.

Regarding the refugees’ immediate future, Roper said the US Coast Guard was involved in determining next steps. He said that the 11 refugees disembarked in Mexico on Thursday.

CNN Travel reached out to the Coast Guard for comment on Thursday afternoon. Royal Caribbean did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Thursday.

Roper said the VACAYA guests “are stepping in … donating their clothes, providing funds.”

Roper noted the poignant intersection of his charter group and the people rescued at sea.

“Two of the most reviled groups out there in America right now are the LGBT+ community and refugees, and the fact that we were the ones that I’m gonna say lucky enough to help them, it just feels really, really good,” Roper said.

Article written by Marnie Hunter and Forrest Brown, CNN