Ocala couple's cruise turns to rescue mission in Caribbean sea after Irma

Majesty of the Sea used to provide humanitarian relief for hard-hit islands

MARION COUNTY, Fla.A Marion County couple are back home after an extended trip at sea. The cruise ship they were on took the turn of a lifetime during Hurricane Irma and wound up on a rescue mission.

Robert Mahoney and his wife boarded Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Sea days before Irma hit, but after cruise officials said the vessel would be used to provide humanitarian relief for hard-hit islands, only 78 of the 1,800 passengers stayed on board. Mahoney said that number eventually decreased to just 26.

"There are still good people left in this world. It was just a really, really emotional thing to go through," Mahoney said. "We had people that are elderly people stay on board. We had people that were young as 20. A couple of honeymoon couples on the ship."

Mahoney said after riding out the storm on the west coast of Cuba, the ship picked up hundreds of pallets of supplies in Puerto Rico and took it to St. Thomas and St. Martin, along with picking up Federal Emergency Management Agency and Red Cross workers.

Mahoney also said that hundreds of evacuees turned to only a couple dozen passengers left on the ship for emotional support.

"Like relief counselor, you know what I'm saying?" Mahoney said. "Just talk to these people, you know what I'm saying? Ask them how you are doing, how they are feeling."

Of the people he met, Mahoney said he most clearly remembers greeting a man on board named Scott. He said Scott walked 7 miles to the port to be saved. He said Scott was from the New England area and had stayed through the storm to protect his boating business.

"He had the same accent," Mahoney said. "We chit-chatted. I told him what was going on the ship up top. He told me what he lost, but he's just glad to be alive,."

Mahoney said the hundreds of people being rescued were given access to the ship's buffet, pool and free estate rooms with warms showers.

"It will touch your heart. It really will. It will make you think you know how precious life is," Mahoney said.

Impressed by the efforts of Royal Caribbean, Mahoney said he's already planned another family cruise for January.


About the Author:

Troy graduated from California State University Northridge with a Bachelor's Degree in Communication. He has reported on Mexican drug cartel violence on the El Paso/ Juarez border, nuclear testing facilities at the Idaho National Laboratory and severe Winter weather in Michigan.