Charlie and Erika Bonacolta, and their children were sailing back to Port Everglades after visiting Cozumel, Mexico, on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas when a small raft was spotted by the command staff bobbing in the ocean.
“We were about 30 miles from Cuba,” Mrs. Bonacolta said, when the captain announced that a raft had been seen. “We slowed down and the captain sent a lifeboat out to pick them up,” she said.
Mrs. Bonacolta said that the group of five was brought aboard the Allure and given food and water. “Their raft was a small, rubber type raft,” she said and added that the captain later said the five refugees had been at sea for three days.
She said a U.S. Coast Guard plane came out first and then a USCG cutter stopped by the cruise ship and transferred the refugees over.
The captain later spoke to the ship and told the passengers how extraordinary the rescue was, Mrs. Bonacolta said
“We’ve been on a lot of cruises,” she said. “And this has never happened before. Even some of the Allure’s staff was watching from the railing.”