Sky Pad ride suspended on 2 Royal Caribbean ships

[Jason]

Royal Caribbean has temporarily closed its new trampoline bungee "Sky Pad" ride on two of its cruise ships after a passenger filed a lawsuit last month.

"As part of our commitment to safety, we are temporarily taking Sky Pad out of service on Mariner of Seas and Independence of the Seas,” the Miami-based cruise line said in a statement.

On its blog Sunday, the cruise line also responded to a passenger that the ride was “temporarily unavailable. We're currently conducting a review as the safety as part of our commitment to safety for all of our guests.”

The Tweet added, “We're still running reviews and inspections.”

The cruise line has described the “Sky Pad” as a bungee trampoline experience. Riders don a virtual reality headset and are then strapped to a harness that allows them to leap and perform flips. In photos, the ride looks like a big ball with holes carved out.

On March 12 passenger Casey Holladay, 25, filed a $10 million federal lawsuit against the cruise line after he fell 20-feet while using the feature on the Mariner of the Seas during a February cruise with his girlfriend.

Holladay’s attorney Brett Rivkind told the Sun Sentinel last month that Holladay suffered a fractured pelvis from the fall and he was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

Upon learning of the ride’s suspension, Rivkind said on Tuesday “it is obvious they have finally recognized the Sky Pad is unsafe and RCCL (Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited) must do the proper safety analysis and risk assessment that should of been performed before launching this activity on their ships.”

He added, “Casey is angry and sad he had to be one of the motivating factors for this to happen.”

The Mariner of the Seas sails out of Miami for three to four night cruises to the Bahamas; the Independence of the Seas sails out of Fort Lauderdale for four to five night Caribbean cruises.

The Sky Pad is also featured on the Asia-based Spectrum of the Seas which was not addressed in the cruise line’s social media responses about the ride’s suspension.

By Gene Sloan, USA Today
Re-posted on CruiseCrazies.com - Cruise News, Articles, Forums, Packing List, Ship Tracker, and more
For more cruise news and articles go to https://www.cruisecrazies.com

View full article