Royal Caribbean cruise rescues stranded passengers on makeshift raft

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship has rescued a makeshift raft full of people after altering its route to avoid a storm over the weekend.

It was a chance encounter by the Enchantment of the Seas, which came across the makeshift raft carrying approximately 12 people from Tampa, Florida, to Costa Maya, Mexico, on 28 September.

The vessel was forced to change its plans at the last minute, swapping its usual Bahamas route for a sail into the western Caribbean in a bid to avoid Hurricane Humberto and Tropical Storm Imelda.

A video shared to Facebook shows the moment a Royal Caribbean rescue craft was sent to the group, who appeared in visible distress as the raft 'was starting to fall apart'.

All passengers onboard the raft were rescued before being brought onto the ship, where they were given water, Come Cruise with Me reports.

Cruise ships, just like any other vessel at sea, are legally obligated to help people in distress out at sea if it is safe to do so, under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.

Rescued people will usually disembark at the next port the cruise is scheduled to visit, at which point local authorities will step in.

Occasionally, rescue missions can cause slight delays to cruise ships because possible detours or waiting for coast guard vessels to take people off board.

Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas (Angel Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

These incidents are actually more common than you might assume, particularly in areas like the Caribbean or the Mediterranean where small boats sometimes get into trouble.

Earlier this year, Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas found itself in a similar situation when it rescued 11 people floating on a small boat in the Gulf of Mexico between Cuba and Mexico.

The ship sent a rescue craft (Getty Stock Images)

The small boat had been 'waving that white flag of distress,' according to people on the cruise, who saw the passengers 'literally bailing out the water out of the boat.'

CEO of LGBT+ holiday company VACAYA and passenger onboard the ship at the time, Randle Roper, told CNN: "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.

"They sent a pilot boat with Brilliance of the Seas crew members out to the stranded vessel. I can only imagine the fear that they must have been feeling to be out in the open Gulf with no other vessels around."

LADbible has reached out to Royal Caribbean for comment.