Cruise Line Apologizes After Autistic Guest Was Removed From Cruise in Mexico

A New Jersey mother is speaking out after her autistic son was kicked off a cruise ship during a Christmas cruise.

Carolyn Piro’s family was enjoying a 7-night Caribbean sailing onboard a Celebrity Cruise ship to celebrate the holidays and Piro’s 60th birthday. For context, Celebrity Cruises is a sister brand to Royal Caribbean.

It’s unclear which specific ship the family was onboard, but itinerary details suggest that Celebrity Xcel is a likely candidate for the Florida-based sailing.

Piro was traveling with her eldest son, Sean Curran, who is 31-years-old with Autism. The mother also had her three other sons onboard to celebrate, one of whom has mosaic Down syndrome and another has fragile X syndrome.

All was well until four days into the cruise when Curran was kicked off the ship in Cozumel, Mexico, on Christmas Eve after his attempts to be nice to another passenger went very wrong.

“With all of the information about autism, there was no compassion. They treated him as a fully functioning adult,” Piro said to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Curran’s mother and another sibling disembarked with him to help Curran make his way back to Florida, where they reunited with the rest of the family when the sailing disembarked.

What Went Wrong?

Autism is a spectrum and functionality and understanding varies from person to person. It’s unclear how the disorder specifically affects Curran.

According to Piro, her son was asked by an unidentified teenage girl to buy her a Long Island iced tea. Allegedly, Curran did not know that this drink contained alcohol and happily complied with her request.

Curran was alone at the time the girl approached him because he had been on three other sailings and his family felt that he was capable of roaming independently.

He continued to socialize with the minor in one of the ship’s hot tubs, where the girl allegedly touched his chest and stomach and used inappropriate profane language. He also playfully carried the girl.

Confronted By Security

The girl’s parents found the duo in the hot tub and began yelling at Curran, who was quickly escorted to a security office. Piro joined him there to advocate for her son.

“I have autism and I was just trying to be nice,” Curran wrote in a statement that was given to the ship’s security team.

Ultimately, security leadership decided that Curran would have 90 minutes to pack his bags and debark from the cruise ship early.

The family was initially only given an incident report and told that the FBI and Homeland Security would be notified of what had occurred. No charges were ever filed.

Piro did discipline Curran once they returned home. She continues to insist that his behaviors were wrong and needed to be corrected, but did not come from a place of malicious intent.

A Not-So Autism Friendly Cruise Experience

Part of the reason the family chose Celebrity Cruises is that the brand is known for being accessible for guests with autism, which is also what makes this experience extra disappointing for them.

“We’ve proudly achieved the Autism Friendly Cruise Line status, having completed certification with Autism on the Seas,” Celebrity Cruises’ website states.

“This is awarded to cruise lines that ensure their products and services are accessible for participation by the autism and developmental disability community.”

Piro says the family also did their best to plan ahead for accommodating the different needs in their travel party, such as requesting special seating in the dining room to keep the family separated from loud noises and larger groups.

Royal Caribbean Apologizes

After Piro spoke out about this unfortunate incident, Royal Caribbean apologized and said that its crew members would be better trained on how to deal with guests who have mental disabilities.

While Royal Caribbean has a zero-tolerance policy for behaviors that could potentially endanger other guests or crew members, this was a unique situation because Curran did not fully understand what he was doing.

The company “concluded we could have been more sensitive to [the family’s] needs during the debarkation process,” a Royal Caribbean spokesperson told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The spokesperson also said that crew members would receive additional training to “ensure this experience doesn’t happen again.”

Piro has also asked to be reimbursed for the $20,000 she spent on the cruise and related expenses, but it’s unclear if Royal Caribbean will grant this request at this time.