A Louisiana woman’s dream getaway aboard a Carnival cruise ship turned into a $50,000 medical horror show after a simple rope swing over the water in Honduras went catastrophically wrong, leaving her with a gruesome genital injury that required emergency air evacuation and multiple surgeries.
Kirsten Lindsey was on day three of her cruise when she and boyfriend Blake Ford joined a shore excursion at a dockside rope-swing setup in Honduras. Video from the scene shows Lindsey, in a black swimsuit, grabbing the thick rope high above the greenish water and swinging out from a green platform perched over the bay.
What should have been a thrilling splash turned into agony when a retrieval line, apparently improperly connected or left dangling, suddenly tightened between her legs like a deadly lasso as she tried to release herself, her boyfriend told local outlets.
“The line suddenly tightened between Kirsten’s legs just before she dropped,” Ford said, describing the freak accident as a “catastrophic saddle injury.”
Lindsey initially shrugged it off as a minor scratch and walked back to the dock, but the pain quickly escalated. Swelling set in, she needed a wheelchair, and soon she could barely move. Breathing became so difficult she’d stop when dozing off.
After more than a day suffering in the ship’s medical center and shelling out thousands out of pocket, the couple had no choice but to fork over a staggering $50,000 for a medical airlift back to the United States.
She underwent one emergency surgery in Florida and is now facing a second procedure back home in Shreveport, Louisiana, according to reports.
Ford and Lindsey’s family have launched a GoFundMe to help cover the exploding bills, lost wages, and recovery costs as the couple navigates what they call one of the hardest times of their lives.
Carnival Cruise Line has not yet commented publicly on the excursion operator or safety protocols at the Honduras stop.
The stomach-churning clip of the rope swing in action has gone viral on X as horrified users react to the latest example of adventure activities on foreign cruises going horribly sideways.
Cruise passengers, beware: Sometimes the souvenirs you bring home aren’t the ones you planned for.
