88-Year-Old Cruise Passenger Dies After Mobility Scooter Enters Water at Bahamas Port

An 88-year-old American woman died after driving her mobility scooter off a pier at about noon on Saturday, May 9, 2026. The victim drove off the pier and fell into the water at Carnival’s private destination in the Bahamas called Celebration Key. She is believed to have hit her head on the hull of the boat as she did so, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a release.

The victim, a passenger aboard the Carnival Celebration, was retrieved from the water and taken for treatment aboard the ship. She succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead by a local doctor. Police did not name the victim.

Police did not specify the boat or the resort in their initial release. “Our thoughts are with her family,” a Carnival Cruise Line spokesperson told USA Today. Bahamian police officials said an autopsy is being conducted to determine the woman’s exact cause of death.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing. The Royal Bahamas Police Force provided the initial details of the sequence that began when the woman drove her mobility scooter off the pier shortly before noon on May 9. Carnival Cruise Line later confirmed the ship involved was the Carnival Celebration and the location was its private port at Celebration Key.

The woman was pulled from the water within minutes and received immediate medical attention aboard the vessel. No further details about the boat she struck or the precise layout of the pier have been released by authorities.

The absence of those specifics in the police statement left Carnival to fill in the cruise line and destination information. An autopsy underway in the Bahamas is expected to clarify the exact cause of death. Investigators continue to examine circumstances surrounding the fatal drive off the pier at the popular cruise port.