Carnival Glory rescues boaters!

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The Carnival Glory came to the rescue of three boaters stranded 130 miles off the coast of Port Canaveral early Saturday morning.

Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen told Florida Today that the ship stopped after spotting a 25-foot fishing boat in distress.

Cruise Critic member ceanderson3 was onboard the Glory during the rescue; he posted the following report on the Cruise Critic message boards: "... the ship started listing bad. I was sitting at the lido deck restaurant aft and was eating ice cream with friends. At this time, I glanced out the back windows and saw a light. A minute or so later it was gone.

"From the announcement made later, apparently they had gotten word of a vessel in distress in our area and the captain turned to go there. The light I saw was them signaling us. We kept lines up with them maybe 100 to 200 yards away with a spotlight on what looked like nothing more than a 20 or so foot inflatable. After a few minutes a lifeboat came around the bow of the ship and made its way out to the other boat. Then after a few more minutes, they came back around the glory and loaded the lifeboat back. Medical, security, the captain and several others met the 3 men on deck."

Gulliksen tells us that the three men, two Bahamian citizens and a U.S. citizen, were taken aboard Carnival Glory, which was on the final day of a seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruise. The men debarked Saturday in Port Canaveral, where the cruise also ended.