Marbie

There has been a few articles in our local newspaper concerning cruise-ship passengers who disappear. One was a local dentist who went missing while at sea a couple of weeks ago. It's not enough to keep me away from cruising, but I have done a search on this site and was surprised this topic hasn't come up before.

Ziana

http://www.angelsmissing.com/forum/i...showtopic=4393
Horrific story!!!

Marbie

That was one of the recent stories I had read. There was another story of a couple on their honey moon in Greece with RCCL and her husband went missing just off the coast of Turkey. The FBI is apparently investigating this disappearence also.

SusaG

Where are these people going that they get lost???
We just returned from a 10 day S> Caribbean cruise with Celebrity. You punch in and out with your ID card and every day the "Celebrity Today" flyer warns you where to go and what to beware of. Guest Services also will help with tours that will make sure you get back to the ship on time.

P_M

SusaG, I don't think the people in question are disappearing while in port. If that were the case they would be a lot easier to find. My best guess is that most of these people have gone overboard while at sea. If they fell overboard and nobody saw it, then it's often far too late to find them by the time they are missed. It's very hard to find a lone person in the ocean, especially when you don't know the location where they went into the water. And that's assuming they survived the fall into the water. Scary....

Marbie

All the passengers whom I've read about had checked in at the last port. They were suppose to be on Board. Assumption- overboard while at sea. Our local paper has picked up on various reports over the past year, because a local resident is one of the casualities. In one case they reported the ship did search for the individual, but of course, not found. They reported 14 similar cases over the past year or two. Scarry.. Investigations pending.

gail

It has been discussed here on several occasions. I remember because I got flamed for suggesting it would be very difficult for a person to accidently fall overboard.

Ziana

If ship follows a route to the destination point why is it difficult to follow the same route and find a person?

P_M

Ziana, they are looking for a lone person in the midst of thousands of miles of open water. That person will barely look like a spot from a helicopter. Sure, they could send a ship to search, but they cannot pinpoint exactly where the cruise ship was, and even if they could, a person will drift with the tide. It is not a simple task.

And as I said above, there's always a chance that person did not survive the fall, in which case the body might be underwater.

Ziana

I see and surprised how come passengers don't get safety bracelets or something in case they have to be located. It actually just came to my mind...

CruiseDiva

It's rare that someone unintentionally falls off a ship. Twenty-one million people took cruises in the past two years and approximately a dozen went missing from their ships. When it happens and someone sees the person go into the water, the bridge immediately prepares to perform a Williamson Turn. The time is recorded and the ship is set in motion on a sort of figure-8 turn to go back to the exact spot where the accident occurred. As many eyes as possible immediately are on watch. A rescue boat is launched and, with a combination of skill and luck, the passenger is found.

Man overboard training was being conducted during one of my cruises and the crew on our vessel was able to accomplish the rescue in approximately 17 minutes.

Out of curiosity, I'm interested in the honeymoon incident. I wonder... Where was the bride when her groom went missing? Was she so drunk that she passed out in a public area and never made it back to their cabin? The way those electronic locks are set up, the security department can tell which key is used to open the cabin door and the time that it was used. My bet is that the authorities have a pretty good idea what happened but not enough probable cause to do anything. Was anyone else as offended as I was with the bride's statement to the congressional hearing about how RCI mistreated her? She was clearly lying.

Linda Coffman

Craigellachie

On a well run ship it's difficult, though not impossible, to fall overboard by accident. When the sea is rough they sometime close off parts of the decks that might be risky.
BTW standard Overboard procedure is that the first person who sees someone falling in throws a lif belt or other buoancy aid as close to them as they can. This is more visible in the water than a lone person so the crew have a much better chance of knowing where to look for them.
I haven't seen much of the coverage from across the pond but I think CruiseDiva has a point about how rare this really is. Probably far more tourists die in road accidents but this doesn't make such good headlines.

LLindaC

People magazine has an interesting article on this in this week's issue.

KESinMN

I don't know if it's true or not, but apparently there is a phenomenon when on a ship looking at the water. It's hypnotic and makes you want to jump.

I once read that on a freighter cruise site that the writer was told this by one of the crew. After being on a cruise ship balcony and watching the waves, I believe there could be some truth to the theory.

diann

CruiseDiva,

They have had a few shows on about the honeymoon couple this past week. RCCL spokesman was on and it seems the FBI and others have been doing some serious investigating. Not sure what to make out of it and not all info is being made public. Even in his interpretation there seemed to be missing pieces to the puzzle. His bride was sleeeping in the hall someplace so the story goes. But the neighbors claimed they saw the 3 men leave the cabin after much commotion. Perhaps there were 4 men in there with him. Not just 3. Very odd story, but I doubt that he jumped on his own. I think she came back, then left again, or else there were 4 men and only 3 left. I would suspect there was also not enough evidence to arrest anyone.

redshoe

I've never been on a cruise but would like to go..but how do these people fall over? Are they ships safe and are the walls around the decks tall enough to keep someone from falling over? What about if you have children on a cruise?

diann

I don't think all situations have been the same of the recent ones we have heard about. I think they are all different and isolated incidents. I think this last one has been foul play. Others can he drunk people playing leonardo di caprio on the Titantic. (I am on top of the world.) I have been on quite a few ships, and cruises and of course it is possible to jump over. It is assumed adults would take safety precautions and watch there children. I don't think the ships pose a threat unless one is acting foolish, or foul play is involved or even maybe suicide. Difficult to say.

gail

To redshoe - in my limited cruise experience, it would be virtually impossible for a sane and even partially sober person to fall overboard.

redshoe

So what's happening to these people? Are they jumping overboard in suicide ? I had even read about a couple who went missing Scary! I'm planning on going on my first cruise this fall/early winter.

I'll be doing the Disney cruise since I have 3 yr old.

P_M

If there are no witnesses and nobody lives to tell the story of how someone went overboard, then it's impossible to know what happened. IMO, the only reasons why someone would go overboard would be one of 3 scenarios: 1. careless behavior near the railing 2. suicide 3. murder


Several years ago there was a story in my local news about a couple from my home city who went overboard on a Mediterranean cruise. The only reason we know what happened is that one of them survived. Here's the story:

(the article didn't say this they had been drinking, but I have a feeling alcohol was a factor)

Around 3am this couple was out on deck while nobody else was around. The man was lifting the woman onto the railing, trying to make her sit on the railing. This was supposed to be all in fun. She kept jumping back onto the deck, saying don't do that. He thought this was funny, so he picked her up again and this time he pushed her so far back she fell overboard. He panicked and jumped into the water to try and help. He didn't think about the fact that nobody saw this happen, so they were both stranded in the open water as the ship sailed away.

The couple floated on their backs and eventually dozed off while floating. When the woman awoke around sunrise, the man was gone. She floated in the water until late the next afternoon, when she got very lucky and was spotted by a passing tanker. The tanker rescued her, but the man was never seen again.

Very sad.