How do you fall from a cruise ship?

More and more cruise ship ‘falls’ keep happening, but how?

I was saddened to read that earlier this week a man lost his life after a fall on a cruise ship in the Bahamas. Reports state that he fell from the 10th or 11th decks to a lower deck on the Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line’s Grand Classica. He was on board the cruise celebrating his stag party with family and friends when the incident took place. The US coast guard has not yet released any other information as they continue their investigations, but after being taken back to the US mainland he was pronounced dead on arrival.

You may remember back in August this year when a British woman fell from the back of the Norwegian Star during the night and survived 10 hours in the Adriatic sea. This woman certainly had someone watching out for her and was very lucky to survive such a fall into the seas and keep herself afloat for such a long time. Due to unusually high water temperatures, the woman also survived the chance of getting hypothermia and once rescued it was a quick check with the doctors and home!

But how and why are these incidents happening? If you have been on a cruise ship, you will know that the barriers surrounding the decks are high and unless you jump or are pushed you cannot fall from a ship.

In the case of the lady from the Norwegian Star, I have been waiting to see what the investigation brought up on this incident but no news has been reported since August and things have gone very quiet. Rumours surfaced that she was alone, her partner already asleep in bed and she had had one too many from the drinks package and accidentally fell over the railing after trying to retrieve something that fell from her hand.

I was researching and came across a report that approximately 19 people a year fall to their death from a cruise ship.  One thing the cruise ships are doing is making it harder for you to jump or get pushed. Most cruise ship deaths are associated with some deliberate act, or their cause is mysterious.

“Safety regulations, including uniform minimum railing and balcony heights, and structural barriers are also in place to prevent passengers who are acting responsibly from simply falling off a cruise ship,” said Sarah Kennedy, a spokesperson for CLIA. “There are no known cases of someone acting responsibly who has accidentally fallen over the railing of a cruise ship,” she added.

So yet again, could alcohol and tomfoolery be to blame for this latest incident? We can all get a bit silly after one too many drinks and think we are invincible. Maybe there should be a limit to the amount guests can consume once onboard, because as we can see no-one is invincible when the worst happens.

What are your thoughts on this? Have you seen guests acting dangerously after too many drinks on a cruise ship?

Dawn

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