Why falling or jumping off a cruise ship is so dangerous

Table Of Content

• Salvatore Anello – Royal Caribbean Accidental Death
• A Surprising Safety Mystery: How Does Someone Fall Off A Cruise Ship?
• Despite these cases, overboard incidents are very rare, according to a cruise line trade association
• What Happens to the Family or Friends of a Person Who Went Overboard?
• Cruise Ship Deaths – Annual Statistics, Causes and Real Examples
• What are cruise ship overboard detection systems?

In may 2020,  5 crew members committed suicide on board cruise ships. Most jumped to their deaths and some hung themselves in cabin bathrooms. In 2018 Almarosa Terorio was cruising on the Royal Princess with her husband when she fell to her death. The couple was actually cruising in an inside cabin at the time but witnesses report seeing a man strangle her and then throw her overboard. It’s important to note that passenger vessels must follow strict security and safety requirements. One requirement is that railings be at least 42 inches above the deck.

Salvatore Anello – Royal Caribbean Accidental Death

Ironically, the view Miller was seeking was of another passing pilot boat. The cruise lines have care teams who are trained to give emotional support to those who have lost a friend or family member. If an overboard situation took place in a public manner, counseling is available to others on the ship who might need it. Perhaps you've seen news stories of "Carnival Cruise ship man overboard." When a passenger fell from Carnival Dream in October 2019, the ship was 47 miles from Galveston. The ship was aided in the search by several cargo ships and the Coast Guard, which released Dream from the search overnight at which point it continued to its port stop in Cozumel.

Royal Caribbean cruise ship passenger missing after going overboard on trip to the Bahamas - New York Post

Royal Caribbean cruise ship passenger missing after going overboard on trip to the Bahamas.

Posted: Mon, 25 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

A Surprising Safety Mystery: How Does Someone Fall Off A Cruise Ship?

“For rescue vessels, trying to find someone who has fallen over the side of a ship is really like tracking down a needle in a haystack,” said Dr Boxall. Floating in calm seas greatly increases your chances of being spotted by rescue crews, while choppier waters will severely diminish this. In all cases, cruise lines have at least one crew member trained in evidence collection and investigation techniques who will be in charge of the case until the FBI or local authorities can take over. The captain will typically make an announcement the next day to inform passengers of any itinerary changes or delays.

Despite these cases, overboard incidents are very rare, according to a cruise line trade association

Each of the big three lines—Carnival Corporation & plc, Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd, and Norwegian Cruise Lines—made between 26% and 30% of its 2017 revenue on drinks and extras sold onboard, according to their annual reports. One can surmise that is at least part of the reason guests are rarely allowed to bring their own booze—and why cruise enthusiasts spend so much time online dissecting the best drink packages, including popular all-you-can-drink options. Here’s what her family has been able to glean about the 33-year-old’s roughly 12 hours onboard that ship, which has a capacity of over 4,000 passengers and crew, and boasts a rum bar, a tequila bar, and a sports bar, as well as a casino and a Mexican cantina. Broberg—who at 5’5,” weighed 120 lbs—was served 19 drinks, her husband alleges in an ongoing civil suit (pdf) he brought against Carnival. Just before 2am, after leaving a bar, she climbed onto a deck chair that was pushed up against a railing on the pool deck. The halt on sailings, first issued for American cruises on March 14 last year, has ravaged the cruise industry, with companies reporting billions of dollars in losses, causing some of them to downsize their fleets and sell ships for scrap.

Still, CruiseJunkie.com founder and Memorial University of Newfoundland professor Ross Klein cautions that the numbers shouldn't be dismissed, and may actually be higher since they aren't always reported by the cruise companies or media. He explains, "I suspect most passenger disappearances on ships frequenting U.S. ports are reported, but I don’t have the same confidence around disappearances in other parts of the world, and especially not with regard to the disappearance of crew members." According to a report from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), there were 212 overboard incidents from 2009 to 2019, and only 48 — or 28.2% — of those who fell overboard were successfully rescued.

How many people have gone overboard from a cruise ship?

Employment contracts that force arbitration in the event of any injury, mishap, or wrongful death—thereby limiting the compensation they are entitled to—are also commonly used. Because of the complexity, some of these mysteries remain unsolved, and some victim’s families say the cruise lines aren’t doing enough to find answers—or even that they jump to conclusions that fly in the face of evidence. Among the aggrieved is the family of Nathan Skokan, aged 22 at the time of his death. Even though Broberg’s fall was captured on thermal camera, that camera footage was only viewed hours later, after her friends figured out she was missing. The system that captured her backwards topple did not alert the ship’s crew, or stop the ship to attempt to rescue her from the water.

Cruise Ship Deaths – Annual Statistics, Causes and Real Examples

Most of the nearly 30 million passengers (pdf) who travel on a cruise each year, roughly a third of them American, are blissfully unaware of this reality. When “man overboard” incidents get tabloid headlines, they’re framed as macabre, bizarre, isolated occurrences—not a problem that an average cruiser needs to worry about. Of the millions of people like Samantha Broberg who step onto cruise ships each year, few are aware that their personal safety is in the hands of one of the world’s most globalized, legally complex, and opaque industries. While the vast majority will not meet tragic fates like Broberg’s, her story shows how the expectations passengers have about their rights and safety on board a cruise ship do not always match the reality. Crew members at the time were unable to leave their cruise ships and were facing months at sea, sometimes quarantined to their cabins, with no real end in sight. In 2020 an increased number of crew members committed suicide during the coronavirus crisis.

Man Who Disappeared from Carnival Cruise Ship 'Jumped' Overboard, Officials Say - PEOPLE

Man Who Disappeared from Carnival Cruise Ship 'Jumped' Overboard, Officials Say.

Posted: Wed, 15 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

As noted above, going overboard is often the result of guest behavior while onboard. Guests who follow general safety procedures needn't worry so much about accidentally falling overboard. The amount of alcohol being served on cruise ships is also a concern cited by several experts, who said passengers are being overserved.

What are cruise ship overboard detection systems?

He told Good Morning America that his memories around the tumble are hazy. He acknowledged having a few drinks the night he went overboard but said he wasn't drunk. "Cruise ships today are the safest that ever sailed, thanks to the rules, regulations, and technological innovations that govern their design," Andy Harmer, UK and Ireland director of CLIA, told The Telegraph. Always pay attention to safety messages and signage that indicates which parts of the ship are meant for crew only, and drink alcohol responsibly. Klein says that in addition to the cost, cruise lines’ unwillingness to implement common-sense measures to reduce the likelihood of MOBs could come down to the fact that doing so would involve admitting they happen on a semi-predictable basis.

But Ross Klein, an academic at Memorial University of Newfoundland, does. But cruise lines are not required to report crime and incident data for all passengers, crew, and across all lines, jurisdictions, and territories to any one authority or body. Instead, incidents are reported piecemeal to individual flag states and port states where required. The same is true of the maritime shipping industry at large, which is why it’s hard to find reliable accounting of MOBs in other shipping sectors.

Francesco decided to change the route of the cruise ship which caused the accident. The ship sailed closer to land than she normally would and as a result, she overturned. 32 people lost their lives and captain Francesco was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison. It is a requirement for cruise lines to complete a muster drill with their crew and passengers. A muster drill prepares passengers on how to act and where to go in case of an emergency.

Questions of labor, environment, and safety are also determined by the flag state. Should an incident happen while a vessel is sitting in a port, jurisdiction would lie with the port state, and cruise lines often report incidents that occur on the high seas to law enforcement in their next port of call, as well as to their ship’s flag state. While many find cruise ships relaxing and virtually stress-free, bad things can happen (and have happened) at sea.

"The problem was tuning the technology just right so that you wouldn't be getting false alarms every time a seagull flew by the ship," he said. "It's just human nature, if you have alarms going off constantly, they become less and less important." The Coast Guard said last week it had given up on its search for 30-year-old Jaylen Hill, who went overboard during a four-day Carnival Cruise trip from Florida to the Bahamas. A passenger traveling on Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas vessel went overboard on October 29 after the ship departed Barcelona and was saved. Apoorv Sahani later said in a post on X that his family was given footage from the cruise ship.

More than 20% of the people die during their rescue, while 60% of the surviving passengers die a few minutes after getting rescued. The low survival rate among those who end up in the water is why cruise ships heavily prioritize making sure people don't fall in the first place. If you witness someone falling off a cruise ship, throw them a life buoy or other flotation device if you're near one. A large majority of cruise ship employees is hired from the Philippines—which accounts for roughly a third of cruise ship labor—and other poor countries.

Assuming that each took a cruise for one week that means that there are around 500 thousand guests at sea at any one time. In recent years there have been many incidents of accidents, suicides, and murders. However, the risks are real, and it’s a danger that everyone in your party should take seriously.