Royal Caribbean. -child falls from balcony

[wallawallakids]

So sad. Hope he is ok.

[NancyIL]

Deck 11 on Monarch of the Seas is the pool deck: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findac...vigation=false. As I recall, there is plexiglass all around the ship, but there are small gaps between the panels.

ETA - the only cabin balconies on Monarch are in the suites on deck 10. All other cabins are either inside or have a window. From the photo of the ship, you can see the glass around the top deck: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findac...do?shipCode=MN

[Tiger926]

Sad and confusing story.

Not sure how a baby would be in that particular situation unless not properly supervised.

After spending millions of hours in Disney Parks and just having sailed on the Fantasy in August, we see lots of unsupervised children, including babies and toddlers.

Hope they are able to figure out what happened, and if it was deemed negligence on the part of the cruise ship, they can add additional safety precautions, if it was negligence on the part of the parents, then that may be another story altogether...

Tiger

[goeva]

Fortunately the child fell from the 11th floor to the 10th floor balcony and not to the ocean below.
What a tragedy. I hope the child and the family are doing well.

[sayhello]

Originally Posted by PirateLife4Me:)

Very lucky there was a balcony directly under their room

Originally Posted by kcashner

My thought was that the first line of defense always has to be the parents. What was a 1 year old doing on the balcony with inadequate supervision? I have no idea what the built in safety measures are like on this ship--very heavy door to balcony with high lock? Was the balcony door left open intentionally and the child wandered out? Was the family out there and just not paying adequate attention to the child? What is there to prevent such a climb and fall accident? Plexiglass or other barrier? If so, how was the child able to overcome the barrier?

As NancyIL posted, Deck 11 on the Monarch of the Seas is the pool/sports deck. So, assuming all the reports saying the child fell from deck 11 to a balcony on deck 10 are correct, they were not in their cabin, and the child did not fall from their verandah.

If they *had* been on their verandah, the child would have fallen onto the lifeboats below. There's only one deck with verandahs.

I've sailed on the Majesty of the Seas, which is the sister ship of Monarch of the Seas. I can't imagine how the child got under the plexiglass all around the deck, but since I haven't been actually on Monarch, maybe there is something different there. (The picture below is the Sports deck on Deck 11).



I would have found it way more understandable if the child had been on Deck 12, and fallen to deck 11, as there are balconies overlooking the pool area that a child could easily fall through. I always thought that was a bad design.



I read that Mom had the older child, and Dad was left with the baby. I hate to condemn anyone as negligent until I know what actually happened. 30 seconds of distraction could have been 30 seconds too many. (Although I never would have taken the baby on Deck 12 if that's what happened.)

Sayhello

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

Very sad! Prayers are with the family.

[dolphingirl47]

This could easily have happened on our last cruise on the Magic, too. During the safety drill, there was a little boy at our muster station that somehow managed to get himself wedged between the plexiglass railing on deck 4 and the shallow gutter that runs underneath the railing. An officer came running and the boy was duly extracted from this spot. I would not have thought that even a very young child would fit underneath this railing, but I have seen it with my own eyes.

Corinna

[Golden Rose]

We were in a Royal Family Suite on RCCL in the spring, and we were shocked at how easy it would have been for a child to fall off our veranda. It looked over the rear of the ship, and below us was the crew deck, so it would have been a fall to a hard surface rather than the ocean, but we thought it looked like an accident waiting to happen for the unvigilant parent. There was no plexiglass on the balcony, just open horizontal bars. We seriously would not let our one year old on the balcony without a leash on. (We ate a lot of meals on it, she spent a lot of time leashed, and she doesn't mind the harness. She would bring it to us when she wanted to go out.) It sort of boggled my mind that they called something a Family Suite and had the wide, open horizontal bars on it.

I am so sorry for the family. I understand how hard it can be to chase an active one year old. Our daughter is smaller and faster than we are, and she can get places we can't get into faster than we can follow her. Our solution has been to keep her in a leash or in a baby bjorn when we're in an area where we worry, but I know that doesn't work for everyone. I hope the little one will be ok.

[woody73]

Originally Posted by dolphingirl47

This could easily have happened on our last cruise on the Magic, too. During the safety drill, there was a little boy at our muster station that somehow managed to get himself wedged between the plexiglass railing on deck 4 and the shallow gutter that runs underneath the railing. . .

Wow, how scary!

Woody

[kcashner]

Odd...I've never been anywhere near the plexiglass during a muster drill. We've always been lined up from the back wall outward.

Again, what were the parents doing?

[luv2sleep]

I have a kid that has to be watched intently. He's a runner and impulsive. I've noticed lots of people feel comfortable taking their eyes off their kids in public. They occasionally look for them but do not fervently pay attention like I do. Their kids never seem to stray far and always come back to their parents. When I see this I think that they must be more relaxed than I am because their kids are just different. I'm thinking this child stuck on the magic might have had parents who didn't feel like they really needed to watch him that closely and that's why they weren't around to keep him out of trouble.

[ruadisneyfan2]

Originally Posted by luv2sleep

I have a kid that has to be watched intently. He's a runner and impulsive. I've noticed lots of people feel comfortable taking their eyes off their kids in public. They occasionally look for them but do not fervently pay attention like I do. Their kids never seem to stray far and always come back to their parents. When I see this I think that they must be more relaxed than I am because their kids are just different. I'm thinking this child stuck on the magic might have had parents who didn't feel like they really needed to watch him that closely and that's why they weren't around to keep him out of trouble.

I know what you mean. Our first ds was an easy baby, always very laid back. We babyproofed everything from toilet lid locks, outlet locks, cabinet locks, etc. but he didn't seem to need it. 2nd ds was another story. He was part monkey and part shark. While unpacking groceries, he'd get a hold of a new pack of toilet paper and chew it all up. Back then some VHS tapes had carboard type cases; yep, all chewed up. He'd dump out the bathroom trash can so then we couldn't throw razors in there. Dh suggested we hang everything from the ceiling. We couldn't take our eyes off him for a second.
By 18 mos he could escape his crib so we put a tent with a zipper opening on top, designed for cribs. He could pick at the back side of the zipper and still open it so we eventually resorted to closing it with a safety pin. (wouldn't sit still in a toddler bed or I would've just switched then.)
We just were not used to such an active baby.

Funny thing is now they're almost 16 & 12.5 and still same personalities: 1 very laid back & the other can't sit still.

[DisSarahK]

Oh how scary for all involved! I can't even imagine (and don't want to!!) the terror they must have felt when that happened.

[JustUs275]

Our newest granddaughter will have just turned 1 when we sail in May. I intentionally didn't book a cabin with a verandah because the thought of a 1 year old anywhere near a balcony railing like we had on our last cruise made my stomach hurt! (Golden Rose, we were right next door to the RFS) I know it's irrational and that plenty of 1 year olds safely sail, and that my daughter is very careful...but I still opted for a non-verandah cabin for this cruise. I like the idea of using her little monkey "leash" thing when we are out on deck, if she is walking by then. Poor little guy, hope he is ok - things can happen so fast!

[dolphingirl47]

Originally Posted by kcashner

Odd...I've never been anywhere near the plexiglass during a muster drill. We've always been lined up from the back wall outward.

Again, what were the parents doing?

The parents were lined up by the back wall. he was playing in front of the line up with a toy car. More than once they tried to pick him up and have him in their arms or on his dad's shoulders and he was screaming so loud that neither we and probably the two muster stations either side of us could not hear anything. So in the end, they just gave up. The only thing that could have been done is if one of the parents had taken him elsewhere, but they were not allowed as it was still in the middle of the safety drill.

Corinna