Again, RCL cruise Passenger Missing

[AnnaS]

I just heard on Good Morning America news this morning that a 59 yr. old Canadian woman is missing from a Royal Caribbean cruise (out of Miami).

This is really scary.

 

[damo]

They think she must have fallen overboard. I've never been on a cruise but I wouldn't think you could accidently fall overboard could you?

 

[MUFFYCAT]

The RCL cruise line should change their name to Bermuda Triangle Cruise Line!

 

[disneysteve]

They think she must have fallen overboard. I've never been on a cruise but I wouldn't think you could accidently fall overboard could you?

I've been on 3 cruises. You can't just "accidentally" fall overboard. There are railings everywhere. A person would have to be doing something they shouldn't be, like climbing over or sitting on a railing, or have some help from someone else to "fall" overboard. In fact, on the ships I've sailed on, even if you went over the railing, you wouldn't necessarily be in the water as the railing is usually set back a foot or so from the actual edge of the deck, so you could go over a railing and still have room to stand.

 

[DawnCt1]

I am glad that they are going to have Congressional hearings on crime aboard cruise ships. Tens of thousands of Americans cruise with the major cruise lines every year and have wonderful, safe experiences. My family included. However, when something does go wrong, you are on your own. The staff and crew come from all over the world. Some sign up because they love it. Most sign up for economic reasons. Regardless of the reasons however, how they screen the crew, particularly from third world countries is up for question. Major criminal events that make the news hurt the industry so there is motivation to cover it up. Several years ago I read an extensive article in the New York Times Magazine that focused on crime in the cruise industry. Most of it involved sexual assaults, robbery, etc. Many disappearances are seen as accidents. The problem isn't isolated to Royal Caribbean but Carnival Cruise lines had logged over 59 sexual assaults, many by crew members, and that was a few years ago.
I personally feel that if any cruise line want to do business in the United States and have an port of departure, they need to subject themselves to our criminal justice rules and the investigatory arm of the FBI. They can chose to take their business elsewhere but given the number of Americans who cruise annually, they won't.

 

[Honu]

They think she must have fallen overboard. I've never been on a cruise but I wouldn't think you could accidently fall overboard could you?

We were on an RCI cruise the week after Thanksgiving. I also thought someone could never fall accidentally off a cruise ship, BUT the winds were so high and the and the water was rocking us around enough that I felt the need to back up from that rail on several occasions. On our RCI ship it was a straight line down to the water, the balconys and rails are not set back.

 

[C.Ann]

A number of years ago, the DD of someone I worked with died on one of those cruise ships under very suspicious circumstances.. (She was an employee of the cruise line - only in her early 20's..) I lost contact with the mom when I changed jobs, but I do know there was a pretty serious investigation going on..

Strange how these things are happening on these ships, isn't it?

 

[DawnCt1]

Strange how these things are happening on these ships, isn't it?

.

Bad things can happen anywhere and a ship, particularly the larger ships are floating "cities". The Captain is the mayor, the president, judge and jury. I think all cruise lines and all captains put people first, but the number of employees it takes to run such a "huge community" is great. Every week, new citizens, from all over enter the city, unknown to most of their fellow passengers. I can remember a few years ago starting a debate on the Debate board about children and teens allowed free run of the ship, late at night, parents in the casino or in bed. There were no curfews on RCCL then and I felt that there should be one.
Teens have access to alcohol, get involved in "love triangles" and can be at the mercy of an unscrupulous fellow passenger or crew. You wouldn't believe the number of posters who said, "what can happen on a ship?" and said that I was unreasonable. Well now we know. These same parents would never let their children wander around San Francisco at midnight if they were vacationing there. Why do they think a ship is any different at 2 in the morning?

 

[4nana]

How very sad . Having done cruises on both Disney ships, Carnival and RCCI, which included Bermuda in Nov and the triangle. Sorry, not to offend anyone, I have to say, sometimes the blame in the cruise horror stories rests with the passengers. Granted, you can find a bad apple on any job, but one should travel making themselves more aware. We apply the same rules as at home. I am an old girl scout and believe when traveling in or out of the country in #1 the buddy system for all ages and also #2 hold myself accountable. IMO being more cautious makes for better safe than sorry.

 

[DawnCt1]

How very sad . Having done cruises on both Disney ships, Carnival and RCCI, which included Bermuda in Nov and the triangle. Sorry, not to offend anyone, I have to say, sometimes the blame in the cruise horror stories rests with the passengers. sorry.

You are so right. Not all of the sexual assaults, rapes, etc were perpetrated against passengers by crew. Sometimes passengers were the perpetrators, sometimes crew and staff were the victim. Pre 9/11 we did a tour of the bridge on the Voyager. The biggest problem aboard the ship was controlling unruly teens. They require a lot of security hours. Those security hours take away from perhaps dealing with other emerging issues perhaps.

 

[SC Minnie]

How very sad . Having done cruises on both Disney ships, Carnival and RCCI, which included Bermuda in Nov and the triangle. Sorry, not to offend anyone, I have to say, sometimes the blame in the cruise horror stories rests with the passengers. Granted, you can find a bad apple on any job, but one should travel making themselves more aware. We apply the same rules as at home. I am an old girl scout and believe when traveling in or out of the country in #1 the buddy system for all ages and also #2 hold myself accountable. IMO being more cautious makes for better safe than sorry.

ITA-- just because you are on vacation doesn't mean you let your guard down. We are leaving on a cruise this weekend with some of DH's family. I am going to make a special point to making sure the 22yo neice knows not to go anywhere alone on shore. To always let someone know where their group is going.

We have been a several cruises and the railings are almost to my chest. I do not see how someone could fall over without help unless the ship was doing some serious rocking.

 

[ChristmasElf]

Plus, people do strange things while cruising. Drinking more than they would usually do when on land can affect judgement and behaviour. Remember the Tiatnic movie when Leonardo DiCaprio stands up on the edge of the railing and throwing his arms up yells out "I'm King of the World"! Maybe people do crap like that or something like it.
Maybe the woman was despondant and jumped. I would think if someone would have tried to push her over the edge, she would have screamed and people would have heard it.

 

[bimshire]

We have been on many cruises and will be leaving this Saturday on our 12 day Christmas cruise with our kids. We do not leave it up to the ship's crew to monitor our kids. [Princess now has "Youth Security" who are very visible in yellow shirts] We are normally up early and enjoy a full day of activities and in bed by 11pm. I agree that some parents let there kids roam the ship alone and during the wee hours of the morning which is unsafe. Many say they go on vacation to spend quality time as a family and end up dumping the kids for the crew to take care of.

People have a false sense of security when cruising and need to take responsibility.

 

[disneysteve]

I would think if someone would have tried to push her over the edge, she would have screamed and people would have heard it.

Actually, I can certainly understand nobody hearing a scream. It can be quite loud on deck between wind, engine noise, music, etc. And at nite, the deck could be totally deserted. So quite possible for 2 people to get into an argument and have nobody else witness it or hear anything.

 

[eclectics]

I believe Larry King on CNN is doing a show tonight about this very subject. The cruise lines are trying to hush this up, but it happens more often then one might think. Mysterious and a little scary.


Edited: Sorry, not on tonight. Hedda Nussbaum is on. I heard him advertise it though. Possibly tomorrow night.

 

[cardaway]

I'm not that interested in cruising and the number one reason is the lack of safety at the places they travel to.

 

[chris1gill]

You know I had a very odd cruising experience once when I was 18.... I went on a short cruise with my mother.... I was COMPLETELY naive, and for that matter so was she... but that's a different subject. However, we had the MOST bizarre experience, one of the strangest encounters certainly of my life. Somehow, for some reason, the staff (meaning more than one, or several as a matter of fact) took an extreme liking to me.... I have no idea why, but these guys were all over me like a dog on newspaper... everywhere I went one of them was following me, or asking me what I needed, or just staring at me. Even my Mother commented on how strange their behavior was. It was one of the very strangest experiences.... Anyhow, this was a Bahamian owned ship, but looking back, I really wonder what would have happened, had my mother let me off on my own.... I had no desire to go off my own, but if they did what they did with my mother standing right there, I shutter to think what they might have done had she not been there...

It really was strange, that's all I'm saying

 

[zippeedee]

You know I had a very odd cruising experience once when I was 18.... I went on a short cruise with my mother.... I was COMPLETELY naive, and for that matter so was she... but that's a different subject. However, we had the MOST bizarre experience, one of the strangest encounters certainly of my life. Somehow, for some reason, the staff (meaning more than one, or several as a matter of fact) took an extreme liking to me.... I have no idea why, but these guys were all over me like a dog on newspaper... everywhere I went one of them was following me, or asking me what I needed, or just staring at me. Even my Mother commented on how strange their behavior was. It was one of the very strangest experiences.... Anyhow, this was a Bahamian owned ship, but looking back, I really wonder what would have happened, had my mother let me off on my own.... I had no desire to go off my own, but if they did what they did with my mother standing right there, I shutter to think what they might have done had she not been there...

It really was strange, that's all I'm saying

Dr. Phil had a family on recently who told a story almost exactly like yours, except their daughter disappeared from the ship. She has been reported to have been seen on a beach and on an internet porn site, apparently sold into "white-slavery". Natalie Holloway's parents were on the same show. Something creepy is happening but I think it is even stranger that the tabloids aren't going crazy with the story.

 

[Blueeyes101817]

im going on my third cruise in a month,,,,we started going when i was in 10th grade--we never went anywhere off the ship alone..i would walk around the ship alone or with my brother , but if we were off the ship, istayed with mom and dad...even this cruise,,im 21 and when we go off the ship, im sticking with them

 

[disneysteve]

I'm not that interested in cruising and the number one reason is the lack of safety at the places they travel to.

If your concern is lack of safety in the port cities, that isn't really a cruise issue. You could just pick cruises that go to places where you aren't concerned about safety. For example, cruise from Vancouver to Alaska. Or cruise from NYC to New England and Canada. Or go foreign to Greece, Italy, etc. Don't go to the little Caribbean islands if you don't feel safe there. I know we felt a bit uncomfortable a couple of times in Jamaica, though we weren't on a cruise at the time.