Is anyone on the Dream right now? How did a girl fall overboard?

[mmouse37]

Actually, I would have thought it more likely that a Teen would fall over. For years my daughter would tell me stories of late night "games" that Teens play while roving the ship. Some would climb on the life boats, others would hide and seek in crew access areas etc. Security would try and keep up but it was a game of cat and mouse. This did not happen all the time, but certainly more than I was happy about. Luckily my daughter knew to separate herself but this stuff would happen unexpectedly with some kids showing off.

Yep....many years ago a teen jumped off Deck 4 purposely on a dare while we were docked in St. Thomas. He was found out when he tried on get back on the ship soaking wet with no record of him leaving the ship by normal means. Captain was not happy. He was not allowed to leave his cabin the remainder of the cruise unless accompanied by his parents.

MJ

 

[DCLMP]

It is really weird that some people on here seem to want the parents to be at fault and are trying to discount info to the contrary (including statements from law enforcement and an actual picture of the portholes where the kid fell through that look totally like something a kid could climb on and fall through).

View attachment 979996

We can all agree now that the dad was a hero and the rush to judgement was ridiculous.

I wouldn't be surprised if plexi-glass or a higher rail gets inserted on those port holes. Kind of like all the ropes and signage at the lakes at WDW after the alligator incident.
I don't know if I'd call the dad a hero. He did what dad's are supposed to do to protect their children. I would hope every dad out there would do the same.

 

[Genie+]

I think the ‘rush to judgement’ comes because millions of cruises have been taken by families with younger children yet it is extremely rare to hear about kids accidentally falling overboard. Naturally people wonder what exactly happened. And that curiosity is seeded in our own family’s well being. We want to know if the incident was truly an unforeseeable risk, or more along the lines of something we could prevent ourselves.

Glad to know that family is safe and Dad seems like a good swimmer!

 

[Girl of the South]

Hard to see in the photo but there is plexiglass over those two railings. But there does seem to be a small ledge you could use as a “toehold”.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

I feel like regardless of everything, it is the parents’ fault. I’m not saying they are criminally liable— I have no idea on that. But as a parent you are supposed to be watching your kid 24/7. You can relax somewhat if you are in a safe environment. But you can’t play shuffleboard on a breezy cruise deck if you have young kids, I’d say 8 and under. We have VERY rambunctious kids, now almost all grown up, and for about 10-15 years we just couldn’t do anything. That’s what it means to be a parent. We never played shuffleboard on DCL while the kids were young. If our kids were out on open decks, we were standing next to them. I’m not exaggerating. And we’re not overbearing parents. And we’re not perfect parents. But there are some things you just can’t do if you have young kids. You just don’t get to play shuffleboard on a ship deck if you have a young kid. Being a parent is rough. That’s why so many people don’t have kids, because to be a good parent you give up a lot, huge blocks of your life where you put your kids first. We wouldn’t change it for anything, but it is only in the last three years that I’ve been able to take a breath. It’s great that the dad (assuming it is dad) went in after the girl, but a real hero wouldn’t have been in the situation to begin with. Just my opinion.

^^^ this

 

[DMMarla07860]

The only issue is that they said she fell backwards. If she was climbing herself, she would have fallen out headfirst. I’m wondering if he sat her up there, turned around to back up to get a picture and that’s when she fell.

She could have climbed herself, kids will be kids and was sitting then fell

 

[bakofarmgirl]

https://nypost.com/2025/07/03/us-ne...ce=snap&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=social

 

[apwenger]

Prior to someone posting the picture of the 'porthole' part of the walking track, I was staunchly in the camp that there was no way this happened without adult involvement because I just don't see how any small kid could randomly climb onto the regular rails around Deck 4 due to the plexiglass and the height of the rails. Nothing to do with any particular rumors, just didn't seem physically possible.

Those portholes though -- I'd forgotten about those and now seeing the photo I remember being freaked out by them on a previous cruise. Even though they are, in theory, no more easy to fall out of than anywhere else on the ship, the fact that they are open below the level of the railing just weirded me out and I definitely gave them a wide berth. And looking at the photo, it does look like it would be fairly trivial to climb up onto that rail unassisted, and I can also imagine someone (especially a child) thinking they were somehow 'safer' to sit on because of the little ledge to support your feet and the illusion of enclosure that the porthole wall gives (like even if you know the hole part is open, it's like 'oh I could just hold onto the wall part if I needed').

So...now I'm in the camp that it could have been a kid being a kid, but I maintain that the kid had to have been doing something they shouldn't have been (again, no way they were just picked up by the wind and blown over that railing and out). Kids are kids and it's easy for them to do things quickly so who knows. Again, very glad for the happy ending here. Will be interesting to see if Disney changes those portholes at all.

The plexiglass only negates a child’s ability to use the railings as a ladder; it does not make it impossible to climb the railing. All a child needs to do is grab the top railing and use the plexiglass as leverage to hoist themselves up. I have seen my kids do similar things on playgrounds all the time.

 

[DCLMP]

The plexiglass only negates a child’s ability to use the railings as a ladder; it does not make it impossible to climb the railing. All a child needs to do is grab the top railing and use the plexiglass as leverage to hoist themselves up. I have seen my kids do similar things on playgrounds all the time.

I was walking my dogs last week and saw two kids around 7 or 8 scale a 6 foot block wall to get into their back yards. Kids are strong in proportion to their body weight. You see kids pull themselves up unto stuff at the park all the time.

 

[edith76]

Yep....many years ago a teen jumped off Deck 4 purposely on a dare while we were docked in St. Thomas. He was found out when he tried on get back on the ship soaking wet with no record of him leaving the ship by normal means. Captain was not happy. He was not allowed to leave his cabin the remainder of the cruise unless accompanied by his parents.

MJ

I also witnessed a kid jumping off the ship when we were docked at Castaway Cay. It was a long time ago - I think that ghost ship was still there. Teen and I think he was showing off for some other teens. It happened really fast and Disney was right there to get him as soon as he hit the water. Never knew what happened or heard anything. Just know it did because we were walking on the path to go to the beach and I happened to look back at the ship just as he jumped. Makes you wonder how often it does happen.

 

[MomOTwins]

So some interesting takeaways here:

• The "crew member told me story" about the child climbing up and over while the parents played shuffleboard was clearly incorrect. There is no shuffleboard next to those portholes. I had a lot of doubts about it at the time (why wouldn't the crew member say something when they knew the child was climbing? why would they later blab the story to a random other guest?). This is why we have hearsay laws and prevent conclusions being drawn in court from what people heard someone else say.
• The original eyewitness accounts actually turned out to be pretty close to reality. They said child was sitting on the railing for a photo.
  • The police narrative has confirmed that the child was in fact sitting on the railing, facing inward (fell backward).
  • The police have not said how she got onto the railing or how long she was up there, but have said they are investigating the moments leading up the girl being on the railing.
  • The dad apparently did not see the moment of the fall but the mom apparently did.
  • The police have not commented one way or another on whether before the fall, either parent took a photo of the child while she was sitting on the railing.
• Regardless of whether the photo aspect is true, I think a lot of people are justified in saying this is absolutely negligent from a parenting perspective. A five year old should never be allowed to sit on a railing hanging over a 50 ft drop to an open ocean, period--not for a photo, not for any other reason.
• I also take issue with everyone saying over the last few days there is "no way" a child could have gotten up by themselves. As the porthole photos illustrate, it is basically a stepladder to get over the edge. I don't think that means disney cruises are unsafe. I mean, a child could easily fall to their death if you them allow them to sit on the rail overlooking the atrium, or on a balcony at any disney hotel. But nobody says "don't stay at disney world hotel, it's a death trap." Instead, I think the correct point is that a child could go over a cruise ship rail, but it would require more than a momentary lapse of attention from a parent.

 

[meremac]

Can you imagine, in the most terrifying moment of your life as a parent, that the first instinct of thousands of people that you don't know is to get on social media/discussion boards/etc to judge you before all of the details even come out? I wonder what that would feel like. Putting myself in that mama's shoes for a minute, I'm just so happy that her baby and her husband are safe. Hopefully they can move on in peace and privacy.

 

[katyringo]

I predict pexi glass on those port holes very soon- if not already.

 

[brentm77]

https://nypost.com/2025/07/03/us-ne...ce=snap&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=social

She sounds like a good physician. It is pretty impressive that they have a plan to get a physician into the rescue boat so quickly too. That's rather smart in case CPR or other medical treatment is needed. 20 minutes may sound like a lifetime in this situation, but it seems rather quick to get everyone in the rescue boat, including the physician, have the ship slowed down enough, and have the ship in the water to me. Well done DCL.

 

[jwalk03]

She sounds like a good physician. It is pretty impressive that they have a plan to get a physician into the rescue boat so quickly too. That's rather smart in case CPR or other medical treatment is needed. 20 minutes may sound like a lifetime in this situation, but it seems rather quick to get everyone in the rescue boat, including the physician, have the ship slowed down enough, and have the ship in the water to me. Well done DCL.

Absolutely! This father and the ship's crew deserve immeasurable praise! It is truly remarkable what they accomplished in savings that girl (and honestly her father's) life.

 

[dsanner106]

From a report on reddit (based on someone's report who is on the ship), the father put her on the Deck 4 rail to take a picture.

Not true, fortunately, the father was not them, heard the mother screaming and came running, and jumped in after her

 

[dsanner106]

I feel like regardless of everything, it is the parents’ fault. I’m not saying they are criminally liable— I have no idea on that. But as a parent you are supposed to be watching your kid 24/7. You can relax somewhat if you are in a safe environment. But you can’t play shuffleboard on a breezy cruise deck if you have young kids, I’d say 8 and under. We have VERY rambunctious kids, now almost all grown up, and for about 10-15 years we just couldn’t do anything. That’s what it means to be a parent. We never played shuffleboard on DCL while the kids were young. If our kids were out on open decks, we were standing next to them. I’m not exaggerating. And we’re not overbearing parents. And we’re not perfect parents. But there are some things you just can’t do if you have young kids. You just don’t get to play shuffleboard on a ship deck if you have a young kid. Being a parent is rough. That’s why so many people don’t have kids, because to be a good parent you give up a lot, huge blocks of your life where you put your kids first. We wouldn’t change it for anything, but it is only in the last three years that I’ve been able to take a breath. It’s great that the dad (assuming it is dad) went in after the girl, but a real hero wouldn’t have been in the situation to begin with. Just my opinion.

Respectfully disagree, at least as far as criminally liable is concerned. I was a rambunctious kid and had 3 of my own and it is impossible to be on top of them every moment of the day. We know the parents were not playing shuffleboard, we know the dad was not right there and did not put the kid on the rail, as so many wrongly reported. I have caught my kids in the "act" a thousand times, normally "the act" is not 50 feet above the water. It took 5 minutes for my 4 year old grandson to figure out how to climb on top of the refrigerator once he knew we hid the cookies there. Without knowing how many kids these parents have (once they outnumber you all bets are off) and what the circumstances are, I am not throwing them under the bus yet.

 

[dsanner106]

How did the father get to her. If he did not see her go over, he had to look for her first and then find a place where a grown male had access to jump over. If it was not in the area where she was in the water it would be extremely difficult to get to her.

As the boat was moving in open ocean, I would run to the back to jump in as the child would be trailing along the ship. There is video of him going over the railing.

 

[insureman]

As the boat was moving in open ocean, I would run to the back to jump in as the child would be trailing along the ship. There is video of him going over the railing.

Is there a link for that video?

 

[SuzErwin]

I've seen a few articles now that have quoted a passenger who says a cast member told her that she (the cast member) saw the girl climbing. That seems like a bit of hearsay. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but I'm going to take that with a grain of salt. People love to seem 'in the know' and will sometimes twist things (sometimes unintentionally) to appear that way.

I saw it on the EBTA. We had a medivac situation the night before Lisbon. The WhatsApp was full of contradictory information-some said it was a kid who had slipped and fell the day before, other said it was an adult who had a heart attack. Well it can't be both, and it might not be either. Someone even said their dinner servers told them it was a passenger with a heart attack-I have a hard time believing servers would give out kind of info. I'm not saying people are doing this maliciously, but when something big like this happens and we don't have a lot of info, it's human nature to try to fill in the gaps to make sense of it.

Also, if a cast member did see this girl climbing on the railing, why didn't she take action? I'm not blaming the CM by any means, but it seems odd that the CM would admit to a passenger she saw the girl climbing on the rail but (seemingly) did nothing about it. I feel like something's missing here.

You may have a hard time believing but I was on that cruise and my servers - Lucy from Argentina was our drinks server, and I believe our main server was Waru (sp?) from Indonesia - did indeed tell us that the medical evacuation was a man in his 50s who sat at their tables in the first dining rotation and he’d had a heart attack. They were very shaken up by it. Would you like me or my dining companions to swear out an affidavit? Happy to do so!

As for people pointing to the Daily Mail - I lived in the UK for several years and we always called it the Daily Fail. It’s far from being a source of truth and facts. I’d wait for a far more reputable report.

Glad everyone survived what could have been a terrible tragedy.