Newborn Found Dead on Carnival Dream

[abdmom]

What I don't understand about the story, and I haven't looked at the links is they said the mother didn't return to the US, but then it says the mother is detained by the FBI. So where did they find her at? That part is a little strange.

The FBI must have found her before she got off the ship. They haven't allowed her to go through immigration yet, so she's technically not in the US yet.

 

[iloverags2]

The FBI must have found her before she got off the ship. They haven't allowed her to go through immigration yet, so she's technically not in the US yet.

The mother was detained in St. Maarten, per the first link posted in the OPs post.

Very, very sad.

 

[mmackeymouse]

I am wondering if maybe she got off the ship to seek medical attention.

This further leads me to wonder who she was traveling with....friends, parents, a significant other? In whatever the case- did they not notice they were not back on the ship or did they get off the boat with her?

I guess my final question would be that if passenger(s) were not on board for a fairly significant amount of time, isn't there protocol for them to follow, as far as searching rooms/ contacting people? And to give Carnival the benefit of the doubt, maybe the passengers DID contact them and say they were staying on the island due to a medical emergency......but if this were the case, wouldn't they have cleared their cabin right away, not wait until the day of disembarking, because if it were a true emergency, they would not have had a chance to take everything with them. Just curious...

 

[Mrsjvb]

I thought it too, would think a professional journalist would write a little bit clearer...

there haven't been any true professionals since the heyday of Walter Cronkite.

 

[abatista08]

I just got off the Magic yesterday and we were along side the Carnival Dream in PC. I was in shock when I saw this on the news this morning! Such a sad story

 

[rillsung]

The identity of the 20 year-old baby's mother has not been released; she was detained pending further investigation.

Read more: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/local/101511_Infant_found_dead_on_cruise_ship#ixzz1atxeNL3J


Someone needs to pay more attention to their editing. The baby was not 20 years old.


What a shame....​

Hehe I was going to point out the 20 yr old mother too...

 

[Wendy&Grumpy]

I thought it too, would think a professional journalist would write a little bit clearer...

I was thinkin' "the 20 year old baby mama"

 

[Illidan]

I am wondering if maybe she got off the ship to seek medical attention.

This further leads me to wonder who she was traveling with....friends, parents, a significant other? In whatever the case- did they not notice they were not back on the ship or did they get off the boat with her?

I guess my final question would be that if passenger(s) were not on board for a fairly significant amount of time, isn't there protocol for them to follow, as far as searching rooms/ contacting people? And to give Carnival the benefit of the doubt, maybe the passengers DID contact them and say they were staying on the island due to a medical emergency......but if this were the case, wouldn't they have cleared their cabin right away, not wait until the day of disembarking, because if it were a true emergency, they would not have had a chance to take everything with them. Just curious...

Give it time. I'm sure Nancy Grace will get to the bottom of this mystery.

 

[snelsonbrown]

Going to the port yesterday and today, everyone is very upset over this baby - noone was told what was going on even when the port was full of media and special agents - very sad situation - port employees were sad as well as so many others.

 

[justmestace]

I was thinkin' "the 20 year old baby mama"

That's what I thought, too. Would have made more sense.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I was thinkin' "the 20 year old baby mama"

Me three

It is a sad story. Hope they get to the bottom of this and it was not malicious.

 

[tvguy]

I do wonder how Disney deals with women who appear to be past the state of pregnancy they allow on the ship. Given that Disney is a family cruise, they must have far more pregnant women than any other cruise line.

I mean, the polite thing to do is to do nothing, but there is a potential liability issue for them too.

We cruised when DW was 7+ months pregnant on RCCL, but this was 25 years ago and at that time RCCL had no policy. We did clear it with her OB GYN before we booked......he had no issues at all with her going....other than asking if we could pack him in our suitcase! But my wife did get a wide berth when we were dancing in the disco. But she is one of those women who glowed the entire time she was pregnant, always in a great mood for both pregnancies.....back to her grumpy old self afterwards.

 

[Seahunt]

More info on this sad case:
Update, 1 p.m. EDT: According to an update provided by FBI Special Agent Dave Couvertier, Dutch authorities took custody of the infant's body on Wednesday and interviewed the 20-year-old mother. The mother remained in St. Maarten and is expected to return to the United States within the next 24 hours. This is an ongoing investigation and the FBI is coordinating with Dutch authorities in St. Maarten.

(9:45 a.m. EDT) -- The FBI is investigating the death of a newborn found Wednesday on Carnival Dream, which returned to its Port Canaveral homeport Saturday.

"Law enforcement authorities were advised and subsequently a 20-year-old female guest who was traveling onboard the ship was detained [in St. Maarten, where Dream called on Wednesday] pending further investigation," said the line in a statement. At this time, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is handling the matter.

Carnival says an employee discovered the deceased newborn in a guest cabin.

In an e-mail to the Associated Press, Special Agent Dave Couvertier wrote, "No one has been charged as we are still working on obtaining facts and gathering any available evidence. As a result, no information is being released regarding suspect(s) at this time." Couvertier added that the detained passenger is from the United States.

Carnival's official policy states, "Pregnant women are not allowed to cruise if their estimated gestational age on the day of disembarkation is 25 weeks or more." Women with an estimated gestational age of 25 weeks or less, on the day of disembarkation, must submit, prior to departure, a letter from her attending physician certifying that her gestational status is in accordance with this policy, and that the expecting mother is fit to sail.

Carnival and the FBI have yet to respond to requests for more information.

 

[justmestace]

How sad to think that there are so many childless people in the world, who would have cherished that child through adoption.

 

[Seraphine]

How sad to think that there are so many childless people in the world, who would have cherished that child through adoption.

Yes, I'm sure many people would have cherished this baby, however it's still entirely possible that the baby was no longer living before or during delivery. Deaths in childbirth are not uncommon, even in a hospital setting. I'm not comfortable attacking this young woman until the circumstances are known.

The young woman might not have even realised she was pregnant. This is such a common occurance they even made a tv show about it... who's to say she wasn't the most surprised of all?

I feel very bad for the baby, the young woman, their family, and the crew member. A sad situation all round.

 

[jessa07]

I saw on the Today show this morning that the woman claims to not have known she was pregnant. She's young, she probably gave birth, panicked, and got off the ship. What a tragic situation.

 

[Octoberbride03]

How sad to think that there are so many childless people in the world, who would have cherished that child through adoption.

The baby may very well have been stillborn. The autopsy needs to be done and investigation needs to be completed. Whatever happened the girl made some wrong choices, but that doesn't mean she killed the baby.

DH&I got off the Magic early Saturday morning. The Dream pulled in right behind us and finished docking probably about 30-45 minutes after the Magic did. When we left it was was easy going and no one outside of the ships knew about this as far as we can see. There was definitely NO mention of it from our shuttle driver when we met him around 9am after clearing customs.

 

[TDC Nala]

There's nothing wrong with that sentence -- it's possessive as noted by the "baby's mother" comment. It's not saying the baby was 20-years-old.

I agree that while it's not a pleasant subject, it's no different than other stories posted about tragedies onboard ships. My thoughts go out to the mother. Maybe the baby was stillborn and she panicked.

It's a misplaced modifier. It should have said "the baby's 20-year-old mother." I would have been marked down back in journalism school for writing it the way it was written. Or missing it, if I'd been the editor.

It's possible she was either 1) detained at a port or 2) not allowed to reenter the US through customs before she was detained. Apparently she WAS detained in St. Maarten.

 

[dguillen]

How can a mother not know she is pregnant at 9 months? carnival cruise lines does not allow a woman to sail once she is 6 months pregnant. nor do they allow an infant under the age of 6 months to travel. This is done to protect the mother and child. My take on this is they had booked this cruise in advance and wanted to go the mother new she was pregnant and decided she would be fine. Then once the ship sailed contractions began and walah here is the baby, no medical supervision, no sterilization, mother did not want to be forced of the ship and the worse happened, baby died Probably told embarkation agents she was just fat and she boarded, probably not due until after the cruise.