Man over board on Sun Princess

We are sailing on the Sun Princess out of Brisbane and on February 17 while sailing to Nouvmea at about 4 pm the bridge made an announcement that there was a man over board. Repeated this announcement three times then the ship horn was signaled and the ship made a quick turn. You could see two life preserves with their smoking flares in the water as we headed backward to where they were. The bridge announced again there was a man over board and that they would be putting a lifeboat in the water to investigate. Shorty after this announcement they announced a name of a passenger to immediately contact passenger services. This name was a female name. Once we reached where the life preserves were anchor was put down and the life boat was put into the water to investigate. My husband had his binoculars with him and after about 45 minutes after the first man over board announcement you could see the life boat race over to something bobbing in the water. My husband said it was very hard to see this peson in the water with the binoculars because they were in the sun. He could see them pull a lady into the life boat and shortly after the captain announced that they had safely found the man over board and were returning them to the ship and the medical personal would check them over. Thank goodness this person was found alive and safe. Everyone on board seemed very thankful for the very professional rescue job the Sun Princess Crew did!

Extremely lucky.

What wonderful news! Great job on the part of the crew. Hope the passenger is going to be okay.

Seems like they knew exactly who went overboard.

I just don't understand how this happens, you just don't fall overboard. Any idea what happened?

Hopefully this lady will be ok, we were on sun princess a few years ago and a man went overboard at night, an elderly man with dementia and the this turned around and we, the coast guard and navy ships searched for a whole day but he wasn't found. His wife had to disembark without him, how horrible it was.

My experience with these things is that ships get a bad reputation for being dangerous because people go overboard but it generally happens for other reasons....

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Glad the lady was rescued.

Great rescue by Sun Princess!:D

Omg! That's insane! So happy to hear it was a safe recovery

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http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/89555660/woman-saved-after-falling-from-cruise-ship-into-pacific-ocean

Notice the article says she "fell" overboard. Someone needs to tell them that isn't possible.

I just don't understand how this happens, you just don't fall overboard.

That doesn't stop the media from writing the headline as "fell overboard"...every...single...time. Typically, the investigations eventually reveal that the overboard passenger was climbing on a rail or jumped.

It's really very simple. Feet belong on the deck. When feet leave the deck, they are tucked in a bed, kicked back on a lounger, floating in a pool, going down a water slide, or perhaps even climbing a rock wall/rope course, If your feet have left the deck for any other reason, something that isn't the fault of the ship has happened.

Forget all the "don't speculate until the investigation is complete" nonsense. You either jump, climb, or are thrown from a cruise ship. You don't fall off the thing.

Notice the article says she "fell" overboard. Someone needs to tell them that isn't possible.

Maybe she "fell" while doing something really stupid, like sitting on a balcony rail.

Maybe she "fell" while doing something really stupid, like sitting on a balcony rail.

Yep totally possible to fall overboard.

If you're doing something stupid.

That doesn't stop the media from writing the headline as "fell overboard"...every...single...time. Typically, the investigations eventually reveal that the overboard passenger was climbing on a rail or jumped.

 

It's really very simple. Feet belong on the deck. When feet leave the deck, they are tucked in a bed, kicked back on a lounger, floating in a pool, going down a water slide, or perhaps even climbing a rock wall/rope course, If your feet have left the deck for any other reason, something that isn't the fault of the ship has happened.

 

Forget all the "don't speculate until the investigation is complete" nonsense. You either jump, climb, or are thrown from a cruise ship. You don't fall off the thing.

Yep!!!! Exactly!!

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Fantastic, even if she was doing something stupid, it doesn't warrant the death penalty. Everyone does something stupid at least once in their life.

I got sick once at 3 in morning. Was in an interior cabin. I felt like I needed some fresh air so I went up to the lido. I leaned on the railing. I then felt like there were a million eyes on me. I looked around to see a half a dozen deck hands that were cleaning. They had all stopped what they were doing and just watched me. As much as I wanted that fresh air I quickly went back to my cabin. I knew I was making them nervous.

Fantastic, even if she was doing something stupid, it doesn't warrant the death penalty. Everyone does something stupid at least once in their life.

I agree, but wish the media would stop trying to make it sound like you can just slip and fall off a cruise ship.

I agree, but wish the media would stop trying to make it sound like you can just slip and fall off a cruise ship.

I'm with you GUT2407, that's what makes me mad too. Hope the lady is ok also but it's annoying they make it sound like cruise ships are unsafe, people are unsafe. I don't see the same hype when someone falls off a building balcony, because they also don't just fall off, they fall because they were being unsafe.....grrr

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I agree, but wish the media would stop trying to make it sound like you can just slip and fall off a cruise ship.

Or that somehow you trip over and fall off.

Excellent news that the person was found alive as it would've been very hard on the captain and crew to have searched in vain.

Yep totally possible to fall overboard.

.

Rather a harsh statement, I would love to see the risk calculations to prove that it is impossible. The amount of accidents I have studied in workplaces I would say it is highly improbably someone would fall overboard but not impossible.

Rather a harsh statement, I would love to see the risk calculations to prove that it is impossible. The amount of accidents I have studied in workplaces I would say it is highly improbably someone would fall overboard but not impossible.

I would love to see the calculations on a hypothetical scenario that demonstrates the probability of "falling off" a modern cruise ship.

Surely hypotheticals are a part of root cause analysis, no? I, too, spend a great deal of time investigating occupational injuries and incidents.

The only scenarios I can think of would be extreme weather with high seas, in which case, the captain would undoubtedly order all pax and crew from outside decks, including balconies, well before such conditions became apparent. In that case, the probability exists that a pax may either ignore or not receive these orders. There is nothing to suggest that sea conditions were a factor in this incident. The only possibilities which remain are a mechanical failure of some sort, or a weather related act of God.

So, while improbable, what hypothetical situation would you say could allow for a passenger to "fall off" the ship? Other than a mechanical failure or the willful violation of orders or regulations, what scenarios do you see?

In all probability, absent evidence to the contrary (mechanical failure or foul play), this particular individual did something that either caused her to go overboard or was caused to go overboard by the actions of someone else (attempted murder).

People simply do not fall off a modern cruise ship. Period.

I would love to see the calculations on a hypothetical scenario that demonstrates the probability of "falling off" a modern cruise ship.

 

Surely hypotheticals are a part of root cause analysis, no? I, too, spend a great deal of time investigating occupational injuries and incidents.

 

The only scenarios I can think of would be extreme weather with high seas, in which case, the captain would undoubtedly order all pax and crew from outside decks, including balconies, well before such conditions became apparent. In that case, the probability exists that a pax may either ignore or not receive these orders. There is nothing to suggest that sea conditions were a factor in this incident. The only possibilities which remain are a mechanical failure of some sort, or a weather related act of God.

 

So, while improbable, what hypothetical situation would you say could allow for a passenger to "fall off" the ship? Other than a mechanical failure or the willful violation of orders or regulations, what scenarios do you see?

 

In all probability, absent evidence to the contrary (mechanical failure or foul play), this particular individual did something that either caused her to go overboard or was caused to go overboard by the actions of someone else (attempted murder).

 

People simply do not fall off a modern cruise ship. Period.

It comes to outliers on the probability curve, I am 6'1" and on a Grand class balcony the railing comes to about the top of my hip. Good surface flooring, c of g below the rail highly unlikely to go over if i lost footing in normal circumstances. Now take an individual who is outside the norm like this chap (7'2") mentioned here http://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/showthread.php?t=738800 c of g is now above the rail still good flooring, likelihood remains though in normal circumstances unlikely to go over, hold the rail etc.

However add a few other items to the hypothetical mix like mild swell giving some movement, wind moderate as we are underway, surfaces are wet from spray causing lack of grip (early morning and lets say a mid forward dolphin deck), person is barefoot, a new cruiser who suffers a bout of vertigo (disorientation) at the rail from motion sickness in combination with the ships movement as the cause of loss of balance the chance of this person actually going over rather than having a stumble on their balcony increases. (from almost zero to something above zero)

Now is it likely, certainly not and probably would never happen but it isn't statistically impossible.

As for the unfortunate person who was unlucky enough to go overboard on the Sun I have no idea how or why they may have ended up in that situation, but I am grateful that the Captain and crew were swift in their actions to provide a successful rescue.

Forget all the "don't speculate until the investigation is complete" nonsense. You either jump, climb, or are thrown from a cruise ship. You don't fall off the thing.

Quite a few years ago, on the old star princess in alaska -- the gangway became detatched

from the ship, and a passenger was killed FALLING between she ship and the pier.

Quite a few years ago, on the old star princess in alaska -- the gangway became detatched

from the ship, and a passenger was killed FALLING between she ship and the pier.

That's a very tragic accident ....must have been awful for all involved

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Carl Haissen wrote a really funny book, "Skinny Dip" which starts off with a man throwing his wife overboard while sailing on a large cruise ship off the Florida coast. She survives to inflict revenge.