Is it possible to go overboard from a cruise ship? (this ? is not a joke)

[dobiemom]

That's reassuring but have you ever heard of a 10 year old getting a mountain bike break stuck 3 inches into her thigh after a fall and the firefighters cutting the bike off of her. LOL (yep, you're right, my kid!) :D

:eek: Is she alright? I won't tell DH about this... he's a mountain biker!

[Keith1010]

Again for someone to fall off the ship they have to either go out of their way to do it or to do something very foolish.

 

Keith

[Karysa]

:eek: Is she alright? I won't tell DH about this... he's a mountain biker!

 

She's just fine now. :) This happened 5 years ago on a regular old bike ride. Thankfully she missed the femoral artery. Those first couple of minutes sure were scary though! The bike dealer told us that he had never heard of such a thing happening and had sold that brand for 20 years and bikes in general for 29. The funny thing looking back is that she kept telling us that her wrist hurt and you could tell what the first responders were all thinking when they looked at her...you do realize that you have a bike stuck in your leg.:eek: It sure wasn't funny at the time, but she owns the scar and has a good story to tell.:)

[Happy ks]

I am 5'6" and the deck railings come up to my chest. A lot of the railings are also covered with (not plastic, what's the material?) so that children could not climb up onto the rails. I doubt anyone other than a body builder could actually lift a person high enough over their head, then heave them over the side. Especially if you are fighting them. Maybe in the movies. Maybe if there were 2 people trying to heave you over. Or, if you were a very tiny person.

 

The balcony rails usually come up to my waist, even bending far over I doubt I'd be able to fall, I'd still have to do some climbing.

 

I remember worrying about it before our first cruise with our kids. Once we saw the railings we were not concerned. Our kids were old enough and not prone to climbing dangerously. I think if we had a 2 - 4 year old who loved to climb and were booked in a balcony cabin I might worry then. Then you have to be more vigilant about locking the slider.

[EGG]

Just to ease your fears, I would suggest getting an outside cabin which has the large windows (as opposed to portholes which are pretty much a waste) or an inside cabin. Around each ship there are plenty of places to enjoy the view without hanging on the railing. A few I can think of are the fitness center, the solarium, various lounges on each ship. When walkin with your spouse, plan to walk on the inside, but you probably will find you don't have to.

 

I have a fear of heights, but I have never had any fear standing near the outside on the ship. I cannot take a ski lift or an open ferris wheel, but I can do one which has an enclosed carriage. Hope this helps.

[johneeo]

Just to ease your fears, I would suggest getting an outside cabin which has the large windows (as opposed to portholes which are pretty much a waste) or an inside cabin.

 

And I would advise the opposite.

 

Get a balcony. Go to the highest deck, go to the rail and enjoy the view.

[navybankerteacher]

I suppose it is possible to fall off a ship by accident --if you were practicing tightrope walking on the railing.

It is always possible that a fellow passenger might throw you overboard -- if he were much bigger and stronger.

 

However, you are probably more likely to get pushed into traffic while walking on a sidewalk, or to stab yourself with a sharp kitchen knife. So, you should consider avoiding sidewalks and staying out of the kitchen before you start sweating about going overboard.

 

Dreaming up possible risks is not a very productive use of time.

[donaldsc]

Going overboard from a cruise ship is the number one thing that scares me! like what happen if someone don't like you on the ship? im sure the person can just flip you overboard or what happens if you fell over by accident? will the ship turn around to get you? plus if you are alone and have a balcony cabin and you fall off into the sea. what happens? if no one knows you fell off out to sea that would be a scary site!! not sure if anyone else thought of this sort of thing happening to them. have there been reports of people going overboard? i don't think i ever heard of it happening from the news. i really love to go on a cruise! but this sort of thing is holding me back from cruising:(

 

Yes - you can go overboard. Yes - if they want to, someone could "flip" you overboard. Yes - if nobody sees you go, you drown. No - all of the previous "yes's" are extremely unlikely. You are far more likely to be hit by a bus when crossing a street.

 

Don't worry about it.

 

 

DON

[printingchick]

The railings on most ships are not only too high, but they are at an angle. You can't just lean over them because they are NOT at a 90-degree angle to the deck. They lean in, toward you.

[Mary Ellen]

The railings on most ships are not only too high, but they are at an angle. You can't just lean over them because they are NOT at a 90-degree angle to the deck. They lean in, toward you.

This must vary upon the cruise lines. No ship we've sailed has railings like this as standard. Maybe in bow areas they are at a slant, but everywhere else they're at 90-degrees to the decks.

 

I agree with everyone else, OP, someone has to do something really stoooopid to go overboard. Nothing accidental about it.

[wackerman666]

People fall off cruise ships all the time . Just google it . Most bodies are never found . Have fun on your cruise .:eek:

[navybankerteacher]

People fall off cruise ships all the time . Just google it . Most bodies are never found . Have fun on your cruise .:eek:

 

"All the time"? That response is even sillier than the fear expressed by OP. I've heard about people going overboard from cruise ships from time to time -- perhaps a few times a year -- at most. Considering how many cruise ships there are, and how many passengers they carry -- well over 100,000 passengers on board at any given time, or many millions in a year - it does not happen that often.

[johneeo]

"All the time"? That response is even sillier than the fear expressed by OP. I've heard about people going overboard from cruise ships from time to time -- perhaps a few times a year -- at most. Considering how many cruise ships there are, and how many passengers they carry -- well over 100,000 passengers on board at any given time, or many millions in a year - it does not happen that often.

 

Captain Olaf on the Explorer has been with RCI for over 50 years. In that time, he mentioned that he had 4 overboards. All 4 intentionally jumped. Two were rescued, two were not.

[Kerry's Girls]

like what happen if someone don't like you on the ship? im sure the person can just flip you overboard or what happens if you fell over by accident? will the ship turn around to get you? :(

 

If someone throws you over, I think at least there's a decent chance they'll get caught...so there's that. I believe that there are cameras watching the decks (wasn't there a woman who fell over while trying to climb from her balcony to the one next door, and they were able to clear her boyfriend of fault because the cameras taped her climbing and then falling.).

 

We had someone jump overboard on our last cruise. He was seen doing it and was saved fairly quickly.

[bbwex]

Just to add to Navybankerteacher, I was at sea in the Navy for two years on an aircraft carrier -- 4,000 men, no fancy railings anywhere -- and we never had anyone go overboard except one time, and curiously that one time was in port, and the sailor was incredibly drunk. He made it up the gangway, staggered across the entire hangar deck, fell overboard at an elevator opening (one of the monstrous elevators that moves planes up and down, fell onto a steam barge, picked himself up, and staggered off the steam barge.

 

Again, no railings to prevent it.

 

While it does happen on cruise ships, albeit very rarely, I put forth that when it does happen, there is/was something else going on: suicide, murder, incredible stupidity, etc.

[Tralynn]

I understand if you have immense fears. But just realize that you can enjoy a cruise fully and NEVER even go near a railing. And I know for a fact, you cannot fall overboard if you're at the buffet!

[Underwatr]

I understand if you have immense fears. But just realize that you can enjoy a cruise fully and NEVER even go near a railing. And I know for a fact, you cannot fall overboard if you're at the buffet!

I've been known to go overboard at mealtimes, though... ;)

[MrsPete]

When we went on our first cruise, my husband and I walked around every public deck LOOKING for a place our children could possibly go overboard. We found one spot on deck 4 (not interesting to children) where a person could possibly squeeze between an emergency gate and the guardrail and fall out right by the lifeboats. Other than that, no, you'd never go overboard accidentally.

 

The pool decks and other main public areas all have floor-to-ceiling plexiglass to provide views and cut down on the ocean wind. Also, these decks are built kind of like a wedding cake -- they're tiered. If a person were to fall off one of these decks, they'd land on the deck below rather than in the ocean.

 

Also, the railings aren't what you'd expect. They're up to my shoulder (admittedly, I'm short), and they're angled inward. You'd either need a chair or you'd need to be some kind of climber. Add to that that the railings have plexiglass, which means you have no place to get a foothold.

 

Now, it's quite possible to go overboard from a private balcony. The rails are straight up and down, so you could go overboard and land flat in the ocean. And the rails aren't as high, though you might still need a chair to go over.

 

Really, don't worry about this. Unless you're drinking heavily, climbing on the railings, or doing something otherwise stupid, you're not going overboard.

[bus man]

People fall off cruise ships all the time . Just google it . Most bodies are never found . Have fun on your cruise .:eek:

 

If by "fall off" you count the people who get drunk and then try and do a tightrope walk on the balcony, then yes, it happens. But if you're sober, and not trying to jump overboard, then the chances of "falling" off a cruise ship probably fall somewhere in the same rank as winning the lottery.

 

"All the time"? That response is even sillier than the fear expressed by OP.

 

A deep-seated fear, especially of something about which one has no first-hand experience, may be irrational; but it's not "silly." A more compassionate response would be to reassure that OP that the odds of falling overboard are so incredibly remote that it's simply not a plausible danger.

[DrJohn999]

We witnessed the "man overboard recovery" maneuver in the Mediterranean near Greece, summer 2010, on Ruby Princess. We were standing on deck late in the afternoon when the Captain announced "This is not a drill, this is not a drill, Man Overboard." We all looked at each other like "Oh s**t, what's going on?" All passengers were instructed to return to their cabins for a headcount. Meanwhile the ship did a 180 and started a circling, zig-zag maneuver. The steward checked on us a few minutes after we got to our port-side cabin and asked that we stay there until the emergency was over. He later told us it was the first time in his four years on various ships that he had seen this occur. From the balcony we could see an orange smoke marker and orange dye on the sea near the center of the search area that the ship was traversing.

 

The ship circled around for what seemed like 45 minutes as dusk fell. Searchlights came on; we continued for maybe another thirty minutes. The total time seemed much longer. The Captain gave a couple of status reports over the ship and room loudspeakers. Two persons had sighted what looked like a deck chair with someone on it about 100 yards to port off the stern. No one from the ship was missing; all passengers and crew accounted for. At the moment the deck chair was reported, everyone's status was unknown and so they had to go to "man overboard." Since the deck chair in question was not spotted again, they stopped the search at dark and reported the incident to the Greek Coast Guard. The ship turned and resumed course.

 

The ships take these incidents very seriously, as required by Maritime and International law. Also, performing this kind of maneuver is expensive. A couple of days after the incident we encountered the Captain in a passageway. My wife caught his eye and asked, "How much did it cost for the man overboard search?" The answer: US$ 40,000 in extra fuel burned.

 

We were impressed at how rapidly the crew completed the cabin check and determined that no one was missing. As for the original chair-spotters, it was rumored for days that they had been drinking heavily prior to "seeing" the deck chair.

[Oak Hill Cruisers]

Great story, DrJohn999.

 

When I was on a tour of the bridge on the Mariner of the Seas, they had a bank of video monitors showing lots of camera views cycling. I meant to ask the Captain if anyone somewhere was watching these images 24/7, but I got distracted by champagne.

 

I did hear that the ship will turn the stern away from any man overboard reported and turn in a circle and deploy a rescue craft.

 

BTW, the bridge was more than 200 feet high - a tough fall.