She vanished....and Celebrity ignored it

[kevinsac]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1110vanished.html

 

Can you believe this story? Even if they suspected suicide, this is a major breach of protocol. She vanished and no one did anything! Well----they DID give her clothes to charity when she failed to pack up her cabin on the day of disembarkation.

[Iamthesea]

I just did a search on the Roll Calls to see if there was one for this cruise. Just a few people, but if any are still posters here, http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=38576&highlight=Mercury+8%2F27%2F04perhaps they could contact the family if they saw this woman.

 

So sad and so selfish! This woman thought enough to leave money for the room steward, but didn't think enough about informing her own family about where she had gone.

 

Celebrity/RCCL certainly isn't making any points with this story!

[newmexicoNita]

what a story and I wonder why we are just now hearing about something that happened over a year ago. I think these things seem to happen more on cruise ships than any of us ever realized. NMnita

[nu2sea]

That is a shocking story indeed. Although I would agree with RCCL & X that suicide is probably the cause of the disappearance (failing to tell daughter of planned cruise, leaving tips in cabin with attendants name) it is still appalling that they would handle this the way they did.

 

I can't think of a single justification for the way they did this, although the security investigation report and conclusions are somewhat reassuring in that it clearly states that this case was handled improperly with failure to notify the proper shipboard authorities and the removal of the woman's property from her cabin.

 

Still unsettling, and puts changed itineraries and other cruising inconveniences into some perspective.

 

Susan

[Danno]

Apparently it's very common...and can you imagine how many people would squawk if their intineraries were altered...the cruise line is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't.

 

"what compensation am I entitled to when the cruise line attempts to save a life and makes me miss an hours shopping in St.Thomas"??

[wolfganghowell]

Well according to my TA just recently Infinity was delayed by 4 hours while the ship diverted to helicopter range to medivac a man who was bleeding out from cumidin (sp?) The ship arrived late and many people missed their flights. Did they praise the line for going above and beyond to save a man's life? no - they complained that they missed their flights. Get a grip people.

 

Thread on the RCCL board and I'll repeat what I said there - every single cruise you fill out emergency contact information. Did this woman not list anyone or did the cruise line foul up? I think the situation was mishandled but this was a woman with a history of depression, did not have custody of a daughter and did not tell one single family member she was going on a cruise in Alaska alone? My sincere condolences to the family and a shame on you to the cruise line personnel who made this sad event even worse but it does seem evident that this was a planned situation.

[CruiserJen]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1110vanished.html

 

Can you believe this story? Even if they suspected suicide, this is a major breach of protocol. She vanished and no one did anything! Well----they DID give her clothes to charity when she failed to pack up her cabin on the day of disembarkation.

 

Thanks for starting a new thread on this... I thought this article was amazing! My friend in Phoenix emailed it to me and asked if anyone was talking about it on CC... this is a little disturbing... doesn't the ship have cameras along the railings in case of an overboard situation... you know, too many margaritas & gone swimming?

 

There are still many unanswered questions on this woman's disappearance. It may be that she wanted to start over and got off the ship in Vancouver without reboarding. The difficulty is whether Celebrity has/had policies in place and whether the employees followed them but were fired after Celebrity was questioned about the missing woman's whereabouts when they failed to report her missing.

 

Jen

[Iamthesea]

I thought about the starting over bit, but why didn't she take her purse and money?

 

Another far fetched thought...what if she were having an online affair with a man that asked her to meet him for this cruise and then he did away with her. :eek: That could explain why she didn't tell anyone (seems like she would have at least told her daughter she was going away for a while :( ), she was embarrassed! My sister has a relative that had an online affair and no one knew about it until she announced she was getting married. They are still together!

[Nancyquilts]

About Infinity - we were delayed almost 7 hours, and I didn't hear anyone complaining about their plans vs. saving a life. The only complaint I overheard was someone who had made their own airline plans (as we always do) griping that X found flights for the people with their air/sea package first. I would expect them to do that. Everyone I talked to or overheard was just hoping he'd be okay. Nancy

[negc]

I guess that I am most interested in why this story is just now surfacing, and on all the cruise boards, and from a newspaper in Arizona of all places.

The story certainly doesn't cast Celebrity or its parent company RCCL in a good light, but do we really have the facts of the case, or is there some other agenda? Was it a murder, a suicide, or some unexplained accident? We may never know. Unfortunately we all watch so many mysteries on TV where the crime is solved within an hour, that we think that this is what happens, or should happen, in real life. Sometimes the answer isn't an easy one to determine especially when there is no body to examine and no reliable witnesses to the event.

[FlorenceItaly]

How heartbreaking..........

 

Marie

[ingrid295]

I guess that I am most interested in why this story is just now surfacing, and on all the cruise boards, and from a newspaper in Arizona of all places.

 

Not sure if I should be insulted by the crack about Arizona... some of us DO live in Arizona and it is not the edge of the earth....!!

 

It was interesting to read the story in this morning's paper.... just not sure I understand why Celebrity did not respond immediately when they realized the pax was no longer on board.

 

Ingrid.

[AZPam]

I guess that I am most interested in why this story is just now surfacing, and on all the cruise boards, and from a newspaper in Arizona of all places.

 

The missing passengers' parents live in Arizona. I would guess they are still hoping to get some publicity on this in the hopes their daughter might still be alive.

[negc]

You are correct about where the missing woman's family lives. I regret that I missed that point when I first read the article and just thought it to be strange that such a detailed article would originate from there. Now I understand the involvement of the Arizona newspaper, but not the delay of over a year in publishing the article. I think a lot of the readers are assuming that Celebrity's handling of this situation is exactly as reported in the news account. However, it seems that we have only the family's word for that fact. It just doesn't make much sense that the cruiseline wouldn't have contacted whomever was named as the emergency contact in the passenger's records, when she went missing. No sane person could believe that this situation would go unnoticed if unreported. Reporting that a passenger was missing, especially if it appeared to be a possible suicide, seems to be a better course to take than hoping that no one (friends or family) would wonder what happened to her when she didn't return from her trip.

[deadzone1003]

She goes onboard Aug. 27, 2004.

 

She disappears Aug. 28, 2004.

 

Accident? Murder? Suicide? Abduction by aliens???

 

From the evidence on hand, it appears to be suicide, but don't tell anyone:rolleyes:

 

Celebrity (RCL) finally states it was propbably suicide on Oct. 26, 2005. (14 months after her disappearence).

 

Shouldn't service be a little faster?:confused:

[Gypsea]

Just because this woman had a history of depression we assume she did not meet with foul play. That is just wrong. How many people commit suicide without some form of note, excuse or communication? I don't know. But neither do you. Just because a person may be depressed that doesn't mean you are going to take your life. Even if Mirrian did why did RC not act on the repeated attempt of the steward to call attention to the situation immediately? This is an unforgivable lapse in security, responsibility and compassion. Absolutely unforgivable. How would you feel if this was your daughter, mother or loved one? Are we a bit too complacent? We give our money and trust to the cruiseline and I don't think it is too much to ask that we receive some small measure of regard for doing so.

 

The other question is did she ever reboard in Vancouver? Does the cruiseline even know? Usually if people are late there are announcements about it. Will so and so please report....As if sometimes people could get back on and they don't realize they did. That is important information. Certainly if she met harm in Vancouver they are excused but if they don't even know...

Obviously we do not have all the facts but neither does the family. I really hate to be paranoid but these stories are scaring me.

[emptynest1]

I just read the article and shame on all who automatically jumped to the conclusion that the cruise line dropped the ball or acted incorrectly.

This is a one sided story from the desperate family.

Whatever happened to hearing both sides of a story before making a jugdement?

My heart goes out to the family, and I understand why they want it in the news. But come on people, don't take everything written in the press as gospel. The press has been known for it's ability to slant an article.

Keep an open mind until all facts are presented.

[halos]

I just read the article and shame on all who automatically jumped to the conclusion that the cruise line dropped the ball or acted incorrectly.

This is a one sided story from the desperate family.

Whatever happened to hearing both sides of a story before making a jugdement?

My heart goes out to the family, and I understand why they want it in the news. But come on people, don't take everything written in the press as gospel. The press has been known for it's ability to slant an article.

Keep an open mind until all facts are presented.

 

well said. :)

[Nliedel]

Actually most people who commit suicide do not leave a note.

[newmexicoNita]

I just read the article and shame on all who automatically jumped to the conclusion that the cruise line dropped the ball or acted incorrectly.

This is a one sided story from the desperate family.

Whatever happened to hearing both sides of a story before making a jugdement?

My heart goes out to the family, and I understand why they want it in the news. But come on people, don't take everything written in the press as gospel. The press has been known for it's ability to slant an article.

Keep an open mind until all facts are presented.

My thoughts: I remember by dad teaching us to believe nothing that we hear and about 1/2 of what we see. this is a sad story, like so many we are hearing about, but the media does have a way of jumping on everything just to sell the goods especially with newspaper sales at an all time low. BTW my DH is an X newspaper man so I am not trying to pick on the industry. NMNita

[Nliedel]

Actually most people who commit suicide do not leave a note.

[Danno]

Very sad...but we have to accept the fact that some people simply can't cope...and to them, this is finally how they find peace...who are we to tell these poor soles that their way isn't right for them.

 

I feel bad for the family...it is not fair to them...not all things in life are fair.

 

I think the article is mostly tabloid journalism...making the cruise line the bad guy, doesn't change the reality...but I'm sure it sells papers.

[cruise182]

How can you defend the actions of the cruise line??:mad:

[Danno]

Unfortunately in the USA, and to a lesser extent in Canada (but we're catching up)...to do the right thing is to admit an error, and say sorry...and to do the right thing also means being decended upon by lawyers and sued...we, all of us, have allowed ambulance chasing lawyers to create a society where you admit nothing...no matter how much your heart tells you should.

 

Let this go...:(

[montgomeryfamily]

This story was also on CNN about four or five days ago, on Anderson Cooper. They had been advertising a story regarding the pirate ship attacking the Seaborne ship, so I was watching it for that. This story was on the same program. (They did show the story about the pirate ship--it was interviews with guests after the Seaborne ship had gotten to the Seychelles.) Anderson Cooper interviewed the father who said they were looking for passengers who had been on the sailing that might have seen or talked with his daugher. (The mother was on the program too). They talked about the situation. They said they had filed suit because Royal Caribbean wouldn't give them information or cooperate with them to try to find their daughter or what happened to her. They also showed a close up of a missing person bulletin of their daugher issued by the Alaska State Troopers.

 

Anderson Cooper talked about a deposition by the room steward who said he had reported the woman as being missing. Anderson Cooper said that CNN had asked Royal Caribbean for a statement and that they had released a very limited statement, saying that they could not discuss it because it was in litigation. They did say they had fired the room steward supervisor--that he had shown bad judgment. I remember when I heard the story how surprised I was that Royal Caribbean didn't say anything more about the situation than that--it certainly made them look bad.

 

That story on CNN was before the Arizona newspaper article. I hadn't seen the newspaper article until I saw it posted on CC. But I assume it was in the Arizona newspaper because that is where the father lives and would logically seem to be of interest to that community due to the local connection. I'm surprised that some have attacked the newspaper as tabloid journalism under those circumstances.

 

Royal Caribbean has had some opportunities, especially on CNN with Anderson Cooper, "to tell their side of the story" and dispute the family's claim and version of how Royal Caribbean handled the matter. But thus far they have not disputed the family's story and they even confirmed that the room steward supervisor was fired for poor judgment. If the situation is different than has been described by the family, or if there are facts that are being omitted that would show that the company has handled the situation properly, they should step forward with that information. They are getting negative publicity from this situation. Plus, if I understood Anderson Cooper correctly, he/CNN is going to continue to follow this story.