T.V. interview of overboard victim's parents

[SunnieD]

I know that the camera footage showed him leaning over in many spots of the rail, but how does anyone know what the cause was. I was thinking maybe he was throwing up and fell over as that is what happened to DH's cousin. He landed on the sidewalk/steps below the balcony off his bedroom. He died a month later. Maybe he kept going to the side waiting to get sick. My thought is why not go back to your room? Maybe it was his intention to go over? Who really knows?

[theotherchad]

I know that the camera footage showed him leaning over in many spots of the rail, but how does anyone know what the cause was. I was thinking maybe he was throwing up and fell over as that is what happened to DH's cousin. He landed on the sidewalk/steps below the balcony off his bedroom. He died a month later. Maybe he kept going to the side waiting to get sick. My thought is why not go back to your room? Maybe it was his intention to go over? Who really knows?

 

That is horrible (what happened to this guy and your DH's cousin) but it certainly sounds like a plausible scenario on board a ship. The thing is, unless the balcony gives way and you fall as a direct result of that, no one in your hsuband's family tried to sue the builders or managers of the house or apartment building did they? For some reason, some people look at a cruise ship differently. I don't really get it. It's a tragedy and a lawsuit doesn't make it less so.

[Treven]

The railings on cruise ships aren't all that low that someone (drunk) can easily fall over. I'm over 6' tall and the railings on the two ships I've been on come up to my mid-chest area.

[Sue L]

There is a thread over on the Carnival board about a guy who on last week's cruise, left a note and apparrently jumped overboard. Notice, there has been no news coverage of this.

 

 

The guy wanted to commit suicide and seems he succeeded, end of story. The rest of these are surrounded with mystery (George Smith), accidents (the 21 year old) and other tragic occurrences. And in most these inicidents the reoccurring theme is alcohol and people own stupidity.

[nrdsb4]

When you're that drunk, you simply cannot take responsibility.

 

Well, in this case the dramshop law doesn't apply. But your statement that drunks should be absolved of responsibility is worrisome to me. If I sit on my patio, get drunk, kill someone with my car, or get into a fight, or commit some other crime, I most certainly will be held responsible regardless of whether or not I am drunk. And that's the way it should be. Any adult knows that the only sure way to prevent an alcohol induced tragedy is to abstain entirely or make damn sure we control our drinking. Since a very high proportion of crimes are committed by individuals under the influence of alcohol, we'd be in a very sad state of affairs if we all bought into the logic that "when you're that drunk, you simply cannot take responsbility."

[suet]

Why is everything always someone else's fault? For some reason in todays society we are no longer responsible for our own actions. When did this attitude become ok? It is not ok. My parents did not raise me to point the finger at someone else. If I did something wrong, I was punished. The attitude of today makes it difficult to raise our children to be honest and responsible adults.

[PH8]

There is a thread over on the Carnival board about a guy who on last week's cruise, left a note and apparrently jumped overboard. Notice, there has been no news coverage of this.

 

 

The guy wanted to commit suicide and seems he succeeded, end of story. The rest of these are surrounded with mystery (George Smith), accidents (the 21 year old) and other tragic occurrences. And in most these inicidents the reoccurring theme is alcohol and people own stupidity.

 

Very strange we didnt hear about it...........this is the first I heard.....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=351074

[Karried]

Ever since this happened, I've had horrible thoughts of this poor kid treading water in a dark cold ocean watching the cruise ship pull away.. it is horrifying to think about. I read above that maybe the ship pulled him under and I only hope that it was over quickly and he didn't suffer.

 

I know he was drunk, I know it is his fault but even still, the whole incident is just unimaginable and extremely tragic.

 

As a mom of two boys, it makes me so sad to think that this young man lost control and inevitable lost his life because of his choices.

[sheetshouse]

I doubt he was out there treading water. I would imagine hitting the water from that high up would killl you or seriously injure you. Hopefully it was over very quickly.

[The Grumpus]

Grumpus: Actually, I think that having personnel WATCH the security cameras 24/7 would create more problems for RCI than it would solve.

 

Imagine: If they say that they DO always have someone watching, and someone still goes overboard - which they will, since there are NO limits to human stupidity - then RCI is REALLY in trouble, since they are *supposed* to be watching to prevent people from becoming victims of their own stupidity.

 

Yes, that's a tough call, it is possible they could be more liable but keep in mind the cameras are there today. Most cameras we see around us everyday are there for documentation and some prevention. Apparently, RCCL's cameras are there only for documentation. You can't prevent everyone from having an accident and cameras on deck won't stop them all. When I was in the surveillance industry, we stopped a quite a few crimes before they happened, using a monitored camera. We knew, had we not been there, that crime would have occurred. I think the same can be done for people that put themselves in a potential life threatening situations on board a cruise ship. People that fall overboard are different than people that are just having a stroll around the deck and could be recognized by a trained eye. The corporate world has to weigh the difference between cost and safety all the time. It's true about airlines, the motor industry, construction safety and as well in the cruise industry. It's all about putting a cost on the price of a life. I think the cruise industry could implement cameras as a "monitoring device" as an added safety measure but could never say it was there to prevent all overboards,. that would be impossible.

 

I'm all about a person taking responsibility for there own actions. I do it everyday and take the heat when things get screwed up. However, if people could do that all the time we wouldn't have things like welfare and social security. Sometimes no matter how responsible you are, there is a possibility you could put yourself into a situation, by mistake or just not thinking and maybe not even your fault and it would be nice if someone was there to help you before you had the mistake of you life. That's probably what this guy did. He was probably just having fun with his friends, got really drunk, took a wasted stroll on deck to cool off. After hanging over the rail for a couple hours throwing-up, he fell. To bad no one noticed, his fault? Yes. Next time? I'm not so sure.

 

I won't torture you guys anymore with my comments about this topic, just for some reason I think this guys death could have been prevented by the cruiseline, regardless of who's fault. IMO.

[trishalee]

I can't imagine his friends, all sleeping in the same cabin, didn't notice he wasn't there when they returned - he had told them he was going to bed when he left them. A person missing from a cabin that size should have been fairly obvious. The room is small enough that 3 or 4 people would be stumbling all over each other just to get to the bathroom, undress, etc. I guess they must all have been as drunk as he was if they didn't miss him. And taping themselves getting drunk on their smuggled liquor - what were they thinking and why? The whole thing is just so tragically outrageous:eek:

[Nliedel]

I remember being that young and partying. I don't doubt they did not notice their friend missing. I'm lucky I lived past my early twenties. When I think of the stupid things I did... eiyiyi

[theotherchad]

I remember being that young and partying. I don't doubt they did not notice their friend missing. I'm lucky I lived past my early twenties. When I think of the stupid things I did... eiyiyi

 

Man, not just when I was in my twenties. The first evening of our recent cruise, I drank too much, purely by accident. I hadn't eaten much (there's no excuse for that on a cruise ship, I know:rolleyes: ) and I was just excited to be on board, sitting in the pool drinking beer (after beer after beer), and by dinner, I was sloshed. Not stumbling, throwing up sloshed, but enough so that my tablemates made fun of me the next night! Thank goodness I stayed away from the railings until much later in the evening when I had sobered up a bit. Honestly, unless you're really tall, I can't imagine going over those chest high railings without an effort of will to climb up or do something actively stupid.

[nrdsb4]

I can't imagine his friends, all sleeping in the same cabin, didn't notice he wasn't there when they returned - he had told them he was going to bed when he left them. A person missing from a cabin that size should have been fairly obvious. The room is small enough that 3 or 4 people would be stumbling all over each other just to get to the bathroom, undress, etc. I guess they must all have been as drunk as he was if they didn't miss him. And taping themselves getting drunk on their smuggled liquor - what were they thinking and why? The whole thing is just so tragically outrageous:eek:

 

To be honest, when I was in my twenties, if one of my party left us at midnight, by 2:00 a.m., I would not consider him "missing." Apparently he fell at 2:15 or so, right? I would assume he had decided to go somewhere else and was out having a good time. I honestly don't think my first thought would be "I wonder if Henry fell overboard." It would probably be far later before I would become alarmed. Remember, these are young people out on a cruise vacation where people stay up and out for much later than normal.

 

It does seem that the drinking here was way overboard. Young people in particular don't seem to take the risks as seriously as they should, though there are plenty of older people also who don't believe any harm could come to them either.

 

Sad for everyone, but I would hesitate to put too much responsibility on his friends (not saying you are, but plenty of people have mentioned it). He was an adult.

[SunnieD]

Don't put the whole treading water thing out of the question. That guy who fell off of Carnival treaded water for a long time before being rescued the next day by a freighter. He did not know how he got in the water, without his pants. He said the last thing he remembered was leaving the Casino. How does this happen? I hope the FBI cross-references the ship manifests from all of the disappearance ships. I would hate for it to be a serial killer or something on ships. Like some frequent traveler. Wierd I know, but something to wonder about.

[nrdsb4]

I hope the FBI cross-references the ship manifests from all of the disappearance ships. I would hate for it to be a serial killer or something on ships. Like some frequent traveler. Wierd I know, but something to wonder about.

 

Haven't they already stated that they have him on video actually falling off the ship (vs. being pushed by someone)?

[Schasz]

I remember being that young and partying. I don't doubt they did not notice their friend missing. I'm lucky I lived past my early twenties. When I think of the stupid things I did... eiyiyi

Been there done that...actually it was into my late 20's to early 30's that I refer to as my formative years. Wow!!! It was a good thing that cruising became a passion later in my life. I do feel for the young man's parents as this is a very tough thing to happen, and this is coming from someone who has two young adults very close to this young man's age. We do preach to our young ladies about the dangers drinking to excess.

 

John & Shari

[cruiseorbust]

This whole story is so sad.

 

It makes me think of our last cruise. I have all boys and love them to pieces. We are not a family that drinks much, hardly drink at all. Anyways, one of my sons who is 22 has never liked liquior of any kind. We were all cruising together over the holidays, and he found out a friend that he hadn't seen since high school was on the ship with his family (he is also 22). The two of them would hang out during the day and also in the evenings. This other young man is a very smart, well manor young man, from a nice family.

 

One evening I went to tell my son where we would be if he was looking for us (it was about 12:30am) and found him in one of the clubs with his friend on the ship. In talking to him for a few minutes, he looked a little strange to me, and was not acting himself. I told my husband I was concerned and wanted to go talk with him, but this time out of the club so that I could hear him better. I did, and found out he had been drinking. I asked him how much he had and he said his friend had given him some of his liquior. I asked him why he was drinking, since I knew he didnt like the stuff, and in a round about way said his friend dared him to try some again, and couldn't believe he led such a "sheltered life" and never went drinking. He asked him "what can happen to you, we are on a ship, and I am with you" (I am sure there was more to the story...peer pressure).

 

I told my son I was dissapointed, not that he was having a drink, but that the reason for him drinking was because of pressure. I told him I wanted him back in the room at 1:30 with his younger brother. He said ok. One hour later (1:30am when we were going to back to our room) I checked, and his brother said he was not there. I went back to the club and found him still with his friend, he looked worse and was stumbling a little. I had checked while I was back in my sons room on his account, and there were no charges on my son's bill except his coke card charge.

 

I went back to the club and made him leave this time. He stumbled back to the room saying he was fine, but was sick throughout the night...too much of a good thing! We had a long talk in the morning (he kept asking me when should he feel better, and telling me the room was still spinning) He admitted his friend told him he had brought along hard liquior in mouthwash bottles as well as water bottles in his luggage. I wonder if his parents knew? My son said after the first drink was gone he doesn't remember too much of anything. I didn't care what age he was or how embarrased he was when I made him leave that night. MY SON SHOULD HAVE NOT CAVED INTO PEER PRESSURE and should have known better!!!

 

In talking with this boy the next day, he said he had given my son about 2/3 of a bottle of rum over the course of 2 hours; this boy thought it was funny. He said he kept adding it to his coke. He said he was going to stay with him until he had gone back to his room.

 

My son told him that he was really sick all night and never wanted to drink again; hopefully he learned his lesson. You can be sure we both spoke with all our boys again about this. This is just stupid and not acceptable. I am not against anyone drinking, but within reason. Everyone needs to know when to quit, not make a game of it. All you can be sure we spoke about peer pressure.

 

I think now, if I hadn't gone back for my son, this same thing could have happened that happened to that 21 yr old who is sadly gone. I am not the perfect parent, and each child is so different, but they are never to old to be spoken to if you don't feel happy with what they are doing.

 

My son has since shared the story with his friends back home telling them just how horrible he felt from drinking that much. He told his younger brothers no "buzz" is worth that much, and the next day you will pay for it.

[faithwins]

This whole story is so sad.

 

It makes me think of our last cruise. I have all boys and love them to pieces. We are not a family that drinks much, hardly drink at all. Anyways, one of my sons who is 22 has never liked liquior of any kind. We were all cruising together over the holidays, and he found out a friend that he hadn't seen since high school was on the ship with his family (he is also 22). The two of them would hang out during the day and also in the evenings. This other young man is a very smart, well manor young man, from a nice family.

 

One evening I went to tell my son where we would be if he was looking for us (it was about 12:30am) and found him in one of the clubs with his friend on the ship. In talking to him for a few minutes, he looked a little strange to me, and was not acting himself. I told my husband I was concerned and wanted to go talk with him, but this time out of the club so that I could hear him better. I did, and found out he had been drinking. I asked him how much he had and he said his friend had given him some of his liquior. I asked him why he was drinking, since I knew he didnt like the stuff, and in a round about way said his friend dared him to try some again, and couldn't believe he led such a "sheltered life" and never went drinking. He asked him "what can happen to you, we are on a ship, and I am with you" (I am sure there was more to the story...peer pressure).

 

I told my son I was dissapointed, not that he was having a drink, but that the reason for him drinking was because of pressure. I told him I wanted him back in the room at 1:30 with his younger brother. He said ok. One hour later (1:30am when we were going to back to our room) I checked, and his brother said he was not there. I went back to the club and found him still with his friend, he looked worse and was stumbling a little. I had checked while I was back in my sons room on his account, and there were no charges on my son's bill except his coke card charge.

 

I went back to the club and made him leave this time. He stumbled back to the room saying he was fine, but was sick throughout the night...too much of a good thing! We had a long talk in the morning (he kept asking me when should he feel better, and telling me the room was still spinning) He admitted his friend told him he had brought along hard liquior in mouthwash bottles as well as water bottles in his luggage. I wonder if his parents knew? My son said after the first drink was gone he doesn't remember too much of anything. I didn't care what age he was or how embarrased he was when I made him leave that night. MY SON SHOULD HAVE NOT CAVED INTO PEER PRESSURE and should have known better!!!

 

In talking with this boy the next day, he said he had given my son about 2/3 of a bottle of rum over the course of 2 hours; this boy thought it was funny. He said he kept adding it to his coke. He said he was going to stay with him until he had gone back to his room.

 

My son told him that he was really sick all night and never wanted to drink again; hopefully he learned his lesson. You can be sure we both spoke with all our boys again about this. This is just stupid and not acceptable. I am not against anyone drinking, but within reason. Everyone needs to know when to quit, not make a game of it. All you can be sure we spoke about peer pressure.

 

I think now, if I hadn't gone back for my son, this same thing could have happened that happened to that 21 yr old who is sadly gone. I am not the perfect parent, and each child is so different, but they are never to old to be spoken to if you don't feel happy with what they are doing.

 

My son has since shared the story with his friends back home telling them just how horrible he felt from drinking that much. He told his younger brothers no "buzz" is worth that much, and the next day you will pay for it.

 

To the above poster, thanks for sharing! I think you handled the situation brilliantly!