The story RCCL wishes would die, but WON'T

It's been over six years, but the mystery of a young female passenger from Virginia who disapearance while aboard the RCCL Rhapsody of the Seas remains unsolved. However, it has not been forgotten (albeit, RCCL wishes it would be; this thing -- and their anemic response to it -- has been a PR headache/nightmare for them since day one).

http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/kidnap/bradley.htm

http://www.rinokids.com/Adults/Bradley/

http://www.tggweb.com/amybradley/amy-story.htm

This is very sad. I watched the Dateline (I beleive) when they aired the story. I felt so bad for the whole family. I can't imagine, just losing her, but to be put through all the games that people are playing with them in trying to find her.

I cruise every year and never fear for my safety....(at all) while cruising but after watching this story I was so afraid to be caught alone in the hallways late night....We stay out late, late and at times there seems to be no one around and have never thought twice of being out and having fun but after reading this it really opened my eyes to everything..

I have to add, I truly love to cruise and would never let something like fear take away from having a wonderful time but I am more alert now to anything could happen and usually always travel with someone late night or even early morning but it is really sad to think that things like this do happen on cruise ships.

Mel Parnami has an interesting theory on what happened to her. Regardless, it was a terrible tragedy for everyone concerned.

Well thank goodness there are those who want to keep it alive on these boards too! :eek:

Sad story. My first inclination is that she fell overboard. Also, I notice that the story on the third site, which appears to have been done by the family, varies from the offical story put out by the FBI.

From the last report I heard Royal Caribbean is suing the family because they know where she is, she left her family and is living on an island somewhere. Her family know where she is. I think it was in a newspaper or on TV i can not remember which one.

I watched the story when it aired on Dateline too. My first thought was that I was certain that she had never went into that port. I feel that she was already gone before they ever docked. Anyone that has cruised knows how much security there is as you leave a ship. There are tons of people all disembarking at the same time. And you have to show your cruise ID in order to even get on or off. I have a tough time believing that someone forced her off of the ship without one person seeing it. Even if there were a secret exit that only workers use to enter and exit, I still can't see someone dragging her through the ship with thousands of people on board without someone seeing it. And even if she did see some illegal activity as her family suggests, I don't think they would take her ashore to deal with her. If someone wanted to deal with her because she had seen too much, taking her ashore would be pretty risky and dangerous. It would be much easier to just throw her overboard.

I felt so sorry for that family and what they've gone through. Not only have they had to deal with the disappearance of their only daughter, but they have also had to deal with con artists preying on their hope that she was alive. Shame on the man that took them for all they had! He never even searched for their daughter. It was all a hoax. He just wanted to take every last cent they had saved for their retirement. My heart goes out to them. I have a daughter and would be devastated if something like that happened to her. I hope they can get on with their lives. It is obvious that they believe she is still alive.

It could have happened on any cruise ship. I don't think RCI is to blame. I think the family is blaming RCI when there is nothing RCI can do. People fall overboard or disappear off of a cruise ship all of the time. Look at Carnival, a man just diappeared off of one of their ships recently. And as for someone claiming they saw the girl, well, we all have people out there that look just like us. My brother has a double right in our town. I have went up to him at Wal-Mart before and started to talk to him before I realized he wasn't who I thought he was. It was probably a case of mistaken identity. Especially since the woman who said she saw the girl had never even met her. I don't think she left that ship alive. I think she fell overboard. It's too bad.

Mike,

It's such a coincidence that you posted this, we were on the Explorer last wek & I was talking to my husband about "I wonder if they ever found that girl who disappeared on a cruise ship?" I did not realize it was a RCCL ship.

What a tragedy for the family, it must be such an agonizing feeling, the not knowing.

I always feel safe on ships, but occasionaly I have seen a crew member act a little too friendly (if you know what I mean) to a lone female. I like to take pictures of the sunrise & often go up on deck while my DH is still sleeping. The boat is pretty deserted at that time, but I still have always felt safe.

Marina

A guy fell off a Carnival ship this past week I believe…maybe this girl suffered the same fate?

Vote in 2004 for Either Bush or Kerry/Nader...Just Vote.

From the last report I heard Royal Caribbean is suing the family because they know where she is, she left her family and is living on an island somewhere. Her family know where she is. I think it was in a newspaper or on TV i can not remember which one.

Politely stated, the above is complete, absolute nonsense (with -- as usual in these situations -- the poster of it conveniently forgetting the supposed source of this myth). There are no such reports, Amy is still missing, and RCI is not suing (and never has) her family over anything. In fact, the only lawsuit tied to this event is the one Amy's family filed against RCCL in March of 1999, accusing the line of having been negligent in the search for her (a case which was eventually dismissed in March of 2002).

I don't think RCI is to blame. I think the family is blaming RCI when there is nothing RCI can do....People fall overboard or disappear off of a cruise ship all of the time.

I don't blame RCI for the fact Amy disappeared. However, an honest, detailed read of how the line initially responded to her family in the hours and days after the disappearance leaves one less than impressed with the company. Specifically:

- When Amy was discovered missing on early in the morning of March 24, 1998 (as the Rhapsody of the Seas was approaching Curacao), her family immediately contacted the ship's security chief, Lou Costello.

- Based on the fact Amy had last been seen at approximately 5:30 am going to the disco with a staff member (a musician named "Yellow,"), the family told Costello they strongly suspected she was still on board, potentially being held against her will (notably, after they got back to Richmond, the Bradleys found a post from another Rhapsody passenger on a cruise-ship computer bulletin board warning female passengers to stay away from Yellow for unspecified reasons).

- The Bradleys subsequently pleaded with Costello and the ship's officers not to lower the gangway for disembarkation until their daughter was found, but the gangway was lowered.

- Shortly before noon, Mrs. Bradley asked the ship's captain, Kjetil Gjerstad, to distribute a picture of Amy to all passengers. "I cannot do that," she said he replied. "I will not alarm the passengers."

- Ship employees then told the Bradleys to wait in their rooms for Costello. He asked some questions and asked for a photo of Amy. He told them she was probably visiting in someone’s room and would show up.

- From 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m., he told the Bradleys, ship staff had searched “every nook and cranny” of the ship to no avail. (In actuality, subsequent investigations by the F.B.I. would discover that the staff had only searched the common and crew areas, leaving out all passenger sections and other areas of the ship).

- Captain Gjerstad's previous concerns about the PR elements of the situation went far beyond not wanting to alarm passengers. He only request to RCI headquarters in Miami was for them to send down a company lawyer ASAP, which they did (he arrived that afternoon, and immediately told the Bradleys that they could no longer communicate with the ship's officers without his involvement).

- Late Tuesday afternoon, Captain Gjerstad told the Bradleys "Amy is not on this ship" (despite having no confirmed evidence of that) and told them they had two choices: stay in Curacao to look for her, or stay on the ship when it departed, thus losing any opportunity to be on site for that process.

- The Bradleys stayed. At 6 a.m. on Wednesday -- a full 24 hours after Amy disappeared -- authorities on Curacao finally began sea-and-air searches for Amy. Three helicopters, a British warship, a low-flying radar plane and numerous cargo ships, tugboats and fishing boats scoured hundreds of miles of sea and coastline for the next two days, finding no sign of her whatsoever (earth to laypeople: bloated dead bodies in warm Caribbean water -- which is what one would have if Amy has fallen/jumped overboard and died -- float for weeks).

- Thursday afternoon, Mrs. Bradley's brother contacted the FBI, and Mr. Bradley's employer chartered a plane and flew the Bradleys flew to St. Martin to intercept the Rhapsody of the Seas at its next port of call. At 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, before the first passengers left the Rhapsody, the Bradleys boarded a ferry and demanded a meeting with Captain Gjerstad.

- The Bradleys met in a conference room with the Captain, the chief security officer, and other Royal Caribbean officials. The Bradleys stated they had contacted the F.B.I. The response from RCI? The ship was in foreign waters and chartered in another nation, so the family had to ask permission from RCI for the FBI to be allowed investigate the ship. After much negotiation, RCI reluctantly agreed to allow the F.B.I. to conduct a limited investigation of the ship (two FBI agents, casually dressed in jeans and golf shirts, were allowed onboard to investigate). The search again came up empty.

- The Bradleys finally left to return home on Friday, March 28, the same day that Rhapsody of the Seas returned to the docks at San Juan, and the same day -- unbeknownst at the time to the Bradleys -- that a witness (who subsequently passed several lie detector examinations) claimed to see Amy being forced into a cab there.

As for people falling overboard and disappearing "all the time," that's highly arguable. Yes, there are a handful of reports of people (usually male, usually unhappy, often drunk) intentionally jumping overboard (said reports based on the fact the jumper almost always want to get attention, so the events inevitably have eyewitnesses). In the cases where the jumper dies, the bodies are almost always recovered.

As for passengers simply vanishing from cruises (as Amy did), those are extremely rare.

And ones where the missing person is never found are exceptional.

- Based on the fact Amy had last been seen at approximately 5:30 am going to the disco with a staff member (a musician named "Yellow,"), the family told Costello they strongly suspected she was still on board, potentially being held against her will (notably, after they got back to Richmond, the Bradleys found a post from another Rhapsody passenger on a cruise-ship computer bulletin board warning female passengers to stay away from Yellow for unspecified reasons).

I am very suspicious by nature. Why are you bringing this up now? Are you a reporter, or a lawyer, or a family member? If one of the above which, and why are you wanting to rehash this tragic story? If you are not one of the above, don't you have anything else better to do?

jc

I was wondering the same thing.

I am very suspicious by nature. Why are you bringing this up now? Are you a reporter, or a lawyer, or a family member? If one of the above which, and why are you wanting to rehash this tragic story? If you are not one of the above, don't you have anything else better to do?

 

jc

It seems to me that there had to be an inside component to this dissappearence. For Amy to have gotten off the ship she would have had to bypass security measures which require a photo identification process as you disembark (or embark, or get off at any stop).

It remains a chilling mystery. I only hope that history doesn't repeat itself.

This was a tragic event that left a family without their daughter.

Although this is an "old story", it is still an "unsolved" case. It also continues to point out to new and old cruisers that you should be on your guard while cruising. This includes watching your teenagers and knowing where they are on a cruise ship. Certainly, I don't have to point out to you how many threads we've seen on this subject, right?

Maybe he feels like adding clarification by providing information that others might find helpful. Why don't you try it sometime instead of constantly questioning the motives of people. The question is' date=' don't you have anything better to do?

 

It seems to me that there had to be an inside component to this dissappearence. [b']For Amy to have gotten off the ship she would have had to bypass security measures which require a photo identification process as you disembark[/b] (or embark, or get off at any stop).

 

It remains a chilling mystery. I only hope that history doesn't repeat itself.

Just as an FYI the ships didn't use the photo id system back then. To my memory they didn't track anyone coming or going from the ship back in those days. They hand checked your room card leaving and coming, but no records.

Linda

According to the FBI notice posted on the website you provided, she was "last seen by family members sitting on the balcony outside their cabin".

The standing F.B.I. link does state that, but apparently conflicts prior statements, for press reports dating from 1999 state the following:

"F.B.I. investigators identify the last person seen with Amy as "Yellow", a member of the cruise ship's band, Blue Orchid. Amy was seen by two female college freshmen passengers entering the ship's disco at approximately 5:30am on Tuesday, March 24."

I am very suspicious by nature. Why are you bringing this up now? Are you a reporter, or a lawyer, or a family member? If one of the above which, and why are you wanting to rehash this tragic story? If you are not one of the above, don't you have anything else better to do?"

No need to apologize for being a sceptic. However, I didn't realize one had to hold a license to simply remind people of increasingly buried history. If some find the latter "upsetting," no one in forcing them to read or engage in discussion about it.

Or for that matter, inviting them to attack the messenger.

Not if she fell/jumped/was pushed off.

Yes, but we don't know that. Ergo...it remains a mystery.

I don't see what purpose this thread is going to fulfill except for warning people to not wander a ship alone late at night or early in the morning.

The rest of what will be posted will be a whole lot of speculation and conspiracy theories intertwined with the very few facts available.

I just hope that Amy's family members are not CC users as this thread may be very painfull for them to see.

Well said Greybear.

It seems as though this woman was spending alot of time with the ship's crew members.

I think this is risky because the crew members are from all over the world. I doubt the cruise ship companies do a detailed background check on all these people they hire (they may not do any checks at all).

Also, crew members have access to area of the ship passengers don't even know about. Who knows what activites go on in these "behind the scenes" areas of the ship during the wee hours of the morning.

I am cruising in 2 months with my 22 year old daughter and her friend. Although I am sorry for this woman and her family, you can bet my daughter will not be carrying on with crew members all night in unknown areas of the ship.

The Security was NOT as tuff in 1998 as now! I hope other young passengers see the resion for no crew fratinizing or not having a travel partner can do! (sad)

I don't see what purpose this thread is going to fulfill except for warning people to not wander a ship alone late at night or early in the morning.

 

The rest of what will be posted will be a whole lot of speculation and conspiracy theories intertwined with the very few facts available.

 

I just hope that Amy's family members are not CC users as this thread may be very painfull for them to see.

It does make you think about passenger safety on these ships, however. It is a testiment to the notion that keeping track of any single person on a vessel carrying a cargo of humanity that exceeds the serveral thousands proves to be difficult, at best.

We all assume that when we are on a cruise that our fellow passengers have the best intentions, but the truth of the matter is, you never know. The liklihood of something happening is very slim - but marginal as it is, it is a possibility.

This whole lot reminds me of an Agetha Christie Novel or Two..anyone want to take a guess which ones?

"When you eliminate the impossible, what ever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"

-Sherlock Holmes visa vi Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

When we were on the Radiance last year there were signs posted that any crewperson caught with a pax in the crew only areas would be fired immediately. Perhaps a new policy because of this?