How prepared is your ship if you fall overboard?

[need2cruisesoon]

This is a good question and will be broadcast tonight on 20/20.

Here is the link below to a woman who fell overboard and now suing Carnival Cruise.

 

 

http://gma.yahoo.com/prepared-cruise-ships-overboard-020026448--abc-news-travel.html

Edited January 17, 2014 by need2cruisesoon

[papcx]

This is a good question and will be broadcast tonight on 20/20.

Here is the link below to a woman who fell overboard and now suing Carnival Cruise.

 

 

http://gma.yahoo.com/prepared-cruise-ships-overboard-020026448--abc-news-travel.html

 

Yes I'm sure the bartenders were forcing it down her neck!

 

"Thanks for saving me, you've been served" classy!

 

I'm glad she's okay though.

[AKman2495]

This is a good question and will be broadcast tonight on 20/20.

Here is the link below to a woman who fell overboard and now suing Carnival Cruise.

 

 

http://gma.yahoo.com/prepared-cruise-ships-overboard-020026448--abc-news-travel.html

 

It might be a good question, but really? Suing Carnival? She was totally responsible for going overboard.

 

Being that it is not a usual thing. it is not reasonable to expect the crew to be watching continuously for people going over the side.

 

She should consider herself lucky that they even found her at all....

[ATC cruiser]

It's time to thin the heard. If you fall overboard, you don't deserve to be rescued.

[donaldsc]

You will die and in her case - she should have. Darwin should rule and usually does.

 

DON

[Karysa]

This is a good question and will be broadcast tonight on 20/20.

Here is the link below to a woman who fell overboard and now suing Carnival Cruise.

 

 

http://gma.yahoo.com/prepared-cruise-ships-overboard-020026448--abc-news-travel.html

 

 

I would recommend that she discontinue her lawsuit ASAP. You know what they say about Karma. One lucky lady! I know of a 15 year old that I really, really wish had been give a second chance.

[2bthereagain]

I want to watch this tonight.

 

Kind of random, but I once read (maybe here) that if you see someone fall overboard you should immediately throw something that floats (preferably the life ring) in after them. The current will take the object the same direction as the person and this will help locate them during rescue efforts.

[paul929207]

They should havve let her swim to shore.

[leaveitallbehind]

This is a good question and will be broadcast tonight on 20/20.

Here is the link below to a woman who fell overboard and now suing Carnival Cruise.

 

 

http://gma.yahoo.com/prepared-cruise-ships-overboard-020026448--abc-news-travel.html

 

First of all - without even following your link to read the story - I seriously question whether or not it is a good question, and would probably think not.

 

It is virtually impossible to "fall" overboard. The railings are high and designed in a manner that (unless perhaps you are 7' tall) the typical person can't fall over them.

 

People who end up going overboard usually do so as the result of intentionally jumping, horsing around and climbing the railings, or engaging in some sort of irresponsible or reckless behavior that is usually alcohol fueled.

 

And the ships crew are quite well prepared to deal with it. There are security cameras everywhere and often the "event" is captured on film. As soon as the crew realizes the situation, the time and location is logged, the ship is stopped and returns to the scene, rescue boats are launched and a search begins. The US coast guard (and other ships in the area) are notified and when they arrive, they take over the search. If the person is not yet found, the ship remains on scene until the Coast Guard takes over the search and it is then "released" to continue on its itinerary. Unfortunately in most cases the victim dies when they hit the water or shortly after.

 

To then sue the cruise line for that type of behavior and resulting consequence is ridiculous IMO. People need to be responsible for their own actions.

Edited January 17, 2014 by leaveitallbehind

[blitznbobs]

There is good case law in the uk and I believe so in the states that if you save someone's life they can't sue you for injuries ( if you would be dead but for their actions etc)Why can no one take responsibility for their own actions any more. Last time I was on a cruise I had to ask for them to serve me drinks and I, as an adult, know if I drink a lot of alcoholic beverages, I get drunk...

[LA_CA_GAL]

.....no one take responsibility for their own actions any more...

 

Lawyers.

[geoherb]

I thought the same thing as many of you when I saw the short segment about this incident on Good Morning America today. How the heck can she be suing the cruise line? She's lucky they were able to rescue her. I'd be sending them thank you notes instead of subpoenas.

[jwm51]

Fallen overboard or pushed???:confused:

 

So little time to COME UP WITH AN ALIBI!!!:eek::D:p

[Gunner22aa]

"There ain't no fixing stupid" And stupid is what you have to be to fall over the railing anywhere on the ship. Either that or 7'11" tall and have a body center of gravity above the rail. Even then a large dose of stupid would be involved. She is very lucky to have been seen and the ship able to rescue her. Had she not been noticed for a protracted period of time she would have been fish food.

[Nitemare]

It's time to thin the heard. If you fall overboard, you don't deserve to be rescued.

 

And she wouldn't have been able to sue them.

[4x4bob]

I guess that the cruise lines will have to post Warning Signs on all railings on the ship: Warning, if you are drunk or stupid do not lean over or climb up on the railing. Danger of falling overboard.

 

bob

[boogs]

Lawyers.

 

Yep, the ambulance chasing kind. I wasn't surprised at all to see that bottom feeder, James Walker, "Maritime Attorney", in the linked video. If he smells a chance of a payout for himself, he's going to get involved in sensationalizing a situation, mostly for his personal gain. Of course, it's never the fault of the idiot who "fell" overboard. It's always the big, bad cruise line who is responsible. With low life lawyers like Walker, personal responsibility is an alien concept. Well, as long as they can profit from it, that is.

 

It is virtually impossible to "fall" overboard. The railings are high and designed in a manner that (unless perhaps you are 7' tall) the typical person can't fall over them.

 

People who end up going overboard usually do so as the result of intentionally jumping, horsing around and climbing the railings, or engaging in some sort of irresponsible or reckless behavior that is usually alcohol fueled.

 

To then sue the cruise line for that type of behavior and resulting consequence is ridiculous IMO. People need to be responsible for their own actions.

 

Just think of the expense incurred by the cruise line, the coast guard, and any other ship that came to the rescue. Search efforts aren't without cost. Someone has to pay the cost of manpower, equipment use, and lost time incurred, when a search and rescue is attempted. Instead of her suing the cruise line, we taxpayers should sue this idiot for costing us money, and the other passengers on her ship should sue her for interrupting their expensive vacations.

 

I hope the judge who gets this case throws it out and fines the fool and her lawyer for filing a frivolous lawsuit.

Edited January 17, 2014 by boogs

[AmoMondo]

Hmmmm, maybe I should have sued the cruise line when I stumbled on a pot hall in Stockholm near the gang way sober I will add) and ripped ligaments in my knee. After all if they hadn't docked at that berth, I wouldn't have been injured? I actually just counted myself lucky that it wasn't worse and was glad of the assistance the crew gave me the remainder of the trip.

 

This one is unbelievable, it was her fault an no one else's fault she fell. It's completely the fault of carnival though that she is still alive. Actions have consequences. Hers endangered her live. carnival's saved her in grateful greedy life.

[compozer]

It's time to thin the heard. If you fall overboard, you don't deserve to be rescued.

 

Love It!!!

[dsrdsrdsr]

“I remember looking over the water, looking at the ship,” Kirby told ABC News’ “20/20.” “The next thing I knew I was falling, and I panicked.”

“Everybody was drinking to excess, and I was enjoying it with everybody else on the cruise,”

 

If she was looking over the water and looking at the ship, then she was leaning over the rail to a stupid degree. As results proved. Why on earth would anyone want to appear on national news with their simultaneous nominations for the "most stupid" and "most ungrateful" awards? Wouldn't you want to crawl into a hole and hide?

 

The article goes on to talk about the supposedly failsafe 24-hour automatic man overboard detection system. Well, IMO, if you need a 24-hour detection system to stop you falling overboard, then you ought to be holidaying in a padded cell. You might as well try and fashion a foolproof system that will stop anyone walking in front of a moving vehicle, whether deliberately or not.

 

And I'll tell you sometihng else - if for whatever reason I fell overboard, in the dark, where my companions either didn't see me fall or were too drunk to care, and the captain managed to turn the ship round at night and find me - I'd be kneeling on the floor cleaning his boots with my tongue. Not sueing him.

Edited January 17, 2014 by dsrdsrdsr

[celle]

You can't just "fall overboard" off a cruise ship.

 

Those who go overboard are either suicidal or doing something stupid.

 

The railings are chest high on most people, much too high to fall over accidentally. However, if you're drunk and you climb up, either on the railings or on some furniture, then you could go over.

 

I have no sympathy whatsoever for the silly witch trying to sue the cruise line. She was drunk and stupid and the cruise line did rescue her - that proves that the cruise ships are well-equipped and well-drilled for a rescue opearation. In fact, the crew has practice "Man overboard" training on every cruise.

[SantaFeFan]

I have no sympathy whatsoever for the silly witch trying to sue the cruise line.

 

I know we aren't supposed to be commenting on people's spelling errors, but I think the word "witch" is a typo. ;)

[sloopsailor]

In the video, the 'victim' told the reporter that it is difficult for her to return to the sea. Good, I say. Leave cruising to the smart people. Stay home on your couch where you can drink yourself stupid without affecting the rest of us.

[bus man]

Clearly it's Carnival's fault for not installing floor-to-ceiling chain link fences at all openings! (Uh-oh, I'd better not give that ingrate shrew and her bottom-feeding lawyer any ideas.)

[citygirl62]

To me this is the same as those individuals who never think of the consequences of truly stupid acts.

 

The ones who ski outside authorized trails, set off an avalanche and endanger their rescuers. Or the idiots who visit their ice huts on a melting lake (long after they should have been removed) and then call for emergency rescue. Or how about the drunk snowmobilers who go out on the lake when everyone else knows it's stupid to go out there.....the list goes on and on and on.

 

This women should be thankful she is alive and review her own behavior instead of pointing the finger elsewhere. Many jurisdictions are now asking the "victim" to pay for the costs of rescuing them and rightly so.