Any news on missing passenger?

[SherriZ366]

My heart also goes out to the family and friends of this young man.

 

As I posted in the thread that was removed, the area that they were sailing in (Fla. Straits to Bahamas) tends to be rough and the ship is usually going very fast the first night. Some folks have also reported that the weather in Coco Cay was not good. I have sailed on Mariner 2 times and it would be hard to just fall off. If a passenger was doing something like sitting on a railing, his chances of falling off would be increased by the conditions.

 

Not too much media coverage -- Greta did a segment last night but it was not a piece that was aimed at blaming the cruise industry. She has been the most fair during the George Smith thing. I do think some of the posters on this board have been rubbed a bit raw by the sensationalism that the media has generated about these cases particularly Joe Scarborough, Rita Cosby and Nancy Grace. Some of the victims' attorneys have also been pretty vicious. This unfortunately is part of the 24 hour news cycle.

[MGoBlue2]

Ya, forget about the missing passenger and his family and friends. Forget about the fact that he is probably dead. Lets just hope that it does not affect your vacation. hmmmm.

Most people are fully capable of being concerned about more than one thing at a time. That someone is concerned about their trip in no way means that they are uncaring about everything in the world they didn't mention in their post - including the missing man, his family and friends.

[Jeanie821]

Such a tragedy - to lose one's life like that, and so young. My prayers are with him and his family.

[Cruisecrazycanuck]

You have every right to worry about your cruise, it has nothing to do with your feelings toward the overboard passenger. Just wait when this sons family files a law suit(like George Smiths), they will suddenly have no care in the world about this overboard passenger but will be defending there cruise line like theres no tomorrow. They did it with George Smith and they will do it again. There is nothing you could for this passenger that went overboard, yet Im sure your prayers are with the family. There is nothing at all wrong in asking about your cruise that you saved and planned for for along time. Go and have fun on your cruise and excuse the people here who have no manners. Your cruise should not be delayed unless there is foul play involved. smooth sailing and have fun;)

 

Trailercruiser

 

Well said - BRAVO!

 

I "know" jimmyatc through our roll call - we sail together this coming Sunday on Mariner. I have yet to meet him personally but from his posts, he is an outstanding guy (go check out our roll call). I know from his posts as well that he, like so many others here, is shocked and taken aback by this latest incident. His comment/question stemmed from the fact that he, like anyone else heading out on a cruise, has been looking forward to this for some time.

 

Now, let's all hope and pray that there is some degree of closure on this incident for this family relatively quickly. I can not even begin to imagine what they are going through.

 

CCC

[fpcruiser]

I just talked to my 18 year old daughter who is on the Mariner right now. Actually they were on their excursion on St. Marteen at the time so it was a little hard to hear. She said the Coast Guard was on Coco Cay. It took a long time to get on the island because they kept paging this man's party. She said they wanted them all together before anyone got off the ship. Someone(Coast Guard or RCCL) was showing the man's picture and asking if you saw him. She said ships camera last showed him between 12-2am on deck. If she said what deck I didn't hear. She said things seem pretty normal otherwise, but this is only her second cruise.

The news said he was onboard with a group of friends and had been partying.

[GBRBEB]

Hey everyone,

 

I am sorry for the way that my original comment sounded. I am absolutely praying for the missing young man and his family & friends. In no way did I mean that my cruise is more important than the life and safety of that man. Whatever needs to be done to have a positive outcome and resolution to this situation comes first. My comment was more about when the FBI and other authorities will conduct the investigation...do they take the ship out of service or do they investigate as the ship continues on cruises. After reading my posting again, I fully understand how this could be taken the wrong way. I sincerely apologize for the poorly written and timed comment.

 

 

The only possible problem you might encounter is a delayed embarkation. On our 04 Voyager cruise a passenger went missing onethe eighth night of the 10 day cruise. On return to Bayonne Coast Guard and FBI officials boarded the ship and our disembarkation was delayed..Thus cauing the next cruise to leave later than scheduled.

 

No need to apologize...its a tragic event and your question was valid...

[wolfcathorse]

I bet Capt Johnny is glad he's on vacation now! Poor Capt Petersen though, to have this happen just before retirement!

[berwyn]

Host please delete this thread. We already have way too many threads about this.

if you don't like a thread know one is making you read it.

[ginnymom]

Just looked at the latest AOL poll and over 44% responded that they are now less likely to take a cruise because of the recent tragedies. Gotta admit, the media loves a good cruise ship disaster story.:mad:

[SpuddGirl]

Forgive me if the sounds heartless, but is it realistic to expect the cruise lines to call in the Coast Guard every time someone cannot be located on a ship?

 

WOW. Radio Head....I'm wondering if you would feel this way if it was YOUR loved one? I don't think they "call in the CG every time" a passenger cannot be located, but when it becomes pretty evident that the person is nowhere to be found, then by all means, call in the authorities.

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion as to what happened, but we need to remember that nobody knows what happened - what point is there in speculation? That poor family is hurting and bewildered - we should all be thankful it is not OUR loved one, and pray for this family.

 

As for falling, jumping, being pushed - who knows. Maybe he jumped. Maybe he was drinking a bit too much and his judgement was blurred. Maybe....maybe....maybe....Will we ever know? I doubt it. We can NEVER KNOW what that poor family is going through. ALL available resources should be utilized.

 

And jimmyatc, your remark never sounded cold and insensitive, so you have nothing to apologize for. I hope you enjoy your cruise next week.:)

[RonUSVI]

She sailed in about 2 hours late today. I did not know about the loss at sea. I figured it was the weather as I myself just flew back from Provo and there was some bad weather out there. Here is a report in our local paper of the FBI boarding today for an investigation.

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17427548

[zantedeschia]

Forgive me if the sounds heartless, but is it realistic to expect the cruise lines to call in the Coast Guard every time someone cannot be located on a ship?

 

Realistic? They are required to do so, at least once they've ascertained the person is no longer on the ship.

[time4u2go]

Realistic? They are required to do so, at least once they've ascertained the person is no longer on the ship.

What if they're in international waters?

[bunting]

I think we will find that the International Maritime Organization has worked with many of its signatory governments (including the US) to establish nummerous MRCC - Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (under their SAR Covention - Search and Rescue)....the organization is normally titled GMDSS - Global Maritime Distress and Safety System. This link takes you to the system on the US CG website

 

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/area.htm

 

the following link from the US CG website will take you to a gif showing the various areas and the responsibility for MRCC coverage....

 

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/images/marcomms/sar-aor.gif

 

PS Sorry for all the abbreviations!

 

Hope this answers the question.....

[mc-cruiser]

You have every right to worry about your cruise, it has nothing to do with your feelings toward the overboard passenger. Just wait when this sons family files a law suit(like George Smiths), they will suddenly have no care in the world about this overboard passenger but will be defending there cruise line like theres no tomorrow. They did it with George Smith and they will do it again. There is nothing you could for this passenger that went overboard, yet Im sure your prayers are with the family. There is nothing at all wrong in asking about your cruise that you saved and planned for for along time. Go and have fun on your cruise and excuse the people here who have no manners. Your cruise should not be delayed unless there is foul play involved. smooth sailing and have fun;)

 

I second the above. Be reasonable. I "care" about another person but since there isn't much I can do about that situation I can't help but wonder how this will affect the future. Its is human nature. Although some perhaps feel they are superior, we are all still only human. Hope, pray or send good energy out so this works out for the passenger and family.

[Radio Head]

Realistic? They are required to do so, at least once they've ascertained the person is no longer on the ship.

 

You're right. That did not come out sounding like I meant it.

I meant it more in terms of each time someone gets separated from their party.

[uksimonusa]

This has appeared on another thread, and the same has just been reported by our local Fox affiliate

 

Such a shame. I feel for his family

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060518/ap_on_re_us/missing_cruise_passenger

[RonUSVI]

As of 10 PM she is still her ein the harbor. I guess the FBI isn't finished as yet with their investigation. You can click on my web site below and see her on my web cam.

[zantedeschia]

You're right. That did not come out sounding like I meant it.

I meant it more in terms of each time someone gets separated from their party.

I suspect that's why they spent so much time searching for him on the ship (which of course they got castigated for).

[xxbrowns]

Sorry if this is has already been posted, but I am in the Cleveland area and they said on the news that the cameras showed this young man getting sick and then he fell overboard. In the report they stated the time being 2:16 am that he fell. The family did view the pictures and issued a statement acknowledging they believe he died a tragic death and plan a memorial service for him. How truly sad this is. I don't know though how you can fall over, without sort of climbing?? They viewed the pictures and from what they are saying it's just a tragic, tragic accident.

 

Chris

[beachchick]

What a terrible situation.

 

When we were on Mariner, my DH and I did different things at Nassau. When I got back, the computer listed my DH as off the ship (he was at that time). Off I went to lunch on shore with my sister and BIL. We got back to the ship about 1:10 (2:00 departure; 1:30 all aboard). Computer says DH is still of the ship; 1:30, ditto. By 1:40 I was down at the reboarding spot waiting and getting a wee bit upset. DH is not the type to do anything stupid like miss the ship because he didn't pay attention to the time. I talk to a couple of the ship's officers, but there's not much they can do. At 1:50, I'm about ready to step off the ship because I'm not going to leave DH there. My sister dashes up to our cain and gets money, IDs, etc. from the safe. At 1:55, my BIL comes racing down the stairs (boy, that man can move fast); he pants out that my DH has been on the ship since 1:00. Up walks my DH, who reports to the ship's officers. They look up his Sea Pass and tell him that he's "listed as not onboard..." (Well, duh.) DH says, "Yes, well obviously I am onboard; you must have had a computer glitch." Sighs of relief all around. (Imagine if I'd stepped off the ship and then found out he was still onboard; you can bet I would have held RCI responsible for that--it was their computer that made a rather big error.) (As an aside, there were 28 pax still listed as not onboard when the ship cruised away. Eek!)

 

My point is that it isn't reasonable for us to expect RCI to call in the Coast Guard the second anyone reports that someone is "missing." As soon as it's apparent that someone is truly missing, then yes, they should immediately secure that pax's cabin and notify the Coast Guard, plus take any other necessary measures. Waiting 8 hours after they were certain that he had gone overboard would be negligence. Taking the time to do a thorough search before notifying the Coast Guard would not be negligence, especially because I can imagine that if the Coast Guard was notified every time one person couldn't find another onboard, that they'd be getting calls constantly that were not valid. I would not be happy if the Coast Guard was constantly off responding to every single "I don't know where someone is" calls and that resulted in someone who truly needed help not getting it. (I am not for one minute discounting this tragedy or any other. I just think that a knee-jerk "notify the Coast Guard the very second one person is reported by another as missing" is unreasonable unless the person reporting it knows that the other person has gone overboard.)

 

Also, would someone like to explain why Fox News keeps calling the young man a "boy." Based on their reporting, I truly thought they were talking about a 10 year old or something. They kept saying that this "poor boy" wasn't "properly watched." Excuse me, but do 21 year olds really need to be watched 24 hours a day and protected like they are infants? (Okay, some of them might, but you get my point.) At what point does personal responsibility come into it? Why didn't his friends go looking for him sooner? Probably because they figured that he is an adult and responsible for himself. Second, do they ever check their facts? One of the reporters stated as fact that no "boats" had any CCTV before the Brilliance incident last year. Not true of course, so where do they get this info? Sure, they're installing more cameras, but they've had them in many of the public areas for quite some time.

 

I think the reason these tragedies keep getting report in this manner is because it's "sensational" journalism. I mean, who cares how many people were murdered in a big city this year or how many people died in car crashes? That's not "sexy" news and doesn't sell ads.

 

Anyway, no matter what, my heart goes out to this young man and his family and friends.

 

beachchick

[Basfreeman]

As the demographics of cruising change to a younger passenger, coupled with larger ship capacities, I believe that incidents such as this are likely to become more common. The belief in one's immortality, along with somewhat excessive alcohol consumption-common in one's youth (been there, done that-so don't tell me its not so)-can lead to impaired judgement. Not a good thing on a ship. Also, larger numbers of passengers statistically increase the odds of such things happening.

 

I just hope that this does not bring about a situation noted by a previous poster that would have us all cruising in a protective bubble.

[gigizhere]

this young man is from a neighboring community of mine......the local news just said...."the search has been called off.......he was seen on camera between 12;30 and 2;15....was said to have gone overboard at 2;16 he was alone at the time..." my prayers are with his family and friends.

[RiverRev]

So, help me understand this. I am a non-drinker who does not think the rest of the world should follow my example, but I cannot for the life of me, find a reason to get drunk for recreational purposes.

 

Please don't get me wrong, I value life and I think the loss of life is a tragedy, but WHY WHY WHY does someone smuggle alcohol in mouthwash bottles aboard a ship with plenty of the product for sale and WHY WHY WHY does someone get so drunk? I know that some of you are cheap and smuggle, and others of you are selective and smuggle, but that still does not explain getting blasted. Is life really that awful or is the buzz really that good to endanger yourself or at least make a fool of yourself with smuggled or purchased booze?

 

Seriously, I am not preaching here. I want to understand. This is totally outside of my experience yet it plays a part in this and the Smith case and in many of the anecdotes of the day.

[RonUSVI]

Who's to say he was not trying to 'fly' like in the movie Titanic and slipped? I have seen some bows on some of the ships restricted from passengers as I am sure it has been tried. Maybe he was trying and slipped?