To wonder how the fluffing hell you can 'fall off' a cruise ship?!

[katiefromtheblock]

I mean HOW? Just HOW?

I am an average height (5 ft 4ish) and the rail was up to my chest when me and DH went on a cruise ship 3 years ago. It was like this on the attached pic.

Lol Butlers I noticed that too!!!

I haven't read the whole thread, so someone else might already have said it, but this is the second time this summer that someone has fallen off a ship owned by this cruise liner company so maybe there is something a bit shonky about the back bit of the boat? It was said that she was incredibly lucky to not have been caught on the propellers. But the rest was pretty much "you will survive when the sea is flat and the temperature is 20C. They estimate that in these conditions you will last for about 25 hours. The bloke who fell in earlier in the summer (he was a crew member of some sort) was at sea for 22 hours and none the worse for it.

Did I hear right that she's a midwife?

There's nothing shonky about that ship or any other. You can't just fall off. I've tried to count up how many ships my family and I have been on (my entire family are eager cruisers) - it's in the dozens - and not a one had potential for just falling off that I can think of. I've even had rooms whose windows were over an atrium and there was still a barrier that you had to climb over if you had wanted to fall out the window. Balcony rooms, yep, you do need to hoist your leg up and swing it.

She'll probably turn up on the next "celebrity" big brother

Ex crew member here! Hiya.

It happens way, way more than you think. Happened a few times while I was onboard. We actually lost a crew member to suicide who jumped off.
People commit suicide on ships quite regularly. Several people die per cruise. The ship morgue is usually on deck 0 or tween deck with the crew accommodation.
When someone is reported missing, the ship goes into lock down. The company I worked for called it code Oscar. The whole entire ship would need to be searched as fast as possible. We used to do crew drills at least once a cruise and practice all the different types of emergencies. If the guest is not found and it is safe to do so, the emergency boats are lowered.

Yes, but you don't just fall off, Lyndor. This gal ostensibly fell off from the top deck aft. Bet there is evidence to the contrary.

hi luyndor im not saying u cant commit suicide but surely just falling off accidentally is rare

xp0ost there sorry

wouldnt bed surprised cloudpop the girl whow as kidnapped is on it now

Ravenesque I was on a cruise with this cruise line (NCL) only 2 months ago and trust me, you really can't fall off. I know a crew member fell into the sea earlier in the year, but he will have been doing something that necessitated him climbing over the railings.

I have been on all outer decks on the ship and there was also a balcony for our stateroom. All railings were very safe. High, no gaps, nothing "rickety". I don't know what "shonky" means exactly as I've never seen or heard the word before but ,by context, I assume sub-standard in some way.

This women will have climbed the railing and jumped. It's astonishing that she survived and the whole story is very odd indeed, but NCL are not at fault I am 100% certain.

Haven’t RTFT but surely if she was drunk she would have just drowned?
How could she keep herself alive for all that time if she wasn’t completely sober?

Haven’t RTFT but surely if she was drunk she would have just drowned? How could she keep herself alive for all that time if she wasn’t completely sober?

Not necessarily at all and possibly on the contrary. The greatest likelihood is that if she hadn't been drunk she wouldn't have gone overboard. You'd have to be utterly reckless (and/or pissed) or suicidal to do that. Anyone who's been on a ship can tell you that you don't just fall off.

How did Kay Longstaff Survive 10 hours at sea after falling overboard?

Insomniac, I worded it badly. I don't think NCL are to blame at all. Shonky is also the wrong word, but I did wonder if maybe there'd been something as simple as a fixing gone loose. Thinking about it, that's unlikely because it would have been noticed after her fall. I mentioned the crew member going over because he was mentioned on the news early this morning. I don't doubt that people going overboard isn't as unusual as we think, so I guess I thought that her fall, while shocking, wasn't totally unlikely. Maybe it was and she did jump, although it's more likely she decided to - stupidly - sit on the railings, lost her balance and went over.

Mostly, of course, I know nothing.

I commented about the y shirt too butlers
And it looked like she'd brushed her hair!

She was in a bikini top and shorts at nearly midnight.

I'd be surprised if there wasn't any pre planning on taking a dip!

What gets me is that this part of the ship usually has people on it at around midnight, it's a popular place to hang out (and take selfies from) and on many ships that part of the deck is open, like a semi-circle, to the Lido deck aft where is often a hot tub or pool and of course, the canteen. If she'd been sitting on the railings it's likely someone would have spotted that, but if it was more of a horse around and plonk, then perhaps not.

That was a very interesting article OpiningGambit thank you.

@puzzledandpissedoff they apparently kept him with the medic as he was mentally unstable. If he wasn't I suspect they would have ensured he was not able to continue his holiday (confined to cabin maybe?) and then thrown him off (not literally)

We have seen several families thrown off for fighting, one over a sunbed. A wedding party were thrown off as the bride shagged the best man and the groom caught them so they were fighting etc. A few people were removed for drunk and disorderly. They are pretty strict.

I love cruising and can't wait for our next one next year .

Anyone thinking of cruising and put off by this incident, don't be! Come join us in the Cruising board.

So is there any chance her hair was wet from the shower and she was pissed and made it up and now has to style it out and she can’t say she made it up in case she looks like a twat?

I stayed up till 3am with my nieces in the same area just last month on a cruise (not a NCL one, though) (they were drinking alcohol, I was on the espresso) and the area was buzzing even that time of night.

"It's very odd. I was told by a professional sailor that cruise ships (at least the very big ones) won't stop if the realise someone has fallen over the rail. They assume that the person will have been killed by the fall."

I'm an ex Ships Officer. 10 years at sea. That's absolute horseshit. If you know it has happened or have a man overboard reported, you have an obligation to recover the body any way until told to stand down by search coordinator. Usually the nearest coastguard. We recovered several poor souls who were placed into the freezer until the funeral director could retrieve them for repatriation at the next port.

It's also standard that a lot of emergencies will be dealt with with out a passenger ever knowing. Lots of engine room fires are put out etc without even all crew knowing - alarm isn't generally raised in passenger spaces until absolutely necessary.

There's a great chance of that, Iam, not even from a shower. There are pools and hot tubs on the ships and even showers to use before getting in or out of the pools and hot tubs. It's pretty easy to have wet hair on a cruise ship.