Thread: Why do so many people fall overboard?

I was with Carnival or three years! Fortunate enoug never to have that experience occur whilst on board. I did hear of it happening once or twice with other ships.

But as mentioned its really not very common and there would probably be 'circumstances' for each of them!

Originally Posted by cruisin' chick

That's why you'll hear often (but again, not every week) about norovirus outbreaks. But then, many of these originated on flights or otherwise prior to the cruise and just incubated onboard.

The press love negative stories because that's what sells papers.

And the cruise companies are the only ones required by the CDC to report norovirus outbreaks. As you said, people get the norovirus on the plane or at the airport and bring it onboard. They're not required to report it, but cruise lines are. More people get the norovirus in hospitals, malls, schools, hotels, etc, etc. than get it on a ship. Yet none of them are required to report it - only the cruise lines. Go figure. If I remember right, it's the second or third most common virus in the world.

So naturally when the press hears about the norovirus on a ship, they jump all over the story. Alot of people are afraid to cruise because of the misconceptions about norovirus. To them I say when was the last time you saw anyone clean the railing on an escalator in a mall. Yet you always see staff cleaning on a ship.

So when someone goes overboard, it always makes the press because it doesn't happen all that often and it sells papers due to the negativity of the story.

Pete

That's right...that cleaning is constant on a ship. And amazingly, one of the worst places to avoid germs: the local hospital.

I shudder when I heard some of the upcoming headlines before the local news comes on. Counter to what I was taught in J-school. Of course, when I was there, there was a rare double murder that occurred in that college town. The J-school dean decided that the newspaper and the NBC TV station (both owned by the university) would play it up. We students were rolling our eyes collectively.

I liked the one in San Diego where the headlines in the local paper stated something like 'Cruise Passenger Gets Swine Flu'.

Most people only read the headlines to determine whether they want to read the story or not. So they often draw conclusions based on the headline and not based on the information contained in the story. (This is what I learned taking those journalism classes.)

In this case, the fact the lady went on the cruise was completely irrelevant. Yes, she went on a cruise, but afterwards she spent a week in San Diego sightseeing. There just happened to be a small outbreak of Swine Flu in San Diego, so guess where she got it?

This is totally irresponsible reporting and the fact she had gone on a cruise should never have been included in the headline. It would have been more accurate and professional to have the headline say something like, 'San Diego Tourist Gets Swine Flu'.

Because of the story, perspective cruise passengers did not want to book a cruise at all, did not want to book a cruise out of San Diego, did not want to book a cruise to Mexico, or wanted to cancel a cruise they had already booked. So, this unprofessional and irresponsible reporting had financial repercussions for no reason other than to sell newspapers.

Same situation happened in Cancun. The paper reported, 'Spring Breakers in Cancun Get Swine Flu'. If you read the story, you find that the group was in Cancun, but spent time in Mexico City afterwards. That's where they got the flu, not in Cancun. But because of the headline, which was incorrect, Cancun really suffered. And in fact, there was never any Swine Flu in Cancun whatsoever. Even our son and his new wife had reservations in Cancun a week after that story hit and everyone kept telling them they shouldn't go. Because they would have lost their money and listening to me, they went and had a wonderful time. But they also told stories about how so many people had cancelled and the hotels and restaurants were really suffering. All this caused by false headlines.

Obviously, one of my pet peeves. It's bad enough they concentrate on the negative and that alot of their writing is poor to begin with, but to cause harm unnecessarily is inexcusable and they should be held accountable.

Pete

Originally Posted by Cruise Planner

I don't know what you mean by many stories - it doesn't happen all that often. And when you figure there were over 10 million people cruising worldwide last year and maybe 2 or 3 instances of people going overboard, that's really not many at all given all the drunks onboard an average cruise.

But normal people don't just fall overboard. There's always something that contributes to the cause, which most of the time is drinking or just plain stupidity. People have fallen overboard while trying to climb from one balcony to the next.

It's like anything else in life; if you just take the normal precautions, you're fine. The people that go overboard throw caution to the wind and stuff happens.

Normal people are fine.

But stupidity does have a price.

Pete

I couldn't have said it any better.

Not to make this all about journalism, even though that's how many of these stories about cruising get blown out of proportion...but before I got into the Missouri program, I got a chance to take a TV newswriting course at UCLA taught by the news director at the ABC station in LA. He told us to bring in examples of bad stories. Many of us brought in ones about his station. At first he took it okay, but he soon got defensive. His station was one of the first who pioneered "happy talk" news. Also, "if it bleeds,it leads..."

There's a lot of sloppiness too in the LA stations when it comes to spelling of names and locatons. My first full time job was as a proofreader, and this carelessness drives me batty. When we worked at the station owned by U of Missouri, we would get into trouble if we misspelled something on an on-air graphic.

It is too bad when a negative story affects tourism. It's bad enough that many people are having to be careful about spending money on a vacation, but if they're scared off...

That's the truth! 'If it bleeds, it leads' is the motto of every news agency out there!

As my professor said, if there are 7 articles on the front page of the paper, 5 to 6 are negative. If there are 19 stories on a 1/2 hour news broadcast, 17 are going to be negative. We're so inundated with negativity, that we've become a negative society.

Two of my other pet peeves with reporting is bad grammar and bad speaking. There's especially one they do all the time.... "Mr. Smith, he did something." It's correct to say, "Mr. Smith did something." It's no wonder our children learn bad grammar when it's in their face all the time. And bad speaking? We have a newscaster, Maureen Bunyan, on ABC in DC and she cannot say the word 'and' without saying the word 'ah' after it. She simply cannot read what's on the teleprompter without screwing it up. She's a disgrace, yet they keep her on there. Really pretty pathetic.

Well, we've officially gotten way off the subject, but as you said, journalism has really negatively impacted the cruise industry and it's a shame the way they have literally brainwashed people about such a wonderful vacation. I talk to people all the time who say something like, 'Oh, I would never go on a cruise.' When I ask why, they start giving me reasons straight out of the headlines. Or they'll want to go on a cruise, but don't want to go to a certain port because of what the press is saying. Had one two days ago say they wouldn't go to Cozumel because of all the drug shootings going on in Mexico. They wouldn't listen to me when I tried to explain all the problems are on the other side of the country - sort of like saying you don't want to visit a great little town like Ft. Collins, Colorado because of shootings in NYC. But they hear shootings in 'Mexico' and then they hear Cozumel is in Mexico, so their decisions are based on bad information. That's why it's so important for perspective cruises to do alot of research and make their decisions based on solid information. And of course, that's why forums like CLF can be extremely helpful.

Pete

agree, normal people not fall overboard.

Peoples fall overboard than:
have a party or something and drink a lot. After, will to make joke and jump down off ship. I would to say, drunken people is capriciously. Nobody don't know, what they do. Maybe some drunken people forget where she/he is and step over railing for getting "on to yard" lol.
I saw a video, where two boys had a game. He climb over railing and hold tight and hand. Scare, but he got back to ship. Such game may to end badly.
I have saw photos, where a people climb onto railing and sit on. I felt that the people fall down. Wonder, but it got back to ship.
Also, I have seen a video, where a man jumped down off ship. The ship stood in port and the man would to make joke. He swam to shore. So may not to make at sea than shore is in far.

Someone will to kill self. jumping overboard is easy for death. of course, cold opened sea is good.

Normal people stay aboard and enjoy cruise. Suggestion, please not drink a lot. Drunken people should to remain in cabin and sleep out.

A lot of good points have been made here.

There is one more I will mention.

The term "fall" implies an accident or induced by someone else. There have also been those that have jumped. In many cases it is not know why someone has gone into the water. We were on a cruise where there were witnesses to someone jumping (suicide).

The press does get all over reports of anything on cruise ships and they all get lumped together.. The same things happening in other places are all independent situations.