How can something like this happen

[kokoko]

Report: Toddler hospitalized after falling from cruise ship balcony

Updated: 21 minutes ago

A 1-year-old was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children after falling from an 11th floor cruise ship balcony to the 10th floor, WFTV-Channel 9 is reporting.

This breaks my heart I pray this child is going to be alright. This happened today on the royal caribean Monarch.

[OCruisers]

So hope the child is all right. :o

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[Sh1035]

Poor parenting and may be the child climbed up on the chair and fell over? Very sad but guess count our blessing didn't end up bait. Don't need anymore little ones lost anytime soon.

[snoopy5386]

Thank goodness the baby didn't go overboard! For a one year old, I imagine either a parent was holding them or he/she climbed up on a piece of furniture. This is making me sort of terrified to take my crazy 2 year old on cruise.

[OCruisers]

Agree ... most likely poor parenting. :(

 

Also agree ... the main consideration is that the child is doing all right.

 

Updates on this would be appreciated.

 

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[onthehighseas606]

Report: Toddler hospitalized after falling from cruise ship balcony

Updated: 21 minutes ago

A 1-year-old was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children after falling from an 11th floor cruise ship balcony to the 10th floor, WFTV-Channel 9 is reporting.

This breaks my heart I pray this child is going to be alright. This happened today on the royal caribean Monarch.

 

Don't know which thread here, but that very question was asked about booking children on a balcony. The age would be my first question. We don't know if this case was due to bad parenting, or what. As sad as this case could be, no one here knows the whole story. Some one in the know please lay it out here for us.

[jlk806]

Don't know which thread here, but that very question was asked about booking children on a balcony. The age would be my first question. We don't know if this case was due to bad parenting, or what. As sad as this case could be, no one here knows the whole story. Some one in the know please lay it out here for us.

 

While I agree it was probably somewhat of poor parenting, I have to say that we stayed in a balcony hotel room (at Disneys Animal Kiingdom Lodge, with my son at age2, age3, &age4). He has never been on a cruise mainly due to his food allergy we havent felt confident enough.

 

And with 4 trips to Disney with a balcony overlooking the Savannah at Animal Kingdom Lodge, you can carefully watch your child and keep them safe. My son has never in his s toddler years staying there for over a week climbed up on furniture on the balcony....

[Jimmy Geegitz]

I wouldnt let a toddler on the balcony alone.

[Joeychgo]

Poor parenting and may be the child climbed up on the chair and fell over?

 

A 1 yr old climbed up on a chair and over a balcony? Impossible. A 1 yr old can barely walk, much less climb up on a balcony railing.

 

 

Idiot parent probably sat the kid on the railing and the kid slipped out of their hands.

[airmj2123]

According to the report, the toddler was on the pool deck and fell to the balconies 1 floor below.... RCL board speculating it was from deck 12 to the pool deck 11... Either way thoughts and prayers to the kid and family.

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/cruise-ship-returns-port-canaveral-after-child-fal/nTc8d/

[sailinglisa]

Deck 11 on the Monarch is the pool deck. Deck 10 has balcony cabins. Therre is no way a 1 year old climbed the railings and fell down to the balcony below (if I remember the railings on the pool deck are angled upward and inward so a child can't climb them......someone please correct me if I am wrong.) Someone was holding him and lost their grip or they threw him down one deck. He did not fall from balcony to balcony.

[Almost Packed]

a 1 year old can be a 23 month old...that is 1 year old and 11months...almost 2 and totally walking and climbing!

 

as a former daycare owner and a mom, i can assure you that yes, they can walk and climb. I had one child in my daycare...i swear that child was part monkey. I could turn my back for 5 seconds, and that child (less than 2 years old) was on top of the changing table or on top of cabinets that were over waist high all by herself. Her parents said she did the same thing at home. She was a climber! Some kids just can do it.

 

I remember one year, in my neighborhood, we had a missing child. The child was barely 3 years old. The police were out searching, all of us in the neighborhood out looking for this child. We looked everywhere for her. Eventually she was found-she had crawled to the top of her closet and fell asleep...38 months old.

 

Yes, kids can climb-really good!

 

Either way, prayers for the child...and the family. I'm sure they feel awful.

[RWolver672]

I have never been on the Monarch but it seems odd that if the child fell from a balcony on one deck, how did they land on the one below and not in the water? Aren't the balconies all lined up? On Carnival ships, if you were to fall off a balcony, you'd wind up in the water, not the balcony below you. I guess it would be possible in an aft balcony though.

[English Tim]

Thank goodness the baby didn't go overboard! For a one year old, I imagine either a parent was holding them or he/she climbed up on a piece of furniture. This is making me sort of terrified to take my crazy 2 year old on cruise.

 

Don't worry, you'll have a fabulous time, but whatever you do, don't book a balcony, then you will have less risks than you would in every day life.

[sparks1093]

a 1 year old can be a 23 month old...that is 1 year old and 11months...almost 2 and totally walking and climbing!

 

as a former daycare owner and a mom, i can assure you that yes, they can walk and climb. I had one child in my daycare...i swear that child was part monkey. I could turn my back for 5 seconds, and that child (less than 2 years old) was on top of the changing table or on top of cabinets that were over waist high all by herself. Her parents said she did the same thing at home. She was a climber! Some kids just can do it.

 

I remember one year, in my neighborhood, we had a missing child. The child was barely 3 years old. The police were out searching, all of us in the neighborhood out looking for this child. We looked everywhere for her. Eventually she was found-she had crawled to the top of her closet and fell asleep...38 months old.

 

Yes, kids can climb-really good!

 

Either way, prayers for the child...and the family. I'm sure they feel awful.

 

Entirely possible. Early news reports about any event are never a good source to use to make a final judgment about what happened.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

I own a gymnatics and cheer gym and yes a child of one can climb and get away fast. I have a hard time imagining a child could have gone over a balcony railing in a cabin as high as they are. Even if they got on a chair they would not be high enough to propel themselves over.We have always had a balcony with Grandchildren, but are always right there so do not think that is a bad thing to have. I also work in the court system as a GAL/CASA and have seen many accidents due to poor parenting, yet others due to a busy child. No matter the circumstances a little one has had injuries. Praying for that child.

[MrPete]

Report: Toddler hospitalized after falling from cruise ship balcony

Updated: 21 minutes ago

A 1-year-old was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children after falling from an 11th floor cruise ship balcony to the 10th floor, WFTV-Channel 9 is reporting.

This breaks my heart I pray this child is going to be alright. This happened today on the royal caribean Monarch.

 

I wasn't there, but I will tell you something I witnessed once.

 

Pulling out of port, this woman put her infant child up on the railing. I was like WT>>>>>>>>!

 

Some people shouldn't be allowed to grow ovaries.

[cruzinlisa]

a 1 year old can be a 23 month old...that is 1 year old and 11months...almost 2 and totally walking and climbing!

 

as a former daycare owner and a mom, i can assure you that yes, they can walk and climb. I had one child in my daycare...i swear that child was part monkey. I could turn my back for 5 seconds, and that child (less than 2 years old) was on top of the changing table or on top of cabinets that were over waist high all by herself. Her parents said she did the same thing at home. She was a climber! Some kids just can do it.

 

I remember one year, in my neighborhood, we had a missing child. The child was barely 3 years old. The police were out searching, all of us in the neighborhood out looking for this child. We looked everywhere for her. Eventually she was found-she had crawled to the top of her closet and fell asleep...38 months old.

 

Yes, kids can climb-really good!

 

Either way, prayers for the child...and the family. I'm sure they feel awful.

 

Not only can they climb, but they are fearless. I have a 23 month old and she is always doing something. She is not too much of a climber (thankfully) and has not figured how to get out of her crib yet, but is always standing on her little chair to get up on the top of the couch.

 

Depending on the actual age of this little one (because I agree 1 spans between 12-23 months), it could be a climber or could be that they were being held and slipped.

[Keith1010]

Our thoughts and prayers are with the child and the family.

 

Keith

[RuthlessBoss]

I can't for the life of me figure how this child fell to another deck. I will not say it's bad parenting, it was more that the child was not being carefully watched at every moment, though logic says the child should have been. (If that was indeed the cause). As another poster said, maybe the child slipped out of the parent's arms while propping it on a rail. Was the news reporting falling to a balcony really a misuse of the word and meaning deck?

Hopefully someone on board will report to us when they get back, or maybe on facebook. But, even then, the report will likely be hearsay.

[Keith1010]

Our thoughts are with the child and the family.

 

Keith

[KKB]

But if you recall that story within the last few months of the mother holding the 3 year old on the railing at the zoo in Pennsylvania...then lost hold, the child dropped & was mauled.

 

Foolish parents everywhere. Very sad.:(

[printingchick]

I feel horrible for the family, but glad the outcome wasn't even worse. If this was a fall from the pool deck, the child couldn't have climbed over the railing. The more likely explanation is the one several posters have proferred here. The parents were holding the child at or on the edge of the railing and the child somehow escaped their grasp. Very sad.

[Mrs CruisinCritter]

The article that airmj posted states that the child crawled through the railing and fell which means the child was crawling around on it's own or the parents looked away for a period of time. It also states that the ship left PC at 4:30pm and the news article was posted at 9:42pm so they weren't at sea long before the accident occurred.

 

We just took our 15 month old on a cruise in a balcony cabin a month ago. He wasn't allowed out of our sight so if one of us wanted to look around or take pictures, the other one was either closely watching him or holding him far back from the railing. When we were on the open decks he was almost always strapped into his stroller or had his Elmo backpack and leash on. A few times one of us was right on his heels letting him roam a little, but he only roamed like that in the fully enclosed part of the Lido deck where there are windows instead of just metal railing.

Some parents just don't think anything bad can happen. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the child and the family.

[cello56]

I highly doubt that this poor child just 'suddenly' became agile and mobile during the 30 minutes or so he was on this cruise. The parents must have known full well that they had an active child, and should have been hands on him every moment. I cannot foresee any senario where bad parenting choices were not the cause of this horrible event. But unfortunately some lawyer will probably decide that it was RCI's fault and encourage the family to sue.

 

I pray for that little child and hope that he makes a full recovery.