Scary situation on ryndam today

[sail7seas]

to be honest I find it odd they let a 10 yr old back on the ship alone, unless they thought he was with another adult group, usually 10 yr olds can't leave alone so why should they be able to come back?

 

 

Again, I ask as I don't know the protocol......

 

What do they do with the child who presents alone at the gangway? Surely they don't turn them away and let them go down the gangway and wander off? I can't imagine they don't supervise the child until parent/guardians appear?

 

[sansterre]

That is a very long walkway or tramride in Costa Maya. I would have been worried as it is easy to walk off the dock at any point. OK, I admit it - I would have been in a state of panic.

I hope you are enjoying your final day at sea as you return to Tampa today!

[DaveOKC]

Again, I ask as I don't know the protocol......

 

What do they do with the child who presents alone at the gangway? Surely they don't turn them away and let them go down the gangway and wander off? I can't imagine they don't supervise the child until parent/guardians appear?

 

 

Great point! If the child does not have an adult with them, yet has the proper ID, I would think that it would be much safer to let them board than to turn them away. Hopefully, they would have called for a supervisor in such a situation.

 

Still, no excuse for not checking the computer RIGHT THEN.

 

DaveOKC

[Seago2]

Great point! If the child does not have an adult with them, yet has the proper ID, I would think that it would be much safer to let them board than to turn them away. Hopefully, they would have called for a supervisor in such a situation.

 

Still, no excuse for not checking the computer RIGHT THEN.

 

DaveOKC

 

Maybe the first kid went on with the OP's husband? She still would have no way of knowing. I've been wondering about that all night.

[sail7seas]

How do we know there is a husband?

 

OP said sailing with twin ten year old sons and elderly parents.

 

No mention of those parents in the rest of the story of the boys/shopping/wandering back to the ship.

For that matter, are we sure OP is mom and not dad?

 

 

[SwissMyst]

One needs to hear from the security people for the full picture about this incident before any conclusions can be drawn. At least the parent could rest assured during those waiting few minutes, her child was missing in a relatively benign group of people - fellow cruise passengers in a controlled port setting.

[Rotterdam]

the kids are running wild all over the ships these days causing havoc for passengers & crew. its amazing that the child made it back to the ship and thankfully nothing happened - but the parenst are responsible - not the cruise line.

[candbgirl]

She never claimed HAL was responsible for the boy wandering off. HAL was responsible for not checking immediately when they were asked to check to see if he was on the ship.

[SwissMyst]

She never claimed HAL was responsible for the boy wandering off. HAL was responsible for not checking immediately when they were asked to check to see if he was on the ship.

 

The title was technically misleading claiming this appeared to happen "on" the Rydnam - I assumed by the title alone it was some sort of fire or engine failure issue being reported that put the entire ship and passengers in peril.

 

This incident actually started in port before the passenger entered back on to the Ryndam, to be technically correct. Nor without hearing the security officers side of the story, what actually got said, what else was going on with other passengers, or what regulations that control this sort of situation is it possible to conclude to who had what responsibility in this particular setting.

 

Sure, one could wish for a happier experience for all concerned, but it seems condemnations are coming down against HAL awfully fast and hard that may or may not be warranted.

[kazu]

The title was technically misleading claiming this appeared to happen "on" the Rydnam - I assumed by the title alone it was some sort of fire or engine failure issue being reported that put the entire ship and passengers in peril.

 

This incident actually started in port before the passenger entered back on to the Ryndam, to be technically correct. Nor without hearing the security officers side of the story, what actually got said, what else was going on with other passengers, or what regulations that control this sort of situation is it possible to conclude to who had what responsibility in this particular setting.

 

Sure, one could wish for a happier experience for all concerned, but it seems condemnations are coming down against HAL awfully fast and hard that may or may not be warranted.

 

Well, I don't know if the title is misleading.

 

They were sailing on the Rhyndam after all. the op was boarding the Rhyndam from a port. The issue happened when they wouldn't stop to check for the child.

 

Three minutes can mean a lot - to the parent who may have a heart attack and to the child - if they are not on board. Bad things can happen to a child in a short period of time.

 

I don't think the OP has misled anyone at all.

 

As to coming down on HAL? Well to the person admitting the passengers anyways who wouldn't check to see if the child was aboard (who probably admitted the child with no parent and no questions).

 

It doesn't matter how careful a parent is, a child can disappear in an instant - the op did the smart thing - went back to see if the child was onboard. The failure was on the HAL employee's side who postponed confirming if the child was on board or not. I don't know how many sides there can be to this.

 

Sorry, I think this was a huge goof by an employee by HAL and I do hope that HAL gets their ducks in a row for this.

[innlady1]

ITA, Jacqui. I'm sure those guests in line to board would understand an interruption such as this one. When the safety of a child is at stake, that comes first.

[3rdGenCunarder]

ITA, Jacqui. I'm sure those guests in line to board would understand an interruption such as this one. When the safety of a child is at stake, that comes first.

 

Several people have said this, but apparently nobody in line felt that way. If a parent ran up to the security check and said "I can't find my child, can you check to see if he is back on board?" even if the security officer wanted the parent to step aside, you'd think someone in line would say, "It's OK, I'll wait while you check."

[innlady1]

Several people have said this, but apparently nobody in line felt that way. If a parent ran up to the security check and said "I can't find my child, can you check to see if he is back on board?" even if the security officer wanted the parent to step aside, you'd think someone in line would say, "It's OK, I'll wait while you check."

 

 

It's upsetting to see how selfish some people can be.

[Eboracum_d]

I see the gist of this story has also been mentioned on a site about why the OP was going back to RCCL -- with whom it seems he (or she) had previously fallen out.

[kazu]

Several people have said this, but apparently nobody in line felt that way. If a parent ran up to the security check and said "I can't find my child, can you check to see if he is back on board?" even if the security officer wanted the parent to step aside, you'd think someone in line would say, "It's OK, I'll wait while you check."

 

You would think so - I certainly would - I would like to think that others did and if they didn't - really sad. BUT we don't know no one did - they may have offered - and been waved on - who knows? there's a lot of unknowns here unfortunately

[peaches from georgia]

It's upsetting to see how selfish some people can be.

We have no idea what the other pax heard or knew, so I don't think we should blame them yet. If OP really was raising a ruckus, which i would probably have been doing, and everyone was aware that's one thing, but security may have quietly taken OP aside and no one knew.

 

Edit: rereading OP's post it sounds like it was all done quietly- asked the officer "politely" and was asked to step aside which OP did and just watched. I can see other pax may not have known a thing that was going on.

[6andy6]

While the guy may have screwed up and everyone is ready to hang him...funny how as a parent none of you seem to recognize a little thing called...personal responsibility. You are the carer...end of story.

 

That is truly the scary thing here.......

[SwissMyst]

You would think so - I certainly would - I would like to think that others did and if they didn't - really sad. BUT we don't know no one did - they may have offered - and been waved on - who knows? there's a lot of unknowns here unfortunately

 

Which is why to get the full story, one does need to hear from the security personnel themselves. They are parents probably too. They would have understood. So maybe there is more to this story that we don't know. That's all.

[SwissMyst]

Yes, I know it is creepy to go "stalking", but I was curious if I had missed a follow-up report from the OP on this thread and lo and behold when I clicked her name, she shows up today on RCCL begging to be taken back after her long litany of complaints about her week long HAL trip.

 

Except now the time she had to wait was "nearly 5 minutes", instead of the alleged 2-3 minutes wait she reported here. Which underscores why it is important to get the full story when attacks are made against ship's personnel.

 

Sorry, but drama queen might be a better screen name for this incident. :rolleyes: But she managed to malign an entire ship with her thread title and now an entire cruise line for 60 seconds maybe of "wait time" because she lost track of her own children. I'm done.

[motherchic]

I read only several replies but as a mother of 4, I understand that awful fear. I absolutely agree with you. He should have stopped everything and checked immediately and God forbid if he had not checked in, then the port authorities should have been notified immediately.

I hope HAL reads your comments and realizes that our # one priority has to be the safety of our children and all the passengers.

Sadly just minutes can make a vast difference.

[SwissMyst]

I read only several replies but as a mother of 4, I understand that awful fear. I absolutely agree with you. He should have stopped everything and checked immediately and God forbid if he had not checked in, then the port authorities should have been notified immediately.

I hope HAL reads your comments and realizes that our # one priority has to be the safety of our children and all the passengers.

Sadly just minutes can make a vast difference.

 

One would only hope the parent themselves made their children's safety an equal priority as is being demanded of ship's personnel. This story had a number of fuzzy loose ends, so I personally would not take it at face value.

 

Also this was a 10 year old kid (5th grade), old enough to be on his own with some degree of independence at that age and also in a relatively safe setting with lots of people around who had been pre-screened already to even get to the port departure area. Kid-napping would not be the first thing on my mind.

 

This was not a strange or dangerous setting for a 10 year old to navigate on his own, and may well have on other occasions. The mother is telling several versions of this story already on CC, depending upon her audience.

 

And no, I really don't believe this kid was in danger of falling into the water, not with that many people around and hopefully a parent who had properly warned him about the dangers of being near water since she was taking him on an ocean cruise.

 

If a 10 year old's future depends upon being under the watchful eye of his mother every single second, there is far more at issue here than an alleged 60 second wait to get confirmation the child did in fact make it safely onboard on his own.

[OCruisers]

Would have - could have - should have .... :rolleyes:

 

The only thing important was a 10 year old child was missing!!!!

 

LuLu

~~~~

[mariner]

I guess where I scratch me head is: Why did she allow the kid to get away from her in a foreign port? When my nieces and nephews were little and we took them to NYC the rule was simple: Stay next to me.

[kazu]

I am all for caring for children, but as it has been pointed out

 

(a) I don't believe the op has come back

 

and (b) they have posted on the RCL line that they want to come back and have greatly exaggerated the incident. Kind of disturbing.

 

In any case, children are always a priority, whether the parent did their job or not - it's still the child that pays and the child that counts.

[mariner]

Well the post stays on here with a very simple message: HAL's security guys don't care about children.