Any body watch ABC Prime Time Overboard?

[RhondaPerr]

I had mixed emotions about the show. I can't imagine never knowing what happened to your loved one...but that one about the woman who went to Alaska and didn't tell anyone sounds like a planned suicide. As for the other incidents I don't know what to believe. The guy who ended up in the water and remembers nothing about how he got there, and even the honeymooner who remembers nothing just doesn't seem Kosher to me. In college there were some pretty outrageous parties, but I remember every moment. I would think you would have had to consume some massive alcohol to blackout like that.

 

I don't feel any less safe than I ever have..Common sense when I am travelling with friends instead of my husband tells me not to leave my soda unattended... I don't take walks late at night by myself..etc. I mean lets face it, nuts can be anywhere including a cruise ship. Witnessing some of the fist fights over Bingo and deck chairs confirms that :)

[Longboysfan]

I was quite relieved to read that last line after reading your post - I think both Celebrity and their passengers can be thankful for that favor :)

 

Where do these posters come from:confused:

 

Canada?

[Danno]

Canada?

 

Hey!!!

[C 2 C]

I agree with the posters who commented about the intoxication level of passengers who mysteriously disappeared at sea. That is why I think the cruise lines should enforce their policy of not allowing passengers to bring their own liquor aboard a ship.

 

In that case I don't think the ship should sell any... repeal the 18th ammendment???:p

 

Are you saying that only pax who bring their own are going to jump??:confused:

 

Why not keep all people from getting on a boat/ship of any kind.... If they don't get on a ship they can't jump off.:rolleyes:

[C 2 C]

to get blind drunk and fall overboard, I really couldn't care less.

 

If you believe in saving the environment, keep the crap out... Save the Waves:rolleyes: Ships are not supposed to dump the garbage overboard.

[C 2 C]

Hey!!!

No: EH?

[Susan-M]

Canada?

 

I have to admit that I got a good laugh out of your answer:D I wasn't actually expecting an answer as it was my "rhetorical question of the day on the CC boards" .... and the last thing I thought of was "what country" when I asked it, as a few other places came to mind.

[Susan-M]

I just pray that it doesn't happen again.

 

Unfortunately it will happen again....just as surely as people will continue to drink and drive (and manage to kill off a lot of innocent victims in the process.)

[lysolqn]

Saw Prime Time last night which, IMHO, was just another example of jumping on the sensationalism bandwagon on the part of the media.

 

This kind of negative press (of which there has been an awful lot lately) fails to acknowledge that there's a HUGE difference between a cruiseline being "responsible" for a passenger's disappearance and a cruiseline's failure to handle a passenger's disappearance in a manner that would make the "victim's" family comfortable. I've yet to read or hear about any passenger whose disappearance from a cruise ship is attributable to the negligence or malfeasance of any cruiseline. Yet it seems to me that every news report is very skillfully crafted to allow the public to conclude that the cruiseline in question was somehow (even in a remote way) responsible for the disappearance.

 

With respect to the manner in which disappearances are handled, cruiselines are expected to provide "reasonable" security aboard their ships, just as they provide "reasonable" medical care. Most of the time "reasonable" is sufficient, but there are instances when that's just not the case. Every passenger should know ahead of time that when he/she boards a cruise ship neither Dr. Kildaire nor J. Edgar Hoover will be there to provide assistance should it be needed.

 

Finally, a cruise is a vacation - not a sleep-away camp that assumes parental responsibility for kids requiring constant supervision. Adults who place themselves in jeopardy by partying too hearty, drinking too heavily or associating with persons of questionable integrity should be well advised that the risk they assume is their own. Their relatives should understand that too.

[claud925]

The difference is that if the person has to purchase his or her drinks, the shipline, at least theoretically, can control his or her level of intoxication by cutting him, or her off, when it becomes necessary.

 

And when do you think they would decide "when it becomes necessary" to cut someone off? After they've made enough of a profit??? Yeah, right . . .

 

What's it like living inside your head with Santa Claus and the Easter bunny?:rolleyes:

[Sky Sweet]

The difference is that if the person has to purchase his or her drinks, the shipline, at least theoretically, can control his or her level of intoxication by cutting him, or her off, when it becomes necessary. If that person has access to a private stock of liquor, there is no way to prevent that person from overimbibing with all of the potentially dangerous results that can follow. By not allowing liquor to be brought onboard, the cruiseline maintains some control over its passengers, but at the same time increases its liability if it allows a passenger to overindulge.

 

Hi Negc :)

 

That is exactly the point I was trying to make :)

[hogwildcruzers]

Fourteen missing out of 2 million, that is pretty good odds, we have had 7 murders in the last 8 days in my home town, I think cruising sounds to be the safest place.

[canderson]

Fourteen missing out of 2 million, that is pretty good odds, we have had 7 murders in the last 8 days in my home town, I think cruising sounds to be the safest place.

After that 5-6 season, and the whuppin you took from LSU to end the season, I'm surprised there wasn't blood running in the streets!

[hogwildcruzers]

After that 5-6 season, and the whuppin you took from LSU to end the season, I'm surprised there wasn't blood running in the streets!

 

 

Why did you want to bring that up? don't know about blood in the streets, but it sure gets mine boiling!!

[MAXII]

Hi all: I too was disappointed with "Lost at Sea", I felt it to be a tad of sensationalist journalism, I was hoping for more of an indepth look at the cases it touched upon.

 

What hit me, was the whole disjointed investigations and procedures that followed each disappearance. Ever likely when you look at the international jurisdictions concerned.

 

The fact that the some folks were not even missed, that others were reported as missing by cabin staff to senior staff but then it was just a case of clean out her cabin and give her stuff away - who cares attitude, the somewhat perfunctory investigations and apparently confused responses begs the question of how the cruise industry must wake up to the fact that their megga ships are a breeding ground for trouble. And why you ask - well I believe it's the bottom line - MONEY!!!

 

Think about it, one relative/friend was upset that the Turkish authorities seemed to take too short a time to investigate but you can bet the Turkish authorities were thinking that this was not their problem (and so likely begrudged the cost of their manpower and resources) - I am sure someone somewhere argued that what the heck, the supposed victim isn't Turkish, the ship is not registered here, etc. etc. I can just here all the bureaucrats/agencies now. You can bet, with the ship being registered in one country, being owed by another, the crew and pax being multi-national, that no-one really could determine or wanted to take ownership of the situation.

 

Dh land I love to cruise but as ships carry ever greater numbers of people we surely are going to see growing issues of who is responsible for investigating crime, accidents, suicides etc. The bottom line will always be the buck and I hope that the cruise industry watchdogs quickly come up with trade practices that determine who/how issues at sea are dealt with and coordinated.

[djammons]

I don't understand the Mercury episode. When the cabin steward reported her missing no action was taken and her clothes given away to charity without informing relatives....???

 

I agree with you. I was amazed that someone could just vanish from a cruise ship and the cruise line would not call any authorities, family, etc and instead just give away their belongings to charity and store their personal belongings.

 

It seems that even for the stupidest of people the fact that a woman would not leave her purse with her drivers license in it etc if she had just "left the ship" should be obvious.

 

I hope all of this has caused RCCL and Celebrity to better train their crews and to put policies in place that will protect passengers and their families in these situations.

[arby70]

probably not available to us through the Primetime program as most news shows usually have slanted and sensationalized programs to get viewers. I also go along with the idea that it is still quite safe to cruise, and using alcohol in excess on a cruise ship can be dangerous. If a person goes over in the middle of the night, it would be almost impossible to ascertain this happening unless someone else notices them missing. I don't think a ship's crew can be held accountable for every person on the ship as we must take some responsibility for our own actions. One thing that did bother me a bit about the report (if it was portrayed correctly) was when the room steward reported that woman's cabin not being used after being at sea a while. If this happened even remotely like it was shown on the program, it is inexcusable. Although the outcome would most likely have been the same, every means should have been taken to try to locate this woman. Even if she left no emergency information, Celebrity needed to make sure to cover all the bases and make every attempt to help this woman and contact somebody to help them locate any family members. Cruise lines cannot prevent acts of suicide and accidents caused by drunken stupidity, and cannot be expected to. If society believes they are liable, then I can see no more alcohol in the future of the cruise lines as the legal ramifications would be too great. I do expect the cruise line industry to make every attempt to locate and help any passenger if things appear "odd". A cabin not being used for days is a defnite signal that at least warrants an on board search. They may have opted to stay in another cabin with someone else, but at least they would have located the individual. This will not in any way inhibit me from cruising Celebrity or any other cruise line for that matter.

[C 2 C]

I'll be spending a month on Mercury starting next week. If all the staff has not been changed I'll try and get an answer or perhaps, as seen on prime time TV in a famous line: Schultz: I see nothing. I know nothing...... and learn nothing.

[trcori]

News programs, in fact tv programs as a whole, are all about getting ratings. I know this for a fact. That show was great fodder for a long line of attorneys to get lined up for some deep pocket picking.

 

Yes, in the same sense that Campbell's makes soup in hopes people will buy and eat it, Celebrity plans cruises in hopes that people will book them, etc. There's good TV and bad TV but "ratings" is nothing more than a measure of how many customers you draw, and no business can operate without customers.

 

And do keep an open mind on all this. Doesn't mean we're all in Danger On The High Seas, but it does seem in some cases there's room for improvement in how these rare cases are handled. Yeah, the Smith case looks pretty bad for the "victim" -- but do a little reading on the Mercury/Alaska case. That one is a little closer to a real mystery. The Arizona Republic articles were interesting --

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1110vanished.html

[C 2 C]

 

And do keep an open mind on all this. Doesn't mean we're all in Danger On The High Seas, but it does seem in some cases there's room for improvement in how these rare cases are handled. Yeah, the Smith case looks pretty bad for the "victim" -- but do a little reading on the Mercury/Alaska case. That one is a little closer to a real mystery. The Arizona Republic articles were interesting

 

Thanks for the link. It was an interesting read as were the replies

[dan40]

I agree that the "journalism" stunk, not just Primetime, on all the shows about this subject.

From cruisejunkie the actual number missing in 10 years is 56. Compared to some 80,000,000 cruisers in that period. Statistically a zero. Probably more die DAILY on our highways.

 

One thing tho, I would not like to be a lawyer FOR Celebrity and have to face the other sides lawyer saying to a jury, "Not only was X negligent, they were completely callous. A lowly cleaning person reported this poor lady missing after the second day. But his SUPERVISOR, A SUPERVISOR, a member of management, absolutely ignored his report. Then they,X. were so callous as to simply dispose of her belongings and intentionally NOT, I repeat NOT file a report with any agency. And they know they were wrong because they have since fired that supervisor. But firing a middlemgmt person hardly absolves them of......etc. etc"

 

No if I was a lawyer for X, I wouldn't want a jury to hear that story. Best settle out of court.

 

Otherwise its all just like the Norovirus sensational "reporting"

 

Dan

[MAXII]

Thanks for the article tcori, sure does make you sad and feel the pain and frustration of her relatives.

[c-legs]

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing what crap makes it to TV when your country has lost interest in the war...sad in both cases.

:confused: Perhaps that's uncalled for....not the right forum.

Cheers

CG

 

[c-legs]

Canada?

 

:cool: Uncalled for !! This is not the right forum.

Happy sailings

CG

 

[c-legs]

No:

EH?

 

:D Good !!!!!

 

lol...

Cheers

CG