Another Man Overboard

[Planer's Edge]

self edit.

 

I am done with this thread.

[EmmasNana]

The video would be from the ship he was on. Almost anywhere on board will be videotaped except the stateroom and public bathroom and a partial bit of the balcony for just this reason and others. I do not believe it would be released to media if that is your concern.

[bulgargirl]

Yes' date=' really!!!

 

If somebody is falling down drunk, any bartender can disable the card and make it impossible to by any further alcoholic beverage until the card is released again.

 

Someone who is drunk on their own booze have no controls at all...and, typical of the type, becomes a problem to themselves and others.[/quote']

 

I don't think severe drunkeness is the reason for prohibiting people from bring their own alcohol on the ship because the ship will do bar setups. If you have alcohol in your room, you can get completely wasted and there is no effective "cutoff". Unfortunately, I've done it with my bar setup and never smuggled aboard.

 

Regardless of the reason, what happened is very tragic and my heart goes out to this man's friends and family who are left behind.

[philatiger]

I've spent the last 4 days searching for an explanation as to how this happened, but admit I don't like what I am reading.

He was a friend of mine.

I saw him on Thursday and he said he was excited to go on the cruise. He was a happy, smart, funny and laid back guy.

I know that I will never know exactly what happened that night and there are only two other people that actually do know, but I am completely unsettled with the idea of him killing himself. I admit that it is hard to believe that someone can actually just fall off the boat, but it's harder to believe that he committed suicide.

 

I think you should all know that the story has changed so much (he fell, dove, refused a life raft, got into a fight with his wife and jumped). He wasn't even married. And now I'm reading that there is video of him diving from a recording that took place on another cruise ship?

 

What's important is that he is in a better place. Every day that we tread this earth is another day of the unknown. We could choke, get into an accident, have a heart attack, lose a loved one. Every day is blind, but the after life is the known. We all know we are going to end up there someday. So Ben's journey in the unknown is over and he can finally rest.

 

I am really sorry you have lost a friend. No matter the circumstances behind what happened there is still a loss and impact on those who loved him. My prayers go out to the family and friends as they deal with their loss.

[CruisnGram]

I also read that there are no cameras on balconies for privacy reasons. I feel as though your "source" likes to just gossip. It doesn't matter b/c if there is in fact a "tape" I know that it will never be released to the media etc for a number of reasons.

 

You are 1/2 right, but the poster you quoted is 100% right. There are no camera's that see INTO the balconies, so yes, they are private. However, there are camera's attached to the outside of the ship that scan the sides of the ship. And yes, they do see people going overboard. Viewing those tapes is one of the first things that they do to determine when and exactly where someone goes over.

 

So I have no doubt that this unfortunate event is indeed recorded by a camera that was ON the ship that the man fell off of. You are right that those tapes will never be released to the public. But they will be used by security and the police to try and make some sense as to what occurred.

 

CG

[cws1966]

I cruise all the time and all the overboards causes my friends and family to second guess cruising even when I tell them there is absolutely not way to fall off unless you are sitting and the rail in some way or someone pushes you or you jump. The rails are too high. Sometimes, people do stupid things and they just don't think anything will happen. THe crew can't watch every corner of the ship. A lot of the time they do it from their own balcony where no one sees them sitting out there. What I don't understand is why the post about the incident didn't explain what happened, if the family and friends saw him then surely they know what he was doing. By only posting that he fell overboard, it makes people think it is the cruiselines fault. don't get me wrong I too sympathise with this mans family and wish they could have found him, but on the other hand I wish more was said on how it happened.

 

 

 

 

I live in the town next to the guy's hometown. His sister is married to a friend of my mom's son. when i heard the news they said he went to the rail to throw up and went over. i wonder if you were running to get to the side quickly in a case like that if momentum could carry you over????? they say he was a brilliant and well-loved juvenile psychiatric doctor. it's a real shame. i too wondered how you could fall over rails so high.

[Tomct]

I live in the town next to the guy's hometown. His sister is married to a friend of my mom's son. when i heard the news they said he went to the rail to throw up and went over. i wonder if you were running to get to the side quickly in a case like that if momentum could carry you over????? they say he was a brilliant and well-loved juvenile psychiatric doctor. it's a real shame. i too wondered how you could fall over rails so high.

 

Certainly a sad situation for everyone involved. It would be hard to imagine the scenario you wonder about happening, as not only are the rails pretty high, but if he was far enough away to be running to the rail, then the bathroom, if unoccupied, or trash can or whatever, would seemingly be a quicker choice. However, given such a panic situation, you can not reconstruct what actually went through someone's mind.

[BIG_Steve]

I just got off the SKY. All the balconies and decks had railings that I thought you couldn't fall over with one exception. Deck 6 had a lower railing than the rest of the ship. I can't imagine even a drunk walking over and toppling in. But it was low enough (IMHO) that if someone was doing something stupid (like horseplay) they could have gone over easy enough. I understand this has nothing to do with this particular persons' fate, but I just wanted to comment on that.

[faithn1love]

What if the man in question was about 6'3. Would that make the "accidentally fell of the balcony while throwing up" story buy-able? This scenario has played over in my head many times b/c that is kind of what everyone is saying happened, but again the whole falling off by accident thing is so doubtful. Then I read things like he dove and jumped and it just gets ridiculous.

[faithn1love]

I live in the town next to the guy's hometown. His sister is married to a friend of my mom's son. when i heard the news they said he went to the rail to throw up and went over. i wonder if you were running to get to the side quickly in a case like that if momentum could carry you over????? they say he was a brilliant and well-loved juvenile psychiatric doctor. it's a real shame. i too wondered how you could fall over rails so high.

Not to pry, but I knew him and there is a lot of speculation about what actually happened. The family is saying that he was drunk and tried to throw up over the balcony and fell? There is a lot of conversation about him fighting with his girlfriend and girlfriends brother and jumping.

I guess in some parts I am asking for reassurance here.

[manateelover]

I was on the Pearl in the Bahamas when this happened. We searched from early morning until about 1pm with other ships in the area. Our captain then was released from the Coast Guard to discontinue the search. We then went to Great Stirrup Cay that afternoon. At that point, the Coast Guard was continuing the search with no sight of the jumper. Makes you think why someone waits to a cruise to act crazy like this-just enjoy your vacation! I don't believe they ever found a body.

[Planer's Edge]

Self edit...

 

sorry, won't get sucked back in.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Hey faithn1love,

 

I think we are all trying to understand how this happened. I go through it in my mind over and over again. Unless K wants to talk about it I don't think we'll know. And I seriously doubt that you'll get any real answers on here. I know that if I find out what happened, I'm not going to post it here out of respect for everyone involved. No matter what happened, B is gone.

 

Are you going to the memorial?

[ohioNCLcruiser]

he family is saying that he was drunk and tried to throw up over the balcony and fell?

 

Sorry but that doesn't make any sense to me.

[NancyJewel92]

This is a terribly tragic loss to lots of people.

WeBeGone - What you described really brought this event to us. How horribly painful for all touched by this tragety.

Faithn1love & Sox Fan - simply writing "sorry for your loss" doesn't seem to be enough,though I don't know what is.

My heart goes out to the family, friends and all who were touched by this man's life.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Thank you, NancyJewel92.

 

Daily, I feel sad and have to stop myself from crying.

 

It's just so weird for me. I have become a fanatic cruiser and to think that I lost a friend around something that I love so much is mind bogeling.. I watched a documentary on cruising the other day and it wasn't the same. They showed pics of people on their balconies looking at the water, and I got a pit in my stomach.

 

But that's miniscule to the loss I feel.

[Dajbman22]

I am actually a co-worker of his also, and I just today put two and two together that my 39-year-old co-worker who died "in an accident on vacation" was the same 39-year-old man overboard from the news. I only just started working here a few months ago, so I really didn't know him, but a lot of my other co-workers highly respected him, and from what they say he sounded like an amazing person.

 

It is crazy how this just all of a sudden hit so close to home (especially since 20 minutes before making the connection, I upgraded to a Balcony on the Spirit for next week).

 

My condolences go out to his family and friends.