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I find it interesting that 'Oscar' is their code word for man overboard - in the Navy our man overboard dummy was named Oscar. I actually got chosen the be the man 'overboard' one time. They threw Oscar over the side and I had to hide in the Captain's in-port cabin to see if my department would mark me missing in the emergency muster. Spoiler alert - do not fall overboard. Everytime we did a drill... we ran over Oscaar with the ship... 😎

People complain that their vacation has been "ruined" because a ship's crew tries to save a person's life?? I guess there are more narcissists and sociopaths in this world than I ever imagined. 😔 Thanks for the video, Emma.

My last cruise on the Carnival Vista, we had a dude who got really drunk in the casino bar and later that evening was threatening to jump off his his balcony on deck 9. He got put on suicide watch, switched to an inside cabin and was locked inside with security outside the door at all times for the rest of the cruise. Crew brought his meals to him and everything.

We had a suicidal young person on our last cruise and their family was seated next to us at dinner. They complained bitterly that their family member always threatened to jump while they were on a cruise and the family said loudly that if they wanted to jump they should just go ahead and get it over with and leave the family in peace. 3 am off the coast of British Columbia they started on the PA system throughout the entire ship asking the young person to call in and confirm their presence. The announcement went out every 15 minutes until about 5:30 when apparently the young person was located. With the little knowledge we had of the family dynamic I sincerely hope the young person gets the help they need and the family stays away from cruising for a long while.

I’m a retired police dispatcher/911 emergency call taker & I’ve never gotten more complaints then when a 3 year old girl went missing @ night & we used a reverse 911 system to call the house holds in a specific mile radius to alert people to give a description of her & people called so upset that they were woken up. Not like 1 or 5 like seriously our center in a smaller city (usually less than 30 police officers on the road at once) got about 40 call in complaints. I’m still shocked that anyone would would value their sleep over another persons life (a child at that).

We were on a cruise where a crew member jumped overboard, at night. Process was the same for searching. Sharp turn and patterned search until Coast Guard arrived to take over the search. Captain asked people with balconies to assist in search. Unfortunately, he was never found. Very sad.

I didn’t realise they’d wake everyone up - great to hear that they try to get all eyes on the case!

I was on a carnival cruise in the Bahamas 5 years ago and a man got into a fight with his wife and jumped off his balcony. The people in the room next to them heard him scream to her, threatening to jump. We spent 8 hours sitting in the middle of the ocean before we could proceed. There were 3 other ships circling us. The craziest thing... the couple were on their honeymoon.

Generally speaking, when someone's been drinking and they fall overboard, it's usually because they were trying to sit on the railing or climb on something they wouldn't have when sober.

We were on a Princess in transit from Auckland to Melbourne. In the middle of the night there was an alarm for a missing passenger. Every cabin searched, even under the bed and out on the balcony. Subsequently, wallet and magnetic stripe card were found on the Promenade Deck. A review of CCTV footage showed that the passenger had jump the previous night. We were too far from where he jumped to go back. He shared a cabin with his brother. His parents were also on the cruise. I can't begin to imagine how the family, Captain and crew felt. This is when the Captain and crew demonstrate their professionalism, which was well demonstrated. I can't imagine the circumstances which would have prompted the young man to jump.

This happened on a cruise we were on. Announcement came through around 5 am, broadcast through every cabin. It was light as it was a summer cruise, just a few hours out of port. They managed to save the person's life, mainly because it was light and the water warmer than at other times of the year. He and a dozen mates were disembarked at the next port as it was a deliberate act, his mates knew he was planning to do it and didnt alert the staff.

The captain is responsible for each and every soul onboard. If the captain believes it's best for everyone to get out of bed and help locate someone, regardless of whether or not you think it's cool, just do as is requested. Next time it could be your life on the line

What amazes me is not drunks or emotionally distraught people jumping or falling overboard, it's the complete lack of knowledge adults generally have about falling into water. When I was a teen I jumped from a 2nd story balcony into a backyard pool because I thought it was going to be fun... HITTING THE WATER HURT BAD!! If you are not trained in how to break the surface tension of the water with your body, it's like hitting concrete even at only falling twenty feet! I've been on 9 or 10 cruises and I've seen a person try to actually climb the guardrails put up by the ship. The ship staff were there pretty quickly and took her away, but one other time at night did I hear the "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar, Port Side" alarm. That nitwit got rescued and was put off the ship at the next port of call. Stay safe and well my friends :)

Throwing objects overboard when you witness a man overboard is very helpful. Life preservers naturally. Also chairs, pillows or items that float to help the crew visualize the right area.

On a 15 day Hawaii cruise from San Pedro, a sister ship from San Francisco lost a crew member overboard. We sailed in a grid in the open Pacific for about 36 hours to no avail. The itinerary changed. We all understood. Haunting to this day.

I took a cross-atlantic cruise back in the 70's and a LOT happened on that cruise: we ran aground in Senegal (fortunately, they got her off the bottom), we skirted a hurricane, and we rescued a heart-attack victim from a freighter half way across the ocean. Then a helicopter came to pick up the man when we got close enough to shore. I didn't hear of anyone complaining. Instead, it added to the adventure. Anyone who complains about trying to save someones life doesn't deserve to live.

This sort of happened on one of my cruises several years ago. A drunk passenger was fighting with his girlfriend in their cabin and the neighbors called ships security. He ran from them, went to the top deck and jumped over the barrier. He didn't land in the ocean though, instead landed on one of the lower deck bars where several of the ships crew were including the ships doctor. There was no announcement made, just the alarm for the crew so nobody really knew what was happening but the ship starting turning and actually heading towards Cuba. Sadly, the guy didn't make it and was pretty much dead on impact.

I was on the Anthem of the Seas in 2017 when a boy drowned in the pool on the first day of the cruise. We headed back toward New Jersey and they helicoptered him to the hospital. We found out later that unfortunately he didn't make it. This incident is why there are now lifeguards on all RCCL ships. So I'm reminded of the incident every time I cruise with RCCL.

I remember being woken up one night by "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar. Starboard side". It really shook me at the time. We spent probably 10 hours just circling, joined by nearby cargo ships.

A few comments I'd always make sure I mentioned when doing the late pax drills, it was to never do anything that could result in falling overboard. Chances are we won't find you. And don't hear the general emergency alarm go off, panic, and assume we're sinking. Because it's more likely to be a situation like this where there was doubt over whether somebody had gone overboard and a full muster was required to see if anybody was missing.

This is good awareness that if you do go overboard, a) the fall might kill you or knock you out, and b) even immediate action by the ship may not find you (especially in the dark).

Hi emma, I thought your video was very descriptive and a good insight for those wondering what happens with a Man overboard (MoB). Behind the scences there is a whole raft of things that is getting done. Checklists, boat preps, searches etc. The last thing we would want to do on a ship would be to turn around and look for a MOB, only to find that the person is actually still on board. So communication Is key in the first instance to make sure the person is not on the vessel still. Unfortunately passengerships have a dangerous cargo (passengers) for the most part they are fine, but when things go wrong, they can go down hill fast. My first 2 and a half years at sea we had 3 man overboard, one dead before he hit the water, one died due to exposure, the other was found weeks later when the body washed up on a beach. Those MOBs were all on passenger vessels. I am happy to say that for the rest of my seagoing career of 21 years, I did not have another man overboard, thank goodness

I was on a cruise in 2019 and my cruise buddy (long time friend of mine!) got really drunk (we had the all inclusive drinks package haha). It was also insanely stormy that night and about 2am I got a knock on the door and it was him being escorted by two crew members. He wasn't happy about being walked back to the room, but after two minutes of sitting on the bed, he was OUT! Scary to think he could have been one of those gone overboard! I did tell him the next morning to be thankful the crew was looking out for him and he agreed xD

This is so interesting. That would be a scary experience. I absolutely wouldn’t mind being woken up to help locate someone.

I had a teacher who had jumped overboard on a cruise ship (obviously he did survive to teach me!). Alcohol was definitely the major contributor to the incident but it was definitely a wild story to find out about a teacher!

Years ago on a Carnival cruise we had a similar incident during our return to NYC from the Caribbean. Around 1:00am a man jumped from Deck 10 or 11, when Security attempted to enter his stateroom after being called for a domestic disturbance. We remained in a search pattern for around 10+ hrs until released by the Coast Guard. He was never found.

I was travelling from Belfast to Isle of Man on a car ferry when a mayday, man overboard was received from a yacht. All vessels in the vicinity had to attend and search, apparently under maritime law. The guy was found alive in around about 1hr later but died in the helicopter going to hospital. Funny thing was that a Russian cruise ship called the Maxim Gorky was involved in the search. I thought it would be the only time I would see it, but later that year I was on a cruise ship in Naples and it was the ship docked right beside ours. Small world eh? Great video Emma.

I think it's really nice to see how much time and effort was spent trying to rescue someone.

My dad was in the Merchant Marine in World War 2 and he always said the same thing when someone went missing from a cruise ship. He'd say, "Only fools and passengers drink at sea."

We went on a cruise in January with our kids. We had a balcony, and the thought hit me that if for any reason one of our kids fell off, there would be no point in the boat even slowing down. They can't swim and even if they could it would be almost impossible to see them. But again like she said, it is pretty hard for an adult to fall over let alone a child.

I have only seen one person jump 🦘 from a ship.It was the ferry across Lake Constance between Fredrickshaven and Romanshorn, Switzerland.A woman if I recall and deliberately jumped and was rescued by a Swiss policeman who risked his own life jumping in the freezing water to rescue her.

Me knowing I am 13 and can’t afford cruises, yet still watches these. 😭

Great video Emma! Sorry for the woman who lost her life. Cruise safety measures are good, 25 out of 30 million is a good safety record. But when someone does go overboard the first priority is to render aid to that person as soon as possible, it’s sad that some passengers would feel different. Turning the ship around and missing ports is not an issue when it comes to saving someone life! The media always try to paint cruises in a bad light, whether it's a rare man overboard incident, Norovirus or COVID on ship, the media coverage is always, “look at the big bad cruise ship”. I find the recent coverage of this poor woman’s incident to be much the same..

You're a breath of fresh air young lady. Your enthusiasm for boating holidays is clear. We've stopped ocean cruising as we find the ships too big, prefer smaller boats that get into old city centre ports, with less crowds on board, embarking and disembarking. We have now switched to river cruising on small 150pax boats that are small enough to moor in the centre of towns and cities, for an easy walk on walk off experience often with complementary bicycles. No more herding onto fleets of excursion buses an hour away from cities and towns. Loads of scenery to be seen passing by all day long rather than just distant boring horizon. Rhine and Danube are favourites, it's expensive compared to the ocean boats but so much more relaxing and holiday oriented than the busy big boats. Great channel btw, and well constructed videos. Well done.

We had a similar issue in 2009 on the mariner of the seas. Family looking for teen son. They thought it was overboard. He just fell asleep in his friends cabin.

I'm so sorry you had to experience this on your cruise. It's so tragic when it happens and so sad that some people see no other way around things in life. I get the idea and I dont blame people for choosing it, but its still very sad. Because no one ever fell off a ship trust me. I've seen it happen and it's a sight i never forget and I am sorry for anyone who has ever had to endure it.

Tragic in all circumstances, especially the grandfather who lost hold of his granddaughter. The most recent incident, I believe in this case it's a member of the crew. I am in agreement with you as well on being notified/woken up in order to help look.

no one should have the option to not hear the alert, a persons life is worth more than you're beauty sleep, on vacation or not, PERIOD.

Top-notch report. Next level content!

The fact that people complained that they missed a port due to a man overboard says a lot about society, one person's life is worth more than a stop of a holiday

People don’t realize that when you go overboard in the ocean the likelihood of you being found is extremely nill. Not to mention the shock your body goes into.

West Coast American here. I have never heard of a pacifier called a dummy. We call dummies dummy. Pacifiers are also sometimes called binkies.

It's kinda ironic that you say someone who fell overboard is "only thinking of themselves" and then complain that you couldn't visit an island because you had to search for a missing person and that you didn't get compensation for some stranger dying

Tyvm for sharing this information! It always is upsetting to hear about people more concerned about a change in their plans, than saving the life of another. I remember on a drive back from Bakersfield, we encountered a two car collision. My father and I, stopped to see if we could help anyone, all while people driving by were yelling to move the cars off the road. The only people that stopped were the emergency services sent by 911. Surprising, but sad.

“Then we can just weed out the people who say no” Yeah! And push em overboard 🤣🤣🙂

Drones with thermal cameras should be the future for solutions would be so cool

We had a lady jump overboard on our cruise a few years back. On a hot summer’s day in the boiling pacific sea. Thank goodness she was found shortly after and got back on board safely.

This is why I love cruising! Ok, cruise lines are playing to be the best cruise line but in terms of life at sea, they help each other. Royal helped NCL and perhaps also Disney. ❤ Thank you Emma for sharing the news.

No 3AM announcement. But on one cruise in the evening we could tell the ship was changing course and speeding up which was unusual given the clear weather predicted. Then we got the announcement that they were diverting to the nearest port due to a medical emergency. We arrived about 4 AM in that port, and left about 7 AM to continue down the coast, getting to our original port destination about 1 PM (or about 7 hours late). And I have to say the passengers where pretty polite about it all. Services worked hard to get excursions and others things cancelled and refunded where they could, the ship rolled out extra services for the morning. I hope that person survived their emergency. And the cruise ship handled the incident with flying colors.

Emma’s KZfaq channel is perhaps the best and certainly most real reviewer of everything cruising.

In 2017, we were due to leave New York Harbour, when the Captain announced that we were delayed as the FBI were on board - all very mysterious. But we discovered that when the ship had earlier arrived in NY, there was one less passenger disembarked, than had originally embarked before crossing the Atlantic. Apparently CCTV eventually revealed that the passenger had "jumped" sometime during the crossing - very sad.

When I was about 5, I was playing with a cloth ball with my arms outside the window of a docked ship, and I dropped the ball. I was really sad because it was my favorite toy at the time (it had sentimental value to me because it was the one thing a friend had given me before they left the country), and I thought it was going to sink in the sea water. To this day I don’t know how my mom and a friendly attendant managed to fish it out of wherever it fell. It was wet and it shrunk a little but I was ecstatic. I’m 27 now and I still remember that.

It’s very difficult to fall off a cruise ship. Most people who go overboard have chosen to do so by jumping. There is a difference.

Thank you for sharing this. Good to know that it is handled as well as it can be by the cruise line.

I found your channel last year and enjoy your always positive stories. Britishisms are a family favorite. Regarding “man overboard” comments, the Coast Guard and not the captain calls off the search. Protecting human life will always come before your cruise stops. Keep up your great work and look forward to your new videos!

I was an EMT in a major west coast city. I'm no longer surprised by the selfishness or rudeness of people. I've seen people get mad because we were parked in the street for a call. I remember several times we would kick people off of elevators because we were bringing the patient down and people would scream at us and yell obscenities. People are jerks.

Anyone who complained about missing an island day to search for a man overboard fails as a human and should reevaluate their life

If I heard someone complaining about missing a port or being woken up by the announcement, I would lose my absolute mind on them.

Isn't it wild that a human being can be struggling to live, and people are UPSET that the cruise doesn't continue on as planned? Man, some people suck.

Yup that’s happened on a cruise we went on about 20 years ago. Man fell, jumped or was pushed overboard (no one really knew as he disappeared at sea) - never seen again.

We had two man overboard when I was in the navy. The first one was when we were leaving Hong Kong. The guy told the aft lookout he was jumping then he did. Our helicopter picked him up and took him to the aircraft carrier. Never saw him again. The navy doesn't like jumpers. The second was in a heavy (Very heavy) storm heading into the Pacific from Seattle. In the navy the drill is everyone heads to their muster station to try determine who may have gone over. Everyone was accounted for which is good because in that storm I doubt anyone would have been found.

Had a large tree branch fall (due to disease, not weather ) and a neighbor complained about the city workers clearing it from blocking the street at 5 AM. Our street is used frequently by the Fire Dept/ EMS as there's a beach nearby. The selfishness of individuals today, amazes me.

The idea that someone would opt out of or even be annoyed by an announcement that a fellow human is in danger and needs help is f*cked up.

I will say the glass makes me nervous. The 30 floor high rise next to my office has an events space on the top floor. A waiter tripped and hit a portable refrigerator- which hit the window and crashed down through the bus shelter on the sidewalk. I haven’t trusted the glass as much since then.

I was on the Majestic Princess (Sept 2021). We spent the day in Skagway, Alaska. My husband and I went to bed about 11:00pm and were awaken at about 11:30 with the following announcement “Attention bridge, man overboard, port side. Attention bridge, man overboard, port side” I sat straight up in the dark and was thinking did I just hear what I think I heard? The announcement was repeated and at that time my husband turned on the lights as well as the t.v. to the channel that has the bridge cam. In the mean time, I’m sitting there thinking WTF. They put a boat in the water to search and turned the shipped around. It was so dark you couldn’t see 6 inches in front of you and the water is freezing, there is no way someone would be found. There were several more announcements, they originally thought it was a crew member, it was not, so then we all had to report to our muster stations so they could account for everyone. We didn’t get back to our stateroom until almost 2:00am In the end, it was a false alarm but we learned that the crew on the Majestic were well trained and remained cool, calm, and collected. Hats off to them!

I'm appalled at the fact that people complain about being woke up. That's horrible! It's so sad that people have fallen overboard, but maybe don't get drunk. Keep people safe, all good here. Wake me up if someone's overboard. I would be happy to help. Thanks for the amazing video

We had a gentleman commit suicide and jump off Allure of the Seas. There were cameras that showed him going overboard. We were all rousted to our MUSTER stations at about 6am so that everyone could be accounted for. His body was never recovered. Sad.

As you say Emma, cruise liners will place safety first so we have to do the same. Thank you for sharing.

Emma, the dummy has a name and it’s Oscar. The term Oscar comes the Signal Flag “O” or Oscar that is hoisted that means there’s a man overboard and you (another ship) should expect the ship flying O flag to make unexpected maneuvering . The ship will usually perform a Williamson Turn to bring the ship to a point it previously passed. I am guessing with all the new bridge technology, the OOD will mark the point on the electron plotting board and the ship will make the necessary maneuvers to return. And yes modern ships still use signal flags in this day of radio and satellites communications. Next time in port look for the Yellow flag flying from every ship’s signal hoist.

I was on a cruise and employee lowered himself in to the water. We did exactly what she said . We turned around and searched for hours

I was on the Norwegian Breakaway on the afternoon of March, 11, 2022 just east of Cancun when a code Oscar was announced. Shortly thereafter there was an announcement asking if anyone could identify the person who went overboard. This announcement was repeated a couple times. I told the lady I was with at the time "if they can't identify him, they will call a muster to determine who is it" but that didn't happen, so it would seem someone identified him. We circled until dark at which point they left it to the Mexican Coast Guard. Story I heard was that it was a suicide. To my knowledge his body was never recovered.

The thought of it is pretty haunting. Perhaps throwing out your lifejacket if you do see someone would help as a high vis marker for the area when the ship turns around. Would perhaps only help if it's calm seas though and if they can search with light

Did you hear about the man who fell overboard near Thanksgiving this year? He stayed alive in the water for like 20 hours

As an emergency responder, emergency PA systems aren’t designed for customer comforts. Every second counts and spending minutes weeding through thousands of tickboxes and allocating them to cabins just to not wake them up is minutes not spend rescuing. Anyone who gets annoyed at that needs to be permanently refused from any cruise in future as they’re a potential danger to the workings of emergency responders and other people on the cruise.

I love how you worded the question about saving a life, there is absolutely no good reason anybody needs to be so awful, they deserve to be shamed, no holiday is worth that nonsense. I remember being in a hotel when i was a teenager and there was a fire alarm pulled, prank but there was a child not accounted for so we had to wait outside for 4 hours (turned out a woman got drunk, her sister who she was visiting had took the kiddo back to hers and the mum forgot because she was drunk), was actually hilarious but people were screaming at the staff because they had no reason to not go back in, even when explaining they were doing a thorough search of all rooms. They realised on the cctv she never brought her back though and I was there when they told her. As a teenager, a species known for their attitude and brattiness, I understood a kid was missing and didn't understand why people were mad, my mum was just reminding us all we were being given free stuff, tea and biscuits are our standards apparently and I wasn't mad.

Umm no, if someone goes overboard, everyone is getting woken up and should help look. It’s basic human decency.

No one just falls overboard . They jump or are doing something very dangerous like standing or sitting on balcony rails.

In 2005 I was on the Elation and a woman fell overboard at about 7:30 in the morning. She was there with her family and it was such a tragedy. We turned back around and searched for hours. We were in Mexican waters at the time and the Mexican navy assisted off of our starboard bow. We spent our entire day at sea looking and never found her.

Emma nice video! I have anyway to tell you that it's not possible to ask each passenger whether they wanted for announcements to be made in their cabis for more than one reason. It's not practical from both a logistical and a techinal point of view. It would be quite burdersome to ask everybody. Then the ship's systems are not made in a way that you can chose in which cabins to make the announcements; it's usually like this: guest areas, crew areas, guest cabins, crew cabins, technical areas and the whole ship. Liked your video anyway, keep up the good work &:-)

I have been on quite a few cruises and from what I have seen you would have to be really determined to "fall" overboard. The rails are quite high and you would have to climb up to fall off.

When my girls were babies, we called the pacifier a binkie. Not sure if that's just a regional thing to the Midwest or more widespread, but I've always found it interesting just how many words there are for the thing babies suck on.

crazy this got reccommended to me now....

Emma has done a really good account of man overboard on a cruise, thanks and well done!

Man. I get why they would cancel a port landing to look for a man overboard, but it really sucks that they don't have to reimburse the customers who paid for it. Maybe I'm being callus, bit if you pay for a service that isn't provided, I think it's fair to be reimbursed even if they had to cancel it due to an emergency.

I can’t imagine falling off a ship and no ones noticing me, and it just sails into the distance. Very scary but it doesn’t impact my vacation at all. I have vertigo so I can look off balconies but if I look down from 20+ stories to the bottom (usually a hotel) I get a bit nauseous.

When under the influence, people have been known to think they can fly and they make the attempt off a ship’s deck, which doesn’t have a good outcome, frequently.

Great video 😊 3:19 in Canada we call it a soother

The chances of falling overboard is even lower if you’re not drunk and treat the rails as they are intended.

Most people on cruise ships who "fall overboard" either play the fool when drunk, are just showing off and fall or jump to commit suicide. Sad but true.

This happend to me once, about to get our drinks order and selection of bread but all of a sudden,an announcement came through and all the crew including EVERY waiter and waitress went outside on the muster Station deck and did a routine check to make sure they were all on the ship.Then we saw beacons being sent off the ship that lit in the night(it was 6 pm and was getting dark very quickly)Not long after we were told to go to our cabins and make sure they didn't have any missing friends and family.Then we heard the ships loud horn toot 5 times and the captain told us to go to our muster stations.We waited for about 1 and a half hours Until we heard the amazing announcement that there was nobody overboard just somebody saw a fishing net and thought it was a person.Phew 😌

Hi Emma, so excited seeing you post a new video. It's my first time comment in your channel. Hope there are lesser accidents happen on cruises in future. Missed port coverage sounds nice...

Always sad when something like this takes place. I've been on two cruises where we had to stop and investigate boat or ship wreckage. Thankfully it didn't appear that there was anyone onboard, either time. At one time, Norwegian Sky was a completely "open-bar" ship -- the first such ship ever from the Big Three. Nowadays Norwegian routinely tosses in complimentary drinks or wi-fi or excursions. After being shown the "man overboard" alarm panel on the bridge of a Carnival ship during the "Behind the Fun" tour, I've gotten into the habit of looking for them on other ship classes and lines. Seems to be a really useful device.

My family calls a pacifier a "nummy" going back 5 generations. LOL

Imagine seing a dummy falling overboard, thinking it's a person and jumping behind him.

It’s very heartening to hear the efforts they go to to try and save someone. RIP to the guy.

We were I also on board msc seaside when a staff member tragically jumped, after his shift working in the casino. Really, there are only 3 ways of falling overboard. Suicide, murder or stupidly, practical joking…

I was on the Norwegian Getaway going to Mexico, Belize, and Honduras back in 2018. Something felt wrong about the boat. Something was just off about it. Couldn't put our finger on it at the time. Anyhow, I got kicked full-on in the leg by a horse that bucked an elderly woman off. She flew over a stone wall and landed on the ground!! I thought she was dead but she popped right up and said she was fine. Back on the ship, we got under sail and a rescue helicopter suddenly appeared over the ship! Someone went into heart failure and had to be taken off the ship! We got home and less than a week later we turned on the news and found out one of the stewards had fallen off the ship and was found, thankfully alive, floating off the coast of Cuba! Right after that the pedestrian bridge near the hotel we were staying in the night before the cruise collapsed killing a lot of people. This was the breaking point for my husband. He had to say something. He said to me, "I know this is going to sound crazy but something was wrong with that ship!!!" I asked if it had to do with all the strange accidents etc. that occurred on our vacation. He said, "No, I know this is going to sound nuts but I was in the cabin alone resting one day when a voice said to me, kill yourself!! Go ahead and see what your family does when they find you dead!! Come on!! Do it!!" He then stated he freaked the heck out and ran out of the cabin and found us. My husband has never been suicidal and has never had any kind of mental issues so this was not like him at all. I decided to do some research so I googled Norwegian Getaway accidents and found a man had just committed suicide on the ship prior to us getting on the ship!! The man's body fell from one deck and onto a deck far below him. When I read this I freaked out! Not going on that ship again I can tell you!!

There is a video on a channel called _Smarter Everyday_ about how the coast guard searches for people that have fallen overboard. It's a really neat video that goes into detail about search patterns and tides and currents and whatnot.

I will admit that this was a different time but I sailed from Southampton to Cape Town a few times on the old Union Castle Ships and the Railing were just that - railings! I was only a teenager the last time but I distinctly remember the railings were just above my waist. An adult it would be at hip height generally. Or thereabouts. I pacifically remember not liking going up to the railings as I was genuinely scared of falling overboard! With modern ships H&S has obviously involved.....