cruise furniture overboard

Carnival cruise passenger who went overboard was 'dead set' on surviving

U.S. Coast Guard rescued James Michael Grimes after almost 20 hours, he says.

LA FAYETTE, ALABAMA -- James Michael Grimes is speaking out for the first time in an exclusive interview with ABC News after going overboard on a Carnival cruise ship after being missing for almost 20 hours.

The 28-year-old man said he was determined to make it out of the Gulf of Mexico alive, calling it the experience of a lifetime.

Grimes said he treaded water for nearly 20 hours after falling overboard on Thanksgiving Eve -- battling jelly fish, rip currents and shark-infested waters before being airlifted by the U.S. Coast Guard on Nov. 24. shortly after 8 p.m., the U.S. Coast Guard told ABC News.

Grimes had only been aboard the Carnival Valor for a day before his sister reported him missing. The two were last seen together at a restaurant where Grimes had won an air guitar contest before going to the bathroom.

MORE: Coast Guard rescues man who went overboard on Carnival cruise ship

That is the last thing he remembers. Grimes said he believes the fall overboard knocked him unconscious.

"The next thing I know... I regained consciousness. I was in the water with no boat in sight," he said.

Alone in solid darkness, and the light from the stars and the moon, Grimes decided in that moment he would make it out of the water.

"I felt like I was given a chance right then... you're alive for a reason... that [fall] could've killed me, but I felt like from that moment on, I was trying to stay positive. And, you know when you're here, you're still alive for a reason. So, all you got to do now is swim and survive. I was hoping... they will start looking for me... they will find me eventually," Grimes said.

MORE: Royal Caribbean to offer Starlink internet on all its ships

Grimes was aboard the five-day cruise with 18 of his family members for Thanksgiving. When he didn't return to his cabin that night, his sister reported him missing.

The ship was on its way to Cozumel, a Mexican island in the Caribbean, and was released by the Coast Guard to continue to its destination after the rescue was made.

"The Jayhawk aircrew hoisted the man onto the helicopter and transferred him to awaiting emergency medical services at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport," a statement from the Coast Guard read.

"We are beyond grateful that this case ended with a positive outcome," said Lt. Seth Gross, a Coast Guard Sector New Orleans search-and-rescue mission coordinator.

"We greatly appreciate the efforts of all, most especially the U.S. Coast Guard and the mariner who spotted the guest in the water," the Coast Guard said in a statement Thursday to ABC News. "Cruise ships have safety barriers in all public areas that are regulated by U.S. Coast Guard standards that prevent a guest from falling off. Guests should never ever climb up on the rails. The only way to go overboard is to purposefully climb up and over the safety barriers."

Carnival Valor had said in a statement to ABC News that it conducted a search-and-rescue operation after Grimes went missing.

"Carnival Valor retraced its route to support the search and rescue, but the ship has now been released by the U.S. Coast Guard, and will continue on its way to Cozumel. Carnival's Care Team is providing support to the family members of the missing guest who were sailing with him and remain on board," the statement at the time said.

Against all odds, Grimes said he kept a positive attitude and "just kept swimming."

In addition to his attitude, he said it was his will to see his family again that kept him afloat.

"I wanted to see my family and I was dead set on making it out of there. I was never accepting that this is it, this is going to be the end of my life. I'm 28 years old. I'm too young. This is not going to be it," Grimes said.

"I always thought there's a greater purpose for my life. Now, I know for sure I'm meant to do something on this Earth. And, you know, I don't know. It was just the Lord was out there helping me, giving me strength and helping me stay afloat," he added.

ABC News' Victoria J. Arancio contributed to this report.

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Cruise passenger who fell overboard tells how he survived 15 hours in the water and battled ‘sea creature’

A coast guard rescuer who saved mr grimes estimated the man had at most a minute left before he succumbed to the waves when they found him, article bookmarked.

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James Michael Grimes’ Thanksgiving was unorthodox.

After winning an air guitar contest, he toppled off the side of a cruise ship , battled a "sea creature," treaded water for more than half a day, and survived on bamboo — or maybe just some kind of stick — until the Coast Guard picked him up the next day.

And, according to him, though alcohol was consumed, it did not play a part in the chain of events.

Mr Grimes, 28, survived a harrowing 15 hours at sea that could have turned tragic had he not managed to keep himself afloat while waves washed over him in the Gulf of Mexico .

Mr Grimes and his sister were on a Carnival cruise ship departing from New Orleans and bound for Cozumel, Mexico on 23 November. At some point that evening, Mr Grimes’ sister noticed he had left to use the restroom and had not returned. After failing to return the following day, she reported him missing and, a few hours later, the Coast Guard was notified that the man had vanished.

• Man who disappeared off Carnival cruise rescued in gulf of Mexico
• Simon Calder answers your travel questions on cruise Covid rules and much more

According to Mr Grimes, who gave an interview to ABC News’ Good Morning America about his ordeal, that night he had just won an air guitar competition in one of the ship’s lounges and had hit the bar to celebrate.

He said he did not have "tons" of drinks and that he "couldn’t really say" how much booze he had actually consumed, but assured the interviewer he was not drunk at the time.

Whatever the case, the next thing he remembers is floating around in the Gulf of Mexico without a ship in sight.

He treaded water for hours, noting during the interview that he was terrified of drowning and was desperate to see his family again.

"I wanted to see my family and I was dead set on making it out of there, you know. I was never accepting that this is it. This is going to be the end of my life," he said during the interview.

As he fought to stay above the waves, Mr Grimes claims he had an encounter with a "sea creature" that he initially worried could have been a shark. He claims the creature had a fin and bumped his leg, spooking him to the point where he felt the need to kick at the animal.

"I thought it was a shark. I mean, I was swimming in one direction and looked around I seen it out the corner of my eye and it came up on me really quick and went under and I could see it and it wasn’t a shark," he said.

He saw the fish had a "flat mouth" just before it bumped him, prompting him to kick at it.

Mr Grimes had nothing to eat or drink for the duration of his time floating in the Gulf. That’s why when a stick that he says "looked like bamboo" floated by him he scooped it up and began chewing on it. Though he has no idea if it provided any nutritional value, he did note that it at least provided the comfort of tasting something other than salt water.

He began to worry as night fell — the water’s temperature cooled, and his body was running out of energy — but he says he remained positive, believing he had survived for a reason.

"You know, the fall didn’t kill me, you know, sea creatures didn’t eat me, I felt like I was meant to get out of there," he said.

And he did; he was eventually spotted by a passing tanker, which notified the US Coast Guard rescuers. The Coast Guard units arrived on scene and, according to one rescuer, likely found Mr Grimes just in time.

Richard Hoefle, a US Coast Guard Aviation Survival Technician, told 4WWL News that Mr Grimes was "at his limit" when they found him.

"Some people break down and cry, some people are in shock, and they don’t know what’s going on, some people are ecstatic and they act a little crazy because they are so happy to be out of the situation that they’re in," Mr Hoefle said, describing typical reactions of individuals who are rescued. "Mr Grimes had nothing left. He had no energy. He had nothing left to give. My best guess is that he had between a minute and 30 seconds left before we lost him completely."

Mr Grimes said he recalled being secured by Mr Hoefle and remembers "just thinking ‘thank you, you are like a guardian angel.’"

The Coast Guard transported Mr Grimes to a hospital in New Orleans. He was treated for hypothermia and dehydration, and has since been released.

Mr Grimes told Good Morning America that the experience "opened my eyes" and taught him to be mindful of that which he takes for granted. It also left him lacking a proper cruise experience.

"I definitely would be open to go on another cruise," he said, "because I really didn’t get to go on this one."

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Coast Guard Suspends Search for Passenger Who Fell From Cruise Ship

The U.S. Coast Guard said on Sunday that it halted its search for a woman who went overboard from a Carnival cruise ship near Ensenada, Mexico.

By Johnny Diaz

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended a 31-hour search for a passenger who fell off a cruise ship near Mexico, the authorities said on Sunday.

The woman, who was not immediately identified, was aboard a Carnival cruise ship when she fell on Saturday morning “from the balcony of her stateroom,” Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement. The company said the ship had been on a three-day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico, and the Coast Guard said the woman fell near there.

Carnival did not provide further details of how the woman fell overboard.

On Saturday, the Coast Guard said that it had deployed a cutter called the Forrest Rednour as well as a helicopter, and that it was working with Mexico’s Navy to find the woman.

Crews started searching early in the morning on Saturday and into Sunday, the Coast Guard said. It led a search of about 520 square nautical miles, it said.

One passenger told a California news station, KABC-TV , that he heard someone say, “Man overboard, man overboard port side” on the ship’s speakers. He said that when he looked over the balcony of his room, he saw crew members tossing life preservers into the water.

Daniel Miranda, another passenger, told the station that cruise officials said that they had “verified through the cameras” that a woman had fallen into the water. A photo he took, broadcast by the station, also showed that the area of the ship where the woman fell had been cordoned off with blue tape.

After more than 31 hours scouring the area, the Coast Guard said on Sunday that it had suspended its search “pending additional information.”

The cruise company said in its statement that after assisting the Coast Guard, its ship had returned to Long Beach, Calif., as scheduled on Dec. 12. “Our thoughts are with the guest and her family, and our Care Team is providing support,” the company said.

In California, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents went to the ship “with an evidence response team” to assist in the case, a spokeswoman for the bureau said on Monday.

It is increasingly uncommon for passengers to fall from cruise ships, according to Carolyn Spencer Brown, who has covered the cruise industry for about 25 years, currently as chief content officer of Cruise Media LLC.

“It’s becoming much more uncommon than it was 20 years ago,” she said, citing the “increasingly sophisticated design specifications” that have prioritized safety on ships.

“They are designed to keep you safe,” she continued. “You really don’t hear about it very often, and when it happens, typically there are other factors involved.”

In 2010, Congress passed the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act , which required ships be equipped with rails no shorter than 42 inches above the deck, and with alarms and other technology to help signal and find passengers who go overboard.

In 2018 and 2019, 26 and 29 people fell overboard from cruise and ferry ships, according to Cruisejunkie.com , which lists cases reported by the news media, including those involving people who jumped. In 2020 and 2021, when far fewer passengers took cruises because of the pandemic, the site recorded three incidents.

Ross A. Klein, who tracks the cases of people who fall overboard on his website, Cruisejunkie.com, wrote in a June 2019 report that information on people who fall overboard is limited “as cases may not be publicly reported.”

Falls overboard could involve intoxication, accidents or deliberate jumps, Mr. Klein’s report said, but he warned there was reason to be cautious with labels because of the lack of information.

“Alcohol intoxication is known in only a small percentage of cases, largely because there is no systematic reporting of persons overboard, and no accounting of behavior prior to a disappearance (such as alcohol consumption),” the report said.

Asked about how many people have fallen overboard from Carnival ships in recent years, a spokeswoman for the company said she did not have any further information other than the statement about this weekend’s search.

The ship traveling to Ensenada this weekend, the Carnival Miracle, debuted in 2004 and can accommodate more than 2,100 guests and 934 crew members, according to the company.

Johnny Diaz is a general assignment reporter covering breaking news. He previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel and The Boston Globe. More about Johnny Diaz

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Drunk Manager Throws Table and Chairs Overboard on a Party Cruise and Posts the Video on TikTok

A video has spread on social networks, showing a general manager of a local construction company in Finland together with his employees vandalizing the cruise ferry MS Baltic Princess, during a party cruise in the Baltic Sea. 

The voyage on the Turku-Stockholm route ended with furniture being thrown into the sea and several incidents across the vessel by the construction workers who have been drinking for 12 hours straight. 

The Finnish media outlets report that the 25-year-old manager Otto Kranni, of the construction company Pimura Oy together with his party was involved in at least three incidents including inappropriate behavior at the ship’s bar, urinating in the sauna and throwing overboard a table and several chairs from their stateroom.

The manager filmed the incident and then posted it on his TikTok account, which then spread on social media over the weekend. He later deleted the videos after coming under scrutiny for his actions by the community which condemned the barbaric behavior. However, the video was downloaded by the user Fenn J. Müller and posted again on Twitter, before the manager deleted it.

Tallink Silja, the company which operates the vessel said is considering filing criminal charges against the construction company.

“We have not yet filed a criminal complaint, but we will review this incident during the week. However this is certainly an environmental crime,” said Marika Nöjd, Communications Manager at Tallink Silja.

“We are shocked by the incident, especially by the littering of the Baltic Sea where we hope that even cigarette butts will not end up into the seas. Also the damage to the ship's property. And of course, the incident could have ended with far greater consequences. The furniture could have hit someone on the lower decks” Nöjd said.

Rakennusliike reissussa, buffet ei ilmeisesti miellyttänyt joten hytin kalusteet mereen. Puupäät. pic.twitter.com/AA5U7OrR8A — Fenn J. Müller (@fenn_muller) December 10, 2022

The construction company paid 10.000 euros in damages to the ship’s property and the Incident will be investigated by the authorities. However, it seems that by throwing the furniture into the sea, the manager has pretty much thrown his business overboard. Reports from Finland say that now no one wants to do business with his company. In an attempt to make a public apology, or explain his actions, and save his business Otto Kranni appeared on a Finish TV channel, saying that he regrets that a "big deal" had arisen over the matter.

"Tomorrow, let's go to the construction site, and we'll laugh about things that have been done," Kranni said.

However, the awkward explanation didn't seem funny to the public, and his joking about the ship's party was not welcomed by the wider audience.

A day after his appearance Kranni visited the Valavuori Live TV again. The man said that he lost his livelihood because of what happened. The contractor of the construction company in question blew the whistle to stop the construction work due to the incident.

“The business looks very difficult at the moment,” Kranni said on Monday evening's Valavuori Live program.

Kranni stressed that he was sorry and ashamed of the mess caused by him and his party The man humbly apologized for what had happened, and said that he had learned his lesson.

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Watch CBS News

He told his sister he was going to the bathroom. Then he came to in the Gulf of Mexico.

Updated on: December 2, 2022 / 8:47 PM EST / CBS/AP

He spent nearly 20 hours alone, treading water in the Gulf of Mexico after falling off a cruise ship and being saved on Thanksgiving. James Michael Grimes spoke about the experience Friday, saying it has taught him to not take life for granted.

"My worst fear is drowning and that was something I did not want to have to face," Grimes told ABC's " Good Morning America ." "I wanted to see my family again. I was dead set on making it out of there. I was never accepting that this was it, that this was going to be the end of my life."

The 28-year-old from Lafayette, Alabama, was with 18 relatives on a Carnival cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, when somehow, he ended up overboard after a day of fun.

On Nov. 23, he had won an air-guitar contest held on the cruise and remembers telling his sister around 11 p.m. that first night on board that he was going to the bathroom, he said. What happened next remains unclear. He said he doesn't remember falling or landing in the water.

"When I came to, regained consciousness, I was in the water with no boat in sight," he said. "I can't float myself, even when I'm trying to. So there had to be ... the Lord was with me while I was out there because something was holding me up the whole time I was passed out."

One of the U.S. Coast Guard officers who later saved him, aviation survival technician Richard Hoefle, told CBS News he believes Grimes "had about 30 seconds to a minute left before we would have lost him."

The 28-year-old man had "an incredible will to survive," Hoefle said.

At some point, Grimes said he thought he saw the fin of a shark, kicking at something that bumped into his leg. He later chewed on a stick he found floating in the water that appeared to be bamboo. 

"It gave some type of flavor in my mouth other than saltwater," he said.

As time passed and the sun began to set, Grimes said the water started getting colder.

"At that time, I thought, how much longer am I going to have to be out here," he said. "The fall didn't kill me and the sea creatures didn't eat me. I felt like I was meant to get out here."

Then, he saw the lights of a tanker ship and began swimming toward it.

"That was my final little burst of energy," Grimes said. "The strength that I had, I used pretty much every bit of it to try to make it."

He said the Coast Guard circled the tanker two or three times looking for him.

"I'd done taken off my socks and everything and was just waving them around my head, trying to do something where they could see me, and when that light finally hit me, somehow I heard, 'We got him,' and I seen a guy coming down from a helicopter and ... right then I thought, 'man I seen the light.'"

Grimes was rescued at about 2:30 p.m. local time on Nov. 24, about 20 miles off the coast of Southwest Pass, Louisiana, according to the Coast Guard. He said he remembered telling his rescuer he was naked and he told him that was fine. 

"He told me to hold on to this life vest, and I was just thinking 'Thank you, you were like a guardian angel coming down for me,'" he said.

It's been a week since the incident, and Grimes said the experience has opened his eyes. While dressing in a pair of pants he planned to wear on the cruise, Grimes said he found a fortune cookie fortune in the pants pocket that read "Life's a beach. Enjoy the waves."

Though harrowing, Grimes said the experience will not discourage him from taking another cruise.

"I might not get within 10-foot of the rails, but I'd definitely be open to going on another cruise, because I really didn't get to go on this one," he said.

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20-year-old man missing after jumping off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, report says

• A 20-year-old man on holiday with his family went overboard from a Royal Caribbean cruise. 
• The man, who's been missing since early Thursday morning, may have jumped, a report said. 
• The US Coast Guard has launched a search operation. 

A 20-year-old man who was vacationing with his family on a cruise may have jumped overboard, The New York Post reported.

Royal Caribbean confirmed that a passenger, whose identity has not been revealed, went overboard near The Bahamas at about 4 a.m. on Thursday and has been missing since then.

The US Coast Guard launched a search for the passenger on Thursday.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson told Business Insider that the cruise line's "Care Team is providing support and assistance to the guest's family during this difficult time."

Bryan Sims, a fellow cruise passenger, told The New York Post that he'd hung out with the passenger in the hot tub until 3:30 a.m. Sims said the man appeared to be "pretty drunk."

Sims told the Post that after leaving the hot tub, they encountered the passenger's father while approaching the elevators.

"His dad was fussing at him for being drunk," Sims said.

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Deborah Morrison, another passenger on board the cruise, told the Post that "there was a lot of yelling and that the crew was alerted immediately."

"The ship's crew immediately launched a search and rescue effort alongside the US Coast Guard, who has taken over the search," the Royal Caribbean spokesperson said.

#Breaking @USCG crews are searching for a 20-year-old man who went overboard from the Liberty of the Seas cruise ship 57 miles from Great Inagua this morning. USCG Cutter Seneca and Air Station Miami HC-144 crews are conducting the search. #USCG #SAR pic.twitter.com/zZPpKOdyCn — USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) April 4, 2024

The Liberty of the Seas departed from South Florida and was 57 miles from Great Inagua in The Bahamas when the passenger went overboard.

The cruise ship has 18 decks and can accommodate up to 3,634 passengers. It's served by a crew of about 1,300.

The chances of falling overboard on a cruise ship are extremely low .

In 2023, about 31 million passengers traveled on a cruise, and at least 10 people went overboard, with two of them surviving, Business Insider reported .

"Even one incident is one too many," a spokesperson for Cruise Lines International Association told Business Insider, adding that "the vast majority of cases are either reckless behavior or some form of intentional act. People don't just inadvertently fall over the side of a ship."

Last month, a 23-year-old man who felt seasick fell overboard from the MSC Euribia cruise ship while crossing the North Sea in Europe and was presumed dead.

In December, an MSC Cruises passenger jumped from one of its ships while sailing from Europe to South America.

According to a CLIA report, only 28.2% of passengers who fell overboard between 2009 and 2019 were successfully rescued.

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• Main content

What are cruise ship overboard detection systems and why doesn't every ship have them?

• Cruise ship overboard systems aim to cut down on response time and notify the crew when someone goes overboard.
• Not all cruise ships have the systems yet, but some have installed them.
• Passengers rarely go overboard by accident, one industry expert said.

"Safety in Travel” is a six-part series focusing on the travel safety tools available in different industries, how they can affect the overall experience, and how travelers can make use of them. If you'd like to contribute to our future reporting and share your experience as a source, you can click here to fill out this quick form .

Sherry Boleen got up early to watch the sunrise with her family during a cruise to Mexico over Thanksgiving. But when she arrived at her siblings' cabin on Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Valor ship around 6 a.m., her stepsister said their brother, James Michael Grimes, never came back to the room.

The family was sailing with roughly 20 relatives, so Boleen thought maybe he'd slept in one of their rooms. "He's notorious for just falling asleep anywhere, anytime," Boleen, who is 31 and lives at Fort Benning in Georgia, told USA TODAY. "And so I was like, 'Or he's just asleep on a lawn chair somewhere or whatever.' "

After looking for him around the ship to no avail, she said, she notified the cruise line, which began an hourslong search that ended with the U.S. Coast Guard rescuing 29-year-old Grimes from the water   later that day around 8:30 p.m. after he had gone overboard.

James Michael Grimes spent approximately 20 hours stranded at sea.

Grimes, who was found about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana, told PEOPLE magazine in December that he remembered having some drinks and winning an air-guitar competition before waking up in the water. He did not respond to interview requests from USA TODAY.

While the incident ended with his safe return to shore, it raised questions about cruise ship overboard detection systems – a new technology that aims to cut down on response time and notify the crew as soon as someone goes overboard.

Carnival spokesperson Matt Lupoli told USA TODAY in an email that as soon as the line was notified, "Carnival Valor’s crew immediately searched the ship, retraced the ship's route, and coordinated with U.S. Coast Guard officials."

"During the search, another mariner spotted Mr. Grimes in the ocean and contacted the USCG, and the rescue was made," he said. "We remain greatly appreciative of all the efforts that brought Mr. Grimes to safety."

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What are cruise ship overboard detection systems?

The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010 requires passenger vessels operating in the United States to "integrate technology that can be used for capturing images of passengers or detecting passengers who have fallen overboard, to the extent that such technology is available."

Cruise lines were given an option because when the law was passed, there were no available products that could reliably detect passengers going overboard, according to Brian Salerno, senior vice president of global maritime policy at Cruise Lines International Association, the industry's leading trade group.

"The problem was tuning the technology just right so that you wouldn't be getting false alarms every time a seagull flew by the ship," he said. "It's just human nature, if you have alarms going off constantly, they become less and less important."

In the years since, multiple companies have worked to develop more dependable technology, and CLIA and its member lines worked with the International Organization for Standardization to develop a standard for them.

The standard was finalized around the time the COVID-19 pandemic began, Salerno said, which delayed the process, but some ships have adopted the detection systems.

Boleen said security on board told her that while the Carnival Valor had camera footage from the bar where her brother was last seen, it did not have cameras everywhere because it was an older vessel.

Lupoli said cameras "may not have 100% visibility" in certain places on ships. "We do know that he left a bar on Deck 3, and we later found his clothes and wallet on Deck 6," he said.

In addition to security cameras, Lupoli said, all ships have "safety barriers that are regulated by U.S. Coast Guard standards and prevent a guest from falling off."

How do overboard detection systems work?

Technology company MARSS' MOBtronic system is among those that developed the system for cruises.

The product, which uses thermal cameras and micro radars to detect when someone has gone overboard and can alert crew members, along with other features, is installed on "quite a few" vessels, including one cruise line's entire fleet, according to CEO Johannes Pinl, though he could not name specific lines.

He said he expects the system to receive certification in accordance with the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standard within the first half of 2023.

Salerno said that certification will give cruise lines greater confidence in spending money on overboard detection technology. For its part, MOBtronic starts at around $200,000, Pinl said. Typically, between four and 12 sensor stations are mounted on the ship's exterior, depending on its size and design.

"Overall, considering how much a cruise ship costs ... these investments are minor," he said.

How many cruise ships have overboard detection systems?

Salerno declined to name specific lines but said a number of ships have installed the detection technology. "I think we'll start seeing more and more of the detection equipment once the certification process is complete," he said.

He said he expects that at least one manufacturer will receive certification in accordance with the ISO standard this year.

• Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Holland America Line and MSC Cruises did not answer USA TODAY's questions about whether or not they have the systems installed on their ships and referred inquiries to CLIA.
• Royal Caribbean International and Princess Cruises did not respond to USA TODAY's questions about whether or not they had installed the technology.
• A spokesperson for Disney Cruise Line confirmed the technology is available on its ships, but was unable to share more details.

How many people go overboard on cruise ships?

Between 2009 and 2019, there were 212 overboard incidents globally involving passengers and crew, according to statistics compiled for CLIA by consulting firm G.P. Wild (International) Limited. Only 48 people were rescued.

"I'll stress that people don't just fall over the side," said Salerno. "There are railings and they're pretty high. It's almost always the result of an intentional act."

The CVSSA requires passenger vessels to have rails that are "located not less than 42 inches above the cabin deck." Many cruise ships complied with that even before the law was enacted, according to Cmdr. Jason Kling, Detachment Chief at the U.S. Coast Guard's Cruise Ship National Center of Expertise, which conducts compliance inspections of cruise ships embarking passengers in U.S. ports or embarking U.S. passengers.

Why do people go overboard on cruises?

Alcohol can play a role in overboard incidents, said Michael Winkleman, a maritime attorney with Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman, P.A., who has represented travelers in overboard cases. "Usually, it's just people not making smart decisions because they're dramatically overserved and they end up going over," he said.

He noted that cruise lines have procedures in place to prevent overserving passengers, but in instances when a passenger believes the cruise line contributed to their going overboard, Winkleman said, they could bring a lawsuit. Most suits of that kind are resolved with confidential settlements.

Cruise lines dropped COVID-19 rules: How did that affect cases? We got numbers from the CDC

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"My advice, which I think applies across the board with cruising, is don't leave your common sense at the port," he said.

Regardless of the cause, Salerno said overboard detection systems are aimed at improving the likelihood of a positive outcome. "The sooner the search can begin, obviously, the better the chance of recovery," he said.

In the search for Boleen's brother, she said she believes the crew could have benefitted from an overboard detection system. "I feel like it just would have saved so much time," she said.

Have you or someone you know had an emergency during a cruise sailing?

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Student who fell overboard on cruise ship holiday sent tragic last text to wife

A student is believed to be dead after falling from a cruise ship into the North Sea .

Liam Jones, 23, was on board the MSC Euribia departing from Southampton to enjoy a seven-day holiday in Hamburg, France, Belgium and Amsterdam.

The social work student was last seen on 16 March by his sister after he messaged his wife Sophia Mcphee at home to say he felt sick.

The passenger was confirmed missing by MSC Cruises. Hampshire Police started their investigation once the vessel returned to the UK.

His wife shared her devastation at the sudden loss of her partner.

The 20-year-old from Dundee told the Daily Record: “I feel so lost. He’s just … gone. I’m never going to see him again. I’m devastated.

“I have so many questions, and I’m not getting any answers to what’s happened.”

Ms Mcphee saw her partner for the last time on Thursday 14 March before he made his way from their home to Glasgow to meet his family and board the ship the following day.

“I was first contacted by his sister on Sunday. She said there had been an accident and Liam ‘wasn’t coming back’,” she said. “She then said she had seen CCTV and he’d gone overboard. I’ve not had any contact from anyone since.”

Police confirmed they are still investigating the disappearance.

A Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said: “Officers boarded the vessel on Friday 22 March following a report that a man had gone overboard.

“The man’s family are aware and police are investigating this on behalf of the coroner.”

A spokesman from MSC Cruises said: “A passenger on board MSC Euribia went overboard on March 16 as the ship was sailing to Hamburg. This was reported to the authorities.

“The police in Southampton boarded the vessel today and investigated on behalf of the coroner. We are deeply saddened by this news and our thoughts are with the family at this very difficult time.

“Out of respect for the family’s privacy, we will refrain from disclosing any additional information.”

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The best times to buy furniture in Elektrostal' to get the best deals:

• For indoor furniture, the best times to buy and save are in January, July, and during holiday weekends. Retailers often offer discounts during these periods to clear out old stock before introducing new styles in February and August. Similarly, Presidents Day and Labor Day weekends are great for sales.
• Outdoor furniture is more affordable during the summer months, especially around the 4th of July when many retailers offer discounts.

If you are planning a home remodeling project and intend to buy new furniture, it’s essential to time your purchases strategically. Buying furniture too early might lead to storage issues and increased chances of damage during the remodeling process. On the other hand, waiting too long could leave you with limited options and potential delays in completing your project.

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