People die every day, even on vacation, even on cruise ships. This happens more often than one might think, and the Broward County Medical Examiners Office provides insight into the statistics surrounding cruise ship deaths. Crew members follow meticulous procedures to handle the process respectfully and carefully when someone dies on a cruise ship. The ships medical team confirms the death and immediately informs the captain and necessary port authorities.
When a passenger dies on a cruise, the body will be stored in an onboard morgue until the ship reaches an appropriate port where the body can be transported. In some cases, three deaths on cruise ships per week are estimated. Each cruise line has protocols in place to address such incidents, ensuring the safety, well-being, and dignity of the deceased and their fellow passengers.
With an average incidence rate of 200 deaths per year, the likelihood of experiencing a fatality on a cruise ship is approximately 1 in 6.25 million. Over the years, there have been 623 reported deaths on cruise ships, with 89% of the deaths being passengers and 11% being crew members. While most deaths on cruise ships occur due to natural causes or accidents, there are a few exceptions.
Cruise ships have demographics that may lead to deaths due to old age and illness. Before, procedures for burial at sea were more costly and bureaucratic, but now, procedures are more costly and bureaucratic.
In the case of Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise, 25 passengers died, with 9 men and 3 women on ship A and 10 men and 3 women on ship B. There was an average of one death every six months per ship.
Deaths on cruise ships are rare, but they do happen, as seen in the case of Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise. The unique circumstances of a floating city in international waters, like the Icon of the Seas, can carry up to 7,500 passengers.
📹 What are The Most Common Ways to Die on a Cruise and What Happens if You do Die Onboard?
You may be wondering how many people die on cruise ships annually. It’s inevitable that with so many people taking a cruise, …
Do cruise ships have jails?
…and a jail. There are no police officers on cruise ships, but most vessels have small jails known as the brig, and unruly passengers could find themselves locked up if the ship’s security team determines that they have violated the cruise line’s code of conduct.
The brig, usually a bare-bones room with a bed and bathroom facilities, does not have iron bars like a traditional jail cell. It is used to detain guests who commit serious crimes like assault or possession of illegal substances. Drunk and disorderly passengers may be put under “cabin arrest,” meaning they cannot leave their cabin without a security escort.
Depending on the circumstances, most passengers put in the brig will stay there until they can be handed over to law enforcement officials.
How often do cruise ships lose people?
How Often Does Going Overboard Happen on Cruise Ships?. Because a man overboard situation can happen on any vessel in any part of the world, there are no specific statistics compiled by the U.S. government. In general, there are about 20 incidents a year. You may have seen a headline like “Carnival cruise woman falls overboard” many times over, but it’s usually the same online story circulating in a sensational manner.
Do People Always Die When Going Overboard from a Ship?. No, but survival rates depend on several factors, including whether the person was injured by impact with the water or part of the ship on the way down and how quickly the person can be rescued by the cruise ship crew or Coast Guard.
Wind and weather factors also play a role in a rescue mission. If the seas are rough, it not only makes it difficult for a person to swim, it’s also tough for emergency staff to find them in the water. Other factors include the temperature of the sea; hypothermia can begin to set in when the water is less than 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
What happens if someone dies on a cruise?
Depending on the cruise ship’s itinerary, bodies are stored ready to be disembarked at the next port or released to the relevant services on home turf if the ship’s course is coming to an end – an easier result for bereaved loved ones ready to start making arrangements.
So, what does our avid sailor think of the “ice cream party” rumour?
“I’ve worked at sea now verging on 10 years, and this is a rumour that goes around. On the ships that I’ve worked on (large cruise ships), that would never be the case.”
Do cruises ever leave people behind?
Find a port agent. A cruise ship will leave passengers behind on shore if they arrive back at the ship too late, but the ship staff has procedures in place to help you.
If you are not on the ship and the departure time is drawing near, a security officer may enter your cabin and open your safe to locate your passport, driver’s license, credit cards or any other important stuff you have left there. They’ll also collect your medication and any other necessities you will need because the ship is about to strand you on shore, and you will need to make your own way home.
Related: What documents do you need for a cruise? From passports to printouts, here’s what to take.
How safe are cruise ships?
So, are cruises dangerous? The answer is, generally, no. They’re safe if you follow the same common-sense practices you’d use anywhere else. It’s easy to let your guard down when you’re having a great time on vacation, but remember: Cruise ships are like floating cities, which means they aren’t immune to potential dangers.
Cruise ship safety is the responsibility of both the cruise line and individual passengers. Make sure to exercise an appropriate level of vigilance by protecting your valuables, refraining from inviting strangers to your cabin or giving out too much personal information, paying attention to muster drills, frequently washing your hands, keeping an eye on your children, staying out of restricted areas and knowing your limits when it comes to alcohol consumption.
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Are cruises safer than planes?
Are cruises safer than flying? A new report in Florida says you’re 10 times safer on a cruise ship than an airplane. A new report in Florida says you’re 10 times safer on a cruise ship than an airplane.
Since you only have a 1 in 9,821 chance of dying from an air and space transport incident, flying is actually one of the safest forms of transportation.
Which cruise line is least crowded?. 5 small-ship cruise lines for people who hate crowds.
How do cruise ships know if you fall overboard?
The Coast Guard interprets the statute to mean cruise ships have the option to choose between image-capture systems — like CCTV security cameras — or detection systems, which use technology like thermal cameras and radar to alert crew of someone falling overboard in real time, a spokesperson for the agency told Insider. This gives cruise companies the flexibility to decide which type of technology they use.
But the law’s vague language opens it up to a second interpretation, which some experts say was the original intent of Congress: that cruise ships are allowed to use image capture technology like CCTV cameras to fulfill the CVSSA until reliable man overboard detection technology becomes available.
But the Coast Guard, the agency tasked with ensuring cruise ships comply with the law, does not enforce either requirement because the rulemaking process it first began eight years ago is not yet finished, a Coast Guard spokesperson told Insider. That means for the 10-plus years the CVSSA has been law, the Coast Guard hasn’t inspected cruise ships for any MOB technology, cameras or otherwise, the spokesperson confirmed.
How hard is it to fall off of a cruise ship?
Thanks to chest-high railings surrounding the passenger decks, it’s very difficult to fall from a cruise ship – but people do. Two weeks ago, American teenager Sigmund Ropich plunged into the sea from the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas, as it sailed off the coast of Cuba after departing Port Canaveral in Florida.
In this case, as in other overboards, the ship went into an established search-and-rescue operation. This involves turning the ship around and returning to the point where the passenger entered the water, with the ship’s crew searching the vicinity for several hours. Other ships in the area are also alerted, along with the nearest maritime authority, to assist.
Ropich, who had been holidaying with friends, is still missing and the search for him was wound down after three days. Some observers have criticised the absence of man overboard (MOB) detection systems that use thermal cameras and micro radars to automatically raise the alarm on the bridge if someone plummets into the sea. Only some cruise ships have this technology installed.
How many people pass away on cruise ships?
It won’t shock anyone to learn that cruise lines prefer to avoid talking about people dying on their ships, but there are an estimated 200 annual passenger deaths – hardly surprising given that 31.5 million people take a holiday at sea each year, and their average age is approaching 50.
The most recent incident saw an elderly lady on Royal Caribbean International’s “Ultimate World Cruise” pass away earlier this month. The nine-month journey, which began in Miami in December, has gone somewhat “viral” in recent weeks, with passengers posting TikTok videos detailing the minutiae of onboard life.
Passengers do not share cruise lines’ reluctance to discuss the issue, and, from my experience, seem to have a morbid fascination about what happens when someone dies at sea. The reality is rather low-key, with procedures being discreet, and usually initiated by coded crew announcements: “Operation Bright Star”, indicating a medical emergency and “Operation Rising Star”, which indicates that a passenger has died.
What is the survival rate of a cruise ship?
Are Cruise Ships Giving Your Family Grief?. Only 17% to 25% of the fallen passengers survive. Some laws, like the Cruise Vessel Safety Act, protect passengers; however, when passengers are on board the ship and fall overboard or become victims of a crime, the reality is much different than expected. Below, the top cruise ship lawyer in Los Angeles, Michael Ehline, explains everything you and your loved ones must know.
Samantha Broberg: A Case Study on Intoxication on a Cruise. Samantha Broberg boarded a Carnival cruise ship in Galveston on May 12, 2016. After having 19 drinks onboard the cruise ship, Samantha headed to the 3.5-foot railing after her drinks at the bar and sat there for a moment before she fell into the Gulf of Mexico. The next day, her friends on the cruise ship reported to the relevant cruise ship authorities that Samantha had disappeared.
Cruise passengers helped search for Samantha on the cruise ship, but she was never found. The captain reported the incident to the Coast Guard 15 hours after Samantha had disappeared; the Coast Guard instructed the cruise ship to move forward as Samantha would’ve been dead by now. Her husband went on to sue the Carnival Cruise Line for such a delayed response. The federal judge ruled that the cruise line was not responsible for Samantha’s disappearance.
📹 What Happens If You Fall Off A Cruise Ship?
In this video, we investigate what happens when someone falls overboard from a ship. We look at the immediate actions taken by …
A waiter once told us that the crew members go for long periods of time without seeing their family and friends because their contracts last for many, many months. Many become depressed. Unfortunately, jumpers are commonly distraught crew members. Please do a article about hard the jobs of the crew members are. They work hours on end, back to back shifts. No cruise guest should feel that gratuities are undeserved!
My awesome kindergarten teacher, who retired after my class, passed away on an around the world cruise the just after I graduated from high school off the coast of South Korea. I do hope that she was near the end of her cruise instead of the beginning. I decided when I read her obituary that it was the ideal way to go.
I used to work for Amtrak and knew people who worked on the Virginia-Florida Auto-Train, where you take your car with you. The clientele skews older, lots of “snow birds” going to/from winter homes in FL, and it’s not uncommon to see more than 10 wheelchair-bound people boarding at once. So, it’s not unheard of for someone not to make it to the end of the trip alive. It’s become somewhat routine, maybe that’s a bit harsh, but they know how to deal with it quietly.
I remember reading about the grandfather dropping his grandchild when it happened and as a mom, it broke my heart. I was literally crying because my daughter was around the same age and we were looking at booking a future cruise to take her on. I remember looking over at my partner and telling him to never lift her over the railing or even near it. I also worry about my kids drowning and having a balcony with kids. All it takes is a moment of inattention for an accident to happen, both on the ship and on land!
I think you glossed over the fact that Royal Caribbean did not tell their passengers that the volcanic activity on White Island was higher than usual (hell, volcanologists didn’t go on the island during that time because they deemed it too dangerous and the cruise company didn’t tell their passengers). There are many families affected who are still embroiled in lawsuits with them over that. It was their responsibility and it was negligence at best that they should be held accountable for.
A friend of mine was travelling outside the country for the first time, going to Pakistan to visit family. I asked him if he got travel insurance and he said his dad told him it’s waste of money and he didn’t need it. I told him that something could happen and he might need medical treatment or even repatriation back to Canada. While he was in Pakistan he was on a tour boat that sank in the ocean and he watched several people die as he floated on a drinks cooler. He told me that he remembered what I had said while he was floating in the ocean before being rescued by the Pakistan navy. The point is that you never know what might happen. Now he always gets travel insurance. It’s a small price to pay.
Very first cruise my husband and I went on in 2009 was a 16 day repo cruise with NCL on the Spirit. Boston to NOLA. There was a very large group on the ship from Germany. One of the places we stopped was Guatemala. The port was completely enclosed with two towers with armed officers and barbed wire on top of the stone wall. When we got off the ship to get on the bus for our excursion there were armed officers guiding us to our bus in the enclosure. Even with out speaking the language you could figure out things were dicey. One of the museums we went into was closed to public and we were locked in while there. When we got back the ship was to leave about 4 or 5 and we sat there for hours. The locals who were hired to sell items, food and sing in the enclosure for the day then sang to us from the dock saying goodbye they stayed whole time, in the dark. Later when we finally left we found out that two German fellows walked out on their own and rented a taxi. On the way back to the ship they asked to be dropped at a cemetery nearby to take pictures. A man came up to them and demanded their cameras, wallets etc. One man gave his and the other refused. He was shot, taken to hospital and 4 days later died in Guatemala. We found out from some Germans we had made friends with. It was very surreal and a bit shocking really.
My lovely neighbours, Doreen and Gordon used to love Cruising. They loved ‘Oriana’ best, but have done the QE2. Gordon had a heart attack whilst on a Cruise, and received excellent medical care in Spain. {Obviously, he would have had insurance} He was literally escorted back to their house in England by a private nurse! Sadly, a few years later, Gordon died in bed of a heart attack, painlessly, in his sleep, at home, next to his beloved wife. I miss them as neighbours, Doreen died a few years later, in her Nineties. Bless you, Doreen and Gordon, and you can now ‘Cruise’ wherever you like ..in the Ether ⚓🛳🙏💖
We were on a cruise once and the captain announced that we would be late leaving port due to someone having a heart attack and having to go to hospital and also get their belongings packed up etc from their cabin. We later found out a couple who hated their room upon hearing that announcement went straight to guest services to ask for that room.. the poor man probably wasn’t even at A & E yet… The couples take was every cloud has a silver lining!!!
My first cruise involved installing some equipment as a contractor on Freedom of the Seas, back in 2007. By the time we got the job done we had docked in Cozumel, and my colleague decided to fly home from there. Screw that, I thought, I’ll stay on board for the next five days and “test the equipment to ensure its reliability” or some such cover story that I can’t exactly recall. We had to search the entire ship for some missing parts, and ended up in the hospital area where they proudly showed me their (empty) morgue refrigerator – could hold maybe four bodies. I noticed their price list included a fee for body bags – hundreds of dollars as I recall, which is cheeky since they only cost about $15 wholesale. Perhaps they were souvenir body bags with the Royal Caribbean logo? Anyway, got to see Haiti, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands on the remainder of the cruise, then back to Miami and a flight home to LA.
I was on a cruise with my parents when I was eleven. We had three deaths during the cruise. An elderley man died of a heart attack, a young man dived from a higher deck into a swimming pool while drunk but did not realise the pool had been emptied and a crew member died during a life boat drill when he fell out of the life boat and was killed but the motor. It was a long cruise about 21 days. The ship was the Shaw Saville Northern Star
In 1998 a older guy at the table next to us just went face down into his dinner plate, we just hear the thud and then screams of family members. Ship doctor came, CPR and paddles were tried before wheeling him out of the dining room. The next night a different family was at that table. That was my 2nd cruise. I’m now up to 30 cruises so I guess that did not frighten me off.
Excellent article again Emma, can’t get much better as you are near perfect already 😂 I did wonder if you would mention the volcano in New Zealand incident. I live in the Tauranga region, where that happened. If White Island is having a busy time on a clear day, you can see the white clouds from it from the beach. It was a sad day when that happened, there are still 2 people that were never found. I think the ship was Ovation of the Seas, she stayed two nights if I remember, as a result of the incident, and got an amazing send off from locals when she left. Keep up the good work Emma!
The grandfather that dropped his grandchild ORIGINALLY was trying to file suit against RCCL as were the parents stating that RCCL should have had signs or some way of knowing the window was open. As cruisers, we ALL know when you are on the pool deck and the windows are open, there is a breeze and loud noises from the dock below. AND, on RCCL’s older vessels like the FOS, the windows are tinted so it is obvious when the window is open. Also, the bottom windows area angled inwards so why didn’t he just let the child look down? Sorry, didn’t want to go to deep into the story but this story when it happened REALLY set me off.
I recently went on a cruise were someone “accidentally” ( I’m not entirely convinced that it was an accident) fell of the boat. Someone noticed he fell and they found his dead body in the water after 30 minutes of looking. They also sett of an alarm while looking (yes it was on for 30 minutes)They announced it in the morning and everyone took a moment of silence for him and his family.
The thing about high profile (murders) vs. low profile (drowning in pool) deaths is SO true. I used to live at the beach in NC, and every year we had from 20 up to 50 people drown in the ocean. Very little was said about it: “A man drowned today at Emerald Isle.” was about the total of the news report. But when someone died of shark attack, there would be a 15 minute segment about it, and I think the most we ever lost in one year to sharks was 7. BTW- I was on one Carnival cruise where I literally thought some people were going to drink themselves to death. Don’t know if anyone ever did, but unlimited drinks is not always a good thing.
My guess is that inattentive parents (accidents and drownings involving children) and inebriated, uninhibited adults account for the vast majority of accidental deaths onboard cruise ships. People need to take personal responsibility for their behavior and be held accountable rather than find some way to blame the cruise operator for failing to anticipate and prevent passengers’ irresponsibility.
That bit from 2:04-2:07 is like…the most intense Emma article cutting ever lol. You’ve got a little bit of Hitchcock in you. Definitely woke me up. But I definitely agree with the message. Don’t try to climb cruise ships!! Loving these articles even though I’ve never even considered going on a cruise ship.
I saw this article and I’ve been on a younger “30 something” for single, divorced & available passengers. The amount of alcohol and inhibitors lowered… I saw many passengers treated for alcohol poisoning and dehydration. And with the “meeting up” or “hooking up”(consensual romantic encounters) caused related stress and anxiety for men and women to see their previous sexual partner romantically into another single passenger. I thought it would be a nice way to be able to act socially but it was just more of a hedonistic meat market
I was listing to podcast I thank it was Behind the crew door but not sure. They told the story of a family getting on board the ship with Grandmother in a wheel chair she appeared to be sleeping or something. They all got on board. But the first night of the cruise Grandmother was found dead in her stateroom. The family decide to keep cruising and not get off the ship in the next port. I guess they left Grandmother where they kept dead bodies. Until the cruise was over. This sounds horrible it is very costly fly a dead body.
Most cruise pools about 5′ deep, so the average adult will be able to stand up with his head above the water. You’d have to bump your head in order to drown since swimming isn’t even necessary in these pools. There has been someone die on half the cruises I’ve been on. They are typically elderly people having heart attacks, so they would have likely died at home just as easily. It’s hardly surprising when these offseason cruises are packed with hundreds of octogenarians.
On two different cruises we had a person die on each. Both were older and died of a heart attack. They both died in their cabin. With the first one the individual died in nis sleep. The cruise ship turned back to the port we left the evening before and the ship turned around and went back to the port we left the night before because there was an American Embassy there which could expedite getting the wife and her deceased husband back to the United States. The second occurred on the night before the ship pulled into the final stop in the U.S. It took hours before passengers could get off the ship because the U.S. Coast Guard came on board and wouldn’t let anyone disembark for hours as they investigated.
If I die on a cruise, be sure to ask my kids whether the line agreed to pro-rate the dining package, excursions, and tips. Not because my kids would ever request that, but because I now know to suggest in my will that they ask. Oh, and I’ll have them get clarification on whether I was put in the morgue, or replaced ice cream, potatoes, other veggies, or thawing meat. Might as well get some answers to settle the comment discussions, so my death wouldn’t have been in vain. 😉 I was on a cruise on the Canberra where we stopped in the middle of the Atlantic to bring a heart attack patient onboard from a Soviet commercial vessel. Fellow passengers, including a Canadian engineer in the cabin next to mine, built a defibrillator using parts from article recording electronics they had used to record the solar eclipse we had seen. This was in 1973. The rendezvous happened in the middle of the night, and it was quite something to watch a lifeboat or launch head out on the high seas to the other ship a few hundred yards away and bring the patient back.
Somebody died on the last cruise I went on but it was natural causes. Last year on the Caribbean Princess, some guy’s husband had cancer and always wanted to go on a cruise so they went. He died during the cruise. They wouldn’t let the guy into his cabin for a couple days to get anything out because they were investigating the death to make sure it was natural causes.
2022 Sept. Emma a nice lady like you talking death… Had an older friend from the Firehouse who was on a cruise with his wife die in bed. Logistics had to be worked out and legal procedures followed. His son was a Jet Blue pilot who then flew out and rode with his dad back to the US. Thanks for this post done in a proper manner.
What an emotionally delicate topic, handled very well. In a lighter view of the subject, I highly recommend one of my favorite Agatha Christie novels, “Death on the Nile.” Hercule Poirot is able to solve a mystery involving a murder on a boat cruising on the Nile River in Egypt. Although it is a gruesome subject, it is actually a light and fairly fast read, and has an intriguing twist in the plot!
Seem to remember on one of the cruises we went on, someone died, and was handled well only a few people knew about it, a few times we arrived in port early then expected due to someone been taken ill, so the cruise ship could be greeted by the ambulance team, but we were un aware the cruise ship was travelling faster during the night,
Things like corneas and strokes don’t consider the convenience of the moment – you could be in your cabin, on deck, in the bar, lazing by the pool and you suddenly, without warning, have a cornea or a stroke! I had my stroke in my own front room – my horoscope that morning didn’t say that I would have a stroke!
We had a guy die on Norwegian Epic, they took him off at St. Thomas, as we were too far from Madeira (the previous port) to go back, and out of practical range for seaplanes and choppers to take him off. On the same cruise, they took a sick guy off by chopper near Madeira, the ship was actually turned around to go back and rendezvous with the chopper, we heard he lived. On that particular cruise, I was surprised the toll was not worse- two week cruise with an average age of 66, and I think some young people brought the average down a lot. Honestly, the ship looked like an old age pensioner’s home.
Hi Emma, Your missing a group from your murder/ death stats….crew are very rarely mentioned when they disappear at Sea & its a fact that rivalry between crew rather than staff results in somebody going overboard dead or alive. Why would you freeze a dead body????? The ships I worked on used to keep them nicely chilled with the veg.On really long cruises (especially from Miami its cheaper to put elderly relations on a cruise than keep them in a US nursing home) we used to have a bet (cash) on how many pax wouldn’t make it back to Miami, Short of pushing somebody downstairs I never won!!!!! Grrrrrrrr
I mean, the number of deaths from natural causes has to be way higher than 200 in a good season purely based on the number of 50+ cruises and some world cruises being (more or less) floating retirement villages. I’ve got to imagine that Cunard trans Atlantic voyages don’t always finish with the same number they started with when you consider how big Queen Mary 2 is and how old their clientele are.
Years ago when my daughter worked on the cruise ships, they did have one cruise that a half dozen passengers passed away. As their morgue only had room for 3 they had to put the others in the freezer (not saying which one) but lets just say that they crew were particular on what they ate till they got back to port.
Fingers crossed 🤞…….🤣🤣🤣 I go to a well known group of hotels frequented by elderly guests in a well known location at least once a year and I know they have a procedure for deaths on the premises and what it is. The food freezer rumour isn’t a rumour wether it would be an ice cream freezer or just a general freezer would depend on individual circumstances so I would imagine a cruise ship would have a procedure for excess bodies above the morgue capacity.
You would be surprised how often this subject comes up in Captain’s Corner onboard. Your info was good and not sensationalized, well done. The “Operation” followed by other words are a certain cruise line specific. You would never put a body in a freezer, so the ice cream story is false, sorry, but the meat thawing room would be the correct temperature. Normal procedure is to land the body as soon as possible and many port require this as part of their procedures.