Personal Injury Law

Man Overboard Carnival Cruise Liner Rescued By Disney

By Jane Akre

Did He Fall?

A Disney cruise ship came to the rescue of a man who fell overboard from a Carnival ship in the Atlantic early Thursday morning.

The Disney Wonder came close enough to the man, about 30 miles off Port St. Lucie, that it was able to rescue him around 12:45 a.m.

The ship was responding to a notification from the Coast Guard and the Carnival Sensation that the 34-year-old man had gone overboard. The Disney Wonder was in the area and joined a U.S. Coast Guard search.

Late this afternoon*- The Brevard County Sheriff's Office now says it believes the man jumped overboard intentionally, reports Fox in Orlando. The story does not go on to elaborate other than to say he was hospitalized for minor back injuries and will receive a mental examination.

The man was reported to be "physically exhausted" after treading water for about an hour and a half before being brought to the hospital.

Disney "spokeswoman Rena Langley tells USA Today, "We're incredibly proud of our crew members who were able to locate the individual in distress and bring him safely aboard the Disney Wonder."

Both of the ships were on their way back to Port Canaveral after a Bahamas cruise.

In a statement Carnival said, "Carnival wishes to extend its thanks and appreciation to the officers and crew of the Disney Wonder, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard, for their assistance."

Passenger, BigHeadDennis, as he is known in his Twitter profile, tweeted he could hear the Carnival passenger screaming in the water.

Overboards in 2009

Ross Klein, a professor of social work at Memorial University of Newfoundland, follows the cruise industry and runs the Cruise Junkie Web site. He reports that in 2009, Carnival has had eight people overboard, topping the list as the cruise line with the most passengers and crew overboard, not only this year but with 38 since 2000.

The cruise industry does not have to report crimes and accidents to one central authority, so it's difficult to know how many people actually go overboard, though it's a small percentage of people who take a cruise.

Douglas Ward, a cruise expert who has reviewed the industry for 43 years, tells ABC News most people go overboard after a bout of heavy drinking.

"There's been a lot more binge drinking than I've seen in the past," he said.

In 2008, about 16.8 million people took cruises, more than 11 million of them Americans, Ward said. That's up from about 9.4 million cruise passengers in 1999 and 500,000 in 1970.

The case of Jennifer Ellis Seitz, 36 of Florida who went over the balcony of a Norwegian Pearl cruise ship Christmas night 2008 is still not solved. The family believed she may have jumped.

"Overboards always seem to me to be from the larger ships," Ward said.

Cruise Ship Hazards

Ken Carver founded International Cruise Victims, an advocacy and support group for cruise crime and accident victims and their families, after his daughter Merrian Carver disappeared during an August 2004 cruise to Alaska aboard the Celebrity Mercury.

Fire, muggings, sexual assaults, and murder onboard cruise ships are the focus of the Web site Cruise Bruise, which reports on, "The other side to life aboard ship."

Last June, IB News reported on the death at sea of Don Bryce who was sickened at sea and waited for the ship doctor, calling him four times. The doctor showed up after Don died. Jerry McGill, IB partner from Pensacola, Florida says look at the fine print of paragraph 4C of your cruise contract. It lets the cruise line off the hook for any liability since it states the doctor is an independent contractor.

Consumers cannot sue for emotional distress, IB News reported last June. That's in the contract too. #

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on September 03, 2009 (boomark / email).