Girl falls over railing on cruise ship ....what kind of world do we live in?

[sam_gordon]

I didn't say when they released the video. I said when they released the results of the video. I meant that once the proper authorities viewed the footage they might issue a statement.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

That is the way it works.

I am just going to say that if they accept settlement, then they get the "gag order" usually.

That is what is worth to these large bodies of conglomeration.

Look into their advertising budget. Lawsuits are peanuts to them. Esp. if they can get the incident to go away.

This. I bet most would be blown away at the amount that Disney pays to people who come knocking with lawsuits. It's much cheaper for these companies to payout and attach an NDA than to fight it and have it become public record.

 

[RedAngie]

To me, the telling quote is the one where they said, "No matter what, the family will be pursuing some sort of legal action".

So the spokesperson says that even if a video surfaces of the girl climbing on top of the rail and making a perfect swan dive, the family will STILL pursue legal action against Carnival?

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

In regards to the bolded, too bad. They should just shake it off and be ready to act appropriately and speak rationally and without emotion, the media wants to hear the details for goodness sake. Nobody has time for them to be grieving, distraught, lashing out irrationally or any other nonsense. I'm sure all of the stalwart citizens critiquing them via the evidence contained in the investigative journalism to be found all over the web could pull it off flawlessly in their shoes.

Yup. I hate that as a society we are so comfortable with back seat quarterbacking. Especially when it comes from the death of a child. No respect for the family. Walk a mile people.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

I am usually quick to roll my eyes at people that scream lawsuit right out of the gate, this is no exception, however I am trying to think about this as a mom. If this were me I'd be looking for something, literally any little detail, that could have caused my child's death other than me or them etc. I would think that the guilt would be so consuming that I'd probably try and find a way to relieve myself of that burden.

In this situation almost nobody would say "hey I guess we had that coming to us, should have been paying attention a little more". I think for many, at least I hope so, that this is not about the money but is instead about getting some emotional relief from some of the pain.

No matter how it happened, if she was climbing, if the mom wasn't paying attention, if the railing was inadequate, if somebody pushed her....a little girl is dead, a mom watched her child die and a family will never recover from this. My heart goes out to the family during this horrifying time.

 

[marlynnp]

I've been on that ship. I saw her picture, she's not 8 feet tall. There's no way in hell she just fell over the railing. They are NOT low at all.

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

I am usually quick to roll my eyes at people that scream lawsuit right out of the gate, this is no exception, however I am trying to think about this as a mom. If this were me I'd be looking for something, literally any little detail, that could have caused my child's death other than me or them etc. I would think that the guilt would be so consuming that I'd probably try and find a way to relieve myself of that burden.

In this situation almost nobody would say "hey I guess we had that coming to us, should have been paying attention a little more". I think for many, at least I hope so, that this is not about the money but is instead about getting some emotional relief from some of the pain.

No matter how it happened, if she was climbing, if the mom wasn't paying attention, if the railing was inadequate, if somebody pushed her....a little girl is dead, a mom watched her child die and a family will never recover from this. My heart goes out to the family during this horrifying time.

I can see how this would be a reasonable line of thinking for someone dealing with the loss of a child.

Maybe some good (and I hesitate to use that word) will come from this. I'm thinking at the very least, raising parents' and childrens' awareness about the dangers that exist while onboard a ship.

Anyone that has cruised even one time has heard announcements onboard about the danger of fire at sea. We have all heard the warnings about throwing cigarettes overboard and the potential for them to blow back onboard to a lower deck. Announcements are made during the muster drill and at various times throughout the cruise reminding everyone of the danger of fire at sea. Perhaps some of the very same announcements about potential falls should be brought to the attention of passengers (both parents and children) as well. Simply raising awareness would be the obvious first step to me.

I also think the crew should be given more freedom to stop dangerous behavior when they see it without fear of losing their job or getting a negative survey filled out by an offended passenger.

Cruise lines have begun marketing to a younger demographic in recent decades. Maybe they need to up their game when it comes to those same younger passengers' safety.

I would also add that they can make announcement after announcement, warning after warning, and none of them will do any good without personal responsibility. Unless a railing is structurally unsound, I cannot see how someone could accidentally fall over one unless there was either some sort of climbing or copious amounts of alcohol involved.

 

[ELKA]

Personally I feel it is the parent’s responsibility to watch their kids or make sure that there is someone who is watching them. Don’t be on the phone.

This happened a Disney Cruise ship. It was embarkation day, I was exploring since it was my first time on the Dream. A boy, about 3 was walking away and started going in the opposite direction of Cabanas, he was past the hot tub and the pool. It was obvious that no one was watching him except me. He just continued walking and still nobody. I stopped him without touching him and asked where’s your mom. He gestured towards the way he came. I said let’s go to your mom and followed him. When he got to his mother she was playing on her phone, I told her that her son was all the way down the deck alone and she said that I was preventing her from watching her kid.

The second one, was at a rail road station. A mother was going through the crowd, on her phone dragging her daughter about 8. A man going in the other direction swung his bag and hit the daughter in the face. It was an accident, I doubt he knew he hit her. The girl stopped because she was startled and when the mother looked at her, began crying. The mother began to yell at her daughter for crying until I told her that her daughter had been hit in the face.

What gets me is the mother was on the phone, had not one of the other adults with them watching her daughter and is now suing the cruise ship to find out what exactly happened. It is obvious that she was not paying attention, and unfortunately paid a monumental price.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Personally I feel it is the parent’s responsibility to watch their kids or make sure that there is someone who is watching them. Don’t be on the phone.

This happened a Disney Cruise ship. It was embarkation day, I was exploring since it was my first time on the Dream. A boy, about 3 was walking away and started going in the opposite direction of Cabanas, he was past the hot tub and the pool. It was obvious that no one was watching him except me. He just continued walking and still nobody. I stopped him without touching him and asked where’s your mom. He gestured towards the way he came. I said let’s go to your mom and followed him. When he got to his mother she was playing on her phone, I told her that her son was all the way down the deck alone and she said that I was preventing her from watching her kid.

The second one, was at a rail road station. A mother was going through the crowd, on her phone dragging her daughter about 8. A man going in the other direction swung his bag and hit the daughter in the face. It was an accident, I doubt he knew he hit her. The girl stopped because she was startled and when the mother looked at her, began crying. The mother began to yell at her daughter for crying until I told her that her daughter had been hit in the face.

What gets me is the mother was on the phone, had not one of the other adults with them watching her daughter and is now suing the cruise ship to find out what exactly happened. It is obvious that she was not paying attention, and unfortunately paid a monumental price.

Bravo for being aware of your surroundings and of others!
As others have said in the past ( no, not just Hillary), it takes a village.

Being a parent is one of the most important jobs without expertise needed.
Someday, hopefully soon, the millennials will realise how to balance portable communication/ computer devices with the rest of their responsibilities.

This is not an indictment of all who grew up thinking a portable phone was the answer to every question, just a reminder that the learning curve requires that you still need to engage the "eyes in the back of your head". I was fortunate not only as a child in the 60's but as a parent in the 80's. I knew that if I missed something (and miss you will) my neighbors, sisters, mother, grandparents would pick up on the slack.
Keep the village intact.

 

[cabanafrau]

I can see how this would be a reasonable line of thinking for someone dealing with the loss of a child.

I have to admit if I lost a child I'm not confident whatsoever that "reasonable line of thinking" would be used to describe me in any way whatsoever, particularly in the immediate aftermath. It's not uncommon for those who lose loved ones to cancer or other illnesses to insist the doctors are responsible for the death. Grief often clouds judgment terribly and people say and do things while flailing to cope.

 

[ronandannette]

I find this thread interesting when juxtaposed against several incidents we have also discussed - the precious children lost in the lagoon at WDW and in the revolving restaurant. It seems the families in those two cases were much more roundly vilified for their own "negligence" than this one.

Is it perhaps because going immediately on the legal offensive has subliminally influenced people to think perhaps the criuseline is at fault? To my knowledge neither of the other families did so.

 

[cabanafrau]

I find this thread interesting when juxtaposed against several incidents we have also discussed - the precious children lost in the lagoon at WDW and in the revolving restaurant. It seems the families in those two cases were much more roundly vilified for their own "negligence" than this one.

Is it perhaps because going immediately on the legal offensive has subliminally influenced people to think perhaps the criuseline is at fault? To my knowledge neither of the other families did so.

Well for myself I can tell you that I didn't vilify either of those families either. I've not made any comment about the culpability of this family. For all I know this child would be alive but for their negligence. I don't understand the situation enough to have an idea about that. The fact that a relative supposedly made a comment about a lawsuit doesn't mean much to me. In the first place I have no idea whether the relative has any actual insight into the situation to make that claim. Secondly, I leave room in a situation like this for family to be talking out of their heads and possibly wildly lashing out without it having any rational basis. Finally, I understand that there will be outsiders with motives of their own, with profit motives of their own, who will not hesitate to swoop in and manipulate the raw emotions of people in these situations for their own gain -- no matter the factual basis behind the incident.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

An eight year old girl was apparently "standing on her tippy toes" to peer over the balcony and fell over, hitting her head on a table and died as a result. The story is tragic and the family is understandably upset. I would be beyond words myself but the news reports quote this

"Zion’s great uncle, Damien Fox, told Local 10 news he came to Miami to help his family find out what happened.

“We just need some justice and we need some answers,” Fox said. “Once we get that, we can move forward.”"

Why is in God's name do they need to get JUSTICE? Was this a random attack? Is this girl in need of vindication or was she just the victim of an awful tragic mistake....lean over a balcony too far and you fall over? Why does every tragic event in this country have to start with "where's the MONEY?"
Sorry, I might just be overly sensitive today, but that quote just struck me the wrong way.

If at 8 years old, she didn't know that she shouldn't lean over a railing with a drop, then her parents failed as parents.
Just like the mom at Niagara Falls, who had the kid up on the railing to take a picture, and he fell off. Parental fail.
These parents need to take responsibility. It's not the cruise ships fault, nor is it the fault of Niagara Falls. This wasn't caused by a broken railing or unkempt safety feature.