Cruise ships are microcosms of life, and death

Updated on November 19 due to new information

When a 52-year-old American woman plummeted from the lido deck of the Royal Princess onto a lifeboat several decks below during a Caribbean cruise, it shocked her fellow passengers, the crew and cruise-lovers in general.

The woman died and a man, who was arrested by police when the boat docked at the island of Aruba, now stands accused of murder. It is alleged that he strangled her and threw her overboard.

Such events are, thankfully, rare on cruise ships, but they do happen. This was, it would seem, an incident of male violence against women. That does not, of course, make it inconsequential. It’s an individual tragedy, and part of an terrible global trend that must be tackled.

It does not, however, make cruising any less safe. The sad reality is that crime happens at sea as it does on land. At the time of writing, the investigation is in its early stages, so I’m not going to speculate too much about this incident.

Security and general staff on board cruise ships are trained to cope with all sorts of eventualities. The captain, who has ultimate authority on board,  can order a suspected offender locked up in the brig or confined to a cabin under guard until authorities at the next port are available to deal with the matter.

I expect that this case will

be thoroughly investigated

Ship officers are at work all the time in a preventative role, too. I met one man on a cruise who got so drunk that he was trying to get into the wrong cabin, on the wrong deck. He was first taken to the ship’s medical centre, to make sure he was OK, then detained until we reached the next port.

When you go cruising, especially on large ships that can carry as many as 8,000 people, you have to be prepared for all of life’s eventualities. There are romances, weddings, parties, accidents, births (although very pregnant women are discouraged from sailing), sickness and deaths, most often by natural causes.

While there have been accusations of cover-ups and botched investigated in past on-board incidents, I hope, and expect, that this case will be thoroughly probed and pursued through the appropriate channels.

Footnote: If you are interested in this grisly subject, you may wish to visit the Cruise Ship Murders website. (Links are not necessarily endorsements, always tread carefully.)