In One Ear: Man overboard

Published 12:15 am Thursday, July 6, 2023

Just last week there was scary news about two incidents of passengers going overboard from two different cruise ships, which leads to the question: Just how often does this happen?

Cruise Lines Industry Association senior vice president for maritime policy, Brian Salerno, told The New York Times last year 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.” The bad news is that the Cruise Lines Industry Association says the survival rate of those who go over the side is only 30%.

If you really want the gritty details, though, cruisejunkie.com has them. For instance, from 2000 to 2020, 307 cruise ship passengers and crew members went overboard. However, when you consider the number of ships and cruises there are, along with how many thousands of people are aboard at any given time, the bottom line is that cruising is probably one of the safer modes of travel. So go ahead, take that cruise.