Cruise Ship Mishaps

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I have been on several cruises. I've heard several tales of sickness on cruises and fires and other events like that on the news. So I have been thinking about the worst thing that ever happened on any of my trips. On one cruise, a newlywed couple jumped overboard about two o'clock in the morning. Some teenagers who were still walking around on deck saw them and immediately found a crew member and told him. The crew member did not believe them and warned them that they could get in BIG trouble if they were joking. In the meantime, the ship is cruising along at 20 or 30 knots. We were about halfway between Haiti and Puerto Rico, if I remember correctly. Finally, the crew member was convinced and reported the incident to the captain. Of course, we were asleep in our cabin, unaware of what was happening. In the morning when we were headed for breakfast in the dining room, the ship tilted big time and we almost fell down in the passageway. It really scared us because the sea was calm. We could see that, after looking out the porthole. At first, we thought the ship had rammed into something, but when we got to the dining room the captain explained what was happening. The ship had been brought to a complete stop and a launch was sent back to try to find the couple who had jumped overboard. Their life jackets had GPS tracking so they did find them and rescue them. They had been drunk but had sobered up pretty fast when they realized what they had done. It's a wonder that they had not been eaten by sharks. The couple were thrown into the "brig" and were discharged to the police in Puerto Rico and were fined heavily for the disturbance caused to the ship and the other passengers. And they had to make their own arrangements to get back home. I hate to think what the entire incident cost them. The reason that the ship had tilted was that the stabilizers that keep the ship from rocking were retracted to make up the time needed to meet the schedule for docking the ship in Puerto Rico. Ships are on a tight schedule to arrive on time. I learned a lot about cruising on this trip. I have a couple more tales to tell later. Stay tuned. Have you ever been on a cruise and had something happen?