Dad of the year, 2025

[Mik]

One does wonder how a five year old got over the railing.

[jon-nyc]

Still, he could have been a wuss like 89 and, after personally losing his child, grabbed a beer and waited for the cops to save her.

So, you know.

[89th]

To be fair I did tell my 2 year old "I hear there's free ice cream on the far side of the parking lot... let's freak out mom for a few minutes wink wink"

[89th]

Back to the original story, regardless of how she fell overboard, would any dad here NOT jump in after your 5 year old? And yes, I know how difficult it is to keep someone above water when you have to tread water (lifeguard training back in the day...)

[jon-nyc]

Reflexively. Today the smart thing for me would be to call the crew and keep an eye on my son the lifeguard but i still wonder if I would reflexively jump in or at least start to.

[LuFins Dad]

@Mik said in Dad of the year, 2025:

One does wonder how a five year old got over the railing.

When Karla and I were on a cruise 20 years ago, I leaned against the railing, and the entire section opened up. Turns out it was a gate that wasn’t secured. I was suspended over open ocean. I have no trust of cruises, and even less now after reading this.

[jon-nyc]

You’re just protecting Karla. She lifted you up onto the railing for a picture, admit it.

[Mik]

Cruises are fine. It's the railings you should not trust.

But come to think of it, had Karla been out there without you for a while beforehand?

[LuFins Dad]

We were newly married at that time. In fact Lucas was a glimmer in my rum addled eye that trip…

[Mik]

Buyer's remorse? Works that way for pianos sometimes.

[Axtremus]

Yeah, I was thinking a competent parent would have prevented the kid from falling from a cruise ship into the ocean in the first place.

[89th]

@Mik said in Dad of the year, 2025:

Cruises are fine. It's the railings you should not trust.

But come to think of it, had Karla been out there without you for a while beforehand?

Lol

[jon-nyc]

Saw this in a news report:

It is rare for people to fall off a cruise ship, but when they do, they often do not survive.

In 2019, the most recent year data is available, 25 people fell overboard and only nine of them were rescued, according to a Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) report.

[89th]

The latest information is the girl fell through a porthole while her family was playing shuffleboard. I'm surprised there isn't more information, pictures, or footage of exactly what happened (I guess Disney is controlling that), but some folks are saying all the portholes have plexiglass, others are saying some portholes don't, but I'd have to imagine this is a negligence nightmare for Disney if a child could somehow fall through one.

I'm also surprised (but also not) that we haven't seen the dad/child doing tv interviews yet.