If Someone Jumps the Cruise Ship's Railing at Sea, What's the Protocol?
Does someone dive in after them with that small red flourescent floatation device, like the lifeguard at Wet n Wild? Or do they yell out,.."man overboard" & then stop,…& then lower a dingy all nice n slow-like? Or what?
Its called a man overboard maneuver. The ship circles back, and a lifeboat is lowered to pick the person up. The crew does NOT jump off the ship to go get them! That would be dangerous to the crew member, jumping 40 ft or so, or the person who went overboard trying to drown them. It would also be a long swim to even get to the person. Remember, the ship is traveling at about 15 knots. So, no Wet n Wild lifeguard stuff, just standard man overboard procedures that every ship practices.
If the person jumped on purpose (did not fall or get pushed) they would be in BIG trouble!
A red light starts flashing and you run around in circles screaming like panicking idiots.
The Captain will come on deck and serve margaritas all around while the events coordinator takes bets on how long the jumper will stay afloat.
Nah – the ring buoys have extra long ropes to toss out to people who fall overboard, but are still conscious/uninjured enough to grab a flotation device. For jumpers (who, as would-be suicides, might be reluctant to grab hold) and for injured or unconscious people, a trained member of personnel will go in after the person. There’s actually a special way of jumping that cruise personnel and lifeguards are taught that keeps the rescuer from injuring themselves as they go in after the jumper/faller.