Going "Overboard" on the Grand Princess Cruise Ship

As I write this article I honestly have to wonder about the youth today. A good friend of mine was enjoying her first cruise and seven day vacation ever on the Grand Princess this past week and agreed to let me interview her on the happenings that caused this debacle.

The 20 year old female and 22 year old male began the cruise with friends looking to hook up on the trip. Another "Girls Gone Wild" spring break moment? I'm going to have to say YES on all accounts. They met and began partying on day 1 of the voyage. Quite a few drinks in a state room with minors later, the couple got to know each other in their birthday suits and our male friend decided that hoisting her up on the balcony for some sexual acts would be pretty exciting. I don't have the details on "how" she fell, but I'm guessing he might have been enjoying things a little "too much." As she plummeted 60 feet (9 stories) down into the ocean (which thankfully was a balmy 80 degrees), our young suitor decided he better jump in to save her without letting any of his party goers know his whereabouts. The party goers noticing he was overboard, along with his new girlfriend, chose to clean up all of their evidence (of under age drinking) before calling for help.

As the couple was separated by the current and the darkness of night ensued, it became a four hour rescue mission to find these two. It is a miracle that the engines of the ship did not drag them under. My friend states: "The captain asked everyone to go out on their decks and look in the water and be completely silent. We spotted the man about a mile off. He looked like a tiny white speck in the water. Someone yelled "I found him!" Everyone kept staring at the tiny white dot thinking that CAN'T be him, until we finally saw his arm wave. Then everyone started screaming and pointing for the lifeboats to find him. After we spotted him, the coast guard helicopter flew in and shown their light on him and followed him in. It was the spookiest thing ever. We were all bawling when they found him. It was just like the Titanic with dead silence. Four lifeboats kept maneuvering through the water with flashlights just like the movie."

All of the passengers on board were very angry when the captain allowed them to stay on the cruise. Their excursions in Costa Maya were canceled due to the fact they didn't get into port until 2pm and were due at 6am. When they pulled the man into the lifeboat he was butt naked and as my friend quotes, "hadn't seen the inside of a tanning bed in his lifetime." The girl had cracked ribs and jellyfish stings all over her. The man was injury free. It amazes me that they had no issues staying afloat for that amount of time or no sea creatures attacking them (besides the jellyfish of course). The girl was rescued on the port side so my friend didn't see that one live and in person as she did the male. Obviously she saw more than she bargained for when they pulled him into the boat.

The girl decided to fly home (I'm sure she was utterly embarrassed and injured to boot). The man stayed on the cruise for the duration. As they docked at port my friend watched as the man who fell in pretended to be a passenger and paint a rosy picture that this guy was a "Saint!" She laughed at how naïve the press was and how they ate up the story from the actual culprit. CNN bought the night vision video from her friends so that made for a fun story. Luckily things went on as planned from there and no other incidents were reported for the rest of her vacation.

I hope that those minors learned a valuable lesson but as no one "died" they probably will continue on their merry way. I'm so happy that both of these folks are ok but thousands of people shared in their agony and worry and it ended up being a more exhausting vacation than a relaxing one for many.