Fred Fry International
Maritime Monday: Cruise Ships Are Inherently Dangerous
October 29, 2007
Who Is Fred Fry? That is a good question. He runs a blog that covers events related to the Maritime industry. There is some evidence that he is an American who spent a great deal of time in Finland, and married a woman while there. At minimum, his interest in the maritime industry, seems natural, given the great history of the Fins and the sea. There may be more to the story about Fry, his love of ships and the sea, but that is not really the focus of this article.
Fred Fry has on numerous occassions visited Cruise Bruise and blogged about cases we have added to our data base. We consider him pretty much a guru on the topic of things that go bump at sea, because he spends a great deal of time researching events for his Maritime Monday series on the blog. That gives him the distinction of being well-informed in his chosen blog field, according to us.
A quick look at his traffic indicates there is a good following of visitors who think of him as their source for all maritime matters that are news worthy. His little blog averages 5,000 page views per month, according to his public access website stats. The stats go back to March of 2007, when it is assumed he first launched the Fred Fry International blog, or at least decided to use Statcounter as his chosen stat provider.
We are very familar with Statcounter and how to read those stats, as it is one of the two statistical providers we use as well. Since March 14, 2007, he has racked up about 40,000 page views, which is really very impressive considering how new his narrow nitch is to the web and blogs.
On Maritime Monday, October 29, 2007, Fred again refers his visitors to Cruise Bruise and our article submitted by Cruise Bruise visitor Jodi Farnsworth who reported her family's incident where the infant girl was refused emergency services when an accident resulted in the destruction of her baby formula while on a cruise.
In Fred's opinion, anyone who takes an infant on a cruise ship is acting "irresponsible", because in his words cruise ships are "inherently dangerous". This is something I would expect to hear from a commerical vessel mariner such as crew on a cargo ship. This statement from the Maritime Monday guy is really quite important, when you think of it in terms of cruising.
What struck me most is this. This was a baby, one who may have begun to walk, but not likely walking good enough to run or to be left unattended for a minute since she would still be falling down alot and unsteady on her feet. For the most part this child would have been carried around the ship, in his parents' protective arms, not running about as a toddler or small child might have been. On that topic, I consider myself informed, having raised children into their adult years and currently am raising a grandchild the same age as Farnsworth's daughter.
Fred says that taking an infant on a cruise ship is "irresponsible" because of the inherent danger of a ship. On that fact, I could not agree more, the ship is inherently dangerous.
Looking at that statement deeper, I think what Fred is saying, is no matter how safe the parents are, cruise ships are just plain dangerous. At last, somebody on the web is willing to admit this.
Having been on cruises aboard everything from U.S. military aircraft carriers to their battle ships, cruise ships to ferries, steamboats to paddle boats, sailboats to houseboats right down to motor boats, row boats, canoes, rubber boats and inner tube voyages, I have experienced the good and bad of water travel in a wide range of vessels and in a wide range of bodies of water. Water travel is dangerous, no matter what size the vessel is, who is on the journey, or for what purpose.
With all the events at sea, that were simply because of weather, crew negligence or cruise line failure to properly maintain the ship, a cruise ship is dangerous to anyone, of any age.
A passenger can only control their environment so much on a vessel. For the most part, you have to throw caution to the wind, and hope that everyone within the corporation, from the top to the bottom, do their job 100% and the weather during the entire voyage is picture perfect.
Since that is not really realistic, it is a crap shoot as to whether your cruise line and their crew make the one mistake that changes a pleasure cruise to a horror cruise in the blink of an eye.
Not only that, as a family, you have to REALLY hope that every passenger onboard models their morals and ethics after TVs great American fictional role models Opie's dad Sheriff Andy Taylor in Mayberry, Beaver's parents Ward and June Cleaver and Buffy and Jodie's uncle Bill Davis along with his butler Mr. French. These role models, displaying a love for kids, in a pure, non-violent, non-perverted, drug-free and alcohol addiction-free family-friendly setting while raising children to make good moral and ethical decisions is just that, fictional.
In the real world, these families are a rare breed, at least in America. Cruise Bruise gives a look into the lives of many people who cruise, just to offset the industry propaganda with a goodie two shoes image of cruising.
Not only that, a Cruise Bruise victim is not just a person who believes they were bruised on a cruise whether crew or passenger. Cruise Bruise is about all the other passengers on a ship who were bruised as a result of the stupidty of just one passenger with missed ports of calls, missed flights home and so forth.
It is about a cruise industry sued for or given bad publicity for things they could not project nor protect against such as a couple sailing on their vessel to foreign lands to sexually assault children.
Our beef, is that the industry works hard to portray a cruise ship in a romantisized manner that is purely fictional. This is not TV Land and it is not the Love Boat, no matter what cruise line or ship you choose. There were no pedophiles or sexual assaults on the Love Boat. Not once did we see a drink spiking or a crew member assault a passenger. But, we also never saw drunk passengers crawl into a lifeboat, hack the ropes with an axe, and then jump overboard to avoid arrest.
So, yes, the cruise ship is "inherently dangerous". That is what we have been saying all along. There are indeed many things well beyond the control of a cruise ship or the head office, but how they react to it, can mean the difference between a public impression of lawlessness akin to Pirates Of The Caribbean to that of the Love Boat.
I want to see public services announcements in their ads, much like the tobacco and alcohol industry, that warn of the dangers while promoting their product. That would be the responsible approach.
Bring out cruise ads showing passengers and crew using hand sanitizers before moving to the buffet, while their enticing music plays in the background.
Let me see some safety drills in the ads along with language that promotes the level of safety the line aspires to.
Give me a commercial of a crew member taking a child to their parent and warning them that a good cruise for them and others means keeping their child close to them and supervised.
It would be nice to see a slogan like, " We want you to have the cruise of your dreams, but commit a crime at sea, go to jail.", with the sound of jail doors slamming shut, then footage of a ship sailing off into the sunset. Is this asking too much?
In the case of Jodi Farnsworth, I have to agree with her. If they accept a paying passenger, they MUST provide services and amenities for EACH and EVERYONE of those passengers, no matter what age they are. When we allow them to exclude infants from the passenger terms, they will want to exclude others, little by little, and we take steps backwards instead of forwards.
The industry then begins to get away with other things in increasing numbers like refusing services to black passengers, disabled passengers and other targetable groups. We are taking a stand on this issue, and it is firm.
