Since we've been discussing the disappearances on cruise ships, I thought this might be of interest to some of you.

The season premier of 48 HOURS (CBS News) will deal with the mysterious death of a young woman on a Carnival cruise last year. From what I saw of the promo, the gal and her boyfriend were on a cruise. He left her in the cabin. When he tried to wake her on his return (or the next morning . . .I didn't quite get when this was.), she didn't respond. The ship's doctor did CPR, but she was dead.

48 Hours is on Saturday evenings on CBS.

Chris

I didn't see the cause of death. What did she die from? The 48 hours story was kind of sparse.

Here we go again. How many people die in their sleep everyday in this country? Do they make the news? No.. But have it happen on a cruise ship.. wow! you have a ratings period storyline!

Same goes for someone that gets sick....

Actually Jim, I think she saw her bar bill.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim C.:
Here we go again. How many people die in their sleep everyday in this country? Do they make the news? No.. But have it happen on a cruise ship.. wow! you have a ratings period storyline!

Same goes for someone that gets sick....

But you have to admit it's kinda strange for someone that age (25 years) to JUST UP & DIE! At home or on a ship. Maybe she had some kind of pre-existing medical problem.

quote:

it's kinda strange for someone that age (25 years) to JUST UP & DIE!

I'm not suggesting ANYTHING by this comment, but how old were John Belushi or Marilyn Monroe when they "JUST UP & DIED"?

There are people that appear healthy but they die in their sleep due to sleep apnia - my brother did.

And if they are saying that there was fowl play invovled.. what the heck does having been on a cruise ship have to do with it?

And if the guy did "do her in" than as we have already seen in other posts, it would have been much cleaner to have had her "fall over-board". Then she would have just been a missing person from a cruise statistic... (okay, so maybe that comment was in poor taste since the poor woman is dead.)

And I agree with Chuck.. age ahs nothing to do with it. I have a buddy who had a heart attack at 27. If he had not been imediately cared for, he would not have made it.

quote:

Here we go again. How many people die in their sleep everyday in this country? Do they make the news? No.. But have it happen on a cruise ship.. wow! you have a ratings period storyline!

The promo that I saw didn't state a cause of death. . .Of course, they are wondering about the "suspicious" circumstances. I wondered what the autopsy showed.

And, of course, someone dying in his/her sleep everyday in this country would not make the news simply because they are at home. Someone dying on a cruise ship in that manner *is* news simply because cruises are vacations and we don't equate death and vacations. And, if the person dying on vacation is young, the story is more interesting.

I don't think that the media is hitting necessarily picking on the cruise industry. I've seen stories on people disappearing or dying or committing murder or committing suicide at resorts and other tourist destinations. I think we are just a bit more sensitive to the cruise stories.

This is not, by the way, a ratings period (February, May, July & November). The story is, however, running for the season premier of 48 Hours because it has audience interest factor.

One final comment. . . .I doubt that these stories have hurt the cruise industry much. If I'm not mistaken, cruising is more popular than ever!

Chris

The "Media" is a business. The shows must get viewers so they can sell advertising. They get those contracts by supplying what the masses want.

People who sit for hours watching sensationalistic stories about the horrors aboard cruise ships (and I know more than a few) will warn everyone not to travel. They are the same people who have stopped buying all produce because of the spinach "horrors".

And, they believe everyone who questions US foreign affairs might be a terrorist plotting to blow up Wyoming.

But, there are enough of us with ability to think rationally and independent of all the news selling headlines to keep the world from crumbling... or at least I hope so.

quote:

The "Media" is a business. The shows must get viewers so they can sell advertising. They get those contracts by supplying what the masses want.

People who sit for hours watching sensationalistic stories about the horrors aboard cruise ships (and I know more than a few) will warn everyone not to travel. They are the same people who have stopped buying all produce because of the spinach "horrors

Of course the various media are businesses and they have to show things that attract viewers or readers or listeners so that they can get advertisers. And, they have to do stories people will want to watch or read about or listen to. Be realistic here. . . News is not the fact that thousands and thousands of people go on vacation each year on cruise ships (or trains or planes or in cars) and have a wonderful, uneventful time. The vacation becomes news when someone falls (although I have yet to figure out how that could happen) or jumps or dies mysteriously on a cruise ship.

Now, all that being said, if you actually watched 48 Hours last night, you would have seen that Bill Lagatuta didn't blame the ship for the girl's death. They know she died from a lethal dose of methadone (which her boyfriend smuggled on the ship to help him over his Vicodin addiction). What they don't know is how she, who had never taken an illegal drug (proven by a drug test to a strand of her hair)could have or would have knowingly taken methadone.

(BTW, methadone, while used by addicts to help recover from a number of drug addictions, is very dangerous if not used under a doctor's supervision and can be lethal in a very small dose - like a teaspoon - to someone who is drug-free.)

The girl's mother did indict Carnival for not answering her questions about what happened. (Although, how the heck they would know that is beyond me.) She complained that they left her daughter's body in Mexico alone (Law prevented the boyfriend from leaving the ship to stay with the body since the FBI had not yet talked with him.). She complained that the doctor and nurse didn't use resuscitation equiptment soon enough, although they both contend the girl was cold and already dead by the time they were called. (They boyfriend contends they said she was warm, but whom do you believe?) The girl's mother also complained that Carnival kept her waiting once the ship returned from sea and that no officials from Carnival helped her out. In fairness, she also blasted the FBI for some of the same things.

And, yes, they did bring up the George Smith case yet again. Both the Smiths and the girl's mother accused the cruise lines of circling the wagons and not responding to their requests for information on the investigations. We all know how unresponsive the cruise lines can be. How many posts have we seen on this very site where posters have tried to contact a cruise line on a much, much less important matter and received the silent treatment? I don't see that as an unfair indictment in any way.

The story was NOT sensational in anyway. Over all, I thought the story was well-done and fair in its coverage of what happened. It was not a story to scare anyone away from cruising. The mother is devastated, as anyone would be. She wants answers. Unfortunately, however, I don't think the mother is ever going to find out how (or why) her daughter ingested methadone.

Finally, let me agree with TTNYC's saying that there are some people who will believe everything they see or hear or read. And, thankfully, there ARE enough of us who can actually listen and think and reason and figure things out ourselves. However, you can't pre-judge a story or show simply because it is going to cover a certain story. When you do that, you're just as bad.

Chris

I thought they did ok with the story up until the very end. I thought it was really unnecessary for the reporter to end the story by asking the mother "There's thousands of girls out there right now wanting to go on a cruise, what would you say to their mothers?" and she answered "Don't let them go, don't let them go." One thing I found suspicious was the boyfriend not checking on the girl until 2pm in the afternoon.

quote:

Originally posted by ChucksOK:
[QUOTE]it's kinda strange for someone that age (25 years) to JUST UP & DIE!

I'm not suggesting ANYTHING by this comment, but how old were John Belushi or Marilyn Monroe when they "JUST UP & DIED"?

There are people that appear healthy but they die in their sleep due to sleep apnia - my brother did.[/QUO
I am sorry to hear that your brother died.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim C.:
And if they are saying that there was fowl play invovled.. what the heck does having been on a cruise ship have to do with it?

I agree, if there was fowl play it was probably Bird Flu and they would not have known

Seriously, sorry to hear that about your brother too ChucksOK.

I guess like people have said it gets media just because it was on a cruise ship.

Apparently her boyfriend slipped some methadone into cough medicine-he admitted to sneaking the methadone aboard. The interview indicated that the Mexican coroner found methadone in her system. The boyfriend claims to be in recovery and that he snuck the methadone on board to "help him through the recovery period"???????

BillyBuzzy

I ain't no Columbo, but that would be a red flag? I have not even seen this story. Someone post a news link please. It seems non relevant to cruises, but is interesting now to follow.

Yep, the boyfriend admitted "smuggling" the methadone on board. Real bright, no? And, yes, both the Mexican coroner and the independent coroner hired by the family found a lethal amount of methadone in her body. As I mentioned before, even a small amount taken by someone without the proper supervision can be fatal.

There is no way that they'll ever know if she took the stuff knowingly, although the boyfriend claims she knew he had smuggled the stuff in the cough medicine bottle. If that is the case, the speculation is that she took a little to make her sick so he'd stay with her in the cabin. They had fought earlier because she wanted to go to bed and he wanted to stay up. But, the mother claims the daughter would never do that.

Like I said, they'll never know what happened.

I forgot about the question Lagatuta asked the mother about sending daughters off on cruises. That was really a stupid question in that the cruise had nothing to do with the girl's death except that she was on one when it happened. A better question would have been, "There are hundreds of girls going on vacation with their addicted boyfriends. What would you say to them?"

I feel for the mother. I know I would want answers.

You can go to www.cbs.com and click on 48 hours to find video of the story. However, here are two other links to the story: (One note. . .I didn't read the second one in its entirety. . .I need to go back to the website to see if its a hatchet job on cruises given the website address.)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/05/earlyshow/main1472710.shtml

http://www.cruisebruise.com/Ashley_Barnett.html

Thank You, Mooneydiva.

On the subject of mysterious deaths, I had a conversation at work today. Remember how I said it seemed strange that a 25 year old would just pass away? Well, a 64 year old guy I work with told me that when he was in the hospital after he had a heart attack, his roommate was a 12 year old boy-who had had a heart attack. I guess we just don't HEAR about these things much, but obviously and sadly, they do happen.

And the doctors said it was cholesterol.

So randomly enough, on the night this aired, we were on the Valor watching TV and THIS show came on. Kinda creepy to watch the show about a Carnival ship while ON a carnival ship. Best thing to do, don't get drunk and leave your friends alone I guess.