I want to start off by saying that we were on the cruise where the young couple tragically went overboard on the last night. We have found the media coverage of the event to be very unfair against cruise staff, the cruise line and the ship itself. The ship is incredibly safe. The staff incredibly competent and safety conscious. And the cruise line taking a safety first approach to everything. This was evidenced by the fact that on the first night out of Sydney we turned around after sailing for 5 hours and returned to Sydney to disembark a man who had fallen ill. This 10 hours of 'extra' travel would have been at significant cost to the Carnival, but was treated as a small 'blip' in the plan. This, along with the immediate shutdown of any area which could have caused a problem to passengers due to some high winds and seas (which occurred only occasionally), is testament that when Carnival says 'safety first', it isn't just lip service.

Also, it hasn't been reported but the last night was absolutely freezing outside, so it isn't surprising that nobody heard or saw the two poor souls. It was just a tragic set of circumstances all round.

Enough said! Please don't let the incident cloud your feelings for Carnival or the Carnival Spirit. Read more