You can’t just fall off a cruise ship, it’s virtually impossible!

The news in recent days has been dominated by the story of Kay Longstaff, a woman who claims to have “fallen off” Norwegian Star.

I don’t believe she fell. I’ve been on more than 50 cruises and on dozens of ships and I’m yet to see a part of any where it would be possible for someone to just fall, unless they were acting irresponsibly. By that I mean climbing the railings because that’s the only way you’re going to fall face first over them.

Usually, I’d have picked this story up and shared it as news, but not this time. Instead, I’m reporting in a way that defends our fabulous cruise industry. There’s more to this story than meets the eye, but in the meantime, everyone else onboard has been affected by her actions, Norwegian Cruise Lines PR team must be ready to go on holiday for a month and the cruise industry is left with negative speculation once again.

CLIA’S Andy Harmer appeared on Good Morning Britain today, talking about this very issue.

A note from Andy Harmer, CLIA UK & Ireland director:

A cruise holiday is one of the safest forms of travel. Cruise ships today are the safest that ever sailed, thanks to the rules, regulations and technological innovations that govern their design.

There are no known cases of someone acting responsibly who has accidentally fallen over the railing of a cruise ship.

Safety regulations, including uniform minimum railing and balcony heights of one metre, plus other structural barriers in place to prevent passengers, who are acting responsibly, from simply falling off a cruise ship.

Cruise lines are highly regulated with robust enforcement. The average ship undergoes dozens of announced and unannounced safety inspections per year, involving hundreds of man hours and covering thousands of specific requirements set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

I’ll keep this short, but to end, I’d just like to say that regardless of what did or didn’t happen. I hope she appreciates just how lucky she has been and that she now has a second chance at life.