Man Falls Overboard Carnival Liberty While Vacationing With New Wife

These days, cruises are an excellent vacation option for a variety of celebratory reasons. Whether traveling with one person or a whole crowd, there is always so much to see and do. The nature of cruise travel allows vacationers to get the best of the land and the sea, and what’s not to love about that? So it only makes sense that a cruise would be an excellent way to spend a honeymoon. And many people choose to do so.

On the surface, this seems like an innocent enough decision, where both you and your new spouse can be taken care of to your heart’s content, while seeing some of the most beautiful destinations on the planet. However, a recent story out of Georgia reveals that not all cruise honeymoons have a happy ending.

Reco Scott, a 32-year-old man from DeKalb County was on a honeymoon with his new wife, enroute to the Bahamas. The ship, Carnival Liberty, was 10 miles northwest of the Berry Islands in the Bahamas when Mr. Scott was seen to apparently jump from a 9th floor cabin balcony. The jump happened shortly before 5am on Friday, April 7th.

As is customary, the U.S. Coast Guard was called in to search for Mr. Scott in the waters around the site of the incident. After searching for more than 29 hours and covering 1,064 square miles, the Coast Guard made the difficult decision to suspend the search.

We send our deepest condolences to Mr. Scott’s family during this difficult time.

Could Alcohol Be to Blame?

However, in the wake of this accident, we cannot help but to wonder what led Mr. Scott to go overboard? A honeymoon is meant to be one of the happiest times of a person’s life, so we are curious as to what could have prompted a reported “jump” from the balcony of the cruise upon which he was sailing with his new wife?

Unfortunately, cruise ship overboard accidents happen far more often than anyone would like. As a maritime law firm, we have seen countless cases of vacationers falling overboard, most of which could have been prevented.

Due to the time of the incident we are left to wonder if alcohol could have been involved? At that time of night, it’s likely that Mr. Scott could have been feeling the effects of a night spent enjoying the ship’s bar. It’s within anyone’s right to drink responsibly on a cruise ship. That should not result in falling into the sea.

However, many cruise lines have been known to serve passengers alcohol even after it is clear that they have had too much. Cruise lines often fail in their legal obligation to exercise reasonable care for the safety of their passengers when they become overly intoxicated and can harm themselves.  This unfortunately places vacationers like Mr. Scott in a dangerous situation that can, in fact, lead to poor decisions such as jumping over a balcony railing. Although we cannot say for sure that this is what transpired, we know that this has happened in the past, and offer it as a suggestion for what may have happened. That said, we will keep an eye out for any developments that shed greater light on what may have taken place during Mr. Scott’s last hours on the ship.

Although many people view cruises as a way to escape from the issues of daily life, it’s important to remember that accident and injury can happen anywhere. With over 200 years of combined experience, we have helped clients navigate a variety of maritime personal injury cases, and we are prepared to do the same for you.

So if you have been injured on a cruise and are seeking legal guidance, a maritime lawyer on our team is here for you. We can move forward together, as soon as you contact us.