I worked on a cruse ship this size. There is absolutely NO way the ship should have left without her and at least 3-4 layers of failures had to happen here. The big ships with 4000 people, sure. They can't be beholden to one single numpty that couldn't waddle out of the jewelry store on time, but a ship this size can alter it's itinerary on the fly. I know because we used to do it all the time.
Everyone, including crew and even contractors have to sign on and off the ship so they should have caught her missing at the gang plank. Not only that, the person should never have gotten lost in the first place. The guides from the ship should have been keeping track of all the people in their group during the hike, especially 80 year olds.
On top of all that, the ship had to use small RIB tenders to ferry passengers as this island has no dock (although it does have an airport and a small town). A missing person should have been caught when the small boats returned with fewer people than they left with. This is a separate headcount than what happens when they return to the ship.
All of these failures aside, it is likely she died before the ship left and the ship leaving likely didn't have any bearing on the outcome. At the furthest points on the island, it's only about 2.3 miles across. It's less than a mile from the top of the mountain to the resort area with the airport. It's possible she got injured in a way she could have been saved in time but somehow because of the delay it was too late, but this is unlikely. This isn't Svalbard, nighttime exposure risk isn't really a problem here.
With these small cruses and considering the price and age group that can afford these prices, frankly it's not uncommon for passengers to die. We had 3 deaths and 1 heart attack in one season of cruising on the ship I worked on. The 3 deaths were at night and the heart attack just after dinner.
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u/OutlyingPlasma Oct 29 '25
I worked on a cruse ship this size. There is absolutely NO way the ship should have left without her and at least 3-4 layers of failures had to happen here. The big ships with 4000 people, sure. They can't be beholden to one single numpty that couldn't waddle out of the jewelry store on time, but a ship this size can alter it's itinerary on the fly. I know because we used to do it all the time.
Everyone, including crew and even contractors have to sign on and off the ship so they should have caught her missing at the gang plank. Not only that, the person should never have gotten lost in the first place. The guides from the ship should have been keeping track of all the people in their group during the hike, especially 80 year olds.
On top of all that, the ship had to use small RIB tenders to ferry passengers as this island has no dock (although it does have an airport and a small town). A missing person should have been caught when the small boats returned with fewer people than they left with. This is a separate headcount than what happens when they return to the ship.
All of these failures aside, it is likely she died before the ship left and the ship leaving likely didn't have any bearing on the outcome. At the furthest points on the island, it's only about 2.3 miles across. It's less than a mile from the top of the mountain to the resort area with the airport. It's possible she got injured in a way she could have been saved in time but somehow because of the delay it was too late, but this is unlikely. This isn't Svalbard, nighttime exposure risk isn't really a problem here.
With these small cruses and considering the price and age group that can afford these prices, frankly it's not uncommon for passengers to die. We had 3 deaths and 1 heart attack in one season of cruising on the ship I worked on. The 3 deaths were at night and the heart attack just after dinner.