Lately i've heard the tragic stories of two cruise ship passengers lost at sea when they fell overboard.

I was wondering why cruise ship passengers and crew are not outfitted with RFID bracelets so they could be located more quickly should they fall overboard.

Am i missing something?...Or has no one thought of this simple solution to a really scary and difficult problem?

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Lately i've heard the tragic stories of two cruise ship passengers lost at sea when they fell overboard.

I was wondering why cruise ship passengers and crew are not outfitted with RFID bracelets so they could be located more quickly should they fall overboard.

Am i missing something?...Or has no one thought of this simple solution to a really scary and difficult problem?

I would say simple solution, but then again that is a "added expense" and cruise shhip companies don't like such a thing. I would also think that someone would raise a stink about privacy, since anyone could track RFID bands/chips. I think in this case the cruise company will get out of any lawsuits produced by these drownings as it was not their "fault" that the person went overboard. So short of a mass drowning caused by negligence of crew or the ship owner, they won't be putting such technology on the boats. And if they did they would charge the passengers some insane rate for the bands.

Lately i've heard the tragic stories of two cruise ship passengers lost at sea when they fell overboard.

I was wondering why cruise ship passengers and crew are not outfitted with RFID bracelets so they could be located more quickly should they fall overboard.

Am i missing something?...Or has no one thought of this simple solution to a really scary and difficult problem?

I heard brief reports of both tragic loses but have not heard any reports/stories about how and why they fell overboard. I've been on only one cruise ship but it had railings around the perimeter of every deck. The railings were high enough that even a tall person could not just accidentally topple over into the sea. So it seems to me that the 2 people recently lost either climbed over the railing on a dare or perhaps to commit suicide or else they were thrown overboard by a murderer.

In my opinion, RFID bracelets won't be adopted. They would get lost/stolen/broken. They don't have a great range, the signal would be blocked by steel bulkheads and there would be far too many false reports. Furthermore they can't stop a person from going overboard and they can't prevent a person from drowning or dying from hypothermia. And can they actually make it easier to locate a person in the water? Homing in on a radio signal may not be as easy as they make it out to be on TV.

If they do anything at all, cruise ship companies will reason that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. They'll make the railings around the decks higher to prevent passengers from going overboard in the first place. Seems like a more cost effective and sensible approach to me.

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Lately i've heard the tragic stories of two cruise ship passengers lost at sea when they fell overboard.

I was wondering why cruise ship passengers and crew are not outfitted with RFID bracelets so they could be located more quickly should they fall overboard.

Am i missing something?...Or has no one thought of this simple solution to a really scary and difficult problem?

I heard brief reports of both tragic loses but have not heard any reports/stories about how and why they fell overboard. I've been on only one cruise ship but it had railings around the perimeter of every deck. The railings were high enough that even a tall person could not just accidentally topple over into the sea. So it seems to me that the 2 people recently lost either climbed over the railing on a dare or perhaps to commit suicide or else they were thrown overboard by a murderer.

In my opinion, RFID bracelets won't be adopted. They would get lost/stolen/broken. They don't have a great range, the signal would be blocked by steel bulkheads and there would be far too many false reports. Furthermore they can't stop a person from going overboard and they can't prevent a person from drowning or dying from hypothermia. And can they actually make it easier to locate a person in the water? Homing in on a radio signal may not be as easy as they make it out to be on TV.

If they do anything at all, cruise ship companies will reason that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. They'll make the railings around the decks higher to prevent passengers from going overboard in the first place. Seems like a more cost effective and sensible approach to me.

pretty soon it will be tall plexiglass surrounding all decks that are open to the water or some sort of mesh on rails all around the decks that curves inwards. you are correct about the bulkheads issue, you would have to have aerials in each section connecting to cables etc.
that's some serious investment that cruise companies will not be interested in spending.

If they do anything at all, cruise ship companies will reason that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. They'll make the railings around the decks higher to prevent passengers from going overboard in the first place. Seems like a more cost effective and sensible approach to me.

Actually it would make more sense to have each passenger sign a waiver understanding that there is a danger of you falling overboard if you do not exercise "due caution". MUCH cheaper and they don't have to actually DO anything. As you already said, the railings are already high enough to prevent anyone from accidentally falling overboard and the person that gets thrown off or jumps cannot be prevented except by Greg's plexiglass walls!

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If they do anything at all, cruise ship companies will reason that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. They'll make the railings around the decks higher to prevent passengers from going overboard in the first place. Seems like a more cost effective and sensible approach to me.

Actually it would make more sense to have each passenger sign a waiver understanding that there is a danger of you falling overboard if you do not exercise "due caution". MUCH cheaper and they don't have to actually DO anything. As you already said, the railings are already high enough to prevent anyone from accidentally falling overboard and the person that gets thrown off or jumps cannot be prevented except by Greg's plexiglass walls!

I think that waver would already be covered by common sense. but then again we are a litigation society now.

If they do anything at all, cruise ship companies will reason that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. They'll make the railings around the decks higher to prevent passengers from going overboard in the first place. Seems like a more cost effective and sensible approach to me.

Actually it would make more sense to have each passenger sign a waiver understanding that there is a danger of you falling overboard if you do not exercise "due caution". MUCH cheaper and they don't have to actually DO anything. As you already said, the railings are already high enough to prevent anyone from accidentally falling overboard and the person that gets thrown off or jumps cannot be prevented except by Greg's plexiglass walls!

I think that waver would already be covered by common sense. but then again we are a litigation society now.

Common sense went away with the age of Punitive Lawsuits. Punitive Lawsuits is defined as "pl.n.; Damages awarded by a court against a defendant as a deterrent or punishment to redress an egregious wrong perpetrated by the defendant". Anyone with a sympathetic juror on the jury can win a TON of money!

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If they do anything at all, cruise ship companies will reason that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. They'll make the railings around the decks higher to prevent passengers from going overboard in the first place. Seems like a more cost effective and sensible approach to me.

Actually it would make more sense to have each passenger sign a waiver understanding that there is a danger of you falling overboard if you do not exercise "due caution". MUCH cheaper and they don't have to actually DO anything. As you already said, the railings are already high enough to prevent anyone from accidentally falling overboard and the person that gets thrown off or jumps cannot be prevented except by Greg's plexiglass walls!

I think that waver would already be covered by common sense. but then again we are a litigation society now.

Common sense went away with the age of Punitive Lawsuits. Punitive Lawsuits is defined as "pl.n.; Damages awarded by a court against a defendant as a deterrent or punishment to redress an egregious wrong perpetrated by the defendant". Anyone with a sympathetic juror on the jury can win a TON of money!

and then you wonder why the prices are so high and why there is so much signage about such simple things.