The funniest thing about that story is all the Google ads for cruise lines at the bottom of the page.

I don't think it's funny. I went to college with the kid.

no follow-up HT?

finally, a little respect for a human being in the comment boxes.

rest in peace.

Winston Churchill anecdote. A man receives a telegram from the shipping line "regret to inform you your mother in law has passed away during voyage. please forward instructions".

His reply: "perform autopsy, cremate, spread remains at sea. take no chances"

Fat Kid and Ace,

When I lived in California, on the coast, there were times when a "rogue wave" would literally sweep someone off their feet and take them away to sea.

Just like that.

Gone.

...

One such very sad incident was a couple having their wedding photos taken on the rocks near the water. A rogue wave came over the couple and swept away the bride, drowning her.

Horrible.

Here is another such story. I recall hearing about this woman when I moved to California. Her gallery was near my office.

Jesus. I remember an entire family on vacation standing on the beach near Santa Cruz having their picture taken. One big wave hit them and they disappeared forever.

I've seen waves like this on video. I remember one wave breaking a 50 ft boat in half under the GG Bridge and everyone drowning.

Respect nature.

FatKid: sorry for your loss, but how was anyone to know of your connection to the story? The original post from Ace seems to be couched in a semi-humorous vein (sorry again if I misunderstood), which is what led me to comment on the ironic humor in the inappropriate nature of the Google ads associated with the article in the first place.

HT, you did nothing wrong. Don't let them all pile on you.

My fault. I should have mentioned someone here knew him, but I wasn't sure if Fat Kid wanted that info known.

Should have figured out some way to indicate best not to joke.

It's not your fault either. Fatkid sent you a tip and you posted it. You made a joke about him, not the story.

Let's say that I know somebody who knows somebody who does a lot of legal work for the cruise lines. And let's say that I am quite familiar with the Brilliance of the Seas' sister ship, the Radiance (the Brilliance is a Radiance Class ship, so they're basically the same design).

Frankly, I doubt that he just "fell off" the ship. That's just a very hard thing to do unless you do something incredibly stupid like walk the rail on the balcony of certain staterooms, and even then it's not a sure thing that you're going in the drink. The SOLAS regulations call for the construction of exterior railing systems that just make it very unlikely that some is going to just accidentally "fall off" the ship.

These sorts of incidents do occur, but they are usually (nearly always) suicides. There are some people who get very depressed on a holiday, usually because they have chronic depression and the holiday underscores some greater issue in their lives that hasn't been resolved.

It's possible that the guy got really drunk (hey, a liquor heir, right?), and did something incredibly stupid. But I somehow doubt it.

... The foregoing is with apologies to F-K. I didn't read the other comments before posting, and didn't realize that this story had a personal impact on anybody here.

I have just returned from spending 12 days crusiing the Med on this ship,on Brilliance where this incident as well as the rape of a teen girl occured. .My cabin was less than 6 doors away... my uncles cabin was even closer. I witnessed his wife being taken off the ship by the Turkish authorities, his parents and the FBI were on the ship having boarded from our next port of call following Kusadasi. let me assure you all that there is way more to this story than has been released..and I intend to blog about it tonite..as well as another equally sad and disturbing event that happened resulting in the over 15 members of one family being escorted off the ship by police and FBI in Greece!