Unattended Baby Found Asleep In Hallway of Cruise Ship

A baby was endangered during a Mexican Rivera Cruise on the Sapphire Princess on January 3, 2009.  The infant was alone, asleep, and unattended in a walker in the hallway outside the caretaker’s room. There were no security cameras in the hallways. A query to the ship’s management revealed that there are no protocols in place for this type of incident.

Neglect of a child is a very serious issue as are mysterious disappearances from cruise ships.  Since a cruise ship is a self contained environment, many people assume that it is safe and that children are not at risk when left unattended.  Incidents on cruise ships are often unreported which gives passengers a false sense of security.   Over 32 people have disappeared from cruise ships during the last five years.  The last occurrence was this week when an elderly California couple never returned from a cruise on Carnival Cruise Line’s, Carnival Paradise

Many cruise lines have voluntary agreements with US authorities to alert them to serious incidents involving US passengers, however, child neglect may not be listed among them. 

Although passengers are screened with metal detectors and luggage is scrutinized, criminal backgrounds are not checked.  Only blatantly dangerous issues are picked up by customs.