Murder on Emerald Princess (Alaska cruise)

[Arkteia]

one thing, though. I wonder if there was an element of cabin fever or so - if the relationships were not good, and you basically lock two people in the same cabin, plus the kids. I wonder if he felt emotionally pushed to the wall, so to say.

I grew up in a very loving family. Both parents were great people, but mom had high level of expressed emotions, and my dad was a "yes" man to her. I think it would be easier for him to cry than to say no to her pushing. And yet when she died (and dad took great care of her), he was crying, and telling me that he never ever cheated on her, and how he loved her... And suddenly he said, "but do you know, that at the beginning of our life together, I nearly killed her with a chair?" ...The situation was very obvious. She was probably pushing again, too much, and he was giving in, giving in... And then he felt pushed into a wall, emotionally, nowhere to escape... And he grabbed that chair. Mom squeaked out of fear and ran away (and immediately shut up, btw). Of course he did not hit her, but scared she was (and immediately learned his limit... she was very smart, my mom). So ironically, once in a blue moon, very kind people get upset... you don't want to be there when it happens. i wonder if the cabin, narrow space, made it worse.

 

[ame]

You know, I have a small bit of compassion for people with small kids who were stuck on the ship. We were delayed once by a tropical storm and when that happens, nothing on board is open. No shops, there is no activity etc. We were stuck like that for 6 hours and I was about to go stir crazy.

So I can understand those who complained they were bored because a maniac decided to murder his wife and ruin the lives of his kids, plus screwed up everyone's vacation to boot.

Of course it in no way compares to her losing her life.

My understanding is that Princess was good with their compensation. Some people may have a hard time getting to take that cruise again.

Like I said, it doesn't compare to her losing her life... but I do think passengers can complain about disappointments and boredom. I think 3 decks were confined to their rooms until FBI interviewed everyone. That sucks!!

My parents go Princess often, and they said the same--that they are fantastic for compensation, and i suspect that despite that, there are people who will never be satisfied. It will never be enough, and the people in the surrounding cabins...the trauma that comes with that experience....well...I don't know even how you handle that. That's even out of their control at that point. They're not the ones I think are complaining though.

My friend said that the captain made sure things were open despite being in port knowing this was an unusual circumstance, and that's pretty remarkable. So where the restaurants and all that would otherwise normally BE closed, they were not in this instance. And I am actually surprised that when you were stuck in your situation that they didn't keep things open, unless they did so for the safety of people on board--like things flying around or whatever. They have stabilizers for the ship, but if you're really being tossed around, that's hard even for those.

 

[whitewave]

We were stuck in New Orleans at port, so it may have to do with that-- we hadn't made it out to sea yet.

 

[Arkteia]

My parents go Princess often, and they said the same--that they are fantastic for compensation, and i suspect that despite that, there are people who will never be satisfied. It will never be enough, and the people in the surrounding cabins...the trauma that comes with that experience....well...I don't know even how you handle that. That's even out of their control at that point. They're not the ones I think are complaining though.

My friend said that the captain made sure things were open despite being in port knowing this was an unusual circumstance, and that's pretty remarkable. So where the restaurants and all that would otherwise normally BE closed, they were not in this instance. And I am actually surprised that when you were stuck in your situation that they didn't keep things open, unless they did so for the safety of people on board--like things flying around or whatever. They have stabilizers for the ship, but if you're really being tossed around, that's hard even for those.

Anxiety. This is how the passengers felt, and this is why they bitched and moaned. I just think that when something happens, the normal reaction is to get together and help. I remember many years ago, in Boston, we witnessed an accident - a car turned over, and two women (wearing seatbelts) ended up trapped in it upside-down. Not a very nice situation, and they were panicking, of course, and the police and EMT had not arrived yet. I remember how we all got out of our cars and tried to help them, the best we could. (Interestingly, I was side-by-side with the nurse in the hospital who used to hate me - and we made best friends during that episode). So I assume if these people on the Princess could do something, anything, to ease the situation, they would have been OK. But here is the situation when someone is killed, and the police does not allow anyone near, and the poor orphaned kids, and all of it just happened, and the passengers are not in a situation to help, and who in his right mind would go to a restaurant to have fun at such a moment (or even have the appetite?). So people felt anxious, trapped (especially "the doers" feel it worse under these circumstances), and it might have shown in an unexpected way.