Tag Archives: lifeguards

Norwegian Cruise Line Hires Lifeguards After Multiple Child Deaths

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Me on the Norwegian Star, Pool side

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) today announced that the line will begin employing certified lifeguards at all of the family pools across their fleet.

Disney Cruises was the first large ship operator to hire lifeguards several year ago following the near-drowning of a four year old boy  which caused significant brain injury and led to a large settlement for the medical needs of the child. 

Since gCaptain first highlighted the problem several children drowned in swimming pools on NCL ships says Jim Walker, a cruise ship blogger and legal expert that’s been closely following the numerous swimming pool tragedies aboard ship. Two years ago, a 10-year-old girl drowned in a swimming pool aboard NCL’s Norwegian Gem and, in 2014, two small children were pulled from a pool on NCL’s Norwegian Breakaway as the cruise ship was sailing from New York to the Bahamas. Both children were unresponsive. The younger child (age 4) died on the cruise ship. The other child (age 6) was medevaced by the Coast Guard.  

Royal Caribbean became the second cruise line to hire lifeguards when it announced two months ago that it would abandon its swim-at-your-own-risk which had been the industry’s standard policy for decades.  

According to Norwegian Cruise Line the new lifeguards will be trained and certified by the American Red Cross in lifesaving rescue measures and will monitor the family pools during scheduled pool hours. The lifeguards will begin service this summer on the line’s four largest ships – Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Getaway, Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Epic – and on the remainder of the fleet by early 2018.  

“Norwegian has stationed pool monitors on our largest ships since 2015 and we are now taking further steps to ensure the safety of our youngest guests with the addition of certified lifeguards across our fleet,” said Andy Stuart, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line. “While parents are always the first line of supervision when it comes to water safety, we felt it was important to provide this added measure across our fleet.” 

Royal Caribbean seeking lifeguards

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Image result for Royal Caribbean lifeguards

Royal Caribbean International has put a help-wanted ad for lifeguards on its website, according Cruise Law News.

The report features a screen shot of an ad entitled “Posting: Lifeguard Staff” that says the applicant would monitor swimming pools, the H2O Zone, Splashaway Bay and other designated water attractions. It said the job is a 1.5 stripe officer position within the Marine Department and would report to the Lifeguard Supervisor.

Asked about the posting, Royal Caribbean said the company does not have anything to announce at this time.

Currently, Disney is the only cruise line that staffs lifeguards at pools. Other lines have said guests swim at their own risk, the same policy adopted by many resorts and hotels.

Several children have drowned or nearly drowned in pools on cruise ships in recent years, leading critics to question the industry’s pool safety practices. In June, an 8-year-old boy was pulled from the pool on Anthem of the Seas after being submerged for eight to 10 minutes, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. He died two days later.