SummerJoy72

This isn't included in the cruise fare, but rather a tip for included with the refreshment or deluxe beverage packages that not everyone knows about. One of my favorite things about the Oasis class ships is that the fresh fruit smoothies and juices at the Vitality Spa Cafe are included in the (non-soda) beverage packages. The only thing not included is if you want to add a shot of protein powder. So yummy and with WAY less sugar than those daiquiri syrup mixes. 

Main Dinning room, Windjammer, Park Café, Café Prominade, Johnny rockets for Breakfast, Solarium Bistro, el Loco fresh, Coastal Kitchen if you are in a Grand Suite or above (Coastal Kitchen for dinner only in a Junior Suite), Boardwalk Dog house, Sorrento's.
I'm sure I'm missing some, ice cream is not included unless you get it at Windjammer.

If there is a jury trial (which I doubt will happen), RCCL it will be in RCCL's interests to allow the jury to visit the ship to see for themselves where the accident occurred. I've never been on the ship . . . . how far away from the "kids area" are the windows?

Im presumming it was their first ever cruise since they didnt know windows opened.
Cruiseship or skyscraper what sort of person would let a child bang on an 11th floor window? ??? Oh yeah one with no common sense. 

And what if a child put their hand in the fan!   The cruise line will always be blamed.  Sad for what happened, but angry that the family will not take responsibility.  I am sure it was an accident, the grandfather didn’t want to hurt his granddaughter, but speak truthfully if you want to make sure it never happens to another child.  No other parent will put a child on a railing, because in a split second that child can get away from you.  

I absolutely agree.  They are suing as a grief coping mechanism because the only other alternative is to blame the grandfather.  1)Why would anyone allow kids to bang against glass? 2) He couldn’t recognize an open window and the air coming through? 3) He was the one who endangered the child by deliberately lifting her up. 4) He was with the child and responsible for her safety.
Horrible, horrific situation.  I had a neighbor who ran over his own child.  How a family gets through something like this, I have no idea.  Blaming RCCL I guess is easier than the alternative.
RCCL will likely settle. Their alternative is to attack the grandfather in court regarding his actions.  Bad optics.  Then again, who knows which way a jury would go...

Here's what was posted on the Freedom FB page: (if not appropriate, I apologize and please delete):
Cheryl Knipe Brinson
18 hrs This is a copy of Louise Calder’s post that was sent to the Today show. You can share from here. If you have an opinion to express send it along to the show.
This is a very long post but wanted feedback suggestions of any changes in this email I plan to send to the TODAY Show. I will wait a couple of hours before I send it in case someone sees a change or addition I should consider. Thanks for your input.: Dear TODAY SHOW- I am very saddened by the news that Monday you will be interviewing the parents of the 18 month old child that tragically fell from the Freedom of the Seas. While my heart goes out to these poor parents for the loss of their child, I'm disappointed that you are doing this interview on the Today Show before we truly know how this accident happened. The police investigation has not been completed and all facts have not yet been released to the public. Trying to present an unbiased report would seem to be an impossible task at this time since others involved in this story are unable or unwilling to talk to you until all the facts are available.
Since the entire show was taped on board her the day I Christened her in 2006, I know that the TODAY show has spent time on the Freedom of the Seas. You should already be aware that the "children's play area" is NOT "right next" to the wall of windows. And if you check some of that footage you will also notice that the only windows that open are above an adults waist, and tinted making it quite clear that some are closed and some are open in order to keep the pool humidity controlled on that deck. No child could have reached those upper windows, open or closed, without someone holding the child up to them or somehow allowing the child to climb up to them. It is ALWAYS the adult's responsibility to monitor their young child whether it be near an open window , a pool, a fire, or any other potential danger. Whether on vacation or at home the responsibility belongs to the adult that has accepted the duty of watching that child. As a grandparent myself I understand that this must be a heartbreaking experience that will haunt this grandfather for the rest of his life. It is hard to accept that one little mistake can result in such a catastrophic tragedy. However trying to place the blame elsewhere, while a very human self-protection, will never absolve him of the responsibility that was his and his alone. I believe when this investigation is finished we will find that this was a truly awful ACCIDENT but one that resulted from an error on his part. And who of us is not human enough to commit an error.
If this were truly a fault in the design of cruise ships we would certainly be hearing of children falling from windows all the time. It is unfair to interpret this accident as an example of how "dangerous" cruising is. ANYTHING can be dangerous if normal precautions aren't taken.
To my knowledge, I know of no other time in the Freedom of the Seas 13 years of sailing that ANYTHING like this has ever occurred aboard her and I'm sure you can imagine that I keep a close eye on what happens on her,
Katherine Louise Calder
Godmother for the Freedom of the Seas

I sincerely hope not. I've been around cruise ships since I came into this world; correct me if I am wrong, but I don't remember ever seeing screens in windows on open decks on any cruise line. Now, I only go back as far as the 50's, so I could be wrong. Both the parents and the attorney state that the open window is  in the Kids Zone, but the Kid's Zone is centered over the keel. It does not include the area that the toddler fell from.  
I understand we need to have compassion for the family, but we also have to be just and realistic in assigning the blame for this situation. I have yet to hear if this was the first time on a cruise ship for this family and yet, they talk about it being unimaginable that a window would be open on a pool deck. They speak  as though having fixed windows is the norm, which it is not.
 
 
 
 

Nah, people on social media seldom understand anything.  Period.  It should be "Baseless Gut Reaction Book."
It's a tragedy and I can't even fathom what the family must be experiencing, but I don't see how it's anybody but the grandfather's fault.
You don't put a baby on a railing in any situation, ever.  A hard fall from just a few feet can be fatal.  How many "do not sit or climb on railing" signs have they got on the ship?  Do they need to add "especially babies!"? 
Whether he thought the window was opened or closed shouldn't figure in to it in the slightest.  Setting aside that it's blatantly obvious when the windows are open, what possess someone to think setting a baby on a precarious surface to bang on glass is a sensible thing to do?

Read somewhere that the child liked to bang on the glass at the ice hockey, now i'm sure the glass ( think its actually acrylic ) at an ice hockey rink will be a lot stronger than that on cruiseships, so as a parent i cannot understand why anyone would let a child near any sort of glass to bang on just because they do it elsewhere. what if the glass shatters? or its not fixed securely and falls out? 
 Risk Assessments would have been carried out and control measures put in place to minimise the risk involved but the one thing you cannot factor for is human error

The grandfather had to physically lift her up to the railing .... it's not like she "happened" upon the open window .... even if the window was closed, she still would've gotten hurt falling to the deck floor ..... tragic?  Absolutely.  Royal's fault?  I think not.  Grandfather's (and any other family member) fault?  As painful as it is to admit.... yes

I think everyone has compassion, but the attorney's public statements on behalf of the family have put them in a bad light publically.  That was their choice.

Here's the thing -- life is dangerous and terrible, awful accidents happen.  And the awful, horrible things that happen can be just unimaginably painful and impossible to ever forget.  Reality, however, is that most of the time, these awful, horrible things really are just plain accidents.  There are not bad actors.  Royal Caribbean cannot create a cruise ship without windows that anyone would want to cruise on in the Southern Caribbean.  That area of the world is just plain hot.  If every area on a cruise ship were indoors, no one would cruise.  Outdoor areas require air circulation and a breeze or they become unbearable.  Thus, the pool deck of ships needs to be outdoors and it needs windows and fresh area.  There is no alternative.  Similarly, most of us want access to open air balconies, because being indoors on a cruise ship stinks and being outdoors without a breeze is miserable.
On the other hand, all of us do stupid things occasionally.  Who hasn't done something stupid like accidently not noticing a stop sign or a red light?  Who hasn't failed to notice a car in the lane next to us when changing lanes? Who hasn't lost track of a toddler for a couple of minutes at some point? All of us experience moments of distraction where we accidently engage in conduct that could cause an accident.  In almost all instances, our momentary lapses do not result in harm to us or anyone else.  In rare and awful cases, absolute tragedy results.  
Here, one possible scenario is that grandpa got on a ship.  A lot is going on and he focused on many different distractions at once.  He puts his granddaughter on his lap as he always does, and she stands up to look out over the rail.  Or he unthinkly, out of habit, stands her up on the rail as he always does and just for a brief second does not recongnize the danger of the open window and she is gone.  It is horrible and beyond tragic.  It is something too awful for anyone to contemplate.  But, it is not something for which either ship or granddad should be blamed.  
I took my eye off my five year old one day while we were swimming in a placid swimming hole I thought was safe.  I two seconds, my little boy was taken by a current I never saw or recognized over 20 foot dam.  He went over the waterfall, came up, and managed to hold onto a fallen tree until we could get to him and he was fine.  For the rest of my life, however, I will relive the horror of that moment and I will never, ever overcome the guilt of not recognizing the danger of that swimming area.  But, blaming me for my negligence would not help anyone.  It might make folks feel better about the safety of their own kids.  But, really, life is dangerous.  And every once in awhile, horrible accidents happen.  My deepest sympathy is with this family. 
The attorney, however, I hold the attorney in absolute contempt.

A lot to unpack here but I'll try to take a shot*
Criminal liability-multiple news outlets are reporting that the grandfather is being investigated for criminal liability.  Winkleman is not a criminal attorney but the outcome of the criminal case could/will have implications upon a civil recovery.  He wants to get out in front of that story-line and you can bet that a strong criminal defense attorney will be hired.  
Civil liability-One aspect that is often overlooked with the "cruise line cases" is what law would apply.  Maritime law and conflict of laws can create a number of complicated questions about what jurisdiction's laws would control the case.  For civil actions a lot of times the cases end up applying Florida law.  In this case Florida (RCL HQ, where tickets are purchased from, etc) has interest and Puerto Rico (embark/disembark, locus of accident) are the two likely applicable jurisdictions.  Winkleman will want PR law to apply because there's something called joint and several liability.  This means that if any "joint tortfeasor (party responsible)" is found liable for any reason, then the full award can be recovered from any person found liable. 
Why does this matter-because grandpops was negligent, there's no doubt about it.  As everyone here said, he either failed to see something that was pretty obvious or otherwise made a really poor choice.  So what about RCL? Winkelman will argue RCL was negligent because it failed to take reasonable steps to prevent a foreseeable accident.  The argument will be that it was foreseeable that someone may not realize that the glass had been opened and it would have been easy enough to install screens/warnings or other safety measures to prevent this from happening.  As a note: nearly all hotels in the US that have windows you can open have some sort of child protection on them because there were a rash of suits in the 90s about kids banging on screens and falling out of windows.
A jury may or may not actually agree that anything that RCL did was unreasonable, or they might say "hey, they could have put a warning by the window," they could have done a little bit more, etc. etc.  We see it all the time, and the jury will almost certainly assign liability to grandpops.  However, this is where the joint and several liability kicks in, lets say the jury says grandpops is 99% liable and RCL is 1% liable.  Family can still recover the full award from RCL.  Both jurisdictions allow for awards for emotional pain and suffering from the loss of a child as well, those tend to be big numbers.  
 
*I am an attorney, but I am not your attorney, this should not be construed as legal advice or an official opinion regarding applicable laws or principals.

I just watched the interview on the Today Show.  How I wish someone had advised the parents not to do this interview. It will only expose them to undue scrutiny in today’s social media climate.  
It also saddens me that they have not taken responsibility for this accident.  They kept blaming “the open window in the kid zone” which in my opinion could not have been accessible to an 18-month old child.

I saw on Facebook that the godmother for freedom of the seas was refusing m drafting a letter to NBC criticizing their decision to interview the parents.  She went over summer of they facts and then emphasized that many people who could refute the claims were unable to speak out due to the impending litigation.  I thought it was well written.  Jane

This is our first time using a travel agent, which I decided to do after listening to about 10 podcasts. ?. Well, lo and behold she called me earlier this week.  Our cruise went down almost $800!!!!  Such awesome news and reinforced to me to always use a travel agent for cruises in the future!

This is our first time using a travel agent, which I decided to do after listening to about 10 podcasts. ?. Well, lo and behold she called me earlier this week.  Our cruise went down almost $800!!!!  Such awesome news and reinforced to me to always use a travel agent for cruises in the future!

This is our first time using a travel agent, which I decided to do after listening to about 10 podcasts. ?. Well, lo and behold she called me earlier this week.  Our cruise went down almost $800!!!!  Such awesome news and reinforced to me to always use a travel agent for cruises in the future!

This is our first time using a travel agent, which I decided to do after listening to about 10 podcasts. ?. Well, lo and behold she called me earlier this week.  Our cruise went down almost $800!!!!  Such awesome news and reinforced to me to always use a travel agent for cruises in the future!

This is our first time using a travel agent, which I decided to do after listening to about 10 podcasts. ?. Well, lo and behold she called me earlier this week.  Our cruise went down almost $800!!!!  Such awesome news and reinforced to me to always use a travel agent for cruises in the future!

This is our first time using a travel agent, which I decided to do after listening to about 10 podcasts. ?. Well, lo and behold she called me earlier this week.  Our cruise went down almost $800!!!!  Such awesome news and reinforced to me to always use a travel agent for cruises in the future!

This is our first time using a travel agent, which I decided to do after listening to about 10 podcasts. ?. Well, lo and behold she called me earlier this week.  Our cruise went down almost $800!!!!  Such awesome news and reinforced to me to always use a travel agent for cruises in the future!

This is our first time using a travel agent, which I decided to do after listening to about 10 podcasts. ?. Well, lo and behold she called me earlier this week.  Our cruise went down almost $800!!!!  Such awesome news and reinforced to me to always use a travel agent for cruises in the future!