Best not Jump.

[Onelife]

Do cruise ships turn around if a passenger falls overboard?

Sometimes.

Cruise lines have a legal obligation under the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and Coast Guard regulations to immediately undertake search and rescue operations when a passenger is observed going overboard. Cruise ship masters, like all captains, are experienced in performing a "Williamson turn" to bring the ship under power promptly back to the point where the person went overboard.
Under the 2010 Vessel Safety and Security Act (CVSSA), cruise lines are required to install automatic man overboard system to detect when passengers go overboard. There are currently sophisticated systems which incorporate radar, motion detection and thermal imaging systems which detect when someone goes overboard, capture the image of the person and immediately send a signal to the bridge. This is important technology to utilize because cruise ships are increasing in size and capacity, with as many as 8,000 people on a single ship.
Unfortunately, very few cruise lines utilize the existing technology, citing the costs of the systems and their alleged unreliability as excuses. The result is that if the overboard person is not visibly detected by the crew, the ship will sail on. Even if the person is seen going overboard, some cruise lines insist on checking whether anyone is actually missing on the ship. This can takes hours. The ship will continue to sail away, making the eventual search very difficult. Sometimes the ship is so far away from the original location that the master decides not to turn the ship around. Instead, the ship will summons the Coast Guard which will be required to deploy search vessels and aircraft to search vast distances of the ocean. The prospects of a successful rescue then become quite slim.
A cruise expert in Canada, Dr. Ross Klein, has data indicating that 245 people have fallen, jumped or been thrown overboard from cruise ships since 2000.

Article by Jim Walker

Maritime lawyer, cruise safety advocate, and publisher of Cruise Law News8y

[david63]

Whilst all of that is probably true (I have no way of knowing one way or the other) I would hazard a guess that the "technology" was not designed with today's large cruise ships in mind and more for merchant ships that only have a handful of crew.

Also if anyone went overboard from one of the new big cruise ships the chances of surviving are pretty slim. If you don't get killed when hitting the water from the height of ship then the cold of the water will kill you in minutes.

[Onelife]

My knowledge about survival at sea is about the same as survival in a paddling pool, but one thing which did come to mind to whether a captain would turn around is the state of the sea…anything more than a swell would I imagine be the deciding factor.
As you say David surviving a fall from those hights would more than likely render the person unconscious at the very least…then add in the wake of the ship, particularly from the bow, then they might just as well shout fish bait on their way down.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Looking at the height of the rails round the decks and on the balconies it's always been my view that it was impossible to fall over the side unless one was arsing about (probably under the influence of alcohol), pushed or jumped. I would think genuine "accidents" are very rare.

[Jan Rosser]

I’ve double checked in case my mind was playing tricks with me but a man who “fell” off Ventura in 2011 was rescued wearing just his underwear. My friend’s husband was the chief technical officer on the ship at the time and she told me about it. He was rescued in the middle of the night - very lucky to be found!

[Mervyn and Trish]

Not a formal night then!

[Jan Rosser]

Not a formal night then!

[Onelife]

Not a formal night then!

[Onelife]

I’ve double checked in case my mind was playing tricks with me but a man who “fell” off Ventura in 2011 was rescued wearing just his underwear. My friend’s husband was the chief technical officer on the ship at the time and she told me about it. He was rescued in the middle of the night - very lucky to be found!

When you think about it, stripping down to your briefs is probably your best chance of staying afloat…that being said, I think my pot belly would keep me afloat for a few hours

[Manoverboard]

Moral being to change one's undies on a daily basis.

Just think of the shame of being rescued with skid marks. It would be a blemish for life, literally.

[Onelife]

Moral being to change one's undies on a daily basis.

Just think of the shame of being rescued with skid marks. It would be a blemish for life, literally.

If I ever find myself with that embarrassing situation, I’ll ask them to leave me in the water until it washes its self out….I’m not stupid.