When it comes to cruising, there are a number of fears that come people have about sailing. We’ve seen mention of everything from being in the open ocean with no land in sight to being seasick to the ship sinking.

But of the fears we’ve seen mentioned before, perhaps the most common is falling overboard.
First things first, the chances of you falling overboard are infinitesimally small, as we’ll explain in a moment. But we understand why people who have never cruised before may see this as a worry.
The Fear of Falling Overboard Isn’t Your Fault (But It’s Not Accurate)
If you’re worried about falling overboard on a cruise, you should know that your fear is overblown… but we don’t blame you for being concerned. Frankly, it’s not your fault.
When many people think of a ship at sea, they envision scenes of a ship passing through a major storm, tossing and turning. These events happen rarely, but when/if they do, then it makes major news. The media — both traditional news and social media — goes wild and millions of people hear about the incidents.
In fact, head to YouTube and you can find plenty of videos of ships — including cruise ships — battling wild waves. It makes sense that if you were on deck, you’d run the risk of being thrown off the ship.
Truth is, that’s highly unlikely to happen. First, it’s rare that cruise ships have to go through a major storm. With modern weather forecasts, ships do their best to avoid any big weather. Sure, there may be times when you pass through a storm or the waves are rough, but wild waves that send the ship tossing back and forth are a rare occurrence.
Second, when the weather is rough or windy, then access to the open deck areas is typically cut off to passengers. Doors leading out to the deck are closed or roped off to keep people from heading outside. So even if there were to be a big roll, it’s unlikely someone would be in a spot to fall overboard.
Truth is, that the vast majority of time the ship is heading through calm waters, so accidentally falling over is unlikely. And even if there were an accident, there’s another safety device that ensures falling over isn’t going to happen.
The #1 Safety Feature That Keeps Passengers on the Ship

The real reason you aren’t going to fall over on a cruise ship is that all cruise ships have high railings around the entire outside decks. There is literally nowhere that passengers can go outside where there isn’t a railing between them and the ocean.
These railings are high and sturdy. Sometimes they are made of steel and other times made with glass. But they are always stable and relatively high.
For instance, we are roughly six feet tall and the rails come up between our belly button and chest. Some glass partitions can literally be above our heads (which can actually be a nuisance when you want to simply look out at the water).
There’s simply nowhere a passenger can be outside on the deck without a safety railing in place.
What About Those Stories of People Going Overboard on a Cruise?

But if there are such good railings, why do stories about people going overboard regularly make the news?
It seems several times a year you do hear stories of people missing and falling overboard from cruise ships. While the details of what happened in every case aren’t shared, it is unfortunate that these stories seem to often involve tragic accidents or people deciding to jump over on their own will. It seems a recurring theme is that these overboard incidents often occur late at night.
While there are high railings, they can also be climbed. The cruise lines have regular warnings posted not to climb rails, but if someone were to want to do so, it can happen.
Even something as innocuous as climbing up to sit on the railing for a photo is dangerous and should never be done.
The bottom line: If you’re worried about accidentally falling over into the ocean on a cruise, it’s just not going to happen. The high rails all around the ship keep passengers safe.