Reflections, Corrections, and a Tragedy at Sea

Several hundred happy 50-somethings filled the Promenade on March 2^nd waiting for The 80s Cruise Entertainment Director, J.T. Watters, to announce the line up of performers for the 2026 sailing. As the 11:00PM start time came and went, some noticed most of the staff were running in different directions away from the catwalk sitting above the floor. Several spoke in hushed, but urgent tones into walkie-talkies as they left. Watters told the crowd a few minutes later the announcement would be postponed because a passenger was overboard.

There was some nervous laughter at first because the staff were known to pull pranks on passengers. Just a few hours earlier, Watters had pretended to have broken his arm as a part of a sketch before Squeeze opened the Cruise with their show on the Main Stage. He was kidding, right?

The entire ship soon discovered Watters wasn’t joking. As news passed through the bars and music venues onboard Royal Caribbean’s, Explorer of the Seas, some passengers ran to the top deck to see what was happening. “As soon as I heard I…went up to the top deck. (It) felt very somber up there,” said Patty Garten. Looking over the ship’s railing, many hoped they would see something that would help aid in the rescue. It may seem silly now, but while they didn’t know 56-year-old Kimberly Burch personally, it was the only way they knew how to react in the face of this kind of tragedy.

Burch was on board with her fiancé, Taime Downe, lead singer of the band, Faster Pussycat. The two looked relaxed and happy in the selfie Burch posted to Instagram as they waited to board. “We made it to @The80sCruise,” she said in the caption. Most of her photos on the social media site feature the Los Angeles real estate agent smiling and laughing with Downe, her family, her friends. Perhaps the true star of her Instagram is her 18-year-old rescue dog, Carlos. The small black dog has not one, but two, accounts dedicated to his seemingly unchanging face often dressed in the various costumes his “mom” put him into.

Those passengers searching the black waters 20 miles off the coast of Freeport in The Bahamas may not have known Burch, but reading through the captions on Carlos’ ‘grams, it’s easy to see there was a silly streak underneath her long, blonde hair. “Just sitting here waiting on the mailman. I hate him and I don’t know why,” reads one. Another, Carlos with two paws on a steering wheel, says, “Get in the damn car. Let’s go!”

Not knowing much about Burch didn’t mean people weren’t affected by what happened that first night onboard. “I don’t know any of the people involved. But the terrible tragedy affected me greatly. I’m still very sad about it,” Tammy Mandel wrote two weeks after the ship returned to the Port of Miami. Sylvia Lyon reflected on what it felt like hearing for the first time. “I remember being in the pizza place with some friends when the announcement was made. It was a somber moment in time, like everything kind of stopped for a minute,” she said.

There were several cruise ships in the vicinity of Explorer of the Seas when the overboard call was made. It was eerie watching spotlights scanning the water from miles away. As several members of Explorer’s crew were deployed on a smaller craft, Brooke Steinberg watched the desperate effort being taken on board the ship. “I looked out (of) my porthole (I was deck 9, very front of the ship) and I could see all of the spotlights searching.” The search went on for hours longer. Explorer eventually set sail into Nassau while the Coast Guard continued looking for Burch.

It was hard for many to move on that night or over the course of the next few days. Some turned to their faith as a way of dealing with a situation none of them were prepared for. “That night I went to bed and said a prayer that the person be found, but I was scared for them,” Amanda Gom said. Christine Dessormeau lamented, “I was saddened that (they) didn’t open the chapel on the 15th floor the day after it happened (for) people to pray for all involved.”

Two and half weeks later and the family suffers from Burch’s loss and a sense of frustration from a lack of information and the spreading of falsehoods. A family member, who asked their name be withheld, reached out when they heard this article was being written. They expressed concern about the facts it would contain. “It’s just bothering me that I keep seeing false information,” they said. It’s understandable. There is little to no information available from official sources, but a lot of speculation and misinformation stemming from Facebook Live and a Hollywood Reporter article that has been spread across broadcast news and the internet.

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The clip, which has been used as a source for many media outlets, features former MTV host, Riki Rachtman, claiming there is shipboard video showing Burch jumped from the railing of her stateroom balcony. Authorities haven’t released the video to the media, much less the public, so it seems almost impossible for Rachtman to have seen it. Rachtman used Facebook Live the day after the incident to give his opinion about the nature of Burch and Downe’s relationship, giving erroneous details and partaking in lots of speculation.

The Hollywood Reporter uses Rachtman’s video in an article that has been referenced by dozens of media outlets. The media landscape in the 2020s has become one of laziness with outlets copying almost verbatim the text from one news source without any fact checking whatsoever. And so, when The Hollywood Reporter claimed, “Explorer of the Seas is registered in the Bahamas, giving jurisdiction to the Nassau police who came aboard to review the case and subsequently cleared …Taime Downe, of any wrongdoing,” There are three glaring issues with that sentence – maybe four.

Explorer of the Seas may fly the flag of The Bahamas, but the laws regarding crimes at sea are far more complicated than the flag on the mast. The FBI has jurisdiction to investigate under a series of different conditions such as incidents that took place in US waters, whether the ship embarks or disembarks at a US port, if the ship is owned wholly or partially by a US company and, most importantly, if the incident involves a US national. Yes, the incident took place 20 miles off the coast of The Bahamas, but that doesn’t give that country sole jurisdiction.

It may be a matter of semantics, but the investigating organization isn’t “Nassau Police”, it’s “The Royal Bahamas Police Force” and while that would have been irritatingly easy to look up, even easier would have been to verify if the RBPF had issued any official documentation regarding the incident. It hasn’t. Lastly, if the RBPF ever boarded Explorer, there aren’t any eyewitnesses to it.

Despite of all of this, the family wants it made clear that they aren’t pointing fingers at Downe. “We have no anger or ill will towards her fiancé because we don’t have enough information to accuse him of anything. He is still in contact with (Burch’s mother),” they said.

They do have harsh words for Royal Caribbean’s handling of the matter. “Royal Caribbean has been awful towards our family and refuses to speak to us,” they said. “Our frustration as a family has been with them and no one else in this situation.” They went on to explain the family was promised information about the incident by March 5^th, but despite sending emails and placing numerous phone calls, the cruise line refuses to release any information to them. It claims that because no members of her immediate family were listed as her emergency contact, they can’t give out any information to them. The family also contends the cruise line refuses to tell them who is listed as the emergency contact.

Burch’s body has yet to be found, leaving the family in a state of limbo. They can’t have her declared deceased until three years after the day she went overboard. Julie Wilson spoke for many when she said, “I’m so sad the family won’t get graveside (closure). It’s heartbreaking.”

Looking through Burch’s pictures, it’s impossible not to feel heartbroken for the woman with big blue eyes who wrote adorable captions for a little dog named, “Carlos.”