When People Go Missing on Cruise Ships

The 26-year-old was set to meet his family for breakfast ahead of the ship’s return, however, his family said that he never showed up for the meal, Miami-Dade Police told The Post. "All of us at Holland America Line are deeply saddened by this incident and our thoughts and prayers are with the team member's family at this difficult time," the cruise line said in a statement. McGrath was supposed to meet his family for breakfast ahead of the ship's return to port but he never arrived for the meal, authorities said. In July, Carnival Cruise Line issued a statement regarding another man who had reportedly gone missing while on one of their ships in Florida. Natalia Rodrigues, a public relations manager for Carnival Cruise Line, said a team is "supporting the missing guest's family on board" and the ship is scheduled to dock in Montego Bay as scheduled Wednesday.

How Many Go Missing On Cruise Ships?

We offer our most sincere condolences to Mr. Peale’s family and friends," the Coast Guard said in a news release at the time. But over the years, a number of people have reported spotting the missing woman around the Caribbean — and each sighting is more disturbing than the last. Millions of people go on cruises each year and virtually all of them come home safely. A few hundred people going missing over two decades is a very small percentage and it’s most definitely not something that you should worry about, so please don’t let it put you off from cruising.

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Coast Guard, the Bahamas Maritime Authority, the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Mexican Navy, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Florida officials launched a large-scale investigation after a cruise passenger mysteriously disappeared shortly before the ship returned to Port of Miami on Monday. On May 22, 2011, Rebecca Coriam, a 24-year-old employee on the Disney Wonder cruise ship, vanished while the ship was sailing off the coast of Mexico. In the last known sighting of her, she was seen on surveillance video talking on one of the ship's internal phones, appearing upset.

What We Know About Search For Missing Carnival Cruise Passenger Who Disappeared In Gulf Of Mexico

He claims Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises tried to cover up his daughter’s disappearance and worked against his investigators in the wake of the incident. Jeffrey Maltzman, Royal Caribbean's attorney, told ABC News in 2009 there was no evidence of a cover-up. Cruises are supposed to be happy, carefree moments of maritime bliss; what could go wrong on a vacation on the sea? In reality, there has been a shocking number of cruise ship disappearances, and over 165 people have gone missing since 1995.

And Hue Pham and Hue Tran went on a cruise as Mother’s Day gift from their children. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays. A 16-hour search of surrounding waters was carried out involving the U.S Coast Guard, aircraft, and a naval ship, which covered approximately 833 square miles.

He was reported missing by his family and "was not located on board despite an extensive search." When the Bradley family boarded a cruise ship called Rhapsody of the Seas on March 21, 1998, they were looking forward to a fun family vacation. If someone goes missing and is known to have gone overboard, the ship will circle around and try to rescue them (around 1 in 4 people survive going overboard). If it’s not known where the person has gone then the ship’s Security Director will coordinate the search efforts. U.S. Coast Guard Captain Jo-Ann Burdian, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday in Miami Beach, Fla., details the search for dozens of missing people from a boat that capsized after leaving the Bahamas. McGrath’s disappearance comes just one week after a 19-year-old college student fell overboard on the world’s largest cruise ship, the Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas.

George Allen Smith IV

It’s worth emphasising that these cases are incredibly rare and if you are sensible, there is no real danger of falling overboard. A search was conducted but nobody has ever seen Fariba Amani since.

At Least 9 People Went Overboard Off Cruise Ships in 2023 - Business Insider

At Least 9 People Went Overboard Off Cruise Ships in 2023.

Posted: Wed, 15 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

They were on a two-week Mediterranean cruise and were headed from Greece to Turkey. It’s thought that George Smith went overboard, but how that happened remains unknown. These guests missed the Carnival Valor in Nassau, the Bahamas in December 2012. The Conquest class ship which is operated by Carnival Cruise Line waited 30 minutes for them to come back but couldn’t wait any longer.

26-Year-Old Reported Missing After Cruise Ship Returns to Florida: 'He Never Arrived' - PEOPLE

26-Year-Old Reported Missing After Cruise Ship Returns to Florida: 'He Never Arrived'.

Posted: Tue, 05 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The most common theory is that she was swept overboard from the crew pool, or that she jumped or fell from the ship. Her family states that she would never willingly have gone overboard but it’s not clear whether this was a simple accident or something more sinister. Rebecca Coriam, 24, was an employee on the Disney Wonder cruise ship who disappeared on May 22, 2011. Since this time there have been reports that suggest that she had been kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery.

In fact, a recent study revealed that, over the past 10 years, there has been an average of about 1,400 people going missing from cruise ships each year. Carver's family filed a missing person report after not hearing from her for several days, unaware that she had even gone on a cruise. Royal Caribbean declared her disappearance a suicide, other believes that she may have been thrown overboard, but without a proper investigation, Carver's family will never know what happened to her.

One of the crew members reported that Carver appeared to be missing, but the ship made no effort to find her. They argue that it’s not uncommon for passengers to sleep in other people’s cabins or even disembark at one of the ports. At the end of the cruise, they found her belongings and donated them to charity. Let’s take a look at some cases of people going missing from cruise ships that you might have heard of in the news or on the TV. Investigations into such disappearances can often be inconclusive, as missing passengers are frequently never found.

She’s covered Netflix’s hottest documentaries, a surge of assaults reported on social media, the most popular books of the year and how climate change stands to impact the way we eat. Roeloffs was included on Editor & Publisher Magazine's “25 Under 30” list in 2023 and worked covering local news in the greater Boston area from 2017 to 2023. She graduated with a double major in political science and journalism from Northeastern University.

In August 2004, Merrian Carver vanished during a Royal Caribbean Cruise to Alaska. She had traveled alone and had only used her cabin on the first night of the seven-day journey. On the second day, she was reported missing by one of the crew members, but the ship made no efforts to search for her. Cruises are often lauded as the perfect vacation; a combination of relaxation and adventure, paired with an array of exciting activities. But while they may be idyllic for many passengers, there’s also been growing concern that cruises might not be as safe as we think when we board cruise ships. Police and federal authorities are searching for a man who was reported missing Monday morning after a Carnival cruise ship returned to Miami.

One of the more widely reported Carnival cruise ship missing person stories, Hue Pham, 70, and Hue Tran, 65, went missing whilst on a Carnival Cruise ship heading from Barbados to Aruba in May 2005. The couple were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on the cruise and were travelling with their daughter and granddaughter. Throughout history, people have mysteriously disappeared at sea, many on voyages aboard floating vessels or traveling via aircraft. The following is a list of known individuals who have mysteriously vanished in open waters, and whose whereabouts remain unknown. In most ocean deaths, bodies are never recovered, but this fact alone does not make their disappearance mysterious.