Since 2000, around 400 people have gone missing from cruise ships, including both passengers and crew members. This is a concerning statistic, given that approximately 30 million people take cruise ship vacations each year. Between 2009 and 2019, there have been 212 man overboard incidents on cruise ships, according to a Report on Operational Incidents issued by the Cruise Lines International Association.
Despite this, cruise ship vacations remain a popular choice, with approximately 30 people taking vacations each year. In 2018, three people were reported missing by Carnival Cruise Lines, while both Holland America Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean reported a disappeared passenger in 2019.
According to the Cruise Victims Association, almost 170 people have gone missing at sea since 1995. Maritime personal injury attorneys at Gerson Schwartz, PA, can help you schedule a free initial consultation. Since 2000, nearly 200 passengers have gone missing from cruise ships.
In conclusion, cruise ship vacations are a popular choice for many, but there has been a shocking number of disappearances since 2000. While it is not cause for general alarm, the cruise industry claims that accidental falls do not happen. The Cruise Victims Association reports that almost 170 people have gone missing at sea since 1995. Maritime personal injury attorneys at Gerson Schwartz, PA can help you schedule a free initial consultation to discuss your concerns about the situation.
📹 250 people have disappeared from cruise ships in the last 10 years. What happened?
Twenty-three-million vacationers board massive cruise ships each year, but it’s not always a dream vacation.
📹 Compilation: Cruise Disappearances
I’m scrambling as I’m pushing to catch up with content. I know this is different because they have been covered a lot, but this …
Been on many cruises. Have often looked over the railing at the blue water on a sunny day and it’s pretty, looks very different in color than the water most of us see at the beach. But the awesomeness of it, the enormity of it, and the power of it is frightening. Plus the ships move pretty fast. To fall overboard (whether you survive the fall or not) means you are far far away from that ship in seconds. In minutes, it’s will be close to disappearing from sight. I can’t imagine it. And at night, the terror of it would be 1,000 times worse. You haven’t seen dark until you’ve seen it on a moonless night in the middle of the ocean.
I would not take a cruise even if it was paid for in full. Many many people have disappeared over the years. One that comes to mind Amy Bradley and they have never found her. You never know what country waters your in. And then you have to abide by their laws. I think it’s horrible the way royal Caribbean handles these cases of missing people. Chuck Smith also disappeared on his wedding night. Another strange Case.
When I was 46 I went with friends on my very first ever cruise for a bachelorette party, despite being short, chubby, nothing special to look at and daily was dressed down with very little make up its amazing the amount of men I was propositioned by. Yes many of them were drunk and desperate but a different level. Never had there been so many and never had they been so adamant. I had them pounding on my door in the middle of the night, gyrating against me even when I was sitting down and no music was playing, even following me around the ship on a few occasions. Suffice to say I was terrified and even when I complained to the crew not much was done, they’d get a stern warning on the day but would then approach me the next time. My entire trip was ruined, it was my first proper get away and cruise which I was really looking forward to yet the whole time I was there I was just counting down the days until I was back home with my kids again. Totally agreed, do not travel alone if you’re a female. And on a cruise be very, very safe!
Why do people think of cruise ships as safe? They are literally in the middle of the ocean surrounded by unpredictable weather and thousands of people, odds are a few of them are murders/criminals. They can dispose of a body too easily. And the fact that the cruise didn’t raise the alarm? Goes to show how much they actually care about these crimes.
Three possible reasons: 1- human trafficking and the cruise companies are complicit. 2- They fell overboard due to intoxication. It’s the nature for cruising that people drink heavily, and thus do stupid things. Once falling overboard it’s pretty much over. And even though the cruise company isn’t complicit in the accident they rather keep silent than to have a bad reputation because of irresponsible guests. 3- rapists, maybe from the crew, that take advantage of drunk people, after raping they throw the victim overboard to cover their actions. Lesson learned: don’t go cruising.
Went on a carnival cruise with family when I was 14. Sister and step sister and “cruise friends” thought it would be funny to run away from me and I spent 3 hours searching for them while having many weird encounters. I’m so thankful somehow nothing happened to me. God help these souls who lurk just to harm people. This is so beyond messed up. This shouldn’t be able to happen. Cameras should be EVERYWHERE on a cruise ship.
When I went on a cruise with my family a couple of years ago, someone called my mom’s room late at night, and after hearing her voice told her she had won a free bottle of tequila and to come pick it up. Luckily she didn’t believe it and hung up, because it was a scam and she hadn’t actually won anything. It’s scary to think what that person’s intentions were, and what would have happened if she’d left the room and come to the floor like they told her to.
After being on 3 cruise ships myself it’s actually really hard to have unlimited drinks. Even with a drinks package you can only have one drink and their really strict about making sure it’s only one drink per hour. Saying that I’ve only cruised past 4 years. I loved my experience but I depend it’s who you meet on there
LOL the Royal Caribbean didn’t want their reputation going bad by trying to blame it on suicide, that they’ve ended up making it so much worse cause now they’re definitely going to lose customers after this. I wouldn’t want to go cruising on a ship with no care or empathy for their customers and with such low security.
She was murdered by a crew member, if she just went missing they wouldn’t act so suspicious they would talk to the parents, they would of given her belongings back and they would have no problem talking to authorities. Obviously they do this often and cover for one another. Makes me not want to go on a cruise, keep your drinks close by and if for whatever reason you left your drink unattended get a new one don’t risk it. This poor family will never have answers and will never get her body back. Be smart and stay safe
I swear on everything I love that there was a serial killer in the casino following me and my sister-in-law. He was thin, acting naive about gambling, not drinking (we were drinking) and I immediately felt every fiber of my being on high alert. He even followed us into the elevator without us realizing he was behind us. When my tone changed he backed off completely. I started noticing him and saying so. “Those are cool frames where did you get them? You said you’re from Canada how did you travel to Florida? I started pointing out little things and he literally stepped off the elevator asap.
I went on my 1st cruise when I was 16 for my best friends birthday. Her family took about 10 of her closest friends. We did Karaoke one night and I had a strange man asking me to go back to his room to hang out and after I said no he stayed and watched me around the room. I felt super uncomfortable and told a parent that was with us ASAP and I was very aware of my surroundings after. Right after I told the parent he disappeared. You never know what kind of psychos are on board.
I would think massive alcohol and being on a ship where you can fall overboard is not a good thing sure that happens a lot not to mention it would be an extremely easy place for someone to kill someone and toss them over that’s not a good environment not enough policing not enough safety on the decks I don’t personally think we hear this over and over again
I hope the parents know about the other case, where a woman disappeared on a cruise ship and was most likely trafficked into South America, she was seen later there in company of several men. I don’t know her name, but that case is very often discussed on YouTube. She even said her name and where she was in a toilet of a club or something, but the person that Heard her say that had no chance to get her out there, the man came and brought her out. Second sighting was in a brothel and there too she said her name and that she needed help, but the men reported her case month later, when she was gone already from that brothel. In that case the Family requested that they searched the hole ship, when they found out she was missing, before anyone is let out of the ship, that way they should have found her, but the Captain didn’t wanna do it and let all people staff and passengers from the ship. The Cruise line is definitiv covering something up in that case. The missing woman Said on the phone before her gone missing that the staff was in a creepy way too nice to her, much more than you should expect on a normal ship holiday. And they even have her last photos where she danced with a staff member, that’s most likely her kidnapper that trafficked her and brought her out of the ship in a box or something like that. He was never even considered a suspect that’s so wrong. Why couldn’t the police even properly check his background, when he’s the last known person that talked to her and is known she was with before her disappearance.
So out of 230 million customers in 10 years they lost 250. In the regular world USA we have roughly 300 million people and lose approximately 50,000 a year that are never found. So going with these numbers if my math is correct you are about 200 times more likely to disappear from US land than you are a cruise ship.
I know someone who was going to take a 10 day cruise from NYC… Apparently someone went missing even before they launched… While it was in dock… the police were there searching everywhere. He said that the cruise was delayed for two days… sitting in the dock. He also said that he would never take another cruise after this debacle.
I was on top of a cruise ship once in the middle of the night and it was sailing and I was looking at the ocean and the thought of jumping came into my mind.. I thought wow if I did this no one would ever see me again and no one would know where I went.. the thought was chilling and I went back inside..
They know its one of them. Why would they supposedly dispose off her items ? One of your passengers is missing ffs. How do you pick her items and dispose them off ? It means they knew she wouldn’t be returning ? Why did they not notify family and the authorities ? A lot of suspicious questions towards the crew members .
If you look at the blurry b/w photo of her boarding the ship, she looks wild-eyed, dazed & confused & seems like she’s got her hand around someone’s arm who’s guiding her along. Something is wrong from before even getting on that ship. It also shows the date was way back in 2004. I wonder if there was ever any follow-up?
I used to be an officer in a very well-known cruise line. Trust me, a lot of horrible things happen onboard that nobody even knows about and the cruise lines will pretend nothing ever happened. Because of my high rank position I had access to A LOT of confidential information, files and data and when I started questioning the breaches of protocol, security and safety they simply got rid of me!
I’ve got invited to several cruises and turn them all down. I’m not about to die out at sea, from what I hear people get drunk, the ships are running into rocks and shit, there’s no rules and order once you get out to sea, everybody’s just doing whatever they want. That’s a very dangerous environment. I’ll stick to flying…….at least a flight goes faster. I think alot of those people who’s disappeared got drunk and fell overboard. And some is foul play. No cruises for me .
99% of people don’t know and wouldn’t believe that once a ship goes in international water – you have no protection from any law. While it is true that you are under the law of the flag under which the ship is registered under – there is no police, nor is there any will from the ship owners to announce or investigate crimes. If they find you are missing – they wil swear on the Bible that you commited suicide, so that no further bad publicity is associated with their money making machine. You are never safe in your own country and you are even less safer on a ship. You can get lost just the same as baggage gets lost. And nobody will lift their finger to try and find what happened. Because it is next to impossible.
Probably a serial rapist took advantage of her and then made it look like she committed suicide. OR her ex husband set her up, so he could get full custody over his child. Either way, sounds pretty strange for someone to just vanish into thin air. Her parents went to rest her body in peace, may her soul rest in peace. One day the truth will be revealed.
maybe she was raped and killed and dumped her body into the ocean a midnight where nobody there in to the corner of ship, before dumping make sure that bag where the corps in puts some heavy object that can go botom of ocean and make some holes on to the bag just to make sure water fill in and the corps will decomposed in few days so no more evidence just some bones if they find, just saying. btw sorry for the family.
I once went on a week long trip on a massive cruise ship that belongs to a very well known international brand. First three days were ok. But then the thought of being in the middle of nowhere in the water at the mercy of the crew started dawning on me and I became more and more anxious. I was so grateful to return home safely and would never do it again.
I took the Alaska Cruise ship and it was a very mellow experience the entire time, there wasn’t late night parties or drunk and wild pple parting the whole night. It was mostly family and seniors oriented. Their lame parties use to end at 11 pm as the latest. Wondering what happened to this woman, she didn’t even look like to be a party animal. I would believe that she was targeted for traveling alone and maybe any employee or even a directive of the cruise ship was involved. Poor woman 🙁
Ten years ago, I was talked into a cruise for a friend’s special occasion. I had never been around so many crummy people in my life. Many passengers were unsavory and looked like plain old trouble. I am a male and know how to take care of myself mentally and physically. For a young woman to take a cruise alone is folly.
im surprised cruises dont have some sort of waterproof GPS safety bracelet people could optionally wear upon entering. Maybe with an alarm button and microphone. The scariest thing, is that of all 250 missing people most of them probably die not die from the water impact. Leaving them some time to resurface and process the dread
It’s pretty obvious there should be regulations in place for the industry to require an actual police force on board cruise ships… Not just powerless security (in regards to arresting or applying criminal charges) who are hired by the cruise line. The security team is being told what to do by the cruise line and the cruise lines number one priority is to protect their own assets. They’re far less worried about passenger well being in a crime situation. They just don’t want to get sued. Going to GREAT lengths to relieve themselves of any liability. Including deleting or recording over security camera footage before arriving to port and claiming the cameras don’t work/malfunctioned. These are mini cities with an average of 2500+ passengers on board. There’s also an abundance of alcohol and a carefree outlook towards tomorrow since they’re cruising and don’t have to drive or go anywhere.. So it’s quite common for people of over indulge with the booze. So imagine packing 2000 drunk people into the same vessel and expecting there to be no crimes? Really? Even if that many people aren’t intoxicated, just the sheer volume of people on board, there is bound to be criminals and sex offenders sprinkled in there just based on numbers and statistics of offenders. The presence of crime (a lot going off record because they sweep it under the rug, especially if committed by one of their employees) and lack of accountability is a dirty secret of the Cruise industry. Its apparently more common for theft and sex crimes.
I did tarot cards for Merrian. I got that she commited suicide because the loss of a man she loved meaning a breakup. She felt she had done all she could do but she had lost him in the end. Like he blocked her or something or he stopped talking to her completely. He may have been married. There was also something about a loss of money as well.
US Laws needed to force any cruise ship regardless of flag that docks at a US port to follow certain regulations – or no US business. More CCTV needed; no erasing of a cruise ships article for at least 1 year. Pics of all passengers should be taken upon initial boarding for facial recognition purposes.
This is exactly why kids need more math in school. 23 million vacationers board cruise ships each year, so after 10 years that equates to 230 million passengers. That makes the 250 missing people such a small number! Consider this, in the US there are approximately 331 million people and in 2020 alone, more than a half of million people went missing. So clearly, if you don’t want to go missing you really should take a cruise. Source: statista.com/statistics/240401/number-of-missing-person-files-in-the-us-since-1990/
I guess the key lesson here is to not go on cruises alone and to have a friend or family member and be accountable for each-other AKA know if they haven’t come back to the room for the night or if they had one too many drinks. A lot of these cruise ship deaths seem to involve drinking and falling overboard
I remember a young lady did travel with her parents and she went missing. After years pass by a military guy was on base or station in Asia and had left to go to a bar without permission, and describe white a young lady approaching him, and asked him if he was an American, he said yes, and she began to beg him to take her with him that she was kidnap and he told her he couldn’t because he could get himself in a lot trouble for leaving the base. She kept begging him, and he was apologetic that he sorry but he couldn’t take her with him and left. When he came to USA he got on face book posted the same details and described her to the parents. But rumors was going around that no one believed him. That was it. It’s terrible what these innocent people be going thru. They say there’s NO LAW ON EVERY CRUISE SHIP AND AT SEA. JUST BEWARE FOLKS. YOUR NOT SAFE ANYWHERE ANYMORE.
I don’t trust cruise ships too many stories it’s an inside job they know who did it it was a employee. I just seen application online for 2019 with a cruise ship anybody can work on there. Then they say that she committed suicide on their ship. Okay so why not saying her belongings to her family. Because she didn’t commit suicide somebody killed her. That’s why they trying to cover it up how you going to throw your stuff away if she committed suicide. Where is the respect so why would anybody want to ride on their cruise ship if someone commits suicide they won’t even return the belongings back to the family. And you on international waters Anything Goes. That might be a ship hostile
It sounds like maybe it’s the Serial Killer who works on a Cruise ship that gets away with more easily than doing it elsewhere, maybe he threw them overboard or stabbed them first before cleaning blood stains and covering up the fact that they probably killed those people Onboard those vessels! Or if it isn’t them, then it could be the same killer who got Rejected by the women who he tried to hang with but may have told him to Backoff cause they are married or already taken by another Man and maybe that person is responsible for the deaths of those people! in the past 10 Years. By killing both Men and women who went missing due to being a creep who wants women! Most likely.
25 deaths per year? (assuming most are dead) I love those odds! USA stats per year:Heart disease: 659,041,Cancer: 599,601,Accidents (unintentional injuries): 173,040,Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 156,979 Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 150,005 Alzheimer’s disease: 121,499 Diabetes: 87,647 Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 51,565 Influenza and Pneumonia: 49,783 Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,511 and I didn’t even include covid. Ya I know it sucks when you don’t know what happened but CHAMPAGNE CORKS kill 24 people a year, just assume those 25 people per year fell overboard. They can’t surround cruise ships with tall fences to prevent it.
I’ve always known that people go missing on those things. I was dating someone a few years back a rather mysterious offputting person. They all of sudden paid for a cruise and Invited me. I had a gut wrenching feeling I shouldn’t go. So I didnt. They also have a morgue on these ships. Then years later to watch this?? I always knew.
It’s all in the numbers. Every New Years Eve a million people go to Times Square in NYC but .0005% do not make it home alive. That’s a very small percentage but that is still 5 people. When you consider how many millions of people are on a ship in the open waters every year it is still a very small percent that go missing.
250 people in 10 years. 23 million per yer, which comes out to 230 million ppl traveling on cruise ships in 10 years. That’s like a 100th of a percent. From those 250, you have to subtracted disappearances that were by choice. That number might be higher than we think. In other words, man or woman, keep your head on straight, and you’ll likely be fine. The world isn’t as scary as the media wants you to believe.