A passenger went overboard from a Carnival Cruise Line ship returning to California from Mexico, triggering a frantic shipwide search and forcing the massive vessel to reverse course.
Carnival Cruise Line confirmed that a male guest aboard Carnival Panorama jumped overboard Saturday, September 19, while the ship was sailing from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, toward its home port in Long Beach, California.
“When notified of a missing guest, the ship’s team initiated search and investigation procedures, including reviewing CCTV footage and notifying both the US and Mexico Coast Guards,” Carnival said in a statement provided to multiple outlets.
Carnival said it was also providing support to relatives who were traveling with the missing passenger.
The frightening incident unfolded during the final full day of a seven-night Mexican Riviera cruise that departed Long Beach on September 13. The scheduled itinerary included stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta before two days at sea and a return to California on September 20.
According to TMZ, a passenger aboard the ship said the man’s relatives initially began looking for him before asking guest services for help.
The missing guest was reportedly paged over the ship’s public-address system during the morning.
The search soon intensified.
Passengers were instructed to return to their cabins while crew members conducted a shipwide accounting of guests. Separate reports from people aboard the Panorama said security personnel went cabin to cabin checking passenger cards.
Crew members also reviewed the ship’s surveillance system.
Carnival later confirmed that its investigation determined the man had gone overboard.
The Panorama then reversed course and searched the surrounding waters before eventually resuming its trip toward Long Beach. Passenger accounts differ slightly on the exact times of the turnaround and when the vessel resumed course, so those times have not been independently confirmed by Carnival.
A Facebook video shared from aboard the ship captured one of the announcements updating passengers on the search.
“We have yet to locate the missing guest,” a cruise official can be heard telling those aboard, while explaining that appropriate authorities had been notified.
The incident happened aboard one of Carnival’s largest West Coast ships.
Carnival says the Panorama is 1,055 feet long, has a guest capacity of 4,008 based on double occupancy and carries approximately 1,450 crew members. The 133,500-gross-ton vessel is registered in Panama.
The enormous size of the ship also helps explain why passengers were sent back to their rooms. Before authorities can treat a guest as having gone overboard, cruise crews may first have to determine whether the person is somewhere else aboard the vessel while reviewing surveillance footage and other information.
Accounts posted by passengers Saturday described repeated announcements followed by instructions to remain inside staterooms while the search was underway. One passenger reported that the captain later announced that the ship’s camera review had confirmed the person went overboard.
The circumstances leading up to the incident have not been publicly explained, and Carnival has not released the man’s name.
Claims circulating among passengers about his age, family circumstances or precisely when he entered the water have also not been independently confirmed and should be treated as unverified.
As news spread across the ship, passengers began showing support for the man’s loved ones.
Passenger Misty Hernandez shared a second Facebook video showing a small remembrance area filled with handwritten notes, prayers, teddy bears and cruise-themed rubber ducks.
Hernandez wrote that many of the people leaving messages had never met the missing passenger but had nevertheless been shaken by what happened.
The tribute offered passengers a place to stop, leave a message or say a prayer while the man’s relatives faced an agonizing ordeal.
Carnival Panorama was scheduled to complete the cruise in Long Beach on Sunday morning. Published itinerary records list a September 20 arrival after the ship’s two final days at sea.
As of Sunday, no public announcement located from Carnival or the relevant U.S. or Mexican maritime authorities indicated that the passenger had been recovered.
Carnival said its thoughts and prayers were with the man’s relatives and loved ones as authorities handled the continuing response.
Leave a Reply