Missing at sea: What really happens when people go missing from cruise ships

Words by Samantha Priestley

It might not come as much of a surprise that there are 200 deaths per year on cruise ships, considering the vast number of people cruising, but the cases of people going missing on cruise ships are a little more startling.

How many passengers go missing on cruise ships?

There are no official figures for missing people on cruises, but since 2018 seven people have been reported missing while sailing on cruise lines, that’s one a year. For anyone who’s watched the new 2025 Netflix documentary ‘Amy Bradley is Missing’, this could cause some pause for thought. But going missing on a cruise is still very rare.

Can you go missing on a cruise ship?

Most people who go missing on cruise ships are never actually missing. The most common reason someone isn’t in their cabin or isn’t with their group of friends or family, is that they’ve met someone, and this goes for crew too. “Crew are always hooking up with passengers,” says Emma Wilson, a former assistant cruise director. “It happens all the time, especially with the officers.” (Although note this is against the rules at sea!)

And then there are the passengers and crew, who leave the ship at port and don’t get back on, either when they’re supposed to, or at all. If you’re late getting back to your ship after a port stop, don’t expect the ship to wait for you. Cruise ships run to a tight schedule and need to stick to their itinerary, so if you’re late it’s your problem and it’s your responsibility to organise your own travel to the next port if you want to get back on the ship.

And this goes for crew members, too. “A whole group of Chinese acrobats didn’t come back to the ship once,” says Emma. “After that we weren’t allowed to hire Chinese acrobats anymore.”

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Do people fall overboard cruise ships?

However, as the Amy Bradley documentary highlights, weird things do happen on cruises and sometimes a disappearance isn’t so innocent. If someone goes overboard, it’s usually assumed they fell.

Has anyone fallen off a cruise ship and been saved?

In June 2025 a five-year-old girl fell from a Disney cruise and was, luckily, rescued by the tender boat. But falling by accident is hard to do. This girl was sitting up on the railings, which is just about the only way you could fall, as those railings come up pretty high. So, a presumption of a fall is often just that, a presumption, and perhaps not so likely.

“A man vanished from our ship once and was assumed missing overboard,” says Emma. “He’d been in the casino a lot and there was a rumour he was arguing with his wife after a big win. Another time a passenger went missing and just their wheelchair was found leaning on the promenade deck railings.”

Sometimes, sadly, passengers and crew do jump from the ship on purpose, which is also much more likely than a fall. “A crew member once tried to kill himself on our ship,” says Emma. “He was seen by passengers jumping from the top deck. He was picked up alive by our sister ship which was sailing right behind us.”

Do cruise ships stop if you fall overboard?

This does at least give some comfort to those worried about falling off the ship. If someone did fall, or was pushed, or jumped, there is an international seafarer law that if a ship is near another ship that sends emergency signals, they have to help. The ship itself will also stop to initiate search and rescue efforts.

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What happens when someone is missing from a cruise ship?

The problem with going missing on a cruise ship is that, depending on where the ship is at the time, the issue could be solely in the hands of the ship’s crew rather than the police. This is especially true if the incident happens in international waters.

When someone is reported missing on a cruise ship the first person to deal with the issue is the purser, or guest services. “If someone is missing ashore, the purser tells the port agent and calls head office,” says Emma. “If it happens at sea the family or friends who are reporting it usually go to the purser’s desk, and if it’s at night the night manager will search the open deck area.”

As seen in the Amy Bradley documentary, things typically move pretty slowly at first, as the crew presume the person will turn up. After all, cruise ships are big and there are a lot of people onboard. But even when someone doesn’t turn up within an hour, there’s little urgency, and, depending on where the ship is, sometimes there’s little that can be done.

“The purser will wait a certain amount of time and then make an announcement on the tannoy,” says Emma. “There are different codes used when communicating this to crew. Code Oscar means man overboard and code Charlie means missing person and this is when crew will conduct a search of the ship.”

How likely is it that someone will go missing on a cruise ship?

The good news is that going missing on a cruise ship is extremely rare when you consider how many people cruise every year. Ships also have better security than they did 30 years ago when Amy Bradley went missing.

Today, with cameras everywhere on ships and better electronic logging of who leaves their room, who gets off a ship and who gets back on, it’s much more unlikely to be a mystery when someone does go missing.

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