A 41-year-old man remains missing after falling from the Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas.
The incident took place 127 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina, and was reported to the U.S. Coast Guard at 7:17 p.m. on December 23, 2023.
The individual was a passenger on the “8 Night Bahamas & Perfect Day Holiday Cruise,” which started from Baltimore, Maryland. The cruise’s planned route included the Bahamas, with a return scheduled to Baltimore. Royal Caribbean representatives acted promptly in alerting the authorities and starting a search and rescue operation following the overboard report.
The Coast Guard’s search efforts included two C-130 Hercules planes from Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and Clearwater, Florida. Despite covering an area exceeding 1,625 square miles over an eight-hour period, the search was suspended the next morning due to the extensive area and lack of findings.
Passengers aboard the cruise ship shared their experiences of the emergency. Jake Utzinger, a 21-year-old film student, recounted hearing the captain’s announcement and his reaction to the news, joining other passengers on the pool deck to assist in the search.
Colin Schappi, another passenger, recalled the ship’s overboard alert “Oscar! Oscar! Oscar! Starboard!” Following this, the ship stopped and deployed a strobe light, conducting a search for approximately six hours before resuming its course around 2 a.m.
Following the incident, the Vision of the Seas, which can hold up to 2,000 passengers, continued its planned itinerary, with the next stop at Port Canaveral, Florida.