Passenger Missing From MSC Ship During Transatlantic Cruise

A male guest has been reported missing and later confirmed overboard from MSC Cruises’ MSC Armonia, the cruise line’s oldest vessel. The incident occurred during the ship’s transatlantic voyage from Europe to South America.

MSC Armonia departed Marghera, Italy on Sunday, November 26, 2023 and after various calls in Europe and the Canary Islands, arrived in Recife, Brazil on Thursday, December 14. The ship’s itinerary has not been impacted by the incident.

Guest Overboard From MSC Armonia

A 40-year-old male guest, who has not been officially identified, is confirmed overboard from MSC Armonia while the ship was crossing the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to Brazil as part of one of the cruise line’s “Grand Voyage” itineraries.

After the guest was reported missing at approximately 9 a.m. on Wednesday, December 13 – several hours after having last been seen – the ship’s security conducted a review of onboard security cameras and activated other overboard procedures, including paging the missing man over the ship’s public address system.

Ultimately, it was determined that the man had gone intentionally overboard at roughly 5 a.m. that morning, and was alone in doing so. No foul play was involved, though there had been some tense moments between him and his travel partner witnessed by other guests earlier in the sailing.

No additional details about the circumstances of the guest or how he went overboard have been made available.

No Further Investigation to Be Made

After arriving in Recife, Brazil, local authorities coordinated with cruise line personnel to investigate the incident and concluded that there would be no further case, as there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the event. The incident happened in international waters and the missing man is only known as a North American tourist.

The man’s travel companion was questioned briefly, but released and was able to travel on from Recife, though he elected to fly rather than continue on the cruise ship.

The 65,542-gross-ton MSC Armonia is a Lirica class vessel built in 2001 for Festival Cruises, a now-defunct Greece cruise line that declared bankruptcy in 2004. At that time, the ship joined MSC Cruises and today is the oldest ship in the MSC fleet.

MSC Armonia can welcome 1,554 guests onboard at double occupancy or as many as 2,679 travelers when fully booked, though this particular sailing only has 1,077 passengers. Also onboard are 725 international crew members.

Read Also: Why Are MSC Cruises so Cheap?

The ship will remain homeported from Sao Paulo, Brazil through mid-March, offering a variety of South American itineraries visiting destinations in Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil, depending on the sailing date and cruise length. In April 2024, MSC Armonia will return to the Mediterranean.

Recent Overboards

Unfortunately, there have been a number of overboard incidents recently on different cruise lines and different cruise ships.

In mid-November, a 28-year-old male guest went overboard from Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Glory. Despite an exhaustive search over more than 5,000 square miles in the Gulf of Mexico, that search was ultimately suspended without success in locating the man.

Also, in mid-November, a crew member went overboard from MSC Cruises’ MSC Seascape in the area just north of Puerto Rico. Search efforts continued for more than 30 hours but failed to locate the missing crew member.

At the end of November, a 16-year-old male guest went overboard from a balcony on Royal Caribbean International’s Allure of the Seas with an equally tragic ending, as the guest fell to the Oasis-class ship’s Central Park promenade from an interior balcony. The young guest later died in a hospital.

Cruise Hive’s thoughts are with all family members and friends who endure such tragedies during what out to be fun and relaxing cruise vacations, as well as with crew members who must cope with such unsettling incidents.