Carnival Cruise Line has issued a statement following the ongoing disappearance of a cruise guest, who left the Carnival Horizon cruise ship last week while it docked in Bonaire. Mystery has surrounded the woman’s whereabouts with local authorities including police conducting an island-wide search operation for the past few days.
The cruise line says 47-year-old American Jessica Collins has apparently taken an intentional decision to leave and “be on her own.”
Guest Does Not Want to Be Found, Cruise Line Says
“A guest from Carnival Horizon disembarked from the ship when it visited Bonaire on September 17 and did not return. She debarked with all her belongings in her backpack and left a cash gratuity for the stateroom attendant with a thank you note,” it said.
“The guest subsequently texted a member of our Care Team who had been trying to reach her saying she was safe and did not want to be found or contacted again. This guest appears to have taken the deliberate action to be on her own.”
Carnival says it is continuing to cooperate with local authorities. She failed to return to the ship later that day. The ship delayed its departure for some time in the hope she was running late. When she failed to return the Caribbean Netherlands Police Force on Bonaire started a missing person investigation.
“Of course, every second counts in a missing person case,” a police spokesperson said at the weekend as it released CCTV footage stills of Collins leaving the ship. Over the weekend local media reported some of Collins’ belongings were left in her stateroom but the cruise line’s statement seems to have debunked this.
Carnival Horizon returned to Miami on Sunday. Bonaire was the second call on the Southern Caribbean itinerary which included Aruba and Curacao.
