A crew member aboard Regal Princess died after going overboard near Cancun, Mexico, Princess Cruises confirmed Monday, capping a five-hour search across two areas.
“Regal Princess is conducting man overboard right now,” a passenger wrote to Cruise Radio’s tip line early Monday. “We were woken up by captain’s all ship announcement. Crew member is missing. We are now have turned around and is sailing at 25 knots!”
Vessel data shows Regal Princess reversed course at 4:02 a.m., about 524 nautical miles from Port Everglades, then covered 30 nautical miles before reaching an initial search area at 5:39 a.m. local time.
A missed port
At 8:30 a.m., the passenger reported another bridge update.
Captain just made announcement: they’re continuing to search and have recalculated their best guess on location of missing crew member,” the passenger wrote. “Cozumel will be delayed by several hours and maybe cancelled altogether. Originally supposed to be docked already.”
The crew member was never found.
“They did not find crew member, search for many hours, lost Cozumel port today,” the passenger wrote, adding that the captain said the ship would make up the stop on the way back. “Captain did many updates to passengers throughout the day and was respectful to the crew and professional and kept us updated.”
Princess confirms the death
Princess Cruises is deeply saddened to confirm the passing of a Princess crew member who has gone overboard today from Regal Princess. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the crew’s family and friends during this difficult time.
It went on to say, “Grief support services are being offered to guests and crew members affected by this event. Princess Cruises thanks the local maritime authorities and our colleagues from Carnival Jubilee who assisted in search and rescue efforts.
Princess has not released the crew member’s identity, nationality or the details of the man overboard.
Regal Princess is due in Belize July 14 as planned. Cozumel will be made up July 16, and the ship remains on schedule to return to Fort Lauderdale July 18.
