carnival cruise man overboard august 2022

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A Man Fell From a Cruise Ship. And Survived.

He treaded water for hours in the Gulf of Mexico, withstanding rain, winds and waves before he was rescued. Others have not been so lucky. What happens when a person goes overboard?

By Maria Cramer

The Carnival Valor had been at sea for only a day when calls came over the loudspeaker asking a certain passenger to please report to customer service.

The man, a 28-year-old American citizen, had been reported missing by his family that morning.

It was Thanksgiving, and the Valor, a 3,756-passenger cruise ship that had left New Orleans the day before, was heading toward Cozumel, Mexico.

Crew members soon began searching passengers’ cabins, said Shant’a Miller White, who was traveling with her husband and family. One employee entered her cousin’s cabin and said, “We just need to make sure everything is OK.”

“We didn’t know what was going on,” Ms. White, 48, recalled. Then, at dinner, came another announcement: The ship needed to change course to execute a search and rescue operation.

Ms. White pictured the unknown passenger alone in the water and felt sick to her stomach.

“Did they fall to the bottom? Did the sharks get them?” Ms. White recalled thinking. She began to pray.

The passenger, according to the Coast Guard, turned out to be James Grimes, 28, who had been traveling with his parents and siblings on the five-day cruise. His family had last seen him the night before, around 11 p.m.

But by 10:45 on Thanksgiving morning, when there was no sign of him, the family notified the crew, the Coast Guard said.

At 8:10 p.m., more than nine hours after his family reported him missing, a passing tanker spotted the man near the mouth of the Mississippi River and alerted the Coast Guard.

Rescuers found Mr. Grimes struggling in the water, waving frantically and trying to keep his head above the surface.

When the crew of the MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter lifted him out, he was in shock, had mild hypothermia and was extremely dehydrated, said Lt. Seth Gross, who managed the search and rescue operation for the Coast Guard. But he was alive and in stable condition.

Mr. Grimes, whose family described him as an exceptional swimmer, had treaded in 65- to 70-degree water for hours, withstanding rain, 20-knot winds and three- to five-foot waves in the Gulf of Mexico, where bull sharks and blacktip sharks are common, Coast Guard officials said.

“This case is certainly extraordinary,” Lieutenant Gross said. “The survival instinct, the will to survive is just crazy.”

How often does this happen?

Falling from a ship into a vast sea may be a cruise passenger’s worst nightmare. While the chances of going overboard are exceedingly remote, according to statistics from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) , the outcome is usually tragic.

In 2019, 25 people fell overboard, and only nine of them were rescued, according to CLIA.

In February, a woman aboard the Carnival Valor jumped off the 10th deck of the ship while fleeing security officers who were trying to detain her after she had scuffled with them. Her body was never found.

In December 2016, a 22-year-old man fell off the 12th deck of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship after a night of heavy drinking. His parents sued the cruise line in federal court in Florida, but a jury decided in favor of Royal Caribbean.

Alcohol is a factor in at least 11 percent of falls from cruise ships, which often offer all-inclusive drink packages that encourage drinking onboard, said Ross Klein, a professor of social work at Memorial University of Newfoundland, who researches cruise safety.

“Cruises are viewed as idyllic, safe and secure, and of course those views are reinforced by advertising and public statements,” he said. But the public should be aware of the risks of going on a cruise, which include being pushed overboard, going overboard and being tempted to jump overboard, he said.

How do ships prevent people from going overboard?

By law, railings have to be 42 inches tall, Professor Klein said. There were efforts to make the railings taller by about another foot, he said, after Congress began considering legislation to tighten security on ships in 2005. But in 2010, when Congress passed the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, the railing height requirements were set at the current standard, he said.

The railing height is designed to keep passengers safe along ship promenades, said Brian Salerno, the senior vice president for Maritime policy at CLIA.

“The vast majority of cases are either reckless behavior or some form of intentional act,” Mr. Salerno said. “People don’t just inadvertently fall over the side of a ship.”

Professor Klein said cruise ships could limit the risks of passengers falling overboard if they limited alcohol consumption, increased railing heights and installed technology that senses when a heavy object has fallen from the ship.

The 2010 law directed cruise ships to begin developing and installing such technology, Mr. Salerno said.

It took years to create a video-surveillance system that would be sensitive enough to detect a person falling overboard and alarm a ship’s crew but that wouldn’t be triggered by other objects, like a sea gull flying by, he said. Some ships have already begun installing such systems, Mr. Salerno said.

Bartenders on cruises are also trained to watch for excessive drinking, said Robert Kritzman, a partner at Clyde & Co., an international law firm in Miami, who advises cruise companies.

“The general policy is the same as anywhere else: Once somebody becomes excessively intoxicated, you stop serving,” he said.

Carnival Corp. said the “only way to go overboard is to purposefully climb up and over the safety barriers.”

“Cruise ships have safety barriers in all public areas that are regulated by U.S. Coast Guard standards that prevent a guest from falling off,” the company said in a statement that thanked the Coast Guard and the mariner who found Mr. Grimes. “Guests should never ever climb up on the rails.”

A spokesman did not respond to follow up questions about the incident or Carnival’s safety protocols.

What happens when the crew learns that a person has gone overboard?

Cruise ships have clear protocols for what to do when a person goes overboard, Mr. Kritzman said.

Once the crew members learn that a person has gone overboard, they immediately inform the Coast Guard, stop the ship and turn around to help find the missing passenger. Often, smaller, fast boats are deployed from the ship to search for the person, Mr. Kritzman said.

The circumstances around the recent fall from the Carnival Valor, including the precise time that Mr. Grimes went overboard, remain unknown. The Coast Guard said it was investigating the incident.

Lieutenant Gross said that after the Coast Guard learned about the missing passenger, it launched a 45-foot patrol boat, a helicopter and a tracker plane to search for him. The Coast Guard set up a search area of more than 7,000 square nautical miles, roughly the size of Massachusetts, he said, and immediately alerted any mariners around the Gulf of Mexico to look for the man.

The Crinis , a bulk carrier, spotted Mr. Grimes about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, a channel at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Lt. Gross said he called the man’s mother and stepfather to tell them he had been found.

When he told them their son was stable and being treated at a hospital in New Orleans, he heard them cheer and cry.

Ms. White, who lives in Hampton, Va., and runs an anti-bullying organization , said she was flooded with relief when the ship announced that Mr. Grimes had been found alive.

“That was nothing but God that he survived,” she said.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places for a Changed World for 2022.

Maria Cramer is a reporter on the Travel desk. Please send her tips, questions and complaints about traveling, especially on cruises. More about Maria Cramer

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Coast Guard rescues man who went overboard on Carnival cruise ship

The guest was reported missing around noon Thursday.

A 28-year-old man who went overboard while on a Carnival cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard almost 20 hours after he was reported missing.

The guest, according to a representative with Carnival Cruise Line, was at a bar with his sister on the Carnival Valor and left to use the bathroom at around 11 p.m. Wednesday night. He never returned and his sister reported him missing the following day. The Coast Guard received the call at approximately 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Carnival crew searched the ship Thursday but were unsuccessful, later deciding to retrace the ship's route to find the missing guest.

The U.S. Coast Guard assisted the Carnival crew with search and rescue and told ABC News they found the man in the water shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday. He was rescued approximately 20 hours since he was last seen.

The man was reported to be in stable condition, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday.

MORE: CDC ends COVID-19 program for cruise ships

"The Jayhawk aircrew hoisted the man onto the helicopter and transferred him to awaiting emergency medical services at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport," a statement from the Coast Guard read.

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The ship was on its way to Cozumel, a Mexican island in the Caribbean, and was released by the Coast Guard to continue to its destination.

“We are beyond grateful that this case ended with a positive outcome," said Lt. Seth Gross, a Sector New Orleans search and rescue mission coordinator. "It took a total team effort from Coast Guard watchstanders, response crews, and our professional maritime partners operating in the Gulf of Mexico to locate the missing individual and get him to safety. If not for the alert crew aboard the motor vessel Crinis, this case could have had a much more difficult ending.”

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Cruise passenger who fell overboard rescued in ‘Thanksgiving miracle’

US coast guard located man about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana, after he fell overboard the Carnival Valor ship

In what some officials were hailing as a “Thanksgiving miracle” a passenger was rescued from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday evening after falling overboard from a cruise ship, the US coast guard (USCG) announced.

At 8.25pm on Thursday, the coast guard located a 28-year-old man in the sea about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana , after he apparently fell overboard the New Orleans-to-Mexico Carnival Valor cruise ship on Wednesday evening.

In a statement to CNN, Carnival officials said the man was reported missing on Thanksgiving Day after he walked away from his sister at an onboard bar the night before at 11pm – likely to use the bathroom.

He never returned, prompting his sister to alert staff members the next day. CNN reports that numerous announcements were made throughout the ship for the man to check in with guest service, but to no avail.

At around 2.30pm on Thursday, the cruise ship alerted the coast guard about the missing passenger.

“Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a call from the Carnival Valor at approximately 2.30pm Thursday, reporting a passenger aboard the cruise ship was missing. Watchstanders then coordinated the launch of several rescue crews to begin searching,” the coast guard said in a statement .

The rescue crews included a boat from Venice, Florida, a New Orleans-based helicopter, as well as airplanes from Clearwater, Florida and Mobile, Alabama, Lt Seth Gross, a USCG search and rescue coordinator told CNN.

The 200-plus-mile search was made complicated by the time difference between when the passenger was last seen and when the Coast Guard was alerted. “We knew that communication with the mariners in the Gulf of Mexico was going to be critical, Gross said.

Six hours later, crew members from the vessel Crinis discovered “a person in the water”, the USCG said.

The person turned out to be the missing passenger.

Aircrew from the coast guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter promptly “vectored into the area … hoisted the man on to the helicopter and transferred him to awaiting emergency medical services at the New Orleans Lakefront airport”, said the USCG.

“He was able to identify his name, confirmed that he was the individual that fell overboard,” Gross told CNN. “He was showing signs of hypothermia, shock, dehydration” but was reported to be in stable condition by the coast guard late Friday morning.

“The fact that he was able to keep himself afloat and above the surface of the water for such an extended period of time, it’s just something you can’t take for granted and certainly something that’ll stick with me forever,” Gross said, adding that the water temperature on Thursday night in the gulf was just slightly above 70F (21C).

Gross added: “The will to live is something you have to account for in every search and rescue case. This is one of the absolutely longest [times in the water] I’ve heard about and one of those Thanksgiving miracles.”

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Carnival cruise passenger who went overboard was 'dead set' on surviving

LA FAYETTE, ALABAMA -- James Michael Grimes is speaking out for the first time in an exclusive interview with ABC News after going overboard on a Carnival cruise ship after being missing for almost 20 hours.

The 28-year-old man said he was determined to make it out of the Gulf of Mexico alive, calling it the experience of a lifetime.

Grimes said he treaded water for nearly 20 hours after falling overboard on Thanksgiving Eve -- battling jelly fish, rip currents and shark-infested waters before being airlifted by the U.S. Coast Guard on Nov. 24. shortly after 8 p.m., the U.S. Coast Guard told ABC News.

Grimes had only been aboard the Carnival Valor for a day before his sister reported him missing. The two were last seen together at a restaurant where Grimes had won an air guitar contest before going to the bathroom.

Related Articles

MORE: Coast Guard rescues man who went overboard on Carnival cruise ship

That is the last thing he remembers. Grimes said he believes the fall overboard knocked him unconscious.

"The next thing I know... I regained consciousness. I was in the water with no boat in sight," he said.

Alone in solid darkness, and the light from the stars and the moon, Grimes decided in that moment he would make it out of the water.

"I felt like I was given a chance right then... you're alive for a reason... that [fall] could've killed me, but I felt like from that moment on, I was trying to stay positive. And, you know when you're here, you're still alive for a reason. So, all you got to do now is swim and survive. I was hoping... they will start looking for me... they will find me eventually," Grimes said.

MORE: Royal Caribbean to offer Starlink internet on all its ships

Grimes was aboard the five-day cruise with 18 of his family members for Thanksgiving. When he didn't return to his cabin that night, his sister reported him missing.

The ship was on its way to Cozumel, a Mexican island in the Caribbean, and was released by the Coast Guard to continue to its destination after the rescue was made.

"The Jayhawk aircrew hoisted the man onto the helicopter and transferred him to awaiting emergency medical services at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport," a statement from the Coast Guard read.

"We are beyond grateful that this case ended with a positive outcome," said Lt. Seth Gross, a Coast Guard Sector New Orleans search-and-rescue mission coordinator.

"We greatly appreciate the efforts of all, most especially the U.S. Coast Guard and the mariner who spotted the guest in the water," the Coast Guard said in a statement Thursday to ABC News. "Cruise ships have safety barriers in all public areas that are regulated by U.S. Coast Guard standards that prevent a guest from falling off. Guests should never ever climb up on the rails. The only way to go overboard is to purposefully climb up and over the safety barriers."

Carnival Valor had said in a statement to ABC News that it conducted a search-and-rescue operation after Grimes went missing.

"Carnival Valor retraced its route to support the search and rescue, but the ship has now been released by the U.S. Coast Guard, and will continue on its way to Cozumel. Carnival's Care Team is providing support to the family members of the missing guest who were sailing with him and remain on board," the statement at the time said.

Against all odds, Grimes said he kept a positive attitude and "just kept swimming."

In addition to his attitude, he said it was his will to see his family again that kept him afloat.

"I wanted to see my family and I was dead set on making it out of there. I was never accepting that this is it, this is going to be the end of my life. I'm 28 years old. I'm too young. This is not going to be it," Grimes said.

"I always thought there's a greater purpose for my life. Now, I know for sure I'm meant to do something on this Earth. And, you know, I don't know. It was just the Lord was out there helping me, giving me strength and helping me stay afloat," he added.

ABC News' Victoria J. Arancio contributed to this report.

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VIDEO: Rescuers saved a Carnival Cruise ship passenger who fell overboard and was lost at sea for 15 hours

• Rescuers saved a man who was lost at sea for 15 hours, according to the Coast Guard.
• The 28-year-old man fell overboard from a Carnival Cruise ship, officials said.
• The man was "reasonably" in the water for "15 plus" hours, a Coast Guard official told CNN.

Rescuers saved a cruise ship passenger who was lost in the water in the Gulf of Mexico for 15 hours, The United States Coast Guard said on Friday.

A 28-year-old man fell overboard on a Carnival Cruise ship on Wednesday evening. Lt. Seth Gross, a Sector New Orleans search and rescue mission coordinator, said he was "beyond grateful" that rescuers were able to find the man alive in a statement.

"It took a total team effort from Coast Guard watchstanders, response crews, and our professional maritime partners operating in the Gulf of Mexico to locate the missing individual and get him to safety," Gross said. "If not for the alert crew aboard the motor vessel Crinis, this case could have had a much more difficult ending."

Related stories

The man had been on board the Carnival Valor ship with his sister when he did not return from a trip to the bathroom on Wednesday, according to BBC . Rescuers spotted the man on Thursday roughly 20 miles from the coast of Louisiana on Thursday, BBC reported.

He is now in stable condition, according to the Coast Guard.

The US Coast Guard posted a video of the man's rescue to Twitter. The two-minute video shows the man floating in the water and paddling with his arms and waving as rescuers in a helicopter before the rescuers hoist him into the helicopter with a rope.

—USCG Heartland (@USCGHeartland) November 25, 2022

Gross told CNN that the man "realistically could have been in the water for 15-plus hours before we were able to successfully rescue him." The man was able to identify himself to rescuers but was showing signs of hypothermia, shock, and dehydration, according to Gross.

Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement it "greatly appreciates" the effort of the US Coast Guard in searching for and rescuing the man. 

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Why royal caribbean does not have to share details of passenger who died on world’s largest cruise ship.

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The public may never know the full details surrounding the death of a passenger who reportedly jumped from the world’s largest cruise ship earlier this month.

Under maritime law, Royal Caribbean is not obligated to release the findings of its investigation into the death of the passenger on the Icon of the Seas.

The law allows the company, and other cruise lines — to downplay details that might cast them in a negative light, said Florida-based lawyer Keith Brais, whose firm specializes in injuries and incidents at sea.

“They wouldn’t even need to report on how much alcohol might have been involved if it makes them look bad,” he told The Post.

Royal Caribbean has not commented on the specific details of the incident and has only expressed its condolences to the family of the deceased.

The US Coast Guard in Miami said it assisted with the search, but it is not involved in the investigation into the passenger’s death.

Deaths on cruise ships are rare — but unique circumstances of a floating city in international waters — the Icon of the Seas can carry up to 7,000 people — means that they are not handled like deaths on land.

What happens to someone who dies on a cruise ship?

When an unidentified man jumped from Royal Caribbean’s new 1,200-foot-long Icon of the Seas on the first day of a seven-day voyage on Sunday, a rescue boat from the ship found him and brought him back aboard.

Passengers were initially told that the man was in the intensive care unit, but the Coast Guard confirmed to The Post that he died.

The Icon of the Seas proceeded on its voyage around the Gulf of Mexico after the incident.

It’s not clear where the man’s body is now, but it was likely taken to the ship’s morgue until it can be transferred to authorities on land, Brais said.

The ship has stopped in Honduras and Mexico, and is set for one more port of call in the Bahamas before it returns to Miami on Saturday.

Who investigates deaths at sea?

While the US Coast Guard assisted Royal Caribbean in the search and rescue of the man who fell overboard, officials said it was the cruise line’s rescue boat that ultimately found and transported the body, and it would be up to the company to investigate the case.

Brais said Royal Caribbean is not required to release its findings to the public, adding that it is rare for a company to publish anything that could make them seem liable for the death.

“As a result, the cruise line is likely to find that the passenger’s death resulted from ‘natural causes,’ even if the totality of the circumstances at hand suggests otherwise,” according to his law firm.

Braise noted that in his decades of experience in the industry and law, alcohol is involved in the majority of cases.

Royal Caribbean did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Does the family have any recourse about the investigation?

The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety act, which was passed in 2010, mandates that cruises not only follow strict regulations to ensure passengers are safe, but to also track crimes aboard their ships.

In regards to Sunday’s incident, Brais said the man’s family should look at whether Royal had the proper barriers in place to keep people from falling overboard and if they had Man-Overboard cameras installed that alerted them to the incident.

Even if Royal Caribbean was found to be negligent in the man’s death, the compensation could be limited to just covering funeral expenses under the Death of the High Seas Act, Brais added.

How common are deaths on cruise ships?

It can be difficult to determine how many deaths have occurred on cruise ships as it’s up to the companies to report such incidents.

According to the Department of Transportation’s Cruise Line Incident reports, there have only been four deaths aboard major cruise lines between January 2020 to March 2024.

Despite these numbers, Brais said it’s not rare for such man overboard stories to make headlines once every three weeks.

According to cruise expert Dr. Ross Klein, who maintains a master list of media reports of incidents where passengers have gone overboard, there have been at least 410 people who have fallen off cruises or ferries in the last 24 years.

Icon of the Seas death is the second so far this year aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise. In April, a drunk 20-year-old passenger reportedly jumped to his death from the Liberty of the Seas following a dispute with his father.

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Man jumps from Carnival Cruise Line ship 55 miles off Florida coast

Updated on: April 18, 2022 / 9:02 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Update: The Coast Guard has suspended their search for the man who went overboard . 

The U.S. Coast Guard was searching for a man who jumped overboard from a cruise ship Saturday as it approached Florida.

The man jumped from the Carnival Cruise Line ship Mardi Gras just after midnight about 55 miles east of Port Canaveral, according to the Coast Guard and Carnival.

The Coast Guard responded with two cutters and an airplane to search for the 43-year-old man. The Mardi Gras and the cruise ship Elation also participated in the search, said Coast Guard spokesman David Micallef.

"The Carnival Care Team is supporting the guest's family. Mardi Gras," said Carnival spokesman Matt Lupoli. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the guest and his family."

Lupoli said the Coast Guard released the ship from the search efforts and it continued to Port Canaveral. It will continue sailing as scheduled.

CBS Miami reported the Mardi Gras is the largest ship ever built for the cruise line. The first cruise ship with an onboard roller coaster, the Mardi Gras is 1,130 feet long, has 21 decks, 2,641 staterooms, and features six themed zones and restaurants from Guy Fieri, Emeril Lagasse, Rudi Sodamin and Shaquille O'Neal.

Last month, a guest jumped overboard from the Carnival Horizon ship that had departed from Miami. That man's body was reportedly found .

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