Passenger Missing from Norwegian Pearl

Updated Dec 29 5pm EST
The Mexican navy continue to search the area of water off the coast of Cancun for a 36-year-old woman passenger presumed to have gone overboard from Norwegian Pearl sometime during the evening of December 25.

The ship had departed from Cozumel earlier in the day. The woman was last seen on the ship approximately 8pm. At approximately 4am her husband reported her missing to NCL staff. A shipwide search was conducted, and the Coast Guard was contacted at approximately 6am once it was determined the woman was not aboard the ship. Norwegian Pearl began their search of the water immediately.

Because of the distance, the first US Coast Guard aircraft could not arrive on the scene and begin searching for more than three hours.

The initial area being searched was about 15 miles off the coast of Cancun, but that area constantly widens as the effects of winds and tide are tracked. As of Saturday afternoon, the USCG said more than 2500 square miles have already been searched. The USCG withdrew their aircraft from the search Saturday afternoon although they continued to assist the Mexican navy, which continued their sea search, by helping to coordinate the activities with weather and current informaation. Norwegian Pearl did not assist in the search apparently due to its distance from the area by the time the woman was discovered missing. Norwegian Pearl returned to its homeport of Miami as scheduled early Saturday morning, and FBI agents boarded to do an investigation.

Sunday morning, the Coast Guard said that NCL's infrared surveillance tape does show what appears to be something going overboard from the ship shortly after 8pm on Thursday evening.

At this point, information has not been released about the circumstances when the woman was last seen aboard the ship or exactly why her husband was not with her. From what is known, the time line seems very normal.

Couples often split up on cruise ships to do activities on their own, and while one may return to the cabin and find it unusual their traveling companion is not there, they don't usually immediately report them missing, assuming they are elsewhere on the ship enjoying themselves.

When they do report them missing, the procedure required by the Coast Guard before they will take action, is that the cruise line must have thoroughly searched the vessel first. Cruise lines report that passengers are frequently reported missing to them (sometimes several per cruise), and in the vast majority of instances (almost all) the person is located on board.

Because of the distances involved, once the Coast Guard commits to a search of the sea, there is also usually quite a time lag before they can get planes to the area and even longer before a ship can get there. In this case, the first USCG plane took almost two hours to get to the area, and then it had to refuel before beginning its search.

Even though the search of the water is as thorough as it can be, the sad fact is that it is quite difficult to even survive a fall from a passenger deck of a cruise ship into the water. The fall is usually at least three for four stories and often more than eight or ten.

Additional information about the incident will appear in Monday's edition of CND.

Oasis of the Seas to Enter Service Earlier

This morning Royal Caribbean announced Oasis of the Seas will enter service 11 days earlier than originally announced with two additional sailings.

The first will be a 4-night cruise to Labadee departing Port Everglades on December 1, 2009. Then on December 5, it will depart on a 7-night eastern Caribbean itinerary to St. Thomass, St. Maarten and Nassau.

The December 5 sailing will now be considered the "inaugural," and passengers booked on the December 12, which was originally announced as the inaugural sailing, will be offered the opportunity to switch to the December 5 sailing before it opens to public bookings on January 12. They will also have the option to book the December 1 sailing back-to-back with the December 5 cruise.

NCL and STX Europe Modify Plans for F3 Project

NCL and STX Europe this morning announced they were modifying the F3 project to build only one of the 150,000-ton vessels. Delivery is now set for late May 2010.

Disputes between NCL and the builder over the cost of modifications to the design requested by the line had been widely reported but unconfirmed by either party. They were said to be threatening the entire project, but both now acknowledge only that the project is now moving forward with only the one ship.

MSC Eliminates More Fuel Surcharges

MSC Cruises earlier eliminated their fuel surcharge on all sailings April 1, 2009 and after. This morning the line announced they will extend the policy to all 2009 sailings January 1 and after.

Customers who have already made a booking for a 2009 sailing date will have the surcharge refunded in the form of an onboard credit.

Additionally, the line said if fuel prices increase in the future, they may reimplement the charge, but guaranteed they will not add it to any booking under deposit at that time, markedly different than other lines warning they may reimplement the charge at some point in the future. The other lines are saying they reserve the right to add it to all existing bookings at that time.

More international expansion for RCCL

Royal Caribbean is opening two more offices in China to support their continued sourcing of customers from international markets. The offices will be in the central business districts of Beijing and Guangzhou and be the company's second and third in the country. (RCCL opened their Shanghai office in 2007.) The offices will support travel agencies selling the growing number of RCCL ships sailing in the region providing support for all three RCCL international brands.

Traditionally a North American brand, in recent years the company has been placing an increasing importance on sourcing passengers from international markets, even dedicating ships to itineraries designed to appeal primarily regional market sources rather than a worldwide.

Just this month the RCCL has created a new managing director position in Brazil and announced the opening of an office in Sydney.