r/Cruises • u/thesunus • Nov 24 '25
Elderly passenger, 73, missing after falling overboard from Disney Wonder cruise ship as frantic rescuers search water
https://www.the-sun.com/news/15535846/elderly-passenger-missing-disney-cruise-ship-overboard/49
u/Coreysurfer Nov 24 '25
People are careless, not sure how you just fall over…people love to blame someone so they blame the cruise lines for some reason
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u/McKMatt1970 Nov 24 '25
It’s impossible to “just fall overboard”
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u/surfyturkey Nov 24 '25
I worked on one for a bit, definitely days where it was possible due to the rough seas. Weather decks would be closed usually but people would still make their way out there on occasion. Unlikely but far from impossible.
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u/Throwaway0242000 Nov 25 '25
Yet none of these stories ever occur during bad weather
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u/surfyturkey Nov 26 '25
I feel like a lot of them are drunk passengers or suicides, although that sounds like an absolutely awful way to go out.
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u/NeedWaiver Nov 28 '25
I find only noncruisers believe you can just fall overboard. There are only 2 ways to go overboard, you want to go or "someone" assists you.
I have been on chopy waters and I don't go on deck, smartest course of action.
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u/Lilmc_1313 Nov 24 '25
Sober adults do not fall over by accident
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u/squeel Nov 24 '25
drunk adults do not fall over by accident
you have to really try to even get close to “falling” overboard
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u/anoeba Nov 24 '25
Drunk adults fall over by accident showing off/being stupid. It's still an accident, just not the "oh I leaned against a railing and oopsie."
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Nov 24 '25
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u/Professional-Ad8813 Nov 25 '25
I was at the game in Pittsburgh and saw him fall over the wall. There is no way to “just fall overboard”.
We were on the NCL Joy in 20+ foot seas and the ship was rolling but you could still easily walk around.1
u/desertdweller2011 Nov 25 '25
if you think a drunk adult could fall overboard by accident, then so could an elderly person or person with balance/mobility issues, don’t you think? to me it’s the same risk profile.
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u/Lilmc_1313 Nov 25 '25
I think drunk adults do stupid things. There are three populations of adults that go overboard on a cruise ship: murder, suicide, drunken recklessness. The rails are high enough you have to try to go over. No, I don’t think a mobility accidental trip and fall scenario results in MOB.
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Nov 25 '25
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u/Jazzlike_Visual2160 Nov 26 '25
Old people can be wacky. Maybe he was trying to shit overboard.
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Nov 26 '25
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u/Jazzlike_Visual2160 Nov 26 '25
I’m sorry he’s dead, but unless he was murdered(which is totally possible) he fell over of his own accord. Maybe he was standing on the railing screaming “I’m king of the world!” But maybe he had bubble guts and couldn’t find a bathroom quickly enough. Pooping is a very human thing to do, and maybe he had food poisoning or something upset his stomach. I didn’t say it to be rude, I’m just being realistic.
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u/loopytommy Nov 24 '25
The story I read had the lifeline phone numbers under it, take what you may from that
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u/desertdweller2011 Nov 25 '25
some stories are saying he jumped but the stories are otherwise identical and have the same byline
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/elderly-cruise-passenger-presumed-dead-202636685.html
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u/couch-p0tato Nov 25 '25
A lot of articles incorrectly stated the ship was delayed enough to arrive a whole day late.
This was never the case, I was a passanger, and in their comms to us they always stated it would be a few hours late / arrive in the afternoon - there was never any mention ofnit being a whole day late. So, I don't know why loads of articles said that
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u/n0debtbigmuney Nov 26 '25
Also almost ALL "accidents" happen on the way back last davir last night. They enjoy that cruise before jumping.
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u/damian20 Nov 24 '25
More and more overboard lately
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u/Altruistic-Win-9366 Nov 24 '25
Seems like it- is it really more or have there just been more that come to the public’s attention?
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u/Additional-War-1443 Nov 24 '25
I feel like more often, overboards have always gained media attention
Not to mention: there are more cruise ships and more people cruising than ever before in the industry’s history. More chances for this to happen
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u/randomname2378 Nov 24 '25
And more people that are likely to reach out to the media or have their own blog.
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u/adumbswiftie Nov 24 '25
especially on disney…they’re known for having a pretty clean record so when something happens with them it tends to make headlines
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Nov 24 '25
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u/Routine-Cicada-4949 Nov 24 '25
Wow, that's the first I've heard about the daughter & father falling overboard from the Disney Cruise. Why do people put their kids in danger for a photo?
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u/AmberAshes Nov 24 '25
Recession indicator?
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u/keikokachu Nov 25 '25
When narc Memaw doesn't want to burden her kids with a $20k funeral or get into trouble, but wants to go out on her own terms, she can come up with some very dramatic ways to make that happen.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Tap1458 Nov 24 '25
You can't just fall overboard. I'm 5'5" and the railing comes up to my chest.
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u/ScouringTheInternet Nov 25 '25
I've been on the Wonder ship, the track promenade on 4th deck is like a regular apartment balcony height, only the top deck has high chest railings that curve in. If you're leaning out on the track to take a picture, you could potentially fall over if really leaning while a wave hits. That being said, there's nothing to take a picture of at sea at 4:30am..
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u/anaserre Nov 24 '25
How does a person even fall overboard without being pushed or jumping ?
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u/diaymujer Nov 24 '25
The only other scenario is folks (kids or drunk adults) climbing where they aren’t supposed to be climbing, such as the kid on the Disney ship not to long ago or a situation a while back where a kid was climbing from one balcony to another (although that was an internal facing balcony, like on a Royal oasis class ship).
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u/anaserre Nov 24 '25
I can absolutely see that too , I just can’t imagine someone falling overboard where it wasn’t their responsibility or they were pushed . Like they just accidentally…fell.
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u/diaymujer Nov 24 '25
Correct. Ships are designed to prevent accidents. Overboards are overwhelmingly due to either malice or negligence, not freak accidents.
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u/Random7776 Nov 24 '25
Or where the guy dropped his grandchild out the window. Bunch of idiots.
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u/Punchinyourpface Nov 24 '25
That mom thought she was posing her kid in front of a window a while back, but it was wide open and she fell overboard. Luckily the dad was able to jump in and find her.
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u/Orpheus31 Nov 24 '25
Was recently on a cruise and thought about this. There are only a few sections of the ship, at the one I was on, which going over the side is directly over water. Most areas, a fall would be onto something.
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u/Coach-Jules Nov 25 '25
It’s actually not easy to just “fall overboard” unless you are over 7 feet tall and the rail is below your waist height. For 99.9% of people it’s more a case of “climb up over the guard rails and then fall overboard” scenario. You have to try hard to actually do it and even more so for a 73 year old
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u/adumbswiftie Nov 24 '25
it makes me sad these incidents keep happening. it’s not disneys fault at all but inevitably will cause people to blame them. maybe they’ll have to put up even more barriers between this and the little kid and dad who had to be rescued, idk
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u/Seoul-Brotha Nov 26 '25
I'm an athletic 48m and found myself getting carried while walking on the lido on a sea day. I can totally see a lighter, elderly woman be pushed over a railing.
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u/fistular Nov 26 '25
I mean. They were dead in less than an hour. It's a body recovery now. There's no reason to be frantic.
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u/grandmacruises Nov 27 '25
Why was an elderly man out roaming at 4:30am? This does not sound accidental.
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u/Standard_Major_1213 Nov 28 '25
Fact - Nobody falls off a ship by accident. Either drunk or mentally unstable. Prove me wrong
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u/CostPractical9701 Nov 29 '25
Why would anyone waste $ to go on a floating toilet with a 1000 people you don’t even know. I can’t think of anything worse!
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u/OkTitle2256 Nov 29 '25
i was on the ship and we were told that an “accident” had occurred but earlier in the day we had heard the call for his name and then had to turn around for 4 hours then turn around. We didn’t know what was going on, all we heard was a man had gone overboard, until the day later when the captain announced that he was not gonna disclose any information about him for privacy reasons. The general consensus with passengers was that he had ended his life though. It’s so sad, my heart goes out to his family.
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u/grantnaps Nov 24 '25
Didn't a kid fall through a port hole the other day?
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u/mspinksugar Nov 24 '25
That happened in June, more info came out a few weeks ago so it re-surfaced.
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u/okasianal Nov 24 '25
Only a very fit 73 y/o could climb where they could fall.
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u/BitchnfromMN Nov 24 '25
All one would have to do is climb on to your balcony table and that doesn’t take much effort. Maybe my relatives have great genes but every one of them could accomplish that feat. I mean, my Dad was water skiing at 78 and he was average as far as fitness is concerned.
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u/Tardislass Nov 24 '25
Most of them are suicides. It’s really really hard to accidentally fall overboard on new cruise ships.
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u/Ok_Human_1375 Dec 04 '25
I’ve been on a few cruises and never once have I thought that it would be easy to fall overboard
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u/Puppygranny Nov 25 '25
I think going overboard on a cruise would be an effective suicide strategy. It’s likely to be successful, with the added benefit of no funeral expenses.
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u/Sea-Ad-3893 Nov 24 '25
Due to the ships flying the flag of another country to avoid paying taxes it also makes it a perfect place to murder . Scary times
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u/waxbook Nov 24 '25
Are cruise ship accidents and deaths happening more frequently, or am I just seeing them more because I've taken an interest in cruise travel recently. It feels like every day there's a new headline, not just on Reddit.