There have been a handful of headlines about passengers falling overboard on cruise ships throughout the years, you might be apt to think it’s an epidemic. Reality check: it’s really only a tiny fraction of cruisers, and the majority of them are intentional suicides. However, unfortunate incidents like this do happen, including some accidents and mysterious disappearances. In the decade from 2006 to 2015, there were an average of 21.4 persons overboard per year, with a slight uptick in recent years. The five year average from 2011 to 2015 was 23.2 per year, with 27 in 2015 alone. When you consider there are over 22 million cruisers per year, it’s (pardon the pun) just a drop in the ocean. Data shows that men are more likely to fall overboard than women, and the average age is 41. Most of these incidents occur on the last night of a cruise, and they’re often the result of being drunk, climbing the railings or (please never do this) leaping between balconies. Rest assured, guardrails are designed to stop people who slip or trip from accidentally going overboard – it doesn’t randomly happen without some extraordinary intentional or foolish effort. Furthermore, not everyone who takes the plunge necessarily dies. There have been some rare rescues, one of which occurred after 18 hours floating in the water. So which cruise lines have the most reported occurrences of this nature? Here are the grisly top ten based on the numbers of people – both passengers and crew – who have gone overboard from 2000 to 2016 (so far).
10. Star Cruises: Passengers Overboard 5
Star Cruises is the third largest cruise line in the world. They pretty much dominate the Asia-Pacific market. They’ve only had a reported 5 people go overboard over the past 16 years.
