The Most Bizarre Missing Persons Cases From Cruise Ships

Cruises are dream vacations for many travelers. More than 34 million people took a cruise in 2024, setting sail on the high seas to travel while enjoying wonderful amenities like big buffets, luxurious spas, and nightclubs where you can mingle with cruisemates. But while many of these trips end with sweet souvenirs and new memories to last a lifetime, others have taken a dark turn, with passengers disappearing without explanation.

There are numerous stories of people who went missing at sea and were last seen on a cruise ship in their assumed final moments. Some of these cases, despite huge search efforts and official investigations, left investigators scratching their heads and families searching for the truth. What happened to these people who went on a fun trip, only to never be seen again? That heavy question is what connects the cases below, which are a few of the most bizarre missing persons cases from cruise ships.

The mysterious disappearance of Amy Bradley has gripped audiences around the world, thanks, in part, to the dark Netflix docuseries "Amy Bradley Is Missing." The story is chilling, heartbreaking, and truly unsettling. Bradley was on a luxury cruise in the Caribbean with her family when she disappeared from the Royal Caribbean ship Rhapsody of the Seas on March 24, 1998. The 23-year-old spent the evening of March 23 partying in the ship's nightclub with her brother and danced with a member of the vessel's band, Alister Douglas, before returning to her family's cabin around 3:30 a.m. Bradley's father, Ron, saw her asleep on the balcony around 5:30 a.m., but by 6 a.m., she was gone.

The Netherlands Antilles Coast Guard and the FBI searched the ship and water for Bradley after her family reported her missing, but they didn't find her. Several theories about her disappearance have emerged over the years, from her accidentally falling overboard to her being the target of a crime. Some also speculate she was a victim of trafficking after someone came forward and claimed he saw Bradley in a Curaçao brothel in January 1999, where she reportedly asked for help. Others claimed to have spotted her in Barbados, but she hasn't been confirmed as the woman in these sightings. Years after her disappearance, a photo appeared on an adult website that looked very much like Bradley, a decade or so older. 

FBI investigators questioned Douglas after Bradley's disappearance, but he was ultimately cleared and never charged. No suspects have been officially named in her case, and to this day, no one has heard from Bradley. The FBI is offering up to $25,000 for information that could lead to her recovery or identify the person who may have harmed her.

Being gifted a cruise sounds like a dream come true — until it turns into a nightmare. In May 2005, 71-year-old Hue Pham and 67-year-old Hue Tran boarded the Carnival Cruise Lines ship Destiny with their daughter and granddaughter for a Mother's Day gift cruise to the Caribbean. The ship was sailing between Barbados and Aruba when, on May 12, 2005, the couple vanished while on vacation. Their shoes, Tran's purse, and a book Tran was reading were found on one of the ship's decks, but a larger search of the vessel didn't yield any sign of Pham or Tran. The ship retraced its route with the U.S. Coast Guard to look for the two at sea, but after 13 hours and no sign of either, the search was called off, and the pair was presumed dead.

What truly happened to the couple remains unknown. Early in the investigation, authorities theorized they may have taken their own lives, but their son disagrees with this wholeheartedly. An FBI investigation also found nothing to suggest the two were victims of foul play. Pham and Tran's family is still trying to find out what happened to them and would like to hear from other people who were on the Destiny from May 8 to 15, 2005, to see if they witnessed anything that could solve this mystery once and for all.

The mysterious disappearance of Rebecca Coriam is another case that continues to leave more questions than answers. The 24-year-old from Britain was working aboard the Disney Wonder ship when she vanished without a trace in March 2011. Crew members looked for Coriam when she missed work that morning, but they found no sign of her. 

Authorities reviewed security footage that showed Coriam, who seemed upset in the video, talking on the phone in a crew lounge at 5:45 a.m. on March 22. This was the last confirmed sighting of her. A search of the ship and the surrounding waters off Mexico's Pacific Coast near Puerto Vallarta was conducted, but neither revealed any sign of Coriam. Her credit card was used more than a month after she went missing, but it's not clear who used it or what it was used for.

Several theories about what happened to Coriam have circulated over the years. The ship's captain told her family that he thought she was swept overboard by a large wave near the crew pool, but her family disagrees. Others suggest Coriam died by suicide or was killed. As of this writing, none of these theories have been proven. 

Coriam's family has been vocal about their dissatisfaction with the investigation, headed by the Royal Bahamas Police Force, as well as Disney's handling of the case. They filed a lawsuit against the entertainment giant, which was settled in 2015. Coriam's family continues to push for answers about what happened to her aboard the Disney Wonder. 

The disappearance of Blake Kepley is one of the most baffling missing persons cases because it seems like he just vanished into thin air. Kepley, 20, was on a family trip aboard the Holland America Line cruise ship Oosterdam when he went missing in the early morning hours of July 22, 2011. The ship was traveling from Sitka to Ketchikan, Alaska, and his family reported him missing when he didn't get off the ship in Ketchikan. A large search by the U.S. Coast Guard covering more than 350 miles of ocean didn't reveal any sign of Kepley. The search was called off on July 23.

So many questions still surround this case. Cruise ship records show that Kepley did not leave the ship, and there's no evidence that he reached shore. A prevailing theory is that he fell overboard, but there's no surveillance footage of this occurring. His mother, however, did receive a grainy surveillance photo from investigators of someone walking on the deck the morning Kepley vanished, but it's not clear if the person in the photo is actually him.

In the years following Kepley's disappearance, his family has spoken out about the need for better overboard detection systems on cruise ships. What happened to him remains a mystery, but his family hopes to find out the truth about his fate on that July day.

No one in Annette Mizener's family could have predicted that she'd never return home from their family trip at sea. Mizener was on the Carnival Cruise Line's ship Pride off the coast of Mexico with her parents and daughter when she went missing on December 4, 2004.

She was last seen at 9:15 p.m. and was reported missing at 10 p.m. when she didn't meet her parents at bingo. A search was launched on the ship to find Mizener, but she wasn't anywhere on Pride. The only sign of her was her purse, discovered near a railing on one of the decks, and loose beads from that purse strayed along the floor. A subsequent water search by the U.S. Coast Guard also yielded no sign of the beloved wife and mother.

Several theories emerged about what happened to Mizener. One was that she accidentally fell off the deck, while another suggested she was pushed into the ocean — a theory fueled by her damaged purse and the fact that a nearby security camera had reportedly been covered. The FBI opened an investigation into Mizener's disappearance, but nothing conclusive came from it.

Mizener was declared legally dead in July 2005, seven months after her disappearance. Her husband sued Carnival Cruise Lines that same year and resolved the case privately. Her family believes foul play may have been involved in her case, but like so many whose loved ones disappeared at sea, they're still waiting to learn what really happened to her.

A honeymoon is meant to be a fun and relaxing celebration of creating a new life together, which makes George Allen Smith IV's disappearance all the more bizarre. He and his new wife were aboard the Royal Caribbean ship Brilliance of the Seas for a Mediterranean cruise to celebrate their honeymoon when he went missing on July 5, 2005. Surveillance footage showed both Smith and his wife in the ship's casino in the early morning hours of July 5, but she claims she doesn't remember what happened after leaving. She was found in another part of the ship, away from their cabin, at around 4:30 a.m. George was nowhere to be found.

Later that morning, blood was found on a canopy underneath the couple's balcony, and small traces were also found on bed sheets in the couple's cabin. Smith is believed to have gone overboard and into the Aegean Sea, but his body was never recovered. Rumors have swirled about Smith's suspicious disappearance, and his family believes he was killed on the cruise. Turkish investigators interviewed four men who allegedly took Smith back to his cabin at around 4 a.m. on July 5, but they claimed to have simply dropped him off and left without anything happening. The FBI became involved and investigated the case for years, but they concluded their investigation in January 2015. As of this writing, no one has been arrested or charged in connection with Smith's disappearance. 

Disappearances at sea are eerie under any circumstances, but the case of Christopher Caldwell is particularly chilling due to how ordinary his last night on the ship seemed to be. The 36-year-old radio DJ from Virginia was taking a cruise to Mexico with his fiancée aboard the Carnival Cruise ship Fascination when he vanished on July 23, 2004. According to statements shared by Caldwell's family, he and his fiancée went to dinner with some people they met on the ship before heading to a few nightclubs on the night he disappeared. While the passengers and his fiancée eventually called it a night, Caldwell reportedly stayed up to try his luck in the casino. He was last seen on the ship's deck around 3:30 a.m.

When his fiancée woke up the next morning and realized he wasn't in their cabin, she looked for him on the ship, and when she couldn't find him, she reported him missing. The crew searched the cruise ship, and the U.S. Coast Guard searched the surrounding waters of South Florida for Caldwell, but he was never found. With no witnesses and evidence to work with, authorities concluded Caldwell fell overboard, and he was presumed dead.

It's eerie to think you can see someone you love right before you go to sleep and wake up to find they're gone without any notice or reason. 54-year-old Glenn Sheridan was aboard Carnival Cruise Line's Celebration ship with his wife when he disappeared without a trace on November 24, 2004. That same day, the vessel returned to the United States from a five-day trip to the Bahamas. His wife reported him missing once the ship reached Jacksonville, Florida. She reportedly last saw him around 1:30 a.m., and by the time she woke up at 7 a.m., he was gone.

More than 20 years have passed since that fateful cruise, and the circumstances surrounding Sheridan's disappearance remain a mystery. Records from the ship show he didn't leave Celebration after it arrived in Florida, and a search of the vessel and surrounding waters didn't lead to any sign of him. His wife told officials he tended to wake up early and may have fallen overboard around 4 a.m. It's also not clear why Sheridan would have been out and about on the ship so early in the morning. It's as if he simply got up, walked out of his room, and disappeared.

Ariel Marion's tragic case emphasizes how time is of the essence if someone vanishes on the high seas. Marion, a 21-year-old from Tennessee, was just starting a cruise to the Caribbean aboard Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas with her mother when she disappeared on September 16, 2012. Marion is believed to have fallen into the ocean nearly 50 miles east of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the reported timing of the search for her is troubling. 

According to reports, a passenger called crew members at 9:25 p.m., saying something had fallen overboard and hit their arm on the way down. An hour later, at around 10:30 p.m., a security guard reportedly found video footage of a woman, presumed to be Marion, falling off the ship. Once the fall was seen on tape, the ship reportedly turned around and called the authorities. Yet records from the U.S. Coast Guard claim it wasn't called to search for Marion until 11:30 p.m. The service's search of the surrounding water started at 1:30 a.m. on September 17, hours after Marion's fall. 

Marion was not found during that probe, and the ship's crew found no trace of her when they scouted the boat. Her mother has spoken out about her dissatisfaction with the delayed notification of authorities following her daughter's fall. To this day, it's unclear how Marion fell overboard in the first place. 

Sometimes, we need a vacation to decompress and find focus when life gets tough. But for some, a change of scenery leads to a tangled web of unanswered questions, as is what happened to 63-year-old England resident John Halford. Halford went on a week-long cruise by himself in Egypt when he went missing aboard the Thomson Spirit on April 6, 2011. He was set to leave the vessel on April 7 when it docked in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, but he failed to depart when it arrived.

A lot of questions surround Halford's disappearance, given the lack of clear evidence in his case. He reportedly went on the cruise amid marital and financial issues, but he made arrangements for his wife to pick him up when the cruise concluded. She learned of his disappearance when his travel representative called her and told her he didn't make his flight home. His personal items, including a packed suitcase and his wallet, were found in his cabin, but he was nowhere to be seen on the ship. Halford was also reportedly seen having a few drinks in the casino's bar the night he went missing, but his whereabouts after those cocktails are unknown. 

An investigation concluded that Halford either jumped off the ship or fell off the vessel and into the Red Sea. In 2018, he was declared legally dead. As of this writing, nearly 15 years after he boarded the Spirit, what exactly happened to him remains a mystery.

Angelo Faliva, a native of Italy, was 31 years old and working as a chef aboard Princess Cruises' ship Coral Princess when he went missing in November 2009 during a Caribbean trip. One of the most baffling details of Faliva's disappearance is that there are conflicting reports about his last known sighting. His family claims they were told that he left his job at a restaurant on the ship very suddenly on the night of November 25 and didn't return, whereas other reports say he was last seen on one of the ship's decks on the morning of November 26. One thing that is agreed upon, though, is that a search for Faliva started when he didn't show up to work on November 26. 

Searches of the ship and the surrounding Colombian waters, along with a review of security footage, didn't give authorities any additional clues as to what happened to Faliva. The cruise line did say a life preserver was missing from the Coral Princess, yet the missing piece of equipment has never been conclusively tied to Faliva's case. Authorities, including the FBI, later boarded the ship to investigate when it came back stateside, but Faliva's case was never solved. Despite his family's belief that he may have been killed, he's thought to have fallen in the water.

The disappearance of Tammy Grogan is a case that leaves you scratching your head while asking, "What really happened?" In September 2006, Grogan, a 35-year-old mother from Ohio, was with her mother, aunt, and teenage son on Carnival Cruise Lines' ship Imagination when she went missing. She was last seen early in the morning of September 10 and was reported missing on September 11 when she didn't get off the ship as the excursion concluded in Florida. 

The FBI was called to investigate and initially didn't think anything malicious happened to Grogan. However, according to reporting from WTOL 11 in Toledo, Ohio, members of her family — and some investigators from the Toledo Police Department, which took over the case — believe something sinister may have happened that night. According to the outlet, the cruise was paid for by a man Grogan's family knew, but she had recently told him that she didn't want him around her son anymore. That man wasn't on the cruise, but his sister and her ex-boyfriend were on the trip and spent some time with Grogan's group. 

This group allegedly partied together the night Grogan is believed to have gone missing. Her mother claims she herself was drugged during this party, and WTOL 11 has reported that investigators found Rohypnol in the glass Grogan was drinking from. Some investigators in Toledo believe Grogan may have encountered foul play on the Imagination, but no one has ever faced charges in her disappearance.

40-year-old Merrian Carver of Massachusetts boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise bound for Alaska on August 27, 2004. No one in her family knew she was taking the cruise, and after days of failing to reach her, her loved ones reported her missing on September 7. The details surrounding her disappearance are murky, to say the least. She allegedly didn't use her room after the second night onboard the ship and was reportedly last seen by a crew member on August 28. Her personal items, including her clothes and purse, were found in her cabin, and she didn't depart the ship at all when it made stops in Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. The cruise concluded in Vancouver on September 3, but Carver did not make it home to New England. 

Weeks after the ship docked in Vancouver, Carver's father contacted the cruise line to figure out what happened to her. He learned that she boarded the ship but did not leave it, and the cruise line did not report her missing, even though the ship's staff member mentioned above reportedly told his boss she was gone. In fact, in a shocking move, a member of the crew gave her stuff away. Royal Caribbean eventually released a statement saying it believed Carver jumped into the water, but that's never been confirmed by authorities. Her father also hired a private investigator to search for answers, but nothing came from the probe. Her case is unsolved more than 20 years later.

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