The Jamaica Observer reported today that the police in Jamaica are seeking the public’s assistance in locating two cruise ship passengers who went missing yesterday.
The newspaper identified U.S. citizens, 33-year-old Hayden Gerson and 32-year-old Alisha Frank. These two Americans were passengers on a unidentified cruise ship which docked in Falmouth Jamaica. (Readers have quickly told me that only the Oasis of the Seas was in port that day).
The Observer says that the passengers left the cruise ship around 9:30 in the morning and apparently intended to "make a trip to Montego Bay, St James; they have not been seen or heard from since."
Over the last four years, there have been many cruise ship passengers who have gone missing, and later appeared unharmed, in Jamaica.
In July 2012, three passengers of one family from the Carnival Freedom went missing for a short while in Jamaica after disembarking the cruise ship in Ocho Rios.
In August 2012, a fifty year old U.S. citizen disappeared for a period of time after disembarking from the Carnival Freedom in Ocho Rios.
In January 2015, two U.S. passenger went missing after leaving the Carnival Victory in Falmouth Jamaica.
All six of the passengers eventually showed up or were located in Jamaica. They all voluntarily over-stayed their legal status. It is against both Jamaican and U.S. law to fail to return to a cruise ship in the middle of a cruise.
As I mentioned in the last article, Jamaica seems to be a favorite place for cruise passengers to "get lost" and later show up after what appears to be an extended vacation. Let’s hope that is true with the latest passengers.
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Photo credit: Carnival scans via Jamaica Observer
April 28 2016 Update: The New York Daily News, Inquisitr and the U.K.’s Daily Mail cover the story with a more ominous tone.
NBC 7 San Diego: the "missing" cruise couple in Jamaica has checked in and is fine says mother.
May 4 2016: The "other side of the story" from one of the "missing passengers" – Cruise Out Of Control: Part I and Cruise Out Of Control: Part II.