death of carnival cruise passenger

FBI investigating 'suspicious' death of Carnival cruise passenger

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Columbia, South Carolina field office is investigating a "suspicious" death of a Carnival Cruise Line passenger, the office said.

The woman died on the line's Carnival Sunshine ship during a cruise to the Bahamas that departed from Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 27.

"Medical staff and other crew members of Carnival's Sunshine were made aware of the passenger being unresponsive and immediately attempted life-saving measures," a spokesperson for the Columbia field office said in an emailed statement. "Despite their efforts, the passenger was pronounced deceased on the ship."

FBI Evidence Response Team members responded to the ship after it returned to Charleston on Saturday to process the guest's room.

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"The FBI investigates certain crimes on the high seas, as well as suspicious deaths of U.S. persons," the statement continued. The guest's death was an isolated incident, and no other passengers were at risk.

The woman's body and her husband were debarked in Nassau, according to Carnival spokesperson Matt Lupoli.

"We are fully cooperating," Lupoli said in an emailed statement on Monday. The investigation is ongoing, the FBI's Columbia field office spokesperson said.

In a separate statement provided by Lupoli, the cruise line said Tuesday that all indications suggest the passenger died "a natural death due to a medical condition."

"We will defer to the FBI on any specific details which may possibly be released at a later date as we fully respect the investigative process, but our initial emergency medical response was appropriate and it appears that this was indeed a medical situation that sadly resulted in the death of a guest," the statement said.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].

FBI investigating 'suspicious death' of woman on Carnival cruise ship

The unidentified female was pronounced dead on the ship of unknown causes.

The FBI is investigating a "suspicious death" of a female passenger aboard a Carnival cruise ship while it was en route to the Bahamas .

The incident occurred on Carnival's Sunshine during its Feb. 27 voyage from the United States to Nassau, Bahamas, when medical staff and other crew members aboard the ship were made aware of an unresponsive passenger and life-saving measures were immediately attempted, according to a statement from the FBI's field office in Columbia, South Carolina.

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Despite the crew's best efforts, the unidentified female passenger was pronounced dead on the ship of currently unknown causes, though Carnival released a subsequent statement indicating that they believe the passenger died of natural causes.

"While we continue to cooperate with authorities, all indications pertaining to the death of a guest on board Carnival Sunshine suggest that it was a natural death due to a medical condition," Carnival said in the statement released on Tuesday. "We will defer to the FBI on any specific details which may possibly be released at a later date as we fully respect the investigative process, but our initial emergency medical response was appropriate and it appears that this was indeed a medical situation that sadly resulted in the death of a guest."

This incident remains under investigation by the FBI.

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"The FBI investigates certain crimes on the high seas, as well as suspicious deaths of U.S. persons," the FBI said. "As such, FBI Evidence Response Team (ERT) members responded to process the passenger's room once the ship returned to the Charleston port on March 4."

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The "suspicious death" was isolated, according to the FBI, and there was no threat to any other passengers before or after the passenger was found deceased.

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FBI investigating "suspicious" death of a woman on a Carnival cruise ship

By Gina Martinez

Updated on: March 6, 2023 / 7:24 PM EST / CBS News

The FBI is investigating the "suspicious" death of a woman aboard a Carnival cruise ship traveling from Charleston, South Carolina, to Nassau, Bahamas, last month.

On Feb. 27, Carnival's Sunshine crew members and medical staff responded to an unresponsive female passenger, the FBI Columbia field office said in a news release. Despite their best efforts, the woman was pronounced dead on the ship, the release said. 

The incident was isolated and posed no threats to other passengers, according to the FBI.

When the ship returned to Charleston on March 4, FBI officials searched the dead passenger's room for evidence, according to the news release.  

The FBI said it investigates suspicious deaths of U.S. citizens as well as "certain crimes on the high seas." Officials have not disclosed the identity of the passenger or the cause of death and said the incident remains under investigation. 

Carnival said they are "fully cooperating" with the investigation and that the incident is being handled by authorities in the Bahamas and in Charleston. 

"Both the deceased and her husband were debarked in Nassau and Bahamian authorities have already investigated the circumstances and are conducting an autopsy," the cruise line said in a statement to CBS News. 

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FBI investigating suspicious death of passenger onboard Carnival cruise ship

Female passenger was found unresponsive during the ship’s 27 february cruise to nassau, bahamas, article bookmarked.

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The FBI is investigating the suspicious death of a female passenger onboard the Carnival Sunshine cruise ship, the agency announced.

The passenger was found unresponsive during the ship’s 27 February cruise to Nassau , Bahamas , according to the FBI field office in Columbia, South Carolina.

Despite medical staff and crew members performing life-saving measures, the woman was pronounced dead on the ship.

Both the deceased passenger and her husband were taken off the ship in the Bahamas, where an autopsy will take place.

“The FBI joined Carnival Sunshine upon its return to Charleston on Saturday to conduct an investigation into the death of a guest. Both the deceased and her husband were debarked in Nassau and Bahamian authorities have already investigated the circumstances and are conducting an autopsy. We are fully cooperating,” Carnival Cruise Line spokesperson Matt Lupoli told The Independent in a statement.

“This is a matter for authorities in The Bahamas and Charleston and we have no further comments.”

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“We are fully cooperating. This is a matter for authorities in the Bahamas and Charleston and we have no further comments.”

Members of the FBI Evidence Response Team conducted a search of the passenger’s room when the ship returned to its home port of Charleston, South Carolina, on 4 March.

The FBI investigates suspicious deaths of US nationals as well as “certain crimes on the high seas.” The death remains under investigation.

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FBI Investigating 'Suspicious Death' of Female Passenger on Carnival Cruise Ship

The woman was found unresponsive and medical staff were unable to revive her

The death of a woman onboard a Carnival cruise ship in the Bahamas is being investigated by the FBI.

Medical staff and crew members of Carnival's Sunshine vessel attempted to revive the woman after she was found unresponsive, the FBI Columbia field office said in a statement . She was pronounced dead onboard the ship.

The passenger's "suspicious death" occurred during a voyage to Nassau on Feb. 27.

FBI officials said the incident was isolated and there was "no threat to any other passengers before or after the passenger was found deceased."

An FBI Evidence Response Team processed the passenger's room after the ship returned to the Charleston port on March 4. The FBI said it investigates "certain crimes on the high seas, as well as suspicious deaths of U.S. persons."

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A Carnival Cruise Line spokesperson told PEOPLE the company was "fully cooperating" and it was a "matter for authorities in the Bahamas and Charleston."

"The FBI joined Carnival Sunshine upon its return to Charleston on Saturday to conduct an investigation into the death of a guest," the spokesperson said. "Both the deceased and her husband were debarked in Nassau and Bahamian authorities have already investigated the circumstances and are conducting an autopsy. We are fully cooperating. This is a matter for authorities in The Bahamas and Charleston and we have no further comments."

The FBI said the death remains under investigation and no other details could be provided at this time.

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A female passenger was found dead under suspicious circumstances on a Carnival cruise ship during a voyage to the Bahamas — and the FBI has launched a criminal investigation.

The woman, who has not been identified, died on the Carnival Sunshine, which departed from Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 27 for the trip to Nassau, CNN reported .

“Medical staff and other crew members of Carnival’s Sunshine were made aware of the passenger being unresponsive and immediately attempted life-saving measures,” a spokesperson for the FBI’s Columbia field office told USA Today .

“Despite their efforts, the passenger was pronounced deceased on the ship,” the rep added.

The FBI Evidence Response Team responded to the Carnival Sunshine after it returned to Charleston on Saturday to process the woman’s cabin.

“The FBI investigates certain crimes on the high seas, as well as suspicious deaths of U.S. persons,” the agency statement said. “The guest’s death was an isolated incident, and no other passengers were at risk.”

Carnival rep Matt Lupoli told CNN in a statement: “Both the deceased and her husband were debarked in Nassau and Bahamian authorities have already investigated the circumstances and are conducting an autopsy.”

He added: “We are fully cooperating. This is a matter for authorities in the Bahamas and Charleston and we have no further comments.”

The 103,000-ton Sunshine, which was launched in 1995, carries 3,000 passengers and 1,040 crew members, according to Carnival.

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FBI investigating ‘suspicious death’ of Carnival cruise passenger

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The FBI Columbia field office is investigating a suspicious death that happened aboard a cruise ship that ports in Charleston.

Crew members of Carnival Cruise Sunshine were made aware of an unresponsive woman during the cruise that left the Charleston port on Feb. 27, FBI spokesperson Kevin Wheeler said. Wheeler said staff attempted life-saving measures, but the woman was pronounced dead on the ship.

Once the ship ported in Charleston on March 4, members of the FBI Evidence Response Team responded to process the passenger’s room, Wheeler said.

“The FBI investigates certain crimes on the high seas, as well as suspicious deaths of U.S. persons,” Wheeler said in the statement.

Officials said the incident was isolated and there was no threat to the other passengers.

A spokesperson for Carnival provided a statement on the incident on Sunday:

The FBI joined Carnival Sunshine upon its return to Charleston yesterday morning to conduct an investigation into the death of a guest. Both the deceased and her husband were debarked in Nassau and Bahamian authorities have already investigated the circumstances and are conducting an autopsy. We are fully cooperating. This is a matter for authorities in The Bahamas and Charleston and we have no further comments.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the incident.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

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Cruise Passenger Dies From Covid, Testing Industry Plans

The passenger and 26 crew members aboard the Carnival Vista tested positive for the coronavirus and the passenger later died. The company says its protocols successfully stopped further spread.

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By Ceylan Yeginsu

As the highly contagious Delta variant surges across the world, the health and safety protocols established for cruise ships are being put to the test. Over two weeks in late July and early August, 27 coronavirus infections were identified aboard the Carnival Vista cruise ship sailing out of Galveston, Texas.

One of those infected, a passenger, later died.

It was the highest number of cases aboard a ship reported since June, when cruises restarted in the Caribbean and United States, and the first death.

The passenger and 26 crew members were immediately isolated after testing positive for the virus. Contact tracing and further testing was conducted, with no new cases reported by Aug. 11, when the ship arrived at the port of Belize City on the northeastern coast of Central America, Carnival said.

Though the ship sailed out of Texas, which bans businesses from requiring vaccinations , more than 96 percent of passengers were vaccinated and all but one crew member was fully vaccinated, according to the Belize tourism board.

Most infected crew members were either asymptomatic or experienced mild symptoms of the virus, but Marilyn Tackett, a 77-year-old passenger from Oklahoma, was admitted to the hospital in Belize and put on a ventilator after experiencing respiratory complications. Days later, she was evacuated to a hospital in Tulsa where she received treatment, but on Aug. 14 her condition worsened, and she died, according to a statement issued by her family on a crowdfunding page set up to help pay for her care.

Ms. Tackett’s family declined to comment on the incident.

“We are very sorry to hear about the death of a guest who sailed on Carnival Vista,” the Carnival Cruise Line said in a statement. The cruise line said that it was highly unlikely Ms. Tackett contracted the coronavirus aboard the ship, which left Galveston on July 31, and that she had received expert medical care onboard before being evacuated.

The cruise line did not test vaccinated passengers before they embarked for the cruise.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new advisory, warning people with increased risk for severe illness from Covid-19 to avoid travel on cruise ships, irrespective of their vaccination status.

Carnival is not the only cruise line to have seen an uptick in cases. Earlier this month, Royal Caribbean had six guests test positive onboard its Adventure of the Seas ship.

The companies have responded to the recent increase in cases by introducing pre-departure testing requirements for all passengers. Carnival also added a mask mandate on Aug. 7 for all vaccinated and unvaccinated guests in indoor areas and banned smoking in the casino.

“The protocols are designed to flex up and adapt,” said Chris Chiames, the chief communications officer for Carnival Cruise Line, in a telephone interview. “That’s what they’ve done here in the context of their desire to mitigate and minimize the threat of Covid, which is everywhere, unfortunately, and it’s going to remain everywhere for a long time.”

“We never suggested our ships would be Covid free,” he continued. “But we designed our protocols to meet and exceed the guidelines of the C.D.C. and we will continue to be vigilant while continuing to focus on giving our guests a great vacation.”

Michael Bayley, the chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean, said the cruise line was typically seeing one or two positive cases out of more than 1,000 guests a week per ship. More than 90 percent of passengers are vaccinated, he said, and because of preboarding testing requirements two to 10 guests are prevented from boarding ships each week because they test positive.

But, Mr. Bayley said in a candid Facebook post addressing the current coronavirus situation, “Testing captures status at a point of time and if the guest is incubating infection, then the test will miss it.” The vaccinated guests who test positive typically are asymptomatic, he said in the post.

Some cruise lines say passengers have canceled amid concerns about the risks of the Delta variant, but many sailings are fully booked through the rest of year because of pent-up demand.

Many cruise enthusiasts with upcoming trips believe that cruise ships are one of the safest ways to travel during the pandemic because of the high percentage of vaccinated passengers and crew, added testing requirements and stringent health and safety measures enforced on board.

“It’s very comforting boarding a cruise ship knowing that most people are vaccinated and everyone is tested,” said Aidan Alexander, 62, an avid cruiser from Florida who has eight sailings booked through 2022. “When you get on a plane or stay in a hotel you don’t know anyone’s vaccination or Covid status and that makes it very difficult to relax and unwind.”

John Ioannidis, an epidemiology professor at Stanford University, disputes that notion. In an airport, on a plane or in a hotel, he said, “you only get exposed for a few hours, whereas on a cruise ship you could get exposed for many days and weeks. It’s a kind of cumulative exposure.”

But he said the health and safety protocols implemented by cruise companies will likely avert the major disasters and deaths that were seen in the initial stages of the pandemic last year.

“I think that it’s fair to say that it’s likely that the outbreaks will not be left to grow to the same extent as they did in the outbreaks in the first wave of the pandemic,” he said.

Christina Perez, 56, a passenger who was on board the Carnival Vista when the virus cases were identified earlier this month, said the cruise line dealt with the situation well and she felt safe throughout her trip.

“It was still an amazing vacation. The crew took great care of us and kept us informed and managed to contain the situation very quickly,” Ms. Perez said in a telephone interview.

“I think it’s getting risker to travel now with the new variants, even on cruises, but at least if there is an outbreak on a cruise ship there is a plan and you know you’ll be taken care of,” she said.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places list for 2021 .

Ceylan Yeginsu is a London-based reporter. She joined The Times in 2013, and was previously a correspondent in Turkey covering politics, the migrant crisis, the Kurdish conflict, and the rise of Islamic State extremism in Syria and the region. More about Ceylan Yeginsu

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Carnival Legend cruise ship passenger dies in onboard 'incident'

Carnival legend is currently sailing on an 8-day christmas-themed itinerary.

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A passenger has died this week on board the Carnival Legend cruise ship.  

Carnival Cruise Line, in a statement to FOX Business, said it was "sad to share that we had an incident Monday night." 

"While there was a man overboard call, there was not an overboard incident. We are supporting the guest’s family and others who witnessed the situation," a spokesman said. 

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The Carnival Legend is seen docked in Lisbon, Portugal, on June 18, 2013. (Mario Proenca/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

"With respect for the privacy of all involved, we will not say any more, but ask that you keep the family in your thoughts and prayers," the spokesman added. 

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A local ferry floats past the Carnival Legend cruise ship in Sydney, Australia on March 8, 2017. (Reuters/David Gray)

A source on board the ship told the website Crew Center that the man fell off a balcony and hit a lifeboat shortly after midnight. 

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Carnival Cruise Line did not respond to FOX Business when asked to comment on that report. 

The ship left Baltimore on Sunday for an eight-day Christmas-themed journey with two stops in the Bahamas and one in Turks and Caicos. 

Why Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and other cruise prices are higher

I f you visit some of the more popular cruise-line pages on Facebook, you will see a fair amount of people complaining about rising prices. 

In many cases, people complain that they can no longer afford to sail on the cruise lines they have been loyal to, and they threaten to take their business elsewhere.

The posts also accuse the cruise lines of being greedy or of trying to make back the money they lost during the pandemic. Some posters also accuse the cruise lines of not being respectful or loyal to the long-term customers who helped them become successful in the first place.

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As people complain about higher prices, which are indeed real, they also blame the cost of the new megaships both Royal Caribbean ( RCL ) and Carnival Cruise Line have built in the past few years. 

In reality, price increases are a lot simpler than the conspiracy theories posited online: Cruise-line prices, whether it's for your cabin, drink packages, excursions or other extras, are based on demand.

Prices at Royal Caribbean and Carnival, as well as MSC Cruises, which has recently been much cheaper than its rivals, have been driven up by increased demand. All three cruise lines have increased their capacity out of Florida, their top market by far, and ships still have generally been sailing full.

How demand-based pricing works     

When a cruise line puts a sailing on sale, it sets prices based on both history and current demand. Since sailings generally go on sale more than a year in advance, pricing requires a bit of guesswork. (No cruise line shares its full formula for how it sets initial pricing.)

Demand is dynamic and if cabins are selling quickly, prices will go up. Fully selling out a cruise ship generally takes 12 months, so when a higher percentage of cabins sell quickly, prices rise. If demand is softer, prices do go down.

When a cruise ship hits 100% capacity — which does not mean all its cabins are sold because some may have more than two guests — any remaining rooms will generally be expensive. 

Cruise lines don't arbitrarily raise prices to recover past losses. Instead, they generally get as much as they can for each room based on current demand. That's why a new ship people really want to sail on, like Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, has much higher prices than Wonder of the Seas, the cruise line's second-newest ship.

This pricing plan extends to excursions and other items that have limited supply. You could argue that Royal Caribbean and Carnival leave money on the table in areas where they offer set pricing.

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In the case of Carnival, that includes its Cheers beverage package, which has a set price as well as individual specialty meals. Royal Caribbean uses dynamic pricing for its drink and unlimited dining packages but has set prices for individual meals in its specialty restaurants. 

How to save money on a cruise  

While you can find lower prices yourself, it's generally best to work with a travel agent when booking your cruise. Larger agencies, or agents who work as part of a bigger group, often book blocks of rooms well in advance in order to lock in lower prices. 

A good travel agent will also track prices, and if the cruise line lowers the price before final payment is due, they will get you either a price adjustment or onboard credit. In addition, your travel agent can match you to the right cruise for your budget.

It generally costs less to sail on older ships, and some cruise lines, including MSC, still have some sailings at comparatively low prices. Cruises do generally cost more than they did in 2019, but that's not universal. 

In a broad sense, booking early or booking late saves you the most money. Last-minute deals have become rare, but they do happen, especially with Royal Caribbean and Carnival having so many ships sailing in the Caribbean.

Want the latest cruise news and deals? Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter.

It's harder to find a cheap sailing than it has been in years, but it's not impossible. If your goal is getting on a ship at the lowest possible price, you will have options. If you want the newest ships or specific port stops, or you have limited sailing dates, your price options will be more limited.