Passenger missing from Jacksonville-based Carnival cruise ship

Associated Press

November 26, 2004, 11:49 AM EST

JACKSONVILLE -- Coast Guard crews searched Friday in the St. Johns River and off the coast of Florida for a 54-year-old Virginia man reported missing after the Carnival Cruise Lines ship Celebration arrived home from a five-day cruise to the Bahamas.

The Coast Guard searched more than 340 square miles for Glen Sherridan of Richmond, Va., whose wife, Gloria, reported him missing to Celebration officers Thursday when she could not find him several hours after the Carnival Cruise Lines ship docked, Petty Officer Bobby Nash said.

The Coast Guard received a missing persons report soon after the ship's crew conducted a full ship search to make sure Sherridan wasn't still on board. The vessel's electronic exit and entry program showed the man did not leave the ship after it docked in Jacksonville, Carnival said.

Sherridan's wife last saw her husband at 1:30 a.m. Thursday. She said he was an early riser and might have fallen overboard as early as 4 a.m., Nash said. He said the ship then would have been about 13 miles off the northeast Florida coast, heading for the St. Johns River and Jacksonville.

Vance Gulliksen, a Carnival spokesman, said Friday that it was very unusual for a passenger to be reported missing, but didn't have an exact number. He said Carnival carries about 3 million passengers a year.

The Celebration, which can carry nearly 1,500 passengers, sailed back to the Bahamas with a fresh load of passengers later Thursday.

Nash said the Coast Guard would decide later Friday whether to continue the search by the Kingfisher, an 87-foot patrol boat from Jacksonville, and a helicopter crew from Savannah, Ga.

Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Hope he turns up/is found anyway.

[ 11-26-2004: Message edited by: cruisintoday14 ]

1. You are doing something really stupid
2. You are pushed
3. You jump off intentionally

Like Malcolm I can't understand how you can 'fall off' a cruise ship.

quote:

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chrisrotlmacin wrote:
I remember when a Romanian female crew member went overboard on the Norway ...

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What happened to her?

quote:

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Malcolm wrote:
...I hear that the senior managers of the hotel staff, on many ships, only ever go out on deck at night, in pairs!

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Only the senior managers of the hotel staff? What about the others?

All jokes aside, the man could have got sick (and dizzy) and went over...

Like Chris said, hopefully some security camera has picked something up.

******

Cheers

[ 11-29-2004: Message edited by: bulbousbow ]

Nice Cheap Shot..What does that have to do with anything..............
I on the Other hand totally agree with malcolm statement " In my opinion it is IMPOSSIBLE to fall off a cruise ship, unless: "
1. You are doing something really stupid
2. You are pushed
3. You jump off intentionally

Check out the Wife...she probably had sumting to do with it....trust me..stuff like this happens....sorry to say it

[ 11-29-2004: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

If I were a betting man, I'd bet he jumped overboard himself. Notice it was the last day of the cruise; he'd enjoyed the time aboard, but he had some good reason for committing suicide. Perhaps figured it was a good way to set up his wife for life? Who knows?

quote:

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Personally, I still think the railings are too high to accidently topple over them, unless you are sitting on them or walking along them like a tightrope![/QB]

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quote:

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Originally posted by WhiteStar:

Malcolm - I am 6' 4" and the railings barely come to my waist if I am standing straight up. I think it is possible to fall overboard if you've had to much to drink or the ship lurches to one side.

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I take your point, but I would class 'having too much to drink AND walking on the open deck alone, in the early hours of the morning' as my point number 1. You are doing something really stupid.

[ 11-29-2004: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

For the Norway incident see this previous thread. She was found after 10 hours treading water. ISTR she had been sitting on the rail, but I can't find anything that mentions that now.