Key Aspects:
- The search for a guest overboard from Nieuw Statendam on January 1, 2026 has been suspended.
- Updates confirm the guest is a 77-year-old woman and the overboard was likely deliberate.
- Nieuw Statendam has resumed sailing but cancelled her January 2 port visit to Key West due to the delay.
The US Coast Guard (USCG) has suspended the search efforts for the guest overboard from Nieuw Statendam late in the day on Thursday, January 1, 2025.
The final update from US Coast Guard Southeast Sector noted the extent of the search efforts, but has suspended the operation “pending the development of new information.”
“Cruise ship personnel and USCG crews searched for approximately 8 hours over 690 square miles,” the post on X confirmed.
Cutter William Trump and an MH-60 helicopter from Air Station Clearwater were the USCG assets involved in the search throughout the day, roughly 40 miles northeast of Sabana, Cuba.
Nieuw Statendam also remained with the search nearly all day, repeating a zig-zag search pattern along its route in the region where the overboard was confirmed.
The emergency search began after repeated early morning calls for the missing woman to report to Guest Services, followed by an announcement that she was no longer onboard.
“We are deeply saddened to confirm that while sailing in waters north of Cuba, a guest on Nieuw Statendam went overboard earlier today,” Holland America Line said in a statement to Cruise Hive. “A review of closed-circuit cameras shows the guest alone on the ship’s third deck appearing to go overboard intentionally.”
The USCG’s final update does clarify that the guest is a 77-year-old woman, but no further details about her name or nationality have been released to protect her privacy and those of her traveling companions. Holland America Line’s family assistance team is offering support to those impacted.
Nieuw Statendam Resumes Sailing
As darkness fell (sunset in the area was at approximately 5:30 p.m.), the cruise ship was released from the all-day search and returned to her route back to Port Everglades. The ship was to have made one final port stop in Key West, Florida on Friday, January 2, but that call has been cancelled.
Instead, Nieuw Statendam will spend the last day of the 7-night Eastern Caribbean sailing at sea and will return to Fort Lauderdale as scheduled on Saturday, January 3.
The Pinnacle-class ship can welcome 2,666 guests at double occupancy or up to 4,173 guests when fully booked with all berths filled. For holiday sailings such as the current New Year’s cruise, most ships are much closer to full occupancy instead of double occupancy.
Nieuw Statendam is homeported from Fort Lauderdale through early April, at which time she will move to Europe for a summer offering outstanding British Isles, Arctic Circle, and Baltic Capitals sailings with embarkation at both Dover and Rotterdam.
In December, the ship will return to the Sunshine State for another Caribbean winter season from Port Everglades.
Overboard Procedures
Each cruise line uses similar procedures when a guest may be reported missing and potentially overboard. A thorough search or headcount of guests may be made to determine if the individual is still onboard, while security footage is reviewed to see if they can be found and tracked.
Read Also: What Happens If You Jump Off a Cruise Ship?
Many ships do have man overboard detection systems, which can include motion sensors, cameras, alarms, and other tech assets to notice these incidents and raise alarms more quickly.
The momentum of a 100,000 (or more) gross ton ship, however, can carry it miles past an overboard point before the vessel could safely be slowed, turned, and return to the point at which an individual went overboard.
In that time, waves and currents may move that person away from where they entered the water, making it very difficult to locate the individual.
Despite many hours of searching, many incidents, like this first overboard of 2026, may never locate the person.
Cruise Hive’s thoughts are with the family and friends of the elderly woman at this difficult time, and we are all grateful for the emergency crews who undertake the search efforts to help bring closure to these sad incidents.
