Princess Cruises has confirmed that a crew member went overboard from Sun Princess late on Wednesday, 20th August 2025, while the ship was sailing through the Dardanelles Strait on its way to Istanbul.
The alarm was raised around 11 pm local time and the vessel immediately turned back, launching boats to assist in the search.
Several Turkish Coast Guard vessels also joined the operation in the waters off Marmara Adasi Island.
The Sphere-class ship, which is carrying more than 4,000 passengers on a 14-night Mediterranean voyage from Barcelona to Athens, remained in the area for hours as efforts continued.
Princess Cruises issued a statement confirming the incident:
“We can confirm that a person has been reported to have gone overboard on Sun Princess this evening en route to Istanbul. Our ship’s emergency response team immediately initiated search and rescue procedures in coordination with local maritime authorities.”
Crew Member Identified
It was later confirmed that the missing individual was a member of the crew. Their name and role have not been made public, but Princess Cruises said support was being provided to the crew member’s family and colleagues.
Sadly, despite extensive searches through the night and into the next day, the individual has not been found.
The cruise line expressed “heartfelt condolences” to their loved ones and confirmed that trained counsellors are onboard to assist both guests and crew.
Changes to the Voyage
Following the incident, the ship was directed to an anchorage off Tekirdag to continue working with local authorities before being cleared to sail to Istanbul.
Instead of arriving in the Turkish city early in the morning as planned, the ship docked mid-afternoon on Thursday and extended its stay until late evening.
Because of this delay, the scheduled call to Mykonos on Friday, 22nd August has been cancelled. All pre-booked tours for the Greek island are being automatically refunded.
The cruise remains on track to end in Athens on Saturday, 23rd August, with no delay to debarkation.
About the Ship
Sun Princess entered service in 2024 as the first of the new Sphere-class ships and is currently the largest vessel in the Princess Cruises fleet, weighing in at 177,000 gross tons.
She carries 4,300 passengers with 1,600 international crew members.
The ship has been operating in the Mediterranean throughout the summer and will reposition to Fort Lauderdale in November for a winter Caribbean season, before returning to Europe in spring 2026.
This is the first reported overboard incident aboard the new flagship, and investigations into the circumstances are still underway.
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