A Johnny Jet reader currently aboard the Sun Princess sent the following account of a serious incident currently underway:
“I am currently on the Sun Princess and scheduled to arrive in Istanbul in the morning Thursday the 21st. Approximately 4 1/2 hours ago, the ‘Man overboard’ alarm was sounded. We have been stopped since that time while a search is underway with 2 boats from the Sun and 5 from the Turkish authorities. It’s doubtful that my wife and I will make our scheduled visit of the Blue Mosque and other sites. Prayers for the victim.”
I reached out to Princess Cruises for comment and they provided the following statement:
“Princess Cruises can confirm that a person has been reported to have gone overboard on Sun Princess this evening on route to Istanbul. Our ship’s emergency response team immediately initiated search and rescue procedures which are actively underway at this time. We are working in coordination with local maritime authorities to support the operation. The safety and well-being of our guests and crew remains our highest priority. We will provide further information as it becomes available.”
I also found video on X of the ongoing search efforts. See embedded video below.
Princess Sun, man overboard. pic.twitter.com/6IKvvqJe31
— debbie the cat lady (@elmooo) August 20, 2025
My family and I just sailed this route on the Sun Princess in June (here’s our review) so this is very surprising and disheartening. I know how routine the journey usually is and my thoughts are with everyone affected by this incident.
This is a developing story.
Update: Captain just gave an update. It was a male crew member who fell overboard.
The photo below shows the ship’s position.
The photo below shows a small search boat in the foreground.
My reader also let me know that they searched for nearly 11 hours and arrived in Istanbul at 14:30 (2:30 pm). The ship will now miss tomorrow’s stop at Mykonos.
This is obviously an unfortunate situation but it brings up a valuable point. What about those who booked excursions in both Istanbul and Mykonos? If you booked through the cruise line, the tours in Istanbul will be adjusted and the ones in Mykonos will be refunded. However, if you booked your excursions through a third party you will more than likely lose your money unless you have travel insurance or paid with a credit card that offers protection for these types of incidents.
When cruising things do come up, especially bad weather. I have been on over 30 cruises and only once or twice did we skip a port. The last time it happened was a year and a half ago in the Bahamas. We had to skip our fun day due to rough seas since it was too risky to load everyone in tenders (the ship was too big to dock). The captain made the announcement that we had to skip the island nation and anyone who had booked shore excursions or cabanas would be fully refunded.
It is also wise to book excursions through the cruise line directly because if your tour bus breaks down or gets stuck in massive traffic, the ship will either wait for you or pay for you to get to the next port.
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Very sad to lose a crew member this way. Very mixed reviews on Sun and Star new LARGE ships. New crew members lots of training.
Wow 20+ cruises and only missed 2 ports. Consider yourself lucky. Not my experience and if you’re lucky to be a Brit their travel insurance reimburses for missed ports.
Booking wi the Viator accommodates immediately for missed ports no questions asked often refunded before we reach next port. Never will I take a ship excursion again. Tried one in Japan was as bad or worse than expected and ship washed their hands of it saying take it up w the tour operator – wow. Also Princess.
Good to know. thanks for sharing