Key Aspects:
- A 58-year-old pastor from Minnesota has passed several weeks after a fall and near-drowning on Sun Princess.
- Stephen Junker was paralyzed in the incident and evacuated in Naples, but was flown back to the US for further treatment.
- Junker’s death is the latest unfortunate incident to plague Sun Princess, following debut delays, cancelled features, and a crew member overboard.
A 58-year-old pastor from Elbow Lake, Minnesota, has passed weeks after suffering a severe injury onboard Princess Cruises’ Sun Princess during a family cruise in Italy.
Stephen (Steve) Junker fell on Sunday, August 16, 2026 and was found unresponsive in the ship’s pool. It is not clear whether Junker was actually in the pool prior to falling or if he fell on the deck and into the pool.
The exact pool where the accident occurred has not been disclosed. Sun Princess has five pools: two on the Lido Deck (Deck 17), an indoor/outdoor pool under the Dome (Deck 17), the Sanctuary Pool (Deck 18), and the WakeView Pool (Deck 8).
According to the family’s GoFundMe page, Junker was evacuated from the ship in Naples, Italy via an Italian Coast Guard (Guardia Costiera) boat and admitted to a local hospital’s intensive care unit with severe compression at the C3-C4 level of his cervical spinal column.
Junker underwent successful emergency surgery on August 17 to relieve pressure on his spinal cord but was diagnosed as quadriplegic due to his injuries. He also had a lung infection likely caused by his near-drowning.
Over the next few days, Junker’s family coordinated medical, logistical, and financial challenges to arrange his transportation back to the US on August 23 via flight to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he underwent additional testing and treatment.
Sadly, additional untreatable injuries were discovered and Junker passed on the evening of Friday, September 4, 2026 surrounded by family and friends.
Princess Cruises has not commented publicly on Junker’s accident or injuries. This is common practice to safeguard the privacy of cruise guests.
Prior to Junker’s accident, Sun Princess had departed Civitavecchia (Rome) on August 15. The cruise vacation was a celebration of his son’s recent wedding, though there is no indication that the wedding took place onboard the ship.
Because the cruise line uses multiple embarkation ports on Mediterranean itineraries, it is unknown whether Junker and his family were to remain aboard for 7, 14, or 21 nights of the sailing before the 4,300-guest ship would return to Civitavecchia following calls in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Montenegro, Spain, and France.
Multiple Difficulties for Sun Princess
This sad incident is not the first difficulty for the ship, even before she entered service in February 2024. Sun Princess got a rocky start to joining the Princess Cruises’ fleet with delays and the cancellation of her inaugural sailing, originally scheduled from Barcelona on February 8, 2024.
More cancellations followed before the ship’s debut on February 28, 2024. Even when the ship began welcoming guests, key features remained unavailable. In July 2024, the cruise line confirmed that Sun Princess‘ RollGlider zipline, the Coastal Climb, and the ropes course would not be opening, as the cruise line stated it was unable to accept delivery of the installations.
Then, after her summer in the Mediterranean, the first of the Sphere-class vessels set sail to cross the Atlantic Ocean on her way to Fort Lauderdale, but her arrival was delayed several days due to Hurricane Milton.
On August 20, 2025, a crew member went overboard from Sun Princess at roughly 11 p.m. local time, another sad incident that unfortunately does happen onboard cruise ships.
Cruise Hive’s thoughts are with Junker’s family and all those affected by his passing, as well as the guests and crew members onboard Sun Princess impacted by such an unfortunate incident.
