Key Aspects:
- A 55-year-old woman, Ann Evans, has been reported missing in St. Maarten.
- Evans was a guest aboard Rotterdam during a visit on November 20 but never returned to the cruise ship following an organized tour.
- Little further information is available about Evans, but authorities are appealing to the public for help in locating her.
During this Thanksgiving week filled with family, one family member is missing from a recent cruise and authorities are requesting help from the public to locate 55-year-old Ms. Ann Evans.
Evans was a guest aboard Holland America Line’s Rotterdam on its current sailing, a 12-night Eastern Caribbean itinerary that departed Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, November 16, 2025.
On Thursday, November 20, Rotterdam was docked in St. Maarten and Evans debarked the ship at 10 a.m. as part of an organized tour. She left the tour bus at a scheduled stop in Marigot, French Saint Martin, but failed to return to the bus or the cruise ship later that day.
“Efforts to locate Ms. Evans are ongoing, and law enforcement authorities on both the Dutch and French sides of the island have been alerted,” a statement from the Police Force of Sint Maarten said.
Anyone with information on Evans’ whereabouts is asked to come forward to the authorities. Furthermore, local authorities are appealing to Evans herself.
“If Ms. Evans herself sees this message, she is kindly requested to contact her family, the Police Force of Sint Maarten, or the French Gendarmerie as soon as possible to confirm her safety,” the statement urged.
Rotterdam continued on its itinerary as planned and will be back in Port Everglades on Friday, November 28. The 99,860-gross-ton ship can host as many as 2,668 travelers at double occupancy, or up to 4,173 guests when fully booked with all berths filled.
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The search for Evans has been expanded across various social media channels and it is hoped that someone will have information on her whereabouts or she herself will come forward.
Evans is a US citizen, but it is unknown whether or not she may have personal ties to St. Maarten.
Strange Circumstances – Where Is the Urgency?
With little other information revealed about Evans and no strong pleas from family members or friends, it’s strange that the call for help to find the woman hasn’t come until six days after she went missing.
This is similar to an incident in September 2025 about a guest missing from Carnival Horizon. Jessica Collins, a 47-year-old guest, never returned to the cruise ship after debarking by herself in Bonaire.
Authorities reached out with requests for assistance to find her, and the guest contacted Carnival Cruise Line the next day to confirm that she was safe but did not want to be located.
In that incident, however, authorities alerted the public somewhat earlier and the case was resolved more quickly, even if not in the way that family members might have wished.
It is unknown whether or not Ann Evans also wants to be left alone or if she has been a victim of something more nefarious during her visit to the Dutch-French island. It is also possible that she may have suffered some medical incident.
Another possibility, though unlikely, is that Evans may simply have become lost and failed to return to the ship on time, and therefore was left behind in the port. It would seem, however, that she would have reached out to port authorities earlier if that were the case.
Hopefully, the more people who see alerts about Evans’ disappearance, some information will surface to help her be located and ensure her safety.
