Key Aspects:
- A man violated the secure area of the Martinique cruise port and jumped into the water on November 29, 2025.
- Crew members from Enchanted Princess sounded the overboard alert and rescued the man, who was not a cruise guest.
- The man was turned over to local authorities and there was no delay or impact to the cruise ship.
Cruise ships are always on the alert for the possibility of guests or crew members overboard, or refugees in hazardous conditions who need assistance.
The crew of Enchanted Princess, however, rescued a man from the water, though he did not go overboard from the cruise ship, and he was not a refugee.
The incident happened on Saturday, November 29, 2025 while Enchanted Princess was visiting Martinique. The man allegedly eluded checkpoints to enter the port’s secure area without authorization, then jumped in the water in front of the 145,300-gross-ton cruise ship.
Enchanted Princess was docked at the time, visiting the port from roughly 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The ship was not in motion, though it is always dangerous to be swimming near such a vast vessel.
The man overboard alert was issued and a life ring was thrown to him for immediate assistance. A rescue boat was then dispatched from the Princess Cruises’ ship to retrieve the man. He was taken directly to the pier and turned over to local police.
Cruise Hive reached out to Princess Cruises about the incident. The cruise line confirmed that the man was in police custody and that he did not jump from the cruise ship.
No further details about the man, including why he took such a drastic measure as jumping into the water near the cruise ship, have been released. One passenger got in touch with Cruise Hive to say that local police took custody of the man by 10:00 a.m.
The incident may have involved a suspect fleeing from authorities for other offenses, but this has not been confirmed. Of course, simply violating the secure area of the port is an offense that would be handled by local authorities as well.
Read Also: What Happens If You Jump Off a Cruise Ship?
There were no delays or operational interruptions to Enchanted Princess. The Royal-class cruise ship had departed Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, November 23, for the 12-night Southern Caribbean Holiday sailing, and Martinique is the next-to-last port visit on the itinerary.
The ship will visit Antigua on Sunday, November 30, before turning her bow back toward Florida to arrive in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, December 3.
Enchanted Princess can welcome 3,660 guests onboard, and is also home to roughly 1,300 international crew members.
Not the First Bizarre Not-Quite-Overboard Incident
Typically, when guests onboard a cruise ship hear the “man overboard” or “Oscar! Oscar! Oscar!” code, it means an unfortunate overboard incident from the ship itself or possibly sighting a refugee craft nearby.
Sometimes, however, the situation is very different, and the overboard isn’t actually from the ship at all.
For example, in June 2025, a cruise guest jumped off the pier in Juneau, Alaska, likely as part of a stunt for social media videos. It is not known what ship the individual was from, though the stunt was staged inside the secure area of the port.
In December 2024, a man jumped from a pier in the Canary Islands and attempted to swim to a cruise ship docked nearby. Which ship is uncertain, because local police intervened and stopped the man before he reached any ship.
In some cases, guests might accidentally fall from piers near cruise ships. This often happens due to inattentiveness, such as when a man stepped off the pier at Perfect Day at CocoCay while filming Star of the Seas in mid-August during one of the ship’s preview sailings in August 2025.
These unusual incidents certainly catch people’s attention, but for all the wrong reasons, as it is usually the authorities who are paying the most attention.
Anyone engaging in such stunts risks fines and other penalties. If they are cruise guests, they may be disembarked from their ship and potentially banned from future sailings.
