Key Aspects:
- The alarm was raised aboard AIDAnova in the middle of the night as the ship sailed toward Copenhagen.
- The ship’s crew recovered from the water an 18-year-old intoxicated male who was unharmed.
- Apparently, the teenager had joked with his friends about jumping overboard.
Imagine being awakened in your cruise cabin in the wee hours of the morning by the urgent public address announcement: Man overboard!
That was the experience for thousands of guests aboard AIDA Cruises’ AIDAnova as she sailed the Baltic Sea on her way to Copenhagen.
The 16-deck ship, which carries 6,600 guests at full capacity, sprang to life at 2 a.m. on July 16, 2025 when the ship’s loudspeakers blared the news that someone had gone overboard.
Local media reported that the 183,858-gross-ton ship was immediately stopped and turned around, and a dramatic rescue mission was launched by crew members in lifeboats. Bleary-eyed guests were told they could help in the search by using cell phone flashlights to illuminate the dark water.
Police reports later identified the overboard guest as an intoxicated 18-year-old male. Police indicated that he jumped overboard after a bout of drinking with friends, and had even joked about it earlier in the evening.
Fortunately, his misguided adventure did not end in tragedy and the teenager was retrieved, unharmed, from the ocean by ship’s crew. His name and nationality were not revealed.
However, the drama was not yet over for the ship’s passengers.
The ship’s captain required that all passengers assemble at their muster stations for a total headcount — just to make certain that no one else had gone missing.
Finally, around 4 a.m., the event came to a close. At the time of the alarm, the ship was enroute to Copenhagen and was traveling at about 15 knots with force 6 winds, meaning the winds were topping out at a stiff 30 mph.
AIDAnova, which entered service in 2018, was sailing a 7-night Scandinavia cruise roundtrip from Kiel, Germany. Her weeklong voyages typically call at Copenhagen on day four, following a visit to Skagen, Denmark. After the call at Copenhagen, the ship visits Aarhus, Denmark, before returning to Kiel.
There was no police or cruise line statement about any ramifications the teen would experience as a result of his misconduct.
Recent Overboard Cases Include a Crew Tragedy
Man overboard alarms happen from time to time on cruise ships, and some end in tragedy. In one recent case aboard Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, a crew member jumped overboard after an altercation with another crew member.
The person who jumped was retrieved from the water near the Bahamas, but did not survive the July 25, 2025 fall. Icon of the Seas had been operating an Eastern Caribbean cruise from PortMiami.
Sometimes, man overboard alarms turn out to be accidental falls. One high-profile and particularly scary event happened on Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Dream on June 29, 2025.
In that instance, a 5-year-old girl slipped overboard and was saved by her father, who dove into the water after her. Both were rescued by the ship’s crew, who had quickly launched lifeboats. The ship was sailing a 4-night Bahamas cruise from Fort Lauderdale.
