The story is disturbing and seemingly ripped from a piece of fiction. A young woman with the world ahead of her takes a family cruise across the Caribbean. There are drinks, dancing, exotic ports, and then after a late night, her family can’t find her.
The ship is searched, authorities investigate, but there’s no sign of the woman. Undeterred, the family continues to the search for their beloved daughter, pushing for clues. Witnesses claim they see her with a man on the ship right before she went missing. Others claim to have seen her– and even spoke with her — months and years after she vanished from the cruise ship. Despite that, there’s been no definitive sign of the woman since she disappeared nearly 30 years ago.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a work of fiction. It’s the real-life story of Amy Bradley and her family’s ordeal. The case of Amy’s disappearance has even found new life as a three-episode documentary from Netflix: Amy Bradley Is Missing.
So what exactly happened? And how likely are you to actually go missing from a cruise ship?
The Case of Amy Bradley’s Disappearance
This story takes place in March 1998. Amy Bradley, a recent college graduate from Virginia, boarded a cruise with her parents and brother aboard Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas. The trip departed San Juan, Puerto Rico.
On the night of March 23, with the cruise well underway and the ship sailing from Aruba to Curacao, Amy and her brother stayed out late drinking and dancing at venues around the ship. Her brother returned to the room around 3:30 a.m. on March 24, followed five minutes later by Amy.
There, they sat on the balcony talking until her brother went inside to go to bed. Amy stayed on the balcony. At around 5:30 a.m., her father woke up and saw her still on the balcony before going back to sleep. When he woke up at 6:00 a.m., Amy was gone.
There was a search of the ship, and a Coast Guard search of the area where Rhapsody of the Seas was sailing. No sign of Amy Bradley was found.
As the authorities (including the FBI) investigated the case, there was speculation that Amy may have jumped or fallen overboard. As well, she was seen dancing with a member of the ship’s band that evening, and later multiple people said they saw her with the same man after 5:30 a.m.
The investigation, however, turned up no solid evidence of Amy or what might have happened to her.
Still, her family has never lost hope and continued to push for answers. In the months and years after, multiple people have come forward saying they remember seeing her. Often these sightings included her being with men who seemed to be controlling her, creating a possibility she had been trafficked.
Unfortunately, to this day there has been no conclusion to the case and what happened to Amy Bradley is still unknown.
Could This Still Happen Today?
Watching the Netflix documentary on her disappearance is chilling. Given some of the interviews, it can make it feel like this sort of thing happens regularly on cruise ships. So is it something that you should worry about?
First things first, you should know that security on cruise ships has improved since the time of Amy’s disappearance. The documentary specifically mentions there only being a few cameras on the ship back then. Rules have changed and now you can’t go into any public space without being seen on camera.
In fact, while the cruise lines do a good job of making them blend in, once you notice the cameras you will see that they are practically everywhere. Moving around the ship unnoticed would be difficult today.
Meanwhile, other technology has also improved. While not every ship has them, many have overboard detectors that can help find when people have gone over the side of the ship. If you wanted to climb the high railings and go over, you certainly could. It seems unlikely it wouldn’t be seen or alert the crew in some way, however.
In addition, your room keycard also helps to keep tabs on your whereabouts on the ship. It’s used any time you make a purchase onboard, enter your room, leave, or return to the ship. Access to and from the ship is also tightly controlled so your chances of getting off the ship without it being tracked are small.
But what are the actual numbers?
Statistics on Missing Persons on Cruises
Cruise lines sailing from the United States come under the rules of the Cruise Vessel Security & Safety Act (CVSSA). This law required a number of steps be taken on ships regarding safety, including regular reporting of alleged crimes onboard.
These crimes include only major incidents, so smaller issues aren’t counted. Alleged crimes that are required to be reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation include assault with serious injury, suspicious death, homicides, kidnapping, sexual assault and more. Every quarter the reports are uploaded to the U.S. Department of Transportation website for public viewing.
With these stats, we have a better idea of when something like Amy Bradley’s case actually happens. Since it’s not clear exactly what happened in this case, we’ve included several different categories where her disappearance might fall if there were a crime committed.
As you can see, yes, missing persons and suspicious deaths do occur on cruises, but they are rare. Remember that these few cases occur with roughly 15 million passengers sailing from the U.S. each year. So the odds of going missing are about 1 in 5 million.
Even so, we always stress simply using common sense to protect yourself. Avoid situations where you might be at more of a risk, such as joining a stranger in a cabin or drinking too much. In particular, while disappearances are rare, sexual assaults and rapes are a bigger issue on cruises with a reported 120 in 2024.
So yes, a cruise is safe. But that doesn’t mean you should completely let your guard down.
You can watch Amy Bradley Is Missing on Netflix.
