The cruise ship Carnival Magic reported a passenger named Ronnie Lee Peale Jr. fell overboard and apparently drowned off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, on Monday.
Peale was said to be accompanied by his partner Jennilyn Michelle Blosser on what was supposed to be his first-ever cruise to celebrate Blosser's birthday.
The ship left Norfolk, Virginia, on May 25 to set sail for the Bahamas before returning to the United States.
Blosser said Peale was "the life of the party," and he enjoyed drinking, gambling, and socializing aboard the Carnival Magic.
"This was Ronnie's first cruise, and thankfully he had a great time and made plenty of friends," she wrote on a GoFundMe campaign she launched Tuesday.
A US Coast Guard statement said the ship's security footage showed 35-year-old Peale "leaned over the railing of his stateroom balcony and dropped into the water" at 04:10 on Monday (08:00 UTC). Coast Guard vessels and aircraft were utilized to assist in looking for the missing man.
Meanwhile, Carnival Cruise Line, the company operating the Carnival Magic, said the Coast Guard released the ship from search efforts and told its captain to return her to port in Norfolk.
"The Carnival Care Team is providing support to the [Peale's] companion and traveling party who are on board," the company wrote in its statement.
Blosser described herself as "devastated, to say the least," by the incident.
"The cruise was definitely a place he enjoyed," she said. I never could have imagined something like this could happen."
