Fishermen Pull Cruise Ship Pianist From the Pacific After Nine Hours

The Royal Caribbean crew member went off the Ovation of the Seas around 2:30 a.m., lifeguard officials believe, and was found near Catalina.

A cruise ship pianist spent about nine hours in the Pacific off Catalina Island on Friday before two Newport Beach fishermen hauled him out by his arms. The 37-year-old, who works on Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas, was hospitalized and is expected to survive, the U.S. Coast Guard said, CBS LA reported.

He didn't have a life jacket, KCBS reported in a story distributed by CNN Newsource. Sean Norton, one of the men who pulled him aboard, thinks the ocean itself kept him alive. The water was about 76 degrees in what Norton called "this crazy super El Niño year." "A different year, no way he makes it," he told CBS LA.

Lifeguard officials think he hit the water at about 2:30 a.m., while the 14-deck ship was on its way to Ensenada, Mexico. He was still out there when the sun came up, and he stayed there through the whole morning.

Norton and Grant Garrett spent that morning fishing for marlin near Catalina. They were heading back to Newport Beach when their boat's captain spotted someone in the water, and by about noon the man was aboard. Garrett's reaction, as he told CBS LA: "I'm like, 'Yeah, it's a human being. Stop the boat; let's get all of our lines in.'"

The man was floating on his back and looked drained of energy, the fishermen told ABC7. Norton and Garrett each took an arm and lifted him in, and Norton said he was in shock. Once he came around, he told them he played piano on the Ovation of the Seas, Garrett told CBS LA. To Norton he said only one thing: "Thank you. I thought I was gonna die."

Newport Beach lifeguards answered the crew's emergency maritime call. Battalion Chief Adam Yacenda told CBS LA the spot was about 15 to 20 miles offshore. The Coast Guard, according to ABC7, measured it from the island side instead: about 9 nautical miles northeast of Avalon Harbor. Either way, it's open water between the mainland and Catalina. The city said the lifeguards got him back to land, and from there he was taken to a hospital.

Royal Caribbean confirmed he's one of its crew members. The company said it's supporting him and gave no more details, citing his privacy. His name hasn't been released.

The Coast Guard is now investigating how he went overboard. That means working out how a pianist ended up off a 14-deck ship at about 2:30 in the morning and alone in the Pacific until lunchtime.

Source: ktla.com.

Source: CBS News, retrieved November 9, 2026. Other sources: local12.com, abc7.com.