Key Aspects:
- A Chinese woman and German resident, Qin Dong, has disappeared from AIDAluna.
- Dong has not been seen since December 12, when the ship was in Marseille, but she did not disembark.
- Family members and friends are using social media to seek information on her whereabouts.
Pleas are rapidly spreading across social media for any information about a guest missing from AIDAluna as her family and friends seek to find her. The female guest is a Chinese citizen last seen on Friday, December 12, 2025, when the ship was visiting Marseille, France.
The woman, Qin Dong, boarded AIDAluna on December 10 in Palma de Mallorca for a 5-night Mediterranean cruise visiting Marseille, Palamos, and Barcelona. The ship returned to Palma de Mallorca on Monday, December 15, but Dong was no longer aboard.
Cruise officials have confirmed that she did board the ship in Palma de Mallorca shortly before noon, and never officially disembarked from the ship thereafter.
Thursday, December 11 was a day at sea, and the 69,200-gross-ton ship arrived in Marseille at roughly 8 a.m. on Friday, December 12.
Onboard records indicate that Dong did not officially disembark the ship in Marseille, but friends were texting her at nearly 8 p.m., two hours after the ship departed Marseille.
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“Mrs. Dong has not officially disembarked from the ship since 10 December, as verified,” AIDA Cruises confirmed.
Therefore, Dong was not left behind in the popular French Riviera port, but appears to have gone missing while onboard the ship that evening.
No Overboard Alert Noted
Onboard records have indicated that Dong only had a single drink charged to her account while onboard AIDAluna, and that was simply an orange juice and not an alcoholic beverage.
It is unknown whether or not Dong may have gone overboard the vessel, but there are no reports of any emergency alerts or search operations.
Friends and family members have been using social media to try and locate Dong and seek out any additional information of her whereabouts, whether anyone saw or interacted with her in any way, particularly near the Marseille port area.
“Even the smallest clue or memory could be crucial!” the social media pleas have read.
Three nations are now involved in the case. French authorities have been alerted because Dong went missing while in France, Chinese authorities have been notified because of her citizenship, and German authorities have begun a case because AIDA Cruises is a German cruise line and Dong was living in Germany.
While Dong does have a Chinese passport, she is a German resident and was cruising solo aboard AIDAluna.
There has been no reported delay or adjustment to AIDAluna‘s itinerary and the ship continued on as planned. The Sphinx-class ship can welcome 2,100 guests per sailing and is also home to approximately 600 crew members.
AIDAluna is currently homeported from Palma de Mallorca, offering itineraries through the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands, depending on departure date.
Recent Missing Guests Not Actually Missing
Dong is not the first woman to have vanished from a cruise ship in recent months.
In November 2025, Amy Evans disappeared while on a shore tour in St. Maarten from Holland America Line’s Rotterdam, while in September 2025, Jessica Collins disappeared in Bonaire while cruising aboard Carnival Horizon.
Both women failed to return to the ship after debarking, but were later located. No foul play appears to have been involved in either case, but the women did not wish to be contacted. Their reasons for departing their respective ships without notice have not been disclosed.
While there are some similarities to these other recent cases without emergency overboard operations, there is one crucial difference.
For both Evans and Collins, no family members or friends appeared to come forward immediately or urgently seeking to find them, whereas there is a strong search effort to locate Dong.
Cruise Hive’s thoughts are with those worried family members and friends and hopes that Dong is safely located.
