Family Hopes For Rescue After VA Man Falls Overboard From Cruise Ship

NEW HOPE, VA — Family members are holding onto hope after a Virginia man went overboard Monday while traveling on the Carnival Magic cruise ship off the coast of Florida, according to authorities and reports.

Crews are searching for 35-year-old Ronnie Lee Peale Jr. after he fell from his stateroom balcony 186 miles east of Jacksonville, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The ship was returning from the Bahamas to Norfolk, Virginia, reports said.

According to reports, Peale, who lives in New Hope, was traveling with fiancee Jennilyn Blosser and her family when he went overboard.

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"He was the life of the party. It just hurts too much even to type, let alone talk about it," Blosser told WTKR. "He loved the cruise life, being able to drink, gamble and socialize put him in his happy place. This was his first cruise and I'm sure he would have been willing to do one monthly."

Carnival told Insider that security camera footage showed Peale fall overboard just after 4 a.m.

"He leaned over the railing of his stateroom balcony and dropped into the water," the cruise line said.

Blosser told WAVY, "I just woke up at 11:30 in the morning and he wasn't there, so I spent my whole day trying to find him. I called his mom to see if he had called his mom because usually he's always talking to his mom and she had not heard from him and that's when we started to get customer service involved."

Peale's mother, Linda Peale, told WRIC her son was a "wonderful man" who loved music, meeting new people, and his two dogs.

Linda Peale told WRIC she knew something was wrong when her son never called to check on his dogs, something he did "at least three times a day."

The Coast Guard released the ship from search-and-rescue efforts and told the captain to continue the trip to Virginia, where it was expected to arrive Tuesday, Carnival said, according to reports. "The Carnival Care Team is providing support to the guest's companion and traveling party who are on board."

The Coast Guard has deployed air and water assets to search for Peale. By Tuesday afternoon, crews had searched 4,044 square miles of sea, according to the Coast Guard.

Meanwhile, Linda Peale continues to hold out hope, she told WRIC.

"One thing that will keep a person alive is the will to live," Linda Peale said. "We're keeping on that until we hear different."