Coral Adventurer cruise: Passenger’s shock at death of Suzanne Rees, 80, as ship docks in Cairns

A former passenger has said the death of an elderly woman on a luxury cruise is “beyond” her, given her knowledge of the safety protocols on board.

The passenger described safety on the Coral Adventurer as “excellent”, including requiring passengers to sign in and out for day trips which were all “well supervised”.

She said she was shocked by the death of Suzanne Rees, 80, who was left behind on Lizard Island on October 25, and asked: “How did they not know she wasn’t aboard?”

The Coral Adventurer docked late on Tuesday in Cairns where the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said it will be meeting with the crew to investigate Rees’ death on the remote island off Cooktown, Queensland.

Rees had set sail on a 60-day Coral Expeditions cruise of a lifetime around Australia just the day before she joined a group to hike a challenging 4km trail to the island’s highest peak, Cook’s Look.

With temperatures reaching 30C, Rees began to struggle and decided to turn back alone.

The ship subsequently left without her, with staff only noticing Rees was missing when she did not turn up for dinner.

Emergency services found her body on the remote island the next day.

The former passenger said she had done several trips with Coral Expeditions, including to Lizard Island, and had another booked for January.

“I have found their safety procedures excellent,” she said in a social media post.

“Before going ashore on the tender, everyone departing has to line up and initial after their name and when coming aboard has to initial again.

“The particular hike that she did was an option, but they do stress the difficulty.

“I find as I’m looking down the barrel of 80 I’m realising my limitations and declined, opting for snorkelling off the beach which is well supervised.”

Despite opting out of the Lizard Island hike, the former passenger said she has done other walks organised by Coral Expeditions which she said were all well supervised by crew members.

“The walks I have done have had one of the crew at the front and one in the rear,” she said.

“How this tragedy occurred is beyond me, it would have taken more than one person to fail in their duty of care.

“To be sure Coral Expeditions will be in crisis as I write this and hopefully an inquest will give some answers.

“I feel so sorry for all those involved, mostly of course that poor woman and her family.”

Soon after Rees’ death, her daughter said there appeared to have been a “failure of care and common sense” which resulted in her mother being left behind and not being reported missing until about five hours after the boat left the island.

While the cruise had initially continued on as scheduled, with investigating authorities intending to board the ship in Darwin this week, Coral Expeditions CEO Mark Fifield then decided to cancel the remainder of the voyage.

Passengers were offered a full refund, with chartered flights organised to fly them home from Horn Island.

The NRMA-owned Coral Expeditions runs the Coral Adventurer, as well as two other small ships, the Coral Geographer and the Coral Discoverer.

NRMA told 7NEWS it was working closely with investigators.

“Together, our priorities have been supporting the Rees family, passengers and crew, and co-operating with the ongoing investigations,” it said.

“We are committed to providing the Rees family with whatever support they need at this difficult time.”