Cruise passenger still missing

MOBILE, Ala. - "It's hard to soak in. They told me 'your mom fell off the ship,' said Erik Vilborg. "This isn't a joke. That's about all I know, they're searching for her right now."

Vilborg is waiting and hoping to hear anything about his Mother, Michelle Vilborg.

Michelle left the cruise terminal in Mobile Monday afternoon, for a five-day trip trip to the Yucatan Peninsula. But the cruise came to a halt, just hours into the trip, when a passenger heard a splash in the water.

"It's hard to think of your mother being out in the water," Vilborg said. "I want to think she's on the ship because they haven't found her. You just think of the good things that could happen."

Vilborg says the last person to see his mom was her husband, who took her on the cruise as a gift for her 50th birthday this weekend.

"They went out and had dinner, then came back to the room and went to sleep. Next thing the alarm's were going off. He got up and they did a head count and Mama was the only one missing and he woke up and realized she wasn't in the room."

The Coast Guard launched a water and air search around midnight after getting a call from Carnival. Erik says he's staying positive and holding out hope, but no matter the outcome he just wants her back.

"Find her, that's what I hope. I just want to find her, even if she's dead," Vilborg said. "Find her."

Vilborg's disappearance marks the second time in less than a month a passenger went overboard from a Carnival cruise ship based in the Gulf.