But when his family arrived at breakfast ahead of disembarkation that day, he was nowhere to be found.
"He wasn't in the room," his sister, Danielle McGrath, told NBC 6. "No one could find him. No one."
It's been two weeks since the U.S. Army veteran from Port St. Lucie vanished without a trace during the three-day Caribbean cruise.
After McGrath's family reported him missing the morning of September 4, staff and security searched the ship but couldn't find him. Miami-Dade Police said there was no video surveillance showing that he went overboard, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not encounter him during the debarkation process at PortMiami. The U.S. Coast Guard scoured 3,300 square nautical miles with helicopters and found no sign of him before suspending its search on September 7.
As local police continue to probe the mysterious case, McGrath's family is desperate to know: Where did he go?
McGrath, a U.S. Army veteran who served six years in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, is the father of two young children. He was with dozens of friends and family on the cruise to celebrate his father's 60th birthday.🚨 #MISSING: Kevin McGrath, 26 years old, was last seen in the area of Port of Miami 1015 North America Way. The missing person may be in need of services. Anyone with information is urged to contact @CrimeStopper305 at (305) 471-8477 or by dialing **TIPS. pic.twitter.com/pmAAMpgSgM
— Miami-Dade Police (@MiamiDadePD) September 5, 2023
His family members say that leaving his family without notice would be unlike him.
"Something is not right. There's no way that my brother would just vanish into thin air like this," McGrath's sister, who wasn't aboard the voyage, told CNN. "We want some answers."
The cruise line has since resumed services, a decision criticized by McGrath's family and some fellow passengers.
Jenn Lyles, who purportedly was on the same voyage as McGrath, posted a TikTok video on September 8, claiming Carnival sent out a customer satisfaction survey about the trip after disembarkation but did not solicit information about McGrath or his disappearance. She said she found it "weird" that she and other passengers weren't alerted.
"Is this what happens when you go missing on a cruise ship?" Lyles asked. "They're not even going to alert the other passengers who might have seen something?"
According to Insider, Conquest has made a handful of voyages since McGrath's disappearance, including to Nassau, Bahamas, and Cozumel, Mexico.
The outlet notes that while authorities said they had not turned up evidence that McGrath fell off the ship, his disappearance comes after at least a half-dozen people have gone overboard on cruises over the last four months.
A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Police Department has not responded to questions about its ongoing investigation.
Anyone with information about McGrath's disappearance is asked to contact Miami-Dade police.
