A Royal Caribbean passenger who went overboard has been rescued after spending 20 hours at sea, according to the Greek coast guard.

A woman who allegedly jumped from a cruise ship in the Ionian Sea was rescued this weekend after 20 hours in the water, the Greek coast guard said.

The incident occurred early Friday as the Royal Caribbean Cruises ship Odyssey of the Seas was sailing southwest of the island of Zakynthos, the coast guard said.

The 44-year-old Salvadoran then told her rescuers that she had jumped because “she wanted to disembark”, a coast guard spokesperson told AFP.

“She spent 20 hours at sea,” the officer said.

After an alert was issued early Friday, two coast guard boats and a navy helicopter were dispatched to the area and other nearby vessels were diverted.

The Sea Odyssey also joined the search, the officer said.

A passing cargo ship finally located the woman, fully conscious, in a lifebuoy early Saturday and she was picked up by a Greek coast guard patrol boat.

Video released by the Coast Guard shows a crew throwing a rope to a woman floating inside an orange lifebuoy in the water in the dark.

She was taken to the port of Katakolo and then to a hospital in the nearby town of Pyrgos for health checks including a psychiatric evaluation ordered by a local prosecutor, the coast guard officer said.

Last year, a the man jumped a Royal Caribbean cruise ship near San Juan Harbor — allegedly to avoid paying off more than $16,000 in gambling debts to the cruise line. Jey Gonzalez-Diaz allegedly jumped into the water as the ship disembarked, during a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection, according to a criminal complaint. He was then brought ashore by someone passing by on a jet ski, then accused of trying to circumvent monetary reporting requirements during a trip to the United States.