NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Carnival Fantasy cruise ship returned to New Orleans on Saturday — six days after a Louisiana teen celebrating his high school graduation fell overboard into the Gulf of Mexico.

After a sea and air search over nearly 5,300 square miles, the search was suspended Tuesday for Bruce O’Krepki, 18, who went over the rails May 24 about 150 miles southwest of Tampa.

A passenger who returned Saturday, Patty Defiore of Houma, said the disappearance put a damper on her first cruise — and that of the other vacationers.

‘‘They just told us he was missing,’’ she said. ‘‘That’s it. Everyone was upset.’’

O’Krepki graduated with honors from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Hammond, La., where he ran track and played soccer. He was with about 30 classmates and members of their families on the ship. His uncle Rick O’Krepki said the teen’s parents were among the chaperones.

The ship had left New Orleans en route to Key West.

Bruce O’Krepki was one of 65 seniors who graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas on May 9. He planned to attend Louisiana State University on an academic scholarship, his uncle said.