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I was cruising when...


kangaand2roos
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I've read some interesting posts from people who were cruising on 9/11. It got me to thinking, what about people who were cruising when other major ( or even minor) newsworthy events took place? I don't have anything to contribute at the moment, but will be sailing during the Olympics in February, so maybe then I will!

 

No restrictions really, newsworthy events good and bad...

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Our First Cruise

We (gf and I) were sitting in the room Hotel, Pre-Cruise in Miami Jan 14 2013.

After shopping for essentials, we turn on the TV, to prepare for bed before our first cruise, only to see the Concordia disaster unfolding. (We had not watched TV or listened to the radio since Friday afternoon- early flight and horrible snow storm the next morning during our drive to the airport)

She never wanted to cruise, but for my 40th Birthday, she decided book this trip.

Not the way for a first cruise start off, but we cruise every year since, in January.

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vision of the seas April/May 2011, boarded on day of the UK royal wedding so that was being shown everywhere, couple of days later was when bin laden was found so again that was the talk of the ship, reminds you that you are never truly 'cut off'.

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Welshrich- I was cruising at that same time! I was on Radiance of the Seas. I think the ship showed the royal wedding on a big screen somewhere on board, but of course with the time difference, it was at about 5 AM, so I don't know how many people got up to watch it. Then we got back to Tampa, and when we went through security at the airport, the screeners brushed our hands with powder, something we'd never had done before (or since!). That night we were home watching TV, and the breaking news report came out that Bin Laden was dead. We've always wondered if that was the reason for the increased security at the airport, or if it was just a coincidence.

 

I was also on a holiday cruise in 2009 when the "underwear bomber" thing happened.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Hurricane Katrina had come thru Miami two days prior to flying to Europe to take our first Med cruise....we cleaned up our yard as best we could, had Rob Marciano from CNN camped out in our front yard, and then left for Barcelona....we then watched it hit New Orleans from overseas....very interesting perspective watching it from over there.....!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

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I was cruising when the Boston bombing happened. Since I had my cabin TV on for maybe 10 minutes during the entire cruise, I was genuinely shocked, when I heard about after debarkation. No wonder the Customs agents were being hyper-vigilant with checking people. The TSA agents in the airport, not so much, interestingly.

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We were on board Norwegian Jade a few years back, when all this icelandic volcano incident was occurring. We heard nothing of this until the 3rd last day when we heard about it on the news and further more from a concerned text from home. We learned that virtually all european flights had been cancelled and naturally just about everyone on the ship wanted to know what was going to happen about their flights.

Not a single word out of ncl, when asked we would all be told nothing, until the last night; a letter in the door. Literally told us our flights were cancelled and they booked us in a hotel in barcelona, for the night. Fair enough.

Bearing in mind here we booked our flights through ncl too. Disembarkation day came and they whisked us on to a mini bus and it took us into the city. then further from the city. until we reached a dingy hotel in the very back corner of the city. Way out of reach of every attraction. Anyways we got there and as they said they would, they paid for our first night.

All awoke the next morning to meet the rep who would tell us what would happen. horror.

Long story short, told us we wouldnt be on a flight for another 5 days, that we would have to pay the hotel out our own pocket and that we couldnt change hotels; if we did it would be our own responsibility to get home.

 

absolute disaster.

 

also during that cruise on the news were leaks of the shiny new iphone 4, and of course the entire ship was talking about it.

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I hadn't really thought about events that happened while cruising, but we've got a couple. On our very first cruise on Princess, the deadly December tsunami hit Indonesia (I think it was). With so many Asians as part of the crew, it was big news and a collection for relief donations was set up onboard. Then, the day before another cruise, we were inflight to our embarkation port when The Underwear terrorist bomber was caught flying into the US. We didn't know about that until the next morning prior to heading to the port. That one put a damper on our excitement for a while since it highlighted our vulnerability when we're in the air.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The night of our first cruise in Alaska, a major earthquake hit China. In the early morning hours, we were awoken by the sounds of our hangers falling off the rod in our closet, and I was nearly rolled out of bed. Waves from the earthquake went on the entire day, and were unfortunately on the western side of Vancouver Island so there was no escape. I work on boats and have never been sick, but I was very close on that cruise! Staff couldn't stand without holding onto bars, guests were puking in the hallways and cups toppled over in the buffet. The pools had to be drained because the water was splashing up so hard. I've never seen anything like it since!

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  • 5 months later...

We were cruising when:

 

9/11 happened

the previous Pope died

the Boston bomber was being hunted down in the streets of Boston (we watched it on TV the night prior to boarding)

a major bridge collapsed (can't remember where this happened - it was several years ago)

 

I know there were other events - just can't remember them. It seems some big news event always happens when we travel.

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We were on a Princess cruise and just happened to be in a lounge with a TV when CONCORDIA was first announced and was sinking.

When it was announced the Captain had left the ship, the junior offers who were now watching with us were amazed and didn't believe it was correct saying, "A Captain would never leave his ship!"

While fellow passengers were concerned ... the officers, staff, and crew were really shaken by this!!!

LuLu

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  • 2 months later...

My husband and I were on a Cunard cruise in 1981. I was not feeling very good that morning....ship steward: "Lady sick?" Me: "yes". Steward: "Here, take this pill". Big mistake....made me feel like a walking zombie. Went on a tour of the bridge; afterwards it took me a LONG time to find my cabin again. Laid down to sleep for awhile and was woken by an announcement that President Reagan had been shot. Took me several minutes to realize that it was real and not some weird, drug induced dream.

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Haven't posted in a while but have something to add to this thread - my wife and I were on a Carnival cruise out of New Orleans several years ago when the "balloon boy" incident happened (boy had supposedly stowed away in an experimental weather balloon his father had built before it took off - first responders chased the balloon across the countryside for a while before it landed with no sign of the boy - turns out he was hiding in the attic/crawlspace/etc.).

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While on a repo cruise from NYC to New Orleans 2 years ago, Hurricane Sandy hit New York and New Jersey with so much devastation and many deaths on Staten Island. My DH and I are from Staten Island, as are many of my family. We also have a daughter and her family in Southern New Jersey.

 

We were horrified watching this on the tv in our stateroom; especially when our one daughter's flooded street was shown, and our other daughter on Staten Island was home alone with her 2 young sons. It took over 2 days before we had contact with them to find out thankfully, that they were all safe. They, meantime, were very concerned about our safety. Of course, we were fine.

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  • 3 months later...

We were on a otherwise wonderful cruise in New Zealand and Australia during the U.S. Presidential election in November 2008 when our current president was elected the first time. It was so amazing to listen to the locals in both countries talk about it. I won't ever forget their dismay about it, particularly their concerns about how joyfully they bragged about being even 10% Maori or Aboriginal and finding our new president wouldn't acknowledge being 50% white - a different perspective

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We cruised just after 911, flying from Vancouver to Boston, via Montreal. Arrived in a daze at 6.00am in Montreal, and were wandering around the when we were approached by a US customs official. 'Were we going to the US?' Answered 'Yes'. 'Please fill out this form to say that you have no more than $10,000.00 cash'.

I put 'No' on the form, and as I was pulling a case with each hand, I carried the form with my teeth to him, He calmly removed it, glanced at it, and said 'Welcome to the United States', did not even look at our passports!

That was 'Security', after 911, we collected our luggage in Boston, and got on the bus for the cruise ship, never seeing a US official at the Boston airport!!!

 

john

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Cruised when:

The Royal wedding

Hurricane Katrina hit

Bin Ladan found

Left NYC in a hurricane (don't remember the name)skipped Boston going to NE and Canada

Super Bowl when Giants won

Returned from a Cruise after Hurricane Sandy no electric in terminal NYC

Cruised when Explorer of the Sea hit something leaving Samana

Cruised Explorer when the ship arrived one day late to port (needed to bring a very sick passenger back to PR for medical attention

John Ritter my favorite actor died

So I agree we are kinda connected onboard a cruise ship.

 

Not cruising but on vacation in Las Vegas at 9/11 Very strange to see LasVegas Blvd empty and sad to see all the Memorials people put in front of the New York New York hotel. Frightening not knowing when we would get home to metro NY.

Edited by ETski
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