Was anyone at sea during the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster?

[woodofpine]

I was at a courthouse. I was representing a party in an evidentiary hearing; I remember that both parties (civil case) were Very unappealing characters... during a break in the hearing a baliff mentioned that a plane had hit the world trade center. The hearing continued and finished.

 

Leaving the courtroom, baliffs indicated that a second plane had hit. A few of us watched television in a witness room with the baliffs that weren't in court; then the buildings fell - everyone stunned. I'd lived in Manhatten for several years and had friends there; I'd worked at the WTC.

 

I remember looking through a door window where a jury trial was being conducted; I watched a colleague doing her thing. The courtroom occupants had no knowledge. It was so strange. I thought, "If you only knew how your world has changed..." Everything happening seemed so small and inconsequential, and what loomed ahead seemed enormous. A few days later I learned that a distant relative had been on one of the planes.

[Cruise Junky]

We sailed out of Vancouver a couple of days later on what was supposed to be a half empty ship, Dawn Princess. It was so good to see lots of ships crowded into Vancouver acting as Hotels. Princess took a lot of Celebrity passengers as X was acting as a Hotel. We ended up sailing completely full. Never have I seen so many ships in Vancouver at once.

[sea-cruise]

I was reading another thread about wanting a second news channel on X ships, and so many people said they didn't even watch the one that the ship had.

 

 

We relied on the news channel onboard on two different occasions, so I know how important it is to have access to worldwide news.

We were off the coast of Egypt when Omar Gadafhi (probably spelled wrong) took hostages, and we sat offshore awaiting word from corporate headquarters telling the Captain that he could not dock.

On a different cruise the Desert Storm War broke out while we were ashore in Mexico, and we had delays before they would clear all of us to reboard our ship. We were all fully searched before finally boarding.

We don't realize how critical it is to have access to what's going on in the world, but I am so glad we had news channels available.

[63galaxie]

My sister was on her first cruise on Princess. She and her husband were somewhere in the Carribean and we were taking care of six of her ten children.

I was shopping about an half-hour away from home and I heard something on the overhead radio in the store. The clerk told me that planes had hit the WTC in New York.

I drove at break-neck speed to my sister's children's and my children's schools only to find out they weren't telling the children and not recommending we take them out of school until the end of the day.

I went home, turned on the t.v., emailed my sister in the hopes she would pick up her email onboard. Then, I tried calling the ship. I was able to leave a message for her and reassure her that her children were safe and that we would take good care of them until they were able to return.

Then, I called my mom and we prayed together.

I finally heard from my sister but the call was brief. She said they had been on the ship and had seen the news on the t.v. She too had begun to pray. She said she never felt so helpless, especially being away from her children.

My heart just broke when I started reading these posts this morning. I read two or three and just started sobbing all over again.

My prayers will always continue for everyone.

Thanks for starting this thread. It's a part of the healing process for many of us.

[Cathy Laz]

A group of us left from NYC on the 9th for a New England Cruise. On 9/11, I was awakened to the news on the Today Show and witnessed the second plane going into the second tower. At that point, all I could say was OMG, we are at war. What a feeling. We were in the middle of the Atlantic heading to Halifax. The ship was in a freszy and the crew were all notified. Later a crew member told us in confidence that we were also considered a target as the Carnival Victory was, at that time, the largest ship. Three thousand plus people at one time in the middle of the ocean would be a major target. Of course, we were not told that until all air traffic had been grounded and we docked in Canada. The memorial service they put together was the most moving I have ever attended. Since we left from New York, more than half the passengers were from that city. One by one they stood and asked for prayers for husbands, children, family and friends all working in the towers. Some had 5 or 6 loved ones in that building.

These people had no way of contacting anyone and were all left to wonder if they made it out or not. Then, an elderly lady with a very small, frail voice stood and asked for prayers for her son who worked in the Pentagon. This lady was part of our group! At that point, it became very real for us.

 

We were not able to return to the Port of NY, but rather to Boston where we were left to find transportation home. Some drove and left cars in NY. Most of us had a bus hired to transport us. We called to ask for a change in pick-up locations, but heading down the Turnpike, we could still see all the smoke from the rubble.

 

It was a day that we will never forget.

[alwayshappytocruise]

We had just arrived in Sitka, Alaska....gone back to cabin after b/fast to get ready for our walk around town. DH turned on the tv to check the stock market, all I could here in the bathroom was "OMG,OMG) over and over again. I rushed to the tv, thought it was movie footage. By the time we realized all of the horrible events it was already late afternoon east coast. No official anouncement was made yet so we went off the ship. There was a service being held at a large church in the middle of town....the crowd literally was all the way out to the street. We couldn't get into the tourist thing so went back to the ship. Couldn't get cell phone service, no news except the awful replays on CNN. Finally a few hours before we were to leave port the Captain announced the tragedy and expressed condolences to all the american passengers on behalf of the entire crew....very somber. Then were instructed to go to and remain in our cabins with the door open and not to leave until further instructed. They conducted a full sweep of the entire ship, every cabin..I guess looking for anything sinister. Needless to say, the dining room was very subdued. Two poignant (sp) moments when we stopped in Seattle for the day....all passengers were welcomed with "Welcome Home" by every staff person in the terminal, made you just want to burst into tears. When we stepped outside, it was so creepy not to see any airplanes in the sky and made us realize again that our country would never be quite the same.

[Maureenie Beanie]

My DH, daughter and her friend arrived in Bermuda aboard the Zenith on Monday (late-due to out running a storm). Tuesday AM we went for breakfast, they left at 8:30AM to go to the beach, we headed back to the room to tiddy up. Flip on the TV-CNN at about 8:50AM, could not believe my eyes. Then the second hit. Two of my sisters are married to NYFD and on also has a brother-in-law in NYFD. I had left 2 of my children 24/26 at home. Around 11:00AM used the room phone to call since we live on Long Island and they were headed to NYC. Early in the afternoon the captain sent a paper around the ship to each cabin. They erased the over $300.00 phone calls I had made to check up on my kids and tell them to stay together. Leaving Bermuda Thursday AM headed home - however until Friday night we had no idea where we were docking (since NY harbor was closed). They made all arrangements for our arrival in Baltimore. They even contacted our LI limo service and told them when and where they could pick us up. CELEBRITY you were wonderful. Their kindness to us as passengers was amazing, something I'll never forget.

[chrismch]

The morning of 9/11 we docked at Catalina Island off the California coast on a Carnival ship. We had breakfast in our room and then went to the gym to meet our personal trainer. There were tv's on but the sound was muted as they usually are in gyms. The trainer came over to us and pointed to the tv and asked if we had heard the news. He told us how sorry he was for our country and what a great country it is and that we would survive. That morning customs came on the ship with trained dogs. All the crew was checked for immigration and the dogs sniffed out the ship for explosives. We did go on shore and tourists and locals were just huddled around talking like it was a wake at a funeral.

 

For the rest of the cruise everyone was glued to the tvs in the public areas when not in our rooms. Dinners were very muted. Many had no idea as to how they would get home as all planes were still down when we reached port. The most moving experience was either the evening of 9/11 or the day after when at dinner all the restaurant staff stopped and sang "God bless America." The most eerie was reaching L.A. to debark and not seeing any planes in the air as there is usually contract air traffic in that area.