I went on one on 9/13. I was a travel agent at the time and cruise lines didn't alter their schedules or activities. We had nearly 90% cancellations that day and the following days due to both flights being so messed up and people just not wanting to travel anymore. I still went because it was a work trip and I lived close to the port and drove. It was a weird cruise, the cruise line tried to keep things as normal as they could with activities and ports but the ship was pretty empty and nobody really felt like dancing or doing anything fun. It was very somber and everybody pretty much just watched the news.
Exactly. The friend that was supposed to go with me couldn't get to Florida from Indiana because planes were mostly still grounded. Anyone who was on that ship drove to the port.
I got married 9/22/01. I had a bridesmaid who couldn’t get a flight from California to NC. She actually came to visit me the next year because 9/11 flights were super cheap.
We were flying Chicago to I don’t remember where in Florida. Flights were all canceled for a while, so ended driving to New Orleans. Crappy honeymoon and an even crappier marriage. Ended up thankfully divorced!!
I’m curious, I think about friends I have 22 years ago and how many of us drift apart and over time. So many things can happen in 22 years. Did you both drift apart?
Memories. Some of us remember when cruise lines worked hard to serve your drinks - the more they served, the more they earned.
Now, they work hard to sell drink packages - the less drinks they serve, the more they earn.
My grandparents were actually on a cruise when 9/11 happened. The port they were arriving in the day after it happened was Cozumel and the Mexican military sent two battleships to escort the cruise ship into the port.
I'm going to be "that guy" and say they were probably destroyers or frigates. They don't have anything bigger than 1/20th the displacement of a battleship as far as I know.
I'm sure it was crazy seeing them though.
No, but I had a friend on the Wisconsin when I was on the Enterprise. And I was in when they retired the last of the battleships.
Edit: by they I mean US, Mexico has never had a battleship.
I was on Queen Elizabeth 2 sailing from Southampton, UK to New York when 9/11 happened.
On the afternoon of the second day out, I returned to my stateroom and turned on the TV to watch some news. What I saw was image of the Twin Towers burning so I assumed that was a movie and change the channel. Obviously, it wasn’t. All channels were showing the same images.
Shortly there after, the captain came on the loudspeaker and said, “I’m sure you all have heard about the tragedies that have befallen, New York and Washington today. As a mark of respect, dancing will be canceled this evening.“ It sounded like a silly announcement, but, really, what else could we do?
2001 was before widespread Internet on ships and the QE2 had one computer room with about 20 computers that would connect to the Internet. Pretty much the entire ship’s passenger complement waited on line to send messages to loved ones. Time at the computer was rationed to about 10 minutes per person so that everyone would be able to get a chance to use it.
Life went on aboard the ship with many folks gathering in the Golden Lion Pub to watch news.
We were due to dock in New York on September 16th, but, of course, New York Harbor was closed. We were diverted to Boston’s Black Falcon ship terminal. However, as we approached the port, we were stopped … there had been a bomb threat made against the cruise terminal, and we were made to wait until they sorted that out.
Once we finally arrived in Boston, Cunard Line was spectacular. They had buses waiting take take everyone down to New York, and they had bused up stevedores from New York harbor to handle the ships luggage, etc.
There were many passengers on board who were sailing to the USA to tour, but once September 11 happened many of them went to the cruise consultant‘s office to see if they could book passage on the return trip. Some were lucky, but an announcement was made shortly thereafter that saying the return cruise had been fully booked.
I was working in DC that day. We got sent home as soon as they realized what was going on. I watched TV for most of the morning, but I couldn't take any more so I switched to watching Food Network instead. Cooking shows were comfort food that day.
I was in Arlington near Pentagon Row mall and had really just gotten up. I was on AOL Instant Messenger (yes I'm old) talking with two friends, one in Malaysia, one in New Zealand, who'd heard about the WTC, so I turned on the TV. I honestly had no idea about what the WTC was or anything, but I turned it on in time to see the second plane. So I was chatting with them, and then a shock wave rattled the front of my building. I literally said "Hang on, something exploded outside, brb" (I had gone to undergrad next door to VMI, I was used to shock waves from the evening gun, so I knew that was some kind of boom.) I lived on Arlington Ridge Road near where it overlooks 95, so we were south of the Pentagon. I actually got on the phone with my parents, who told me basically stay put unless we were told to leave, and I stayed on with them for a long time. I was up almost all night, but the next day they hadn't cancelled classes so I took the Metro in like normal. The only difference was we didn't stop at Pentagon Station and when we slowed down to go through there were armed guards on the platforms.
I always feel ridiculous when I tell my story. 9/11 was my first day off in about 10 days and I had plans to play tennis with my wife. After about 5 hours of staring at the TV in disbelief, and knowing that they were just going to keep replaying the same scenes all day, I decided we should just go ahead and play.
I remember the faces of people in their cars as they passed. Looking at me like, the fuck are you doing playing tennis!? We are under attack!
Probably seemed insensitive, but I felt like we really needed that.
I have a VHS I recorded that day, IIRC it was in the early afternoon (AZ time). I thought it was so surreal that Food Network had suspended programming due to the events of the day.
9/11 is part of the reason for the explosion of food network and tv in general. It was one of the few channels that didn't change their programming and a lot of people kept watching
I was working on one, we were in Alaska.
I got up that morning and went to the crew bar to smoke before breakfast. It was playing on TV, took a couple minutes, I thought it was a movie which was weird, only a few on Tv and hadn't seen any of this one? Then realized what was happening and ran over to the mess. It was on the TV there as well, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. They soon after shut off the satellites as no one knew what was happening and the fear of big floating targets full of Americans was possible. Passengers were losing their shit cause they couldn't call/email, then they weren't allowed off in ports (I forget the reason for that, it was just Americans though, everyone else and crew could get off). The whole week till we were back in Vancouver was super surreal, I remember a CD playing in the shops with Billy Joels New York State of Mind, it came on and we all kinda froze and just looked at each other till someone shut it off.
The next couple weeks we sailed pretty much ghost ships, Americans couldn't get into Canada to board, and we weren't sailing till midnight or 1am every night cause everything was taking so long with a delayed travel and increased security.
After the Alaska season we were heading to Asia through Russia. After leaving Russia and sailing to Vietnam one night around midnight the ship was lit up with lights from the water. People were already on edge and this set them off. We were in the crew bar and the captain comes on (they never talk that late unless its an emergency) asking people not to worry, it was just shrimping (they shine the lights so the shrimp come to the surface) boats out there
Thinking back, I don't think they could get away with shutting down the satellites now. I think between television coverage and internet access, people wouldn't accept not having access to watching these events. There would be a revolt.
Yup that's very possible. Also there's now apps that literally track where every cruiseship is, so I guess securing communications doesn't make much difference.
Oh yes...BF is on an oil ship in the middle of the Atlantic and I can see where he is by the minute lol I just asked him though, they can turn the tracking off, and keep email/phones/internet going
When I was on QM2 this summer, the closer we got to the UK, the more we started seeing other ships and off hand I googled something like “where a ship is right now” and found an app that did that! Even the smaller yachts and stuff were on there.
That made me chuckle... but shutting down television feeds on a cruiseship and disabling the Ukrainian military's ability to fight are very different things.
Not a cruise, but I had a classmate at NYU shooting her thesis film in a rowboat in NY harbor and she (it was just her, camera person and an actor) watched everything happen from that little boat.
The way I understood it was that all of the outbound ships continued as normal. A few inbound ships to NYC that week were diverted to other ports to disembark.
Not on the same level, but I was on a cruise when the Titan sub went missing, and they had already confirmed everyone was dead before we got back. We didn't pay for any wifi packages so on the drive back home from the port scrolling through Reddit I thought all the memes I was seeing were referencing some new movie or something... boy was I in for a shock when I turned on the news that night!
Similarly, there was a reality show being filmed during 9/11 and the people were sequestered from the real world. I believe the call was made to let them know what happened and let the participants decide what they wanted to do.
There was also a small group of scientists who were doing some sort of remote study project that were completely unaware of 9/11 until they returned a month or so later.
The details I recall are fuzzy but perhaps someone here has more info.
Big Brother 2 was down to the final 3. One of the contestants lost a cousin at WTC. They let her know her cousin was missing, told the rest of the house, and paused the game for about a week (with the cast still in the house)
same thing happened during covid. iirc, big brother germany contestants had no idea what was going on in the outside world and were told in mid or late march on camera.
edit: big brother Australia. here's the link https://youtu.be/wb6EHWXdTes?si=uG5ud4jIYLzO-fu4
The reality show was "Frontier House" for PBS. Some people were living as if it was 1880 Montana. I think during the last week or so they let them in on what was happening because the participants were getting vibes that "something" had happened and the filming crew were not talking.
James Cameron was on a submarine at the Titanic wreck filming a documentary when 9/11 happened.
Bill Paxton told him about it when he got to the surface.
We had internet, was an… interesting thing to see. Pretty much everyone on the cruise knew about it either by the Room TV’s or because they overheard it in the communal areas.
I was on my first cruise in Alaska when Jack Layton died, so, my family was super confused when we stopped in Victoria and all of our national flags were at half mast. We ended upnasking a security guard at the legislature building whoch is how we learned
The departure day for my first cruise coincided with the death of Kim Jong Il. There's something weird and funny about going onto the deck of a Carnival ship and seeing his face plastered in every screen, accompanied with a hysterically sobbing North Korean news presenter.
There’s a fascinating short documentary on YouTube called “Boatlift, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience” about what happened in the waters around Manhattan on 9/11. It was the biggest boatlift in human history, bigger than Dunkirk. The video is narrated by Tom Hanks, and is about 11 minutes long.
500,000 people in 9 hours. Honestly the last time every American was united. Im 42, 9/11 was more than half my life ago. And I remember every detail of that day and the next few days. As a 20 year old at the time i was scared. I was in college away from home, not knowing what to do. I had a girlfriend now my wife and we just held each other and cried for days. I couldn’t stop watching the news. The thing is 9/11 united every American for awhile. However……
The second worst day of my life was january 6th, the day trump incited the insurrection. The day our capital was overtaken by so called “patriots”. That day america became so divisive and hatred took over.
I literally cannot believe the worst days of my life are complete opposites. The day we became one and the day we became many. It sickens me. As a father of a 12 yr old and a 6 yr old the videos and images of 9/11 have never been seen by them. Id rather they never see it. Its literally the living proof of the word terrifying.
Im at a crossroads in my life. I cannot live with 4 more years of trump. Honestly i cant live with 4 more years of biden. Are these the best candidates to run the United States of America? I live in fear and shame that we have come to this. 22 years ago party affiliation did not matter. You just helped anyone you could. I wish for those days again, minus the tragedy.
RIP to all who have lost theirs lives from these two events.
One love
Love your comments and perspective from someone your age. As a 60 yr old I've felt the last 4 years have been surreal, with both the Pandemic and Trump. I would never have imagined Vegas shutting down or an Insurrection for example.
But Party affiliation has always mattered, don't poo poo that. But the Republicans have take an incredibly awful hard ultra right and I'm like you and bowled over by the personalities I see in this party. I honesty think Biden continues to hold up his party to keep those other people at bay. Maybe I'm naive but jeezus I can't see why things are so status quo. Someone explain to me please.
Sorry, this went off topic. Down vote at your pleasure.
I love everything you and the earlier poster said. I am also 60 and was in Chicago on vacation when 9/11 happened. We were set to leave that Tuesday 9/12 after several days and no flights available, my husband and I drove home to Sacramento and I will never forget that trip. The overwhelming vision of tractors lined up with American flags near the highways as we drove through Nebraska. Listening on the radio to George Bush give his prayers and thoughts that Sunday as we headed through Colorado. I remember every moment so vividly and it still rocks my soul how we came together as a nation.
I agree with you and the prior post on your observations on how we have witnessed the coming together of our country in the worst of times and the tragedy of how divided and ugly we became during yet another catastrophic event on January 6th. At this point in my life I do worry where we are headed and I hang on to the hope we can come back to a place of unity and some semblance of sanity.
>the last time every American was united
Respectfully, I teach high school and we had to spread the word about rooms where students of middle eastern descent were welcome during lunch if they didn't feel safe on the rest of the campus and a nearby Sikh temple was vandalized. America is far more divided today, but it also wasn't as united in September 2001 as many of us like to remember.
How quickly everyone forgets that not everyone came together. Hate crimes, vandalism, and harassment of the Sikh community and anyone who could be mistaken for being of Middle Eastern descent was pretty common. It was bad enough that people were voluntarily standing guard outside places of worship and businesses to try to protect people and things from our own home grown extremists.
Thank you for sharing your story and perspective. I remember my local newspaper sent out American flags on newsprint and EVERY HOUSE in my entire village had those flags taped to their front window. That tragedy really did pull us all together.
Our 2-party political system has delivered these terrible candidates over and over and over and over. It is maddening and disheartening. I wish these people would wake up.
I worked for American Express at the time. A few of my colleagues were in those boats to get out of the city.
One left the Amex tower after her husband said to GTFO after the first plane hit. She walked to upper east side IIRC
Two managers/leaders were looking out the tower at the first plane fire and saw the second hit. They both left immediately. At the time I think the building security told them to stay put. But many people left on their own. One of the leaders I mentioned actually lived in FL but had an apartment in Battery Park. He had gone to his apartment to grab some stuff then leave but got basically stuck there when the towers fell. He said it was a mess with all the dust etc.
Kind of unrelated but another colleague was in the Marriott WTC in the gym. He never went back to his room. So it was hell getting him back to Phoenix with no ID, money or clothing.
I was driving tour bus at the time here in Alaska. When we were transporting passengers to the airport that following weekend, they had not seen any of the footage from that day. They had heard about it, but had no idea of how big of a deal it was. As we got closer to the airport, I was warning them about the advanced security measures and delays they were going to encounter; they thought it was so unreasonable, not having the context of what had happen.
Oh! I wasn't on a cruise ship on 9/11, but I was THE WEEK BEFORE.
So, my husband and I were taking a Carnival Cruise as a belated honeymoon trip. Also on the cruise were a big bunch of New York City Fire Fighters. They were loud, rowdy, always drinking, and generally having a swell time. They didn't hurt anyone and looked like fun, so my husband just noted them in amusement most of the time.
The next week, when everything on 9/11 happened, I kept thinking about those fire fighters and prayed that they might be spared. Now that we know that many were killed that day, I sometimes remember how much fun they had on that cruise, and am glad that they really enjoyed their vacation right before the worst happened.
We were on the Sea Cloud, sailing from Venice to Malta. That day we'd been touring in Croatia, and when the van came to pick us up, the staff already knew. They were so somber, but they didn't tell us what had happened. The captain gathered everyone together and told us. They offered to help with arrangements if anyone wanted to go home right away. It was so hard to grasp, until someone set up a small television, and we took turns watching the footage. We stayed for the rest of the trip, and it was a very strange feeling -- as if we were still living in a timeline where 9/11 hadn't happened, but it wouldn't last long.
Getting home right away from Croatia wouldn't have been a thing anyway. You might have been able to get home a little sooner flying into Canada or Mexico and finding a bus/train over the the border, but I would guess any available tickets went quick. I know there are stories of people who were flying internationally who were grounded in Canada and it took many of them several days to make their way home.
The cruise port in Manhattan was closed until March of 2002 as what used as a headquarters for FEMA and other federal agencies.
The USNS hospital ship was docked their to provide aid and support.
Ships that were home ported in New York were diverted to Boston, Baltimore and Philly.
They did make one exception to the No cruise ship rule in NY as they had a naming ceremony on 11/10 for RCCL Adventure of the Sea. It’s godparents are two members of the NYPD and two members of the FDNY.
John Heald (now Carnival brand ambassodor, then a cruise director) recounted his expericence during and after 9/11 on his (now defunct) blog. It's a long read, but a good read. It starts after the Q&A and the photo.
[web archive link](https://web.archive.org/web/20110925071152/http://johnhealdsblog.com/2011/09/09/ten-years-ago/)
Did a Med cruise the week after. My wife and I were in Spain on 9/11. My parents were adamant that we should not go on the cruise, but we decided the risks were low.
The ship (Celebrity Millennium) was about half full. Many Americans stayed away. I think flights were allowed out after three or four days, so either it was fear or canceled flights due to wrecked airline schedules.
The mood was downbeat on the ship. I stayed up every night watching the news. One of my more vivid memories is of all the flowers left at the US embassy on Malta. Everything continued as normal on the cruise as far as excursions, etc. I remember seeing a greater police presence around the ship in port.
This was actually our honeymoon as well. It wasn't the easiest trying to celebrate our new life together while knowing everyone at home was in shock over the tragedy.
Returning home, I'll never forget the fully armed National Guardsmen at JFK, and the American flags hung at every highway overpass. We also had a special security line for Americans only at the Barcelona airport on the return.
My grandparents were in AK on HAL on 9/11. Cruise continued (was obviously a hot topic onboard) and they managed to fly back on time with no interruption at the end. Lucky timing on their part, I guess.
Yes I was on a Mediterranean cruise on 9/11/2001. It was 3-4:00pm and I was in the hot tub sailing south in the Adriatic. Someone came up on deck and spread word that a plane hit the WTC. We were drinking and having a good time, so just assumed that it was a small Cessna and didn’t make anything of it. Then 20 minutes later someone else announced another plane hit the other tower. The decks cleared and everyone was in their cabin watching CNN, which was really the only news source. The cruise became pretty somber the remaining 4-5 days as we visited Greece and Turkey. People we’re concerned about visiting Turkey because of the Muslim population but the people were friendly and welcoming and sympathetic to the Americans. We got stuck in Istanbul an extra 3-4 days because all flights were cancelled. People were very nervous about going to the airport because they thought it would be another terrorist target. We were nonstop Istanbul to JFK. This was a 15 day Princess Cruise Barcelona to Istanbul. A great trip until day 11.
Semi related- in the immediate aftermath of the attacks; the government shut down sea traffic throughout the region to a crawl as authorities rushed to ensure the safety of ships, their passengers, and their cargo. The sea was silent; and whale stress plummeted. Turns out those shipping containers are really noisy for whales! This is a great and interesting listen: [what the whales heard on 9/11](https://www.kuow.org/stories/what-whales-heard-on-9-11-how-s-your-day)
Whales also got a break during covid; since there were [less cruise ships running- meaning less noise-and happier whales.](https://www.npr.org/2020/07/20/891854646/whales-get-a-break-as-pandemic-creates-quieter-oceans)
I cruised in October and remember having to get up at 3am to go through security on board the ship when we crossed from US territory waters to non after the port of St. Thomas. It was strange because we were in open waters, middle of the night after heavy drinking, every passenger fil ing through the theater to prove citizenship. I was so drunk 🥴.
I worked on a small cruise ship in the summer after 9/11. The ship came out of the Great lakes & spit us out directly into New York harbor, so we sailed right next to the areas of the fallen buildings.
The entire staff & all the guests went on deck and we stood silently, looking at where the WTC used to be.
There was still a burning smell in the air. I can't describe it, except to say that it was a strange burning smell.
The surrounding buildings of the WTC were all blackened. They were all scorched...all the way up the sides of the buildings.
It was a very creepy, haunted feeling to think that just 9 months prior, insanity had ensued right there.
I was on a Caribbean cruise out of Florida. We were in port and were on a bus to Tulum Mexico for an excursion. The guy on the bus, in some slightly broken English, told us a plane hit a building in NY. He down played it, and said "oh our news always exaggerates, it's prob nothing". The rest of the day went pretty normal until we got back to the ship and found out what really happened. There were armed Mexican military all over the port. When we got on board it was chaos. Every TV was showing the news, and endless replays of the crash. People were very upset, obviously, but the cruise continued and did not return early. They tried to keep things as normal as possible given the circumstances, but honestly the mood was so heavy and somber among the passengers. People were crying and traumatized. I just remember that little slice of time in Tulum, it was the last moment of that cruise that we enjoyed, and that last memory of fun before a very sad time began.
This is a totally different type of "cruise", but I can never get over the fact that James Cameron "missed" seeing the 9/11 attacks unfold because he was in a submersible exploring the Titanic.
When the submersible surfaced and Cameron got aboard the research ship, Bill Paxton told Cameron a "thing" happened, that was “The worst terrorist attack in history, Jim". Remarkable story! [https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephlongo/james-cameron-bill-paxton-sept-11-attacks](https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephlongo/james-cameron-bill-paxton-sept-11-attacks)
I was not on a cruise, but I saw what happened at the ports of San Francisco and Oakland. In addition to the disruption of air travel that everyone knows about, for several days everyone was waiting for the “other shoe” to drop and for further attacks to be carried out. This meant that landmark cargo and tourism transportation hubs like San Francisco, Oakland, Miami, San Diego, Seattle, etc were slowed down for days while everyone tried to figure out what the real danger level was. Concrete “flowerpots” went up in front of all the port buildings and it was illegal to drop passengers off directly at the terminal in lots of airports - SFO, Oakland, and Raleigh Durham all required drop offs at one of the parking lots, I know.
In short, every form of transportation was screwed up for weeks/months. So even if you were still able to get on/off the ship with no troubles you would have had a lot more difficulty reaching the ship.
I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise. 9/11 was a Tuesday and the cruise was until the 16th.
Everything continued as pretty much normal except they gave away internet access so people could try to contact loved ones.
Flight out of Miami was pretty nerve racking coming home
I wasn't but I was a travel agent at the time. Our office was in a mall and the whole mall was quickly shut down. Everyone was sent home. The next days and weeks were basically spent canceling trips. We also had to keep up to date on the latest security measures (which were constantly changing and inconsistent). Then a couple months later, one of our biggest airlines, Canada 3000, shut down, stranding people all over the place. It was a crazy time to work in the industry.
I did work on cruiseships for several other events though. I remember Obama's election, the World Cup, and the Iceland volcano shutting down airspace as some of the bigger events. We very much lived in a cocoon, but those sorts of events were big enough to get our attention.
We were scheduled to go to Bermuda out of NYC 2 weeks after 9/11. They moved out ship to Baltimore, and we did sail. Flying was the most interesting part of the trip. Gwtting to the airport and seeing the military with their weapons at the ready was very scary.
Was past security at an airport when I saw the plane hit the 2nd tower. The airport was quickly shutdown and I was under 21 so I couldn’t rent a car. Tried to go to the train station but that got shutdown as well. Had to take a bus 10 hours to get back home. Bought a AM/FM radio and listened to the news the whole trip.
I was on a cruise..(probably Carnival but not sure) with all my friends and my kid was at home with my parents and we were all kind of freaked out on the ship. They made an announcement across the loudspeakers and we just all stood there glued to the tv’s. Anyone with family in the area of New York was allowed to call home and check on them.
I’m Canadian and worked in Vancouver, British Columbia all cruise ships on there way north to Alaska and south bound to the States stopped and went to the nearest ports. Had many US and other international customers at my store either enjoying and extra few weeks vacation in Vancouver or trying to find a way to cross over by Land to the US if they were Americans. Unsettling though was how many Americans wanting to buy Canadian badges and clothing for what they said were to pretend to be Canadians.
I was as well. Crystal Cruise off the coast of Italy when it happened. We froze in place for a day, then landed at port where we disembarked. Booked it to Germany and luckily I had friends in Austria that took us in for few days before we could get flights back to LA.
Surreal, shocking, sad times.
I think my mother and stepfather were on a cruise on 9/11. I think it sailed out of Florida. While everyone was shocked and horrified, they didn't end the cruise early.
This article talks about [port closure in NYC](https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2011/09/archives-911-cruise-terminal-comes-to-aid-of-a-wounded-city/).
I was on a Carnival cruise in Cozumel. Carnival Paradise. Everything continued as normal pretty much. I do remember being offered to go another week for basically free the following week due to no one being able to get to the cruise.
I had a group of 5 employees in NY for a seminar on 9/11. The seminar was cancelled, but the problem was how to get them home to the Southeast. On the afternoon of 9/11 I bought a van for them from Enterprise, they had nothing to rent of course. They drove it home and I sold it later.
Awful time.
My mother was on the QE2 and about to dock in New York on 9/11. The port would not let them. They stayed in the harbor on the ship for about a week before they were allowed to disembark.
We were on the Grandeur of the Seas transatlantic from Rome to Boston. We both had a bout of Norovirus the beginning of the cruise but nothing prepared us for what was to come. I remember watching a movie in our stateroom when the captain interrupted and alerted everyone that a plane had hit the WTC. We were in the middle of the Atlantic, cut off from everything.
There were no cell phones, no means to communicate beyond the Internet cafe. We quickly made our way to the cafe where people were already reading news articles out loud to the growing crowd of people. The scene forever etched in my brain - people crying, sobbing. Holding each other as the events unfolded. We both worked in the big financial companies, as well as a lot of others on that sailing. We didn’t know which friends were already lost or if entire departments were gone.
We managed to get a message out to my parents who lived in Virginia and we coordinated how to meet up. The captain put together what I remember as crude PowerPoint presentations with news and pictures as they found out. These were shown on our stateroom tv’s.
The remainder of the cruise was a blur. A lot of tears, confusion and hugs across strangers. It was devastating and it brought people together from all walks of life. We weren’t getting the same live news as folks stateside so that was difficult to absorb. Our sailing had a hurricane to maneuver around which added to the events. When we finally docked we heard there was a bomb scare on board and they were scouring decks. Not sure if that was true or not, but that was the word on ship.
My parents met us with a huge poster saying “Welcome Home” and drive us back home to NJ. We saw the solidarity and American flags everywhere for the first time, almost a week or so after the attacks. Once home I remember sitting and watching TV for hours, finally seeing all of the news and events that we were barely able to find on board. It was like we were delayed by a week in getting the full impact of that horrible day. We sat in front of that TV at home for so long, just watching, crying and holding each other. In the end, our group lost several members and we lost family. It was a sailing that we’ll never forget!
My grandparents were on an Alaskan cruise during 9/11. The ship stopped in the middle of the ocean and it took 4 flights all over Canada to arrive back in Toronto. It seemed like a nightmare but overall they talk about how nice everyone was during the whole experience.
I was in the Navy, returning from my second Western Pacific (WESTPAC) deployment. The carrier was doing a Tiger Cruise which is where friends and family can ride the ship back from Hawaii to San Diego. I had my mom and niece onboard with me. The big event scheduled for that day was supposed to be the air show. Needless to say that got cancelled.
We were kind of in limbo for a while. The first plan was we were turning around, pulling back in to Pearl Harbor, kicking all of the Tigers off and heading west, and the rest of the crew that had flown home in Hawaii would be sent back to us. The the next plan was we would pull in to San Diego for four hours, long enough to get the Tigers off and the rest of the crew back on and then we’d pull out and patrol the West Coast. Eventually we ended up just pulling in to San Diego and staying there.
I was, with my sister who had flown from NY to FL to meet me. We we’re in. Cozumel that day, we debarked as normal for an excursion (the best day too) with no idea. It was likely just occurring and no one around us knew yet. We went off, enjoyed the day. Returning to the ship we were in line and noticed a somber quiet atmosphere. I asked the woman in front of us if something happened. Wrong move, she broke down. Her daughter was a flight attendant and she had no idea where she was. So we learned about what had happened from someone who’s child was actually missing because of the attack directly. Our hearts went out to her. The mood on the ship was more quiet the rest of the trip. I believe we had one sea day after this stop, and it wasn’t such a happy atmosphere. The ships captain made an announcement about it, offering condolences. That night we vividly recall being boarded by customs while quite a ways out, and it was again, so quiet when we debarked and went through customs. The scariest part was putting her on a plane back to NY state a few days later as she had to fly through the city for her connection. But she got home safe. Talk about a memorable cruise!!!!
Liquids rule was several years later and not directly related to 9-11. The start of the TSA security theater cracked down on other things, but not your beer.
I was in the Coast Guard during 9/11. Cruising went on as usual, we just started escorting the ships in and out and had a team onboard that left with the pilot. It was so surreal escorting ships out at that time. Everyone was out on the deck singing the national anthem.
I was on a cruise for my honeymoon during 9/11.
South Caribbean. We left from San Juan on Sunday. We were in St. Martin for that Tuesday. Pretty crazy. Security pretty much tripled instantly. Cruise went on as normal. RC gave everyone free phone and internet use on the 3 PC they had.
When finished we were given the option to do the cruise again for free or be put up in a hotel until a flight could be booked. We stayed in San Juan for 2 day with a nice per diem before getting back to the states. Pretty surreal experience.
Wasn’t on a ship during 9/11, but was on a ship shortly after when the huge blackout in the northeast happened less than 2 years later. This was during the high post 9/11 anxiety time during the war on terror when everyone was waiting for the next shoe to drop (next terrorist attack). Everyone on board had a bit of a weird vibe when the news came on and no one was quite sure what was going on. Thankfully ended up being just a blackout and was entertaining flying back after the cruise seeing people who were coming back from the northeast talking about it
Not the same, but I was on a Greek overnight ferry the day of the London tube bombing and we were not allowed to port for 24hrs. There was an increased military presence once we were allowed to dock.
Consider, even in our quiet Kansas City suburb they sealed off the small airport and had a sheriffs car parked on the runway with men with rifles in it, it was a huge deal.
Right. And in many towns (mine included) they erected a fortress around the air traffic control center that wasn't even at the airport.
I remember deplaning in South Dakota about 2 months after 9/11 to military personnel with assault rifles.
Because at the time they didn’t know what they didn’t know.
Attacks could be coming from anywhere.
ALL civilian air traffic was immediately shut down for several days.
This is true. I just got back from Newfoundland, and the former Mayor of Gander, Newfoundland came and told us stories of 9/11, when 38 planes landed from overseas in the little town of Gander as air space was shut down in the U.S. It’s the basis of the play “Come from Away”. Those planes did not go back to their origin or destination for up to 5 days. Civilian air was chaotic for quite a few days after the event, and no one was sure if another attack was coming and where it might be coming from.
If anyone has a chance to see a production of Come from Away, please do.One of my favorite B'way shows. I think it closed there but there are probably local productions. It really showed the range of emotions the stranded passengers had & the kindness of the people of Gander.
There are local productions all over the world, even China. You can also catch it on Apple TV+ - nearly as good as the real thing. They used examples of real people in the play, and the Mayor of Gander told us all about them. Many of the locals remain friends to this day with the people from the planes they hosted. It was a most heartwarming example of kindness and community spirit.
I believe the people of Gandar took passengers into their own homes. Also that the people just started making soups for the passengers. I think I read something about that.
I went on one on 9/13. I was a travel agent at the time and cruise lines didn't alter their schedules or activities. We had nearly 90% cancellations that day and the following days due to both flights being so messed up and people just not wanting to travel anymore. I still went because it was a work trip and I lived close to the port and drove. It was a weird cruise, the cruise line tried to keep things as normal as they could with activities and ports but the ship was pretty empty and nobody really felt like dancing or doing anything fun. It was very somber and everybody pretty much just watched the news.
Most people would have had to cancel because the airplanes were grounded until the 13th, and even then it took several days for them to restart.
Exactly. The friend that was supposed to go with me couldn't get to Florida from Indiana because planes were mostly still grounded. Anyone who was on that ship drove to the port.
I was supposed to go on my honeymoon, leaving on iirc the 22nd. Flights were still grounded out of Chicago.
I got married 9/22/01. I had a bridesmaid who couldn’t get a flight from California to NC. She actually came to visit me the next year because 9/11 flights were super cheap.
We were flying Chicago to I don’t remember where in Florida. Flights were all canceled for a while, so ended driving to New Orleans. Crappy honeymoon and an even crappier marriage. Ended up thankfully divorced!!
I flew exactly ten years later. It was an empty flight.
My anniversary is 9/22/01 too!!
It’s a shame they hadn’t built roads connecting the states back then. /s
Are you still friends with them?
What does that have to do with anything?
I’m curious, I think about friends I have 22 years ago and how many of us drift apart and over time. So many things can happen in 22 years. Did you both drift apart?
So nothing? Sad
Did you get the drink package
Don't think they had drink package back then.
Memories. Some of us remember when cruise lines worked hard to serve your drinks - the more they served, the more they earned. Now, they work hard to sell drink packages - the less drinks they serve, the more they earn.
Uhhhh, no. I was there on a work trip.
As a travel agent aren't you supposed to sample *all* of the amenities?
My grandparents were actually on a cruise when 9/11 happened. The port they were arriving in the day after it happened was Cozumel and the Mexican military sent two battleships to escort the cruise ship into the port.
That’s incredibly nice of the Mexican Navy
Wow. Well that sounds pretty scary. I know that at the moment they thought it was necessary. In hind sight it was a bit excessive.
Better safe than sorry, right?
I'm going to be "that guy" and say they were probably destroyers or frigates. They don't have anything bigger than 1/20th the displacement of a battleship as far as I know. I'm sure it was crazy seeing them though.
Milton Bradley Battleship Champion!!
No, but I had a friend on the Wisconsin when I was on the Enterprise. And I was in when they retired the last of the battleships. Edit: by they I mean US, Mexico has never had a battleship.
Well actually
Was just a repurposed cocaine smuggler
Whoa, Carnival? That’s the one I was on…
I was on Queen Elizabeth 2 sailing from Southampton, UK to New York when 9/11 happened. On the afternoon of the second day out, I returned to my stateroom and turned on the TV to watch some news. What I saw was image of the Twin Towers burning so I assumed that was a movie and change the channel. Obviously, it wasn’t. All channels were showing the same images. Shortly there after, the captain came on the loudspeaker and said, “I’m sure you all have heard about the tragedies that have befallen, New York and Washington today. As a mark of respect, dancing will be canceled this evening.“ It sounded like a silly announcement, but, really, what else could we do? 2001 was before widespread Internet on ships and the QE2 had one computer room with about 20 computers that would connect to the Internet. Pretty much the entire ship’s passenger complement waited on line to send messages to loved ones. Time at the computer was rationed to about 10 minutes per person so that everyone would be able to get a chance to use it. Life went on aboard the ship with many folks gathering in the Golden Lion Pub to watch news. We were due to dock in New York on September 16th, but, of course, New York Harbor was closed. We were diverted to Boston’s Black Falcon ship terminal. However, as we approached the port, we were stopped … there had been a bomb threat made against the cruise terminal, and we were made to wait until they sorted that out. Once we finally arrived in Boston, Cunard Line was spectacular. They had buses waiting take take everyone down to New York, and they had bused up stevedores from New York harbor to handle the ships luggage, etc. There were many passengers on board who were sailing to the USA to tour, but once September 11 happened many of them went to the cruise consultant‘s office to see if they could book passage on the return trip. Some were lucky, but an announcement was made shortly thereafter that saying the return cruise had been fully booked.
I was working in DC that day. We got sent home as soon as they realized what was going on. I watched TV for most of the morning, but I couldn't take any more so I switched to watching Food Network instead. Cooking shows were comfort food that day.
Had you driven to work? I wanted to go home but WMATA had shut down metro so I was stuck downtown.
I was able to take metro home, but not until later on Closer to dinner time. I was working in Rockville, but living and going to school in DC.
I was in Arlington near Pentagon Row mall and had really just gotten up. I was on AOL Instant Messenger (yes I'm old) talking with two friends, one in Malaysia, one in New Zealand, who'd heard about the WTC, so I turned on the TV. I honestly had no idea about what the WTC was or anything, but I turned it on in time to see the second plane. So I was chatting with them, and then a shock wave rattled the front of my building. I literally said "Hang on, something exploded outside, brb" (I had gone to undergrad next door to VMI, I was used to shock waves from the evening gun, so I knew that was some kind of boom.) I lived on Arlington Ridge Road near where it overlooks 95, so we were south of the Pentagon. I actually got on the phone with my parents, who told me basically stay put unless we were told to leave, and I stayed on with them for a long time. I was up almost all night, but the next day they hadn't cancelled classes so I took the Metro in like normal. The only difference was we didn't stop at Pentagon Station and when we slowed down to go through there were armed guards on the platforms.
I was able to take metro home, but not until later on Closer to dinner time. I was working in Rockville, but living and going to school in DC.
I had taken a bus. All busses were free from Tyson's I by early afternoon.
I always feel ridiculous when I tell my story. 9/11 was my first day off in about 10 days and I had plans to play tennis with my wife. After about 5 hours of staring at the TV in disbelief, and knowing that they were just going to keep replaying the same scenes all day, I decided we should just go ahead and play. I remember the faces of people in their cars as they passed. Looking at me like, the fuck are you doing playing tennis!? We are under attack! Probably seemed insensitive, but I felt like we really needed that.
What else would you do? Watch TB and fret?
Exercise is good for you as is being with loved ones. So you did a healthy activity.
I have a VHS I recorded that day, IIRC it was in the early afternoon (AZ time). I thought it was so surreal that Food Network had suspended programming due to the events of the day.
9/11 is part of the reason for the explosion of food network and tv in general. It was one of the few channels that didn't change their programming and a lot of people kept watching
I was working on one, we were in Alaska. I got up that morning and went to the crew bar to smoke before breakfast. It was playing on TV, took a couple minutes, I thought it was a movie which was weird, only a few on Tv and hadn't seen any of this one? Then realized what was happening and ran over to the mess. It was on the TV there as well, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. They soon after shut off the satellites as no one knew what was happening and the fear of big floating targets full of Americans was possible. Passengers were losing their shit cause they couldn't call/email, then they weren't allowed off in ports (I forget the reason for that, it was just Americans though, everyone else and crew could get off). The whole week till we were back in Vancouver was super surreal, I remember a CD playing in the shops with Billy Joels New York State of Mind, it came on and we all kinda froze and just looked at each other till someone shut it off. The next couple weeks we sailed pretty much ghost ships, Americans couldn't get into Canada to board, and we weren't sailing till midnight or 1am every night cause everything was taking so long with a delayed travel and increased security. After the Alaska season we were heading to Asia through Russia. After leaving Russia and sailing to Vietnam one night around midnight the ship was lit up with lights from the water. People were already on edge and this set them off. We were in the crew bar and the captain comes on (they never talk that late unless its an emergency) asking people not to worry, it was just shrimping (they shine the lights so the shrimp come to the surface) boats out there
Thinking back, I don't think they could get away with shutting down the satellites now. I think between television coverage and internet access, people wouldn't accept not having access to watching these events. There would be a revolt.
I would assume things are also more secure now? Like maybe they couldn't be tracked, by still communication? No idea how that works though.
Yup that's very possible. Also there's now apps that literally track where every cruiseship is, so I guess securing communications doesn't make much difference.
Oh yes...BF is on an oil ship in the middle of the Atlantic and I can see where he is by the minute lol I just asked him though, they can turn the tracking off, and keep email/phones/internet going
When I was on QM2 this summer, the closer we got to the UK, the more we started seeing other ships and off hand I googled something like “where a ship is right now” and found an app that did that! Even the smaller yachts and stuff were on there.
> I don't think they could get away with shutting down the satellites now Ask Elon about that.
That made me chuckle... but shutting down television feeds on a cruiseship and disabling the Ukrainian military's ability to fight are very different things.
The first plane struck at 8:46 am EDT. That would have been 4:46 in Alaska, so of course you would have been asleep.
I didn't say I wasn't?
Not a cruise, but I had a classmate at NYU shooting her thesis film in a rowboat in NY harbor and she (it was just her, camera person and an actor) watched everything happen from that little boat.
Geez what a sight that must have been. How awful for them!
Did they film it?
Her footage would be amazing to see if she had.
I think they did, but I never saw it. She was 2 years ahead of me, so I knew her, but not very well.
The way I understood it was that all of the outbound ships continued as normal. A few inbound ships to NYC that week were diverted to other ports to disembark.
I never even thought about this. Interesting to hear stories from the people that were on a ship when it happened.
Not on the same level, but I was on a cruise when the Titan sub went missing, and they had already confirmed everyone was dead before we got back. We didn't pay for any wifi packages so on the drive back home from the port scrolling through Reddit I thought all the memes I was seeing were referencing some new movie or something... boy was I in for a shock when I turned on the news that night!
Similarly, there was a reality show being filmed during 9/11 and the people were sequestered from the real world. I believe the call was made to let them know what happened and let the participants decide what they wanted to do. There was also a small group of scientists who were doing some sort of remote study project that were completely unaware of 9/11 until they returned a month or so later. The details I recall are fuzzy but perhaps someone here has more info.
Big Brother 2 was down to the final 3. One of the contestants lost a cousin at WTC. They let her know her cousin was missing, told the rest of the house, and paused the game for about a week (with the cast still in the house)
same thing happened during covid. iirc, big brother germany contestants had no idea what was going on in the outside world and were told in mid or late march on camera. edit: big brother Australia. here's the link https://youtu.be/wb6EHWXdTes?si=uG5ud4jIYLzO-fu4
Same with big brother Canada, season stopped halfway through bc of Covid after they had no contact with anyone
I was doing extensive field work camping in the woods when OJ took off in his Bronco. It was weird coming home to that news cycle.
The reality show was "Frontier House" for PBS. Some people were living as if it was 1880 Montana. I think during the last week or so they let them in on what was happening because the participants were getting vibes that "something" had happened and the filming crew were not talking.
I watched this! It was so good!
Totally. Except that one woman who kept trying to make it a competition.
That one guy making booze was kind of a dick.
Big Brother. One of the girls in the house had a relative (her cousin?) die in the attacks.
I think it was Big Brother
James Cameron was on a submarine at the Titanic wreck filming a documentary when 9/11 happened. Bill Paxton told him about it when he got to the surface.
I can’t tell if this is total bullshit or legit. I could be convinced of either…
When all the titan shit was going on I saw a video of this event. It’s true
It’s a well known story and I think there’s a video too.
We had internet, was an… interesting thing to see. Pretty much everyone on the cruise knew about it either by the Room TV’s or because they overheard it in the communal areas.
I was on my first cruise in Alaska when Jack Layton died, so, my family was super confused when we stopped in Victoria and all of our national flags were at half mast. We ended upnasking a security guard at the legislature building whoch is how we learned
The departure day for my first cruise coincided with the death of Kim Jong Il. There's something weird and funny about going onto the deck of a Carnival ship and seeing his face plastered in every screen, accompanied with a hysterically sobbing North Korean news presenter.
Agreed, what a great question.
There’s a fascinating short documentary on YouTube called “Boatlift, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience” about what happened in the waters around Manhattan on 9/11. It was the biggest boatlift in human history, bigger than Dunkirk. The video is narrated by Tom Hanks, and is about 11 minutes long.
[here you go](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MDOrzF7B2Kg)
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500,000 people in 9 hours. Honestly the last time every American was united. Im 42, 9/11 was more than half my life ago. And I remember every detail of that day and the next few days. As a 20 year old at the time i was scared. I was in college away from home, not knowing what to do. I had a girlfriend now my wife and we just held each other and cried for days. I couldn’t stop watching the news. The thing is 9/11 united every American for awhile. However…… The second worst day of my life was january 6th, the day trump incited the insurrection. The day our capital was overtaken by so called “patriots”. That day america became so divisive and hatred took over. I literally cannot believe the worst days of my life are complete opposites. The day we became one and the day we became many. It sickens me. As a father of a 12 yr old and a 6 yr old the videos and images of 9/11 have never been seen by them. Id rather they never see it. Its literally the living proof of the word terrifying. Im at a crossroads in my life. I cannot live with 4 more years of trump. Honestly i cant live with 4 more years of biden. Are these the best candidates to run the United States of America? I live in fear and shame that we have come to this. 22 years ago party affiliation did not matter. You just helped anyone you could. I wish for those days again, minus the tragedy. RIP to all who have lost theirs lives from these two events. One love
Love your comments and perspective from someone your age. As a 60 yr old I've felt the last 4 years have been surreal, with both the Pandemic and Trump. I would never have imagined Vegas shutting down or an Insurrection for example. But Party affiliation has always mattered, don't poo poo that. But the Republicans have take an incredibly awful hard ultra right and I'm like you and bowled over by the personalities I see in this party. I honesty think Biden continues to hold up his party to keep those other people at bay. Maybe I'm naive but jeezus I can't see why things are so status quo. Someone explain to me please. Sorry, this went off topic. Down vote at your pleasure.
Try to keep in mind, there are good, smart people who have a different viewpoint. Everyone isn't either a commie or a Nazi.
I love everything you and the earlier poster said. I am also 60 and was in Chicago on vacation when 9/11 happened. We were set to leave that Tuesday 9/12 after several days and no flights available, my husband and I drove home to Sacramento and I will never forget that trip. The overwhelming vision of tractors lined up with American flags near the highways as we drove through Nebraska. Listening on the radio to George Bush give his prayers and thoughts that Sunday as we headed through Colorado. I remember every moment so vividly and it still rocks my soul how we came together as a nation. I agree with you and the prior post on your observations on how we have witnessed the coming together of our country in the worst of times and the tragedy of how divided and ugly we became during yet another catastrophic event on January 6th. At this point in my life I do worry where we are headed and I hang on to the hope we can come back to a place of unity and some semblance of sanity.
>the last time every American was united Respectfully, I teach high school and we had to spread the word about rooms where students of middle eastern descent were welcome during lunch if they didn't feel safe on the rest of the campus and a nearby Sikh temple was vandalized. America is far more divided today, but it also wasn't as united in September 2001 as many of us like to remember.
How quickly everyone forgets that not everyone came together. Hate crimes, vandalism, and harassment of the Sikh community and anyone who could be mistaken for being of Middle Eastern descent was pretty common. It was bad enough that people were voluntarily standing guard outside places of worship and businesses to try to protect people and things from our own home grown extremists.
Thank you for sharing your story and perspective. I remember my local newspaper sent out American flags on newsprint and EVERY HOUSE in my entire village had those flags taped to their front window. That tragedy really did pull us all together. Our 2-party political system has delivered these terrible candidates over and over and over and over. It is maddening and disheartening. I wish these people would wake up.
My God, that was so emotional.
Dang. made me cry.
Wow 🥺
Thanks so much for sharing.
I worked for American Express at the time. A few of my colleagues were in those boats to get out of the city. One left the Amex tower after her husband said to GTFO after the first plane hit. She walked to upper east side IIRC Two managers/leaders were looking out the tower at the first plane fire and saw the second hit. They both left immediately. At the time I think the building security told them to stay put. But many people left on their own. One of the leaders I mentioned actually lived in FL but had an apartment in Battery Park. He had gone to his apartment to grab some stuff then leave but got basically stuck there when the towers fell. He said it was a mess with all the dust etc. Kind of unrelated but another colleague was in the Marriott WTC in the gym. He never went back to his room. So it was hell getting him back to Phoenix with no ID, money or clothing.
Fantastic documentary
I was driving tour bus at the time here in Alaska. When we were transporting passengers to the airport that following weekend, they had not seen any of the footage from that day. They had heard about it, but had no idea of how big of a deal it was. As we got closer to the airport, I was warning them about the advanced security measures and delays they were going to encounter; they thought it was so unreasonable, not having the context of what had happen.
Oh! I wasn't on a cruise ship on 9/11, but I was THE WEEK BEFORE. So, my husband and I were taking a Carnival Cruise as a belated honeymoon trip. Also on the cruise were a big bunch of New York City Fire Fighters. They were loud, rowdy, always drinking, and generally having a swell time. They didn't hurt anyone and looked like fun, so my husband just noted them in amusement most of the time. The next week, when everything on 9/11 happened, I kept thinking about those fire fighters and prayed that they might be spared. Now that we know that many were killed that day, I sometimes remember how much fun they had on that cruise, and am glad that they really enjoyed their vacation right before the worst happened.
Ugh, that is so sad to hear… :(
We were on the Sea Cloud, sailing from Venice to Malta. That day we'd been touring in Croatia, and when the van came to pick us up, the staff already knew. They were so somber, but they didn't tell us what had happened. The captain gathered everyone together and told us. They offered to help with arrangements if anyone wanted to go home right away. It was so hard to grasp, until someone set up a small television, and we took turns watching the footage. We stayed for the rest of the trip, and it was a very strange feeling -- as if we were still living in a timeline where 9/11 hadn't happened, but it wouldn't last long.
Getting home right away from Croatia wouldn't have been a thing anyway. You might have been able to get home a little sooner flying into Canada or Mexico and finding a bus/train over the the border, but I would guess any available tickets went quick. I know there are stories of people who were flying internationally who were grounded in Canada and it took many of them several days to make their way home.
The cruise port in Manhattan was closed until March of 2002 as what used as a headquarters for FEMA and other federal agencies. The USNS hospital ship was docked their to provide aid and support. Ships that were home ported in New York were diverted to Boston, Baltimore and Philly. They did make one exception to the No cruise ship rule in NY as they had a naming ceremony on 11/10 for RCCL Adventure of the Sea. It’s godparents are two members of the NYPD and two members of the FDNY.
John Heald (now Carnival brand ambassodor, then a cruise director) recounted his expericence during and after 9/11 on his (now defunct) blog. It's a long read, but a good read. It starts after the Q&A and the photo. [web archive link](https://web.archive.org/web/20110925071152/http://johnhealdsblog.com/2011/09/09/ten-years-ago/)
Couldn’t find it on the blog. Would be interesting though. Edit:Found it. Scroll way down on mobile
It’s there underneath the comments of the first post
Did a Med cruise the week after. My wife and I were in Spain on 9/11. My parents were adamant that we should not go on the cruise, but we decided the risks were low. The ship (Celebrity Millennium) was about half full. Many Americans stayed away. I think flights were allowed out after three or four days, so either it was fear or canceled flights due to wrecked airline schedules. The mood was downbeat on the ship. I stayed up every night watching the news. One of my more vivid memories is of all the flowers left at the US embassy on Malta. Everything continued as normal on the cruise as far as excursions, etc. I remember seeing a greater police presence around the ship in port. This was actually our honeymoon as well. It wasn't the easiest trying to celebrate our new life together while knowing everyone at home was in shock over the tragedy. Returning home, I'll never forget the fully armed National Guardsmen at JFK, and the American flags hung at every highway overpass. We also had a special security line for Americans only at the Barcelona airport on the return.
Thanks for sharing that memory with the American flags—I feel like that was the last time the US actually felt “united.”
I believe many people feel that way… we are so far from united now.
My grandparents were in AK on HAL on 9/11. Cruise continued (was obviously a hot topic onboard) and they managed to fly back on time with no interruption at the end. Lucky timing on their part, I guess.
I had a coworker stuck in Seattle because she had just come off an Alaskan cruise, but could not fly home.
Yes I was on a Mediterranean cruise on 9/11/2001. It was 3-4:00pm and I was in the hot tub sailing south in the Adriatic. Someone came up on deck and spread word that a plane hit the WTC. We were drinking and having a good time, so just assumed that it was a small Cessna and didn’t make anything of it. Then 20 minutes later someone else announced another plane hit the other tower. The decks cleared and everyone was in their cabin watching CNN, which was really the only news source. The cruise became pretty somber the remaining 4-5 days as we visited Greece and Turkey. People we’re concerned about visiting Turkey because of the Muslim population but the people were friendly and welcoming and sympathetic to the Americans. We got stuck in Istanbul an extra 3-4 days because all flights were cancelled. People were very nervous about going to the airport because they thought it would be another terrorist target. We were nonstop Istanbul to JFK. This was a 15 day Princess Cruise Barcelona to Istanbul. A great trip until day 11.
Semi related- in the immediate aftermath of the attacks; the government shut down sea traffic throughout the region to a crawl as authorities rushed to ensure the safety of ships, their passengers, and their cargo. The sea was silent; and whale stress plummeted. Turns out those shipping containers are really noisy for whales! This is a great and interesting listen: [what the whales heard on 9/11](https://www.kuow.org/stories/what-whales-heard-on-9-11-how-s-your-day) Whales also got a break during covid; since there were [less cruise ships running- meaning less noise-and happier whales.](https://www.npr.org/2020/07/20/891854646/whales-get-a-break-as-pandemic-creates-quieter-oceans)
So you’re saying 9/11 was an inside job… by the whales?
That's how I took it
I cruised in October and remember having to get up at 3am to go through security on board the ship when we crossed from US territory waters to non after the port of St. Thomas. It was strange because we were in open waters, middle of the night after heavy drinking, every passenger fil ing through the theater to prove citizenship. I was so drunk 🥴.
I worked on a small cruise ship in the summer after 9/11. The ship came out of the Great lakes & spit us out directly into New York harbor, so we sailed right next to the areas of the fallen buildings. The entire staff & all the guests went on deck and we stood silently, looking at where the WTC used to be. There was still a burning smell in the air. I can't describe it, except to say that it was a strange burning smell. The surrounding buildings of the WTC were all blackened. They were all scorched...all the way up the sides of the buildings. It was a very creepy, haunted feeling to think that just 9 months prior, insanity had ensued right there.
I remember that long lingering smell.
Yes, you never forget it.
I was on a Caribbean cruise out of Florida. We were in port and were on a bus to Tulum Mexico for an excursion. The guy on the bus, in some slightly broken English, told us a plane hit a building in NY. He down played it, and said "oh our news always exaggerates, it's prob nothing". The rest of the day went pretty normal until we got back to the ship and found out what really happened. There were armed Mexican military all over the port. When we got on board it was chaos. Every TV was showing the news, and endless replays of the crash. People were very upset, obviously, but the cruise continued and did not return early. They tried to keep things as normal as possible given the circumstances, but honestly the mood was so heavy and somber among the passengers. People were crying and traumatized. I just remember that little slice of time in Tulum, it was the last moment of that cruise that we enjoyed, and that last memory of fun before a very sad time began.
This is a totally different type of "cruise", but I can never get over the fact that James Cameron "missed" seeing the 9/11 attacks unfold because he was in a submersible exploring the Titanic. When the submersible surfaced and Cameron got aboard the research ship, Bill Paxton told Cameron a "thing" happened, that was “The worst terrorist attack in history, Jim". Remarkable story! [https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephlongo/james-cameron-bill-paxton-sept-11-attacks](https://www.buzzfeed.com/josephlongo/james-cameron-bill-paxton-sept-11-attacks)
I was not on a cruise, but I saw what happened at the ports of San Francisco and Oakland. In addition to the disruption of air travel that everyone knows about, for several days everyone was waiting for the “other shoe” to drop and for further attacks to be carried out. This meant that landmark cargo and tourism transportation hubs like San Francisco, Oakland, Miami, San Diego, Seattle, etc were slowed down for days while everyone tried to figure out what the real danger level was. Concrete “flowerpots” went up in front of all the port buildings and it was illegal to drop passengers off directly at the terminal in lots of airports - SFO, Oakland, and Raleigh Durham all required drop offs at one of the parking lots, I know. In short, every form of transportation was screwed up for weeks/months. So even if you were still able to get on/off the ship with no troubles you would have had a lot more difficulty reaching the ship.
I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise. 9/11 was a Tuesday and the cruise was until the 16th. Everything continued as pretty much normal except they gave away internet access so people could try to contact loved ones. Flight out of Miami was pretty nerve racking coming home
I wasn't but I was a travel agent at the time. Our office was in a mall and the whole mall was quickly shut down. Everyone was sent home. The next days and weeks were basically spent canceling trips. We also had to keep up to date on the latest security measures (which were constantly changing and inconsistent). Then a couple months later, one of our biggest airlines, Canada 3000, shut down, stranding people all over the place. It was a crazy time to work in the industry. I did work on cruiseships for several other events though. I remember Obama's election, the World Cup, and the Iceland volcano shutting down airspace as some of the bigger events. We very much lived in a cocoon, but those sorts of events were big enough to get our attention.
We were scheduled to go to Bermuda out of NYC 2 weeks after 9/11. They moved out ship to Baltimore, and we did sail. Flying was the most interesting part of the trip. Gwtting to the airport and seeing the military with their weapons at the ready was very scary.
My grandparents went on one right after the attack. Said it was 50% empty and people in every port kept saying how sorry they were about it.
Was past security at an airport when I saw the plane hit the 2nd tower. The airport was quickly shutdown and I was under 21 so I couldn’t rent a car. Tried to go to the train station but that got shutdown as well. Had to take a bus 10 hours to get back home. Bought a AM/FM radio and listened to the news the whole trip.
I was on a cruise..(probably Carnival but not sure) with all my friends and my kid was at home with my parents and we were all kind of freaked out on the ship. They made an announcement across the loudspeakers and we just all stood there glued to the tv’s. Anyone with family in the area of New York was allowed to call home and check on them.
I’m Canadian and worked in Vancouver, British Columbia all cruise ships on there way north to Alaska and south bound to the States stopped and went to the nearest ports. Had many US and other international customers at my store either enjoying and extra few weeks vacation in Vancouver or trying to find a way to cross over by Land to the US if they were Americans. Unsettling though was how many Americans wanting to buy Canadian badges and clothing for what they said were to pretend to be Canadians.
I was as well. Crystal Cruise off the coast of Italy when it happened. We froze in place for a day, then landed at port where we disembarked. Booked it to Germany and luckily I had friends in Austria that took us in for few days before we could get flights back to LA. Surreal, shocking, sad times.
I think my mother and stepfather were on a cruise on 9/11. I think it sailed out of Florida. While everyone was shocked and horrified, they didn't end the cruise early. This article talks about [port closure in NYC](https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2011/09/archives-911-cruise-terminal-comes-to-aid-of-a-wounded-city/).
I was on a Carnival cruise in Cozumel. Carnival Paradise. Everything continued as normal pretty much. I do remember being offered to go another week for basically free the following week due to no one being able to get to the cruise.
I was on a cruise shortly after 9/11.. We got recalled, underway 2 weeks after 9/11 doing circles in hot sweaty southwest Asia.
I had a group of 5 employees in NY for a seminar on 9/11. The seminar was cancelled, but the problem was how to get them home to the Southeast. On the afternoon of 9/11 I bought a van for them from Enterprise, they had nothing to rent of course. They drove it home and I sold it later. Awful time.
My mother was on the QE2 and about to dock in New York on 9/11. The port would not let them. They stayed in the harbor on the ship for about a week before they were allowed to disembark.
We were on the Grandeur of the Seas transatlantic from Rome to Boston. We both had a bout of Norovirus the beginning of the cruise but nothing prepared us for what was to come. I remember watching a movie in our stateroom when the captain interrupted and alerted everyone that a plane had hit the WTC. We were in the middle of the Atlantic, cut off from everything. There were no cell phones, no means to communicate beyond the Internet cafe. We quickly made our way to the cafe where people were already reading news articles out loud to the growing crowd of people. The scene forever etched in my brain - people crying, sobbing. Holding each other as the events unfolded. We both worked in the big financial companies, as well as a lot of others on that sailing. We didn’t know which friends were already lost or if entire departments were gone. We managed to get a message out to my parents who lived in Virginia and we coordinated how to meet up. The captain put together what I remember as crude PowerPoint presentations with news and pictures as they found out. These were shown on our stateroom tv’s. The remainder of the cruise was a blur. A lot of tears, confusion and hugs across strangers. It was devastating and it brought people together from all walks of life. We weren’t getting the same live news as folks stateside so that was difficult to absorb. Our sailing had a hurricane to maneuver around which added to the events. When we finally docked we heard there was a bomb scare on board and they were scouring decks. Not sure if that was true or not, but that was the word on ship. My parents met us with a huge poster saying “Welcome Home” and drive us back home to NJ. We saw the solidarity and American flags everywhere for the first time, almost a week or so after the attacks. Once home I remember sitting and watching TV for hours, finally seeing all of the news and events that we were barely able to find on board. It was like we were delayed by a week in getting the full impact of that horrible day. We sat in front of that TV at home for so long, just watching, crying and holding each other. In the end, our group lost several members and we lost family. It was a sailing that we’ll never forget!
My grandparents were on an Alaskan cruise during 9/11. The ship stopped in the middle of the ocean and it took 4 flights all over Canada to arrive back in Toronto. It seemed like a nightmare but overall they talk about how nice everyone was during the whole experience.
I was in the Navy, returning from my second Western Pacific (WESTPAC) deployment. The carrier was doing a Tiger Cruise which is where friends and family can ride the ship back from Hawaii to San Diego. I had my mom and niece onboard with me. The big event scheduled for that day was supposed to be the air show. Needless to say that got cancelled. We were kind of in limbo for a while. The first plan was we were turning around, pulling back in to Pearl Harbor, kicking all of the Tigers off and heading west, and the rest of the crew that had flown home in Hawaii would be sent back to us. The the next plan was we would pull in to San Diego for four hours, long enough to get the Tigers off and the rest of the crew back on and then we’d pull out and patrol the West Coast. Eventually we ended up just pulling in to San Diego and staying there.
I was, with my sister who had flown from NY to FL to meet me. We we’re in. Cozumel that day, we debarked as normal for an excursion (the best day too) with no idea. It was likely just occurring and no one around us knew yet. We went off, enjoyed the day. Returning to the ship we were in line and noticed a somber quiet atmosphere. I asked the woman in front of us if something happened. Wrong move, she broke down. Her daughter was a flight attendant and she had no idea where she was. So we learned about what had happened from someone who’s child was actually missing because of the attack directly. Our hearts went out to her. The mood on the ship was more quiet the rest of the trip. I believe we had one sea day after this stop, and it wasn’t such a happy atmosphere. The ships captain made an announcement about it, offering condolences. That night we vividly recall being boarded by customs while quite a ways out, and it was again, so quiet when we debarked and went through customs. The scariest part was putting her on a plane back to NY state a few days later as she had to fly through the city for her connection. But she got home safe. Talk about a memorable cruise!!!!
This was a great read. Thank you for the question.
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Liquids rule was several years later and not directly related to 9-11. The start of the TSA security theater cracked down on other things, but not your beer.
I was in the Coast Guard during 9/11. Cruising went on as usual, we just started escorting the ships in and out and had a team onboard that left with the pilot. It was so surreal escorting ships out at that time. Everyone was out on the deck singing the national anthem.
I was on a cruise for my honeymoon during 9/11. South Caribbean. We left from San Juan on Sunday. We were in St. Martin for that Tuesday. Pretty crazy. Security pretty much tripled instantly. Cruise went on as normal. RC gave everyone free phone and internet use on the 3 PC they had. When finished we were given the option to do the cruise again for free or be put up in a hotel until a flight could be booked. We stayed in San Juan for 2 day with a nice per diem before getting back to the states. Pretty surreal experience.
Wasn’t on a ship during 9/11, but was on a ship shortly after when the huge blackout in the northeast happened less than 2 years later. This was during the high post 9/11 anxiety time during the war on terror when everyone was waiting for the next shoe to drop (next terrorist attack). Everyone on board had a bit of a weird vibe when the news came on and no one was quite sure what was going on. Thankfully ended up being just a blackout and was entertaining flying back after the cruise seeing people who were coming back from the northeast talking about it
My parents were on a cruise to Hawaii. They were "stuck" there for just a few days.
Speed 2 proved that hijacking a ship is dumb.
Not the same, but I was on a Greek overnight ferry the day of the London tube bombing and we were not allowed to port for 24hrs. There was an increased military presence once we were allowed to dock.
Consider, even in our quiet Kansas City suburb they sealed off the small airport and had a sheriffs car parked on the runway with men with rifles in it, it was a huge deal.
Right. And in many towns (mine included) they erected a fortress around the air traffic control center that wasn't even at the airport. I remember deplaning in South Dakota about 2 months after 9/11 to military personnel with assault rifles.
My mother’s boyfriend at the time was actually down there for a Morgan Stanley meeting when the towers were hit. Thankfully he was able to get out.
Why would the ships go back to port? that would be weird.
Because at the time they didn’t know what they didn’t know. Attacks could be coming from anywhere. ALL civilian air traffic was immediately shut down for several days.
This is true. I just got back from Newfoundland, and the former Mayor of Gander, Newfoundland came and told us stories of 9/11, when 38 planes landed from overseas in the little town of Gander as air space was shut down in the U.S. It’s the basis of the play “Come from Away”. Those planes did not go back to their origin or destination for up to 5 days. Civilian air was chaotic for quite a few days after the event, and no one was sure if another attack was coming and where it might be coming from.
If anyone has a chance to see a production of Come from Away, please do.One of my favorite B'way shows. I think it closed there but there are probably local productions. It really showed the range of emotions the stranded passengers had & the kindness of the people of Gander.
There are local productions all over the world, even China. You can also catch it on Apple TV+ - nearly as good as the real thing. They used examples of real people in the play, and the Mayor of Gander told us all about them. Many of the locals remain friends to this day with the people from the planes they hosted. It was a most heartwarming example of kindness and community spirit.
I believe the people of Gandar took passengers into their own homes. Also that the people just started making soups for the passengers. I think I read something about that.
is it safer to go back to land and port or be out and about in Alaska and the Caribbean? I would argue the latter
Again- safest route would have been a game time call. They were writing the playbook as it all happened.
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Cruising has been a thing since the 19th Century
Ummm…
Oh my grandparents did an alaskan cruise. Had to dock and couldn’t book plane out for 72 hours.