What was cruising like just after 9/11?

[Shelfish42]

We were on Enchantment of the Seas over 9/11.  I remember we were getting ready to dock in Cozumel the morning of 9/11.  We heard people talking about planes crashing into buildings as we finished breakfast.  We had CNN on our little TV in our rooms trying to comprehend what was happening.  We thought WW3 was going to start.  The captain spoke and said we were still docking in Cozumel as normal.  We noticed little gun boats following us, I guess for protection.  We had almost no security getting onto the ship when we left Ft Lauderdale, but when we got off and back on in Cozumel, each passenger was scanned with a metal detector.  RCL gave everyone free internet to check on loved ones at home.  We finished our cruise and tried to enjoy ourselves.  When our week was ending, RCL was practically giving away cabins if we wanted to extend our cruise.    

[xpcdoojk]

We cruised one month after 9/11 (actually 10/11/01), and we sailed from Vancouver to Hawaii.  When we got to Hawaii, the locals were actually happy to see tourists.  Best trip to Hawaii ever.  At the end of the cruise they were offering $55pp per night for the return to San Diego or Encinada, MX.  Of course, since we work there was no way we could do it. 

 

I wish this was post 9/11 things would be back to normal in 60 days, this mess, meh, who knows.

 

jc

[ECCruise]

As a number of said, the only comparisons are that both 9/11 and COVID-19 had huge impacts on our world view.

 

But largely people were not afraid to cruise, they were afraid to fly.  We sailed on NCL a little over a month after 9/11 from Istanbul to Barcelona.  The flight from Zurich to Istanbul was maybe 10% of capacity (we were the only people in business class).  The pilots flew the entire trip from Zurich to Istanbul with the flight deck door wide open, which we thought was pretty brave (or crazy).

The cruise itself, especially due to the embarkation port in Turkey, was about 50% of capacity.  Upgrades were plentiful and cheap. 

Prices for the next year were extremely reasonable, especially in more unique locations (meaning not Florida).  

I think people who think prices are going to go UP in this scenario are living in a dream world.  In a fully unscientific overview on this site, filled with people addicted to cruising, I think like 2 out of 3 are willing to wait for a vaccine to cruise again, or at least an "all clear" for a number of months.  Think what the attitudes must be for the general public out there.  I think that even if they deactivate a number of ships for some period to reduce capacity, cruising is going to be a hard sell for a good amount of time.

[2tall]

I don't know about cruising but flying was insane.  There were soldiers everywhere at the airports holding automatic weapons. 

[MoniMommy]

On 4/20/2020 at 7:30 PM, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

I don't think you can compare cruising after 9/11 to how it will be after the COVID-19 virus. Totally different scenario with what has happened on ships and the current CDC No Sail order. Time will tell what new requirements there will be and how fast the cruise lines can comply. IMHO many will be hesitant to cruise due to the virus and what happened on some ships. 

So you are saying occupancy will be worse than 9/11? Thats what I would imagine because those who are not afraid of the virus will be afraid for their jobs. If you're unemployed you're less likely to cruise. If you are employed, you don't want to risk losing your job if the trip ends in a 14 day quarantine. I think cruise lines have an incentive to make sure things go well to avoid bad press. But this could also make them try to hide illness or engage in some other type of cover-up to avoid making headlines. Of course coverups are always eventually uncovered and make headlines anyway. 

[The Fun Researcher]

13 hours ago, DavidinFLL said:

On 9/11, I was on board the S.S. Norway, about a day and a half out of Greenock, Scotland.  This was the Norway's last crossing:  A 16 nighter sailing from Miami to Southampton.  We had been docked in NY on 9/5.  It's hard to describe what we felt like when we got the news of the towers being attacked:  There we were, on the (then) largest cruise ship in the world, in the middle of a big ocean, not knowing what was going on.  When we reached Scotland, then Ireland, France and finally England, upon disembarking the ship the port crews grabbed us and hugged us and many tears were shed.  Our cruise ended on 9/17.  I didn't sail again till '03, so I really can't address the question of changes in cruising after 9/11.

 

What a crazy time.  Were you able to enjoy that cruise with all that had just occurred?

 

Re. S.S. Norway... 

Depends on how you define "largest".  The Voyager of the Seas was out at that time and was only 17 feet shorter, but held almost 50% more passengers.  Also, S.S. Norway was ~66,000 tons, while the Voyager was ~130,000 at the time

[DavidinFLL]

22 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

 

What a crazy time.  Were you able to enjoy that cruise with all that had just occurred?

 

Re. S.S. Norway... 

Depends on how you define "largest".  The Voyager of the Seas was out at that time and was only 17 feet shorter, but held almost 50% more passengers.  Also, S.S. Norway was ~66,000 tons, while the Voyager was ~130,000 at the time

Yes, I did enjoy the cruise.  But the events of 9/11 were constantly on my mind.  I sailed with the Steamship Historical Society and they were a great group to sail with.

 

As far as the Norway was concerned, I should have said the "longest" cruise ship, which she was for over 40 years.  I determine the size of a ship by her physical measurements and not by the number of passengers she carries, which of course the Voyager was much larger in both respects.  After all, the larger the ship coupled with fewer passengers translates to more room per person.  The Norway, originally the S.S. France, was, I believe, the last ship of state.  She was built to carry passengers across the ocean, but was a bit late into the game...being a victim of the jet age.  She was a classic ocean liner, even with the added decks on top, and she looked the part.  The newer ships are more floating condos than liners.  When the Norway was sent to the breakers, I joined thousands of sailors who shed tears.

 

I've sailed ships both large and quite small and love them all.  Being out on the ocean is beautiful, exhilarating and soothing.  My hope is that I will be able to sail on the Empress of the Seas in Nov. 2020.  She is a pretty ship and seems to be loved by her crew and passengers alike.

 

Cruise Critic is a great place to "meet" other cruisers and discuss sailing topics.

 

So..."The Fun Researcher"....does that mean that you are a researcher who is a lot of fun, or a researcher who researches fun things?  Or both?

[The Fun Researcher]

1 hour ago, DavidinFLL said:

Yes, I did enjoy the cruise.  But the events of 9/11 were constantly on my mind.  I sailed with the Steamship Historical Society and they were a great group to sail with.

 

As far as the Norway was concerned, I should have said the "longest" cruise ship, which she was for over 40 years.  I determine the size of a ship by her physical measurements and not by the number of passengers she carries, which of course the Voyager was much larger in both respects.  After all, the larger the ship coupled with fewer passengers translates to more room per person.  The Norway, originally the S.S. France, was, I believe, the last ship of state.  She was built to carry passengers across the ocean, but was a bit late into the game...being a victim of the jet age.  She was a classic ocean liner, even with the added decks on top, and she looked the part.  The newer ships are more floating condos than liners.  When the Norway was sent to the breakers, I joined thousands of sailors who shed tears.

 

I've sailed ships both large and quite small and love them all.  Being out on the ocean is beautiful, exhilarating and soothing.  My hope is that I will be able to sail on the Empress of the Seas in Nov. 2020.  She is a pretty ship and seems to be loved by her crew and passengers alike.

 

Cruise Critic is a great place to "meet" other cruisers and discuss sailing topics.

 

So..."The Fun Researcher"....does that mean that you are a researcher who is a lot of fun, or a researcher who researches fun things?  Or both?

 

You might enjoy this video below, as it actually references your particular cruise during 9/11 with some interesting still photos.   The S.S. Norway/France looks like she was a real beauty.  Love the long lines.

 

Yeah, my screen name refers to the fact that I'm a Research Scientist who loves to have fun.  I also love researching all things vacation related, whether it's cruising, Disney World, National Parks...

 

Happy future sailing, whenever that comes back.

 

Kindly, Dan

 

[cb at sea]

Really, 2 different scenarios!  After 9/11, it was making sure no one was a terrorist!  Now, it's about making sure everyone is HEALTHY!

[DavidinFLL]

1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:

 

You might enjoy this video below, as it actually references your particular cruise during 9/11 with some interesting still photos.   The S.S. Norway/France looks like she was a real beauty.  Love the long lines.

 

Yeah, my screen name refers to the fact that I'm a Research Scientist who loves to have fun.  I also love researching all things vacation related, whether it's cruising, Disney World, National Parks...

 

Happy future sailing, whenever that comes back.

 

Kindly, Dan

 

Thanks, Dan, for the video.  I believe that I had seen it before.  Periodically, I get nostalgic and surf the 'net looking for mention of the Norway.

 

In the video, one of the tenders from the Norway is pictured.  There were two of these tenders, Little Norway I and Little Norway II.  These tenders rode on the bow of the Norway and were specifically built for that purpose.  

 

In Nov., 2018, I cruised to the Bahamas aboard the NCL Sky.  When we anchored off Great Stirrup Cay, I wanted to go ashore, but later in the morning.  As I watched the tendering process from the deck of the Sky, I did a double take when I saw a tender coming out from the Cay.  When I realized that this tender was the Little Norway I, I actually got bleary-eyed.  I hadn't known that NCL had stationed the Norway's tenders on Great Stirrup Cay when the Norway was sent to the breakers.  I don't know if anybody has ever gotten nostalgic over tenders before, but I had ridden on this very tender to this island 23 years earlier on a Norway cruise out of Miami, and again in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland on the Norway's last crossing cruise!

 

I realize my post is rather off-topic for this thread, but I guess I can't help myself when there is talk of the S.S. Norway, which of course I introduced into this thread!  Oh well, please forgive me!

[DavidinFLL]

A couple photos of Manhattan taken on 9/05/01:

 

 

[The Fun Researcher]

7 hours ago, DavidinFLL said:

 

In Nov., 2018, I cruised to the Bahamas aboard the NCL Sky.  When we anchored off Great Stirrup Cay, I wanted to go ashore, but later in the morning.  As I watched the tendering process from the deck of the Sky, I did a double take when I saw a tender coming out from the Cay.  When I realized that this tender was the Little Norway I, I actually got bleary-eyed.  I hadn't known that NCL had stationed the Norway's tenders on Great Stirrup Cay when the Norway was sent to the breakers.  I don't know if anybody has ever gotten nostalgic over tenders before, but I had ridden on this very tender to this island 23 years earlier on a Norway cruise out of Miami, and again in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland on the Norway's last crossing cruise!

 

I realize my post is rather off-topic for this thread, but I guess I can't help myself when there is talk of the S.S. Norway, which of course I introduced into this thread!  Oh well, please forgive me!

 When I was watching that video,  I wondered if those were tenders up on the top of the ship.  Definitely not the style of the current cruise ship, but really nice and self contained though. Great story. Thanks for sharing.  

 

I can understand the bleary-eyed-ness ( yeah, just made up that word ).   We don’t just vacation for the fun at the moment, but easily just as much for the memories.    We have one of those digital picture frames in our kitchen and I load on new pictures from each vacation as we go.  Pretty much every day I flip it on and it’s awesome to have it randomly scroll through past photos.  Love the memories 

 

Dan

[DavidinFLL]

9 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

 When I was watching that video,  I wondered if those were tenders up on the top of the ship.  Definitely not the style of the current cruise ship, but really nice and self contained though. Great story. Thanks for sharing.  

 

I can understand the bleary-eyed-ness ( yeah, just made up that word ).   We don’t just vacation for the fun at the moment, but easily just as much for the memories.    We have one of those digital picture frames in our kitchen and I load on new pictures from each vacation as we go.  Pretty much every day I flip it on and it’s awesome to have it randomly scroll through past photos.  Love the memories 

 

Dan

Thanks, Dan.  I love to share stories about cruising and history of ships.  It was wise of NCL to use the tenders on Great Stirrup Cay:  They each can carry 450 passengers, thus getting more people more quickly onto the island to spend money!  I know what you mean about vacation pics.  I change my computer wallpaper after every cruise!  And every summer, I travel from FTL back to Pennsylvania where I'm from to visit family and friends.  I take Amtrak.  Kind of like "land sailing".