Pipe Bomb after Paradise

[Cinderose]

We just came back from our fantastic cruise on the Paradise. There were 57 of us for a class reunion. Anyway we had flights going out of Long Beach anywhere from 9:40am to 5:30pm back to SLC. One of our classmates was is our city's police chief, since hadn't had communication for 3 days with his guys he was ancy to get back to UT. Greg self embarked first thing and was to the Long Beach airport by 8:30am. Not long after that the shut the airport down, sirens, police everywhere, helicopters, fire trucks, etc. The had come over the speakers and told everyone to stay in their place. Greg having the credentials he had went over to security , showed them and ask if he could be of assistance and what was going on. He was told they found a pipe bomb (mind you the date was Sept 11th) left inside one of the rental cars. And that the airport was going to be shut down from 4 to 24 hrs. Greg called all of us back just getting off the Paradise and relayed the news. We scrambled to change our flights. most of us had the 5:30pm flight back but were worried we may be canceled so we all changed to the 1:20 pm flight. Another classmate coming to the airport couldn't get any closer than 4 blocks away , that is where they came across a huge lit up sign saying airport closed, no flights in or out. To make a long story short...after 4 hours they did open the airport and Greg was able to fly out on the original 9:40 flight - it just left at 12:00. We all jumped into taxis and got to the airport to get the 1:20pm flight. I being the group leader making sure all was accounted for or was aware we hadnt abandoned those still on the 5:30 flight was the last few to check in. There I was told the plane was oversold and that they were bumping three and asked me to volunteer for a $400 flight voucher and a paid taxi ride to LAX to catch their 1:25 flight back to SLC. My two friends and I said yes we will do it. Off to LAX we went. What a quiet airport LAX was once we got there. But off on our flight we went arriving 5 minutes for the rest of the group from Long Beach. We were standing with luggage in hand as they came down the escalator - shocking everyone! Delta just paid for my next group adventure. More to come later on our fantastic trip aboard the Paradise. Fun-Fun-Fun!

Now that I am home I watched all the tv channels and we saw or heard nothing on this on the news. Hmmm You never know what going on sometimes. But this will not ever detour me from cruising again.

[EngIceDave]

It was on the news live...MSNBC, CNN

 

It was a false alarm

 

They blew it up, it was nothing

[mabgab]

Glad everyone is fine!!! we had an incident in May,flying out of Houston to Phili...4 people of interest were taken off our plane...never made the news either. Glad to see security is working...obviously "some people" never quit trying to cause problem for US citizens. God bless security, US Marshalls and, in our case, the flight attendants who were on the ball and stoped what could have been the end of our lives...

[LHP]

This is just one of the reasons I hate flying to our ports. I know it is necessary sometimes...but it is just a zoo these days.

[deborahjo]

Hey you made out like a bandit. How stupid of someone and espically on 9/11. At least all are fine thank goodness. Hope you enjoyed the Paradise as much as we did.

[southbayer]

When I got back on Paradise on Sept.11th, I heard when I got home there was some kind of threat at the port that day... It turned out to be nothing. I didn't see any extra security or anything out of the ordinary that morning.