Were You Ever Scared On A Cruise?

[billfish]

My wife and I were on the Majesty sailing back to Boston from Bermuda when it ran aground off of Nantucket. It happened around 9pm just prior to the start of the evening show. We were in the theater and I could here the engines making unusual sounds and could feel a slight list. I looked at the contents of my glass and noticed that the contents were not level.

 

It took a day and a half to get us off the Shoal and made for some interesting moments.

[Sea Island Lady]

Just how close to shore do the ships sail when heading back from Bermuda to Boston, NJ, NY, Charleston, SC? Can you see land all the way down the U.S. coast. Anybody know?

[smoosh21]

Ok, this isn't a "scary" moment, but a "better-hold-your-breath" moment, that I just loved!

 

When you sail out of Bayonne, you pass under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Voyager class ships BARELY clear it; I believe that the captain said that we had about 21 feet of clearance.

 

It is SO COOL to approach the bridge, when you are CONVINCED that there is NO WAY that the ship will fit underneath, then you pass under and can see the cars driving above you, with what feels like mere INCHES of clearance.

 

You also get pretty close to the Sunshine skyway in Tampa, and that was a bridge that was actually hit back in the 80s. (not by a cruise ship, but cargo).

[alphakitty]

We were on our first cruise, docking in Key West at the naval yard very early in the morning on the Fascination. We had a balcony cabin on deck 7. We slept the night before with the window curtain wide open, enjoying the night view of the stars. Around 4:30AM when we docked these HUGE BRIGHT spotlights came on (apparently to light up the ship's name), and scared the bejesus out of both my DH and I! :eek: For a few frightening seconds, we forgot where we were and had no idea what was going on. Of course we laugh about it now. :)

[Arizona Laura]

I am bringing this back again. I enjoyed the stories, hoping for more. If you aren't going out Sat night it's good reading material. Thanks to all who contributed...

[Lisichka]

My first trip to Mexico and this is what I see:

 

That really spooked my son as well. Everywhere we went in Mexico last month were these 'cops' with machine guns. Big, HUGE machine guns. Some were hiding behind palm trees, most looked too young to have a water pistol. Sometimes you even saw groups of them on open trucks.

 

Now, I have heard the stories of decapitations and heads being left on town square.......but all of the taxi drivers assured us not to worry. That was a looooooooong ways away from the cruise ship. At least 11 or 12 kilometers! :eek:

[beachlady58]

I was in Cozumel with my DH and 2 DS and 1DS wanted his photo with a parrot on his shoulders. Nice pix. Put it on his older brothers shoulders and I was fiddling with the camera - noticed the parrott chomping down on DS who was not too happy with me. Blood was oozing from his arm and his white shirt. I was scared and we ran back to the ship to get medical attntion for DS. Parrots are dirty birds and he was required to go on heavy duty antioboitics. WHen traveling do not let your kids near these birds as they are a health hazard.:eek:

[CarolinaGirl]

My first cruise was on the Nordic Empress, and we were skirting a hurricane. Flight down was really rough. I was really scared of water and terrified to go on the cruise, but it was a business trip and I HAD to go! As soon as the ship left the dock, I started getting sick and more terrified. First night was really rough, lots of people ill and couldn't eat dinner. By the second night the ocean had calmed down and I really enjoyed myself.

[lianj]

We were on Vision of the Seas/Royal Caribbean on February 4-11,2007.

It was our very first cruise. The first night I was awoken by the fog horn..it was quite loud! I got up, walked out to the balcony only to see THICK FOG...you could hear the ship travelling through the ocean..but you could see NOTHING BUT FOG. It was sooooo spooky..But fun! I liked the spookiness. The fog horn went off a total of 8 times that night! But standing on the balcony was a little creepy. If a person fell over, there would have been no chance to survive...I'll never forget the fog.

[aqhacruiser]

Just how close to shore do the ships sail when heading back from Bermuda to Boston, NJ, NY, Charleston, SC? Can you see land all the way down the U.S. coast. Anybody know?

 

You are over 600 miles from Carolina in Bermuda! You can't see anything! They go straight across not against the coastline. Look at the itinerary maps on the website! :D

[Acess_404]

I have really enjoyed reading this thread. I've been on many cruises and never have really been scared on any, though I've had similar experiences. For example, 25 foot wave, small ship, but I never really was scared, kind of enjoyed it actually.

 

 

Anyhow, the reason I am posting is not because of being scared, but for another reason. I found this thread and read every single story, I just couldn't leave after I started. So after reading this thread, I went to bed last night. Well, I had a dream last night, rather interesting actually, and I thought I would share :D

 

In my dream, I was sailing on Rhapsody of the Seas, which I just was on a few weeks ago, we were heading to Alaska. I had a good time on the cruise, but it was not my favorite cruise. Anyhow, in my dream it was just my mom and I, like on our cruise. The biggest difference was that we spent basically no time together and each were hanging out with a group of people. I, for some reason was with a group of people in their 50s and 60s, which would be older than my mom, not really sure about that. So we were having a good time, doing all kinds of things on the ship, getting close to the waters in Alaska.

 

So all of a sudden things started to get weird on the ship, this part of the dream becomes a little foggy for me, so I'm not sure of what all happened. But, the next thing I know, we are starting to sink, lower decks on the ship are getting covered in water and everything like that. Well, oddly enough, no body seems real worried. So, I decided to go and see what was going on, which I was able to walk right to the edge of the deck I was on and look out at the water, which is where rooms should have been, but the wall was gone and you could walk right out into the water, if you wanted. They had a few of the boats there and I was waiting to get on one, apparently there was no muster drill thing. So I was waiting, got a seat on the boat, looked out and seen all the other people wanting to get on and decided to get off the boat and get back on the ship, the majority of the people getting on were servers and such. As I was leaving the area, a bunch of people were push luggage carts and had gone to all the rooms and grabbed peoples luggage, so it wouldn't sink with the ship. I looked and the people push the luggage was some of my old friends from grade school. I seen my luggage, so I was happy. So I headed back on the boat, where there were still quite a few people.

 

The group I had been hanging out with decided to sit in some chairs and just talk for a while. At one point I remember seeing my mom, we talked and then continued on our own ways. Then, this is where it gets funny, just like a cruise. At this point the ship is half way under water, rather odd that we were still able to walk around just fine and everything. You would think people would be scared, but rather than being scared, everyone headed to Edleweiss to get some food before leaving and we sat down just as if we were having a regular meal. As I was heading out of the dining room, I seen my mom and this time I decided to stay with her and we waited to get on the boat to get to land. What was weird at this point was that right on the other side of the rescue boat was a large piece of ice, that could have been land and near the ice was an old buidling. They were rolling the luggage over to that area, so why we took the boats, I'm not sure.

 

 

 

 

Any how, I thought I would share with everyone. Again, I've never been scared on a cruise, but apparently I put together several people's scary stories and came up with a little something of my own, hope everyone enjoyed :p

[cusyl]

You also get pretty close to the Sunshine skyway in Tampa, and that was a bridge that was actually hit back in the 80s. (not by a cruise ship, but cargo).

That was, of course, the previous bridge. The present bridge is a replacement for the one that was hit and a bus load of people fell into the water. It was Mother's Day and very tragic.

http://www.sptimes.com/News/050700/TampaBay/Horrific_accident_cre.shtml

[FanOftheSea]

My Husband and I were just dating and he booked a cruise with some Time share deal, we endend up having to listen to this many named Rocco about the time shares then having to spend the night in this industrial town in the worst hotel ever, that was scarey enough. I dont recall the name of the ship or the cruise line, Now that I have been on many this one seemed to be the size of a tug boat..lol..Everything was nice being it was uor first but we really didnt know much about things. We had the wrong cabbin so they put us in one with a porthole window, which I thought was nice in case I felt closterfobic and it had single beds in it as well, who knew you could push them together??lol One night the boat was rocking, my husband and I in seperate beds...water started hitting the window, now we werent n the bottom of the ship so I started freaking ut thinking we were sinkng or waves were hitting the window, I jump into his tiny bed and wake him up screaming " We are sinking!!" Turned out to be the deck crew washing the decks and cleaning windows..lol, that I can say was probably the funniest scare I have ever encountered on the cruises I have been on. After that I was a professional cruiser..lol

[wakelover]

Brilliance of the Seas

July 2004

Mediterranean Sea

Sea Day

 

It was lunch time. We were seated at a table in the Windjammer in the outdoor eating area, aft of the ship.

We were chatting to each other, minding our own business. There were quite a few other people seated at tables and the atmosphere was relaxed.

Munching through my lunch I turned to look back at the wake and on the horizon, just a spot in the distance at this time, I saw a low flying plane.

Sipping our wine, laughing and having a lovely lunch, I looked again out to

sea. I could see the plane much clearer now as it was advancing on the ship. Watching it fly towards us I waited to see its inevitable turn taking it away from the direction of the ship.

 

The turn never happened.

 

I started to think over in my mind "When is this plane going to turn?"

Why is it flying so low? Why is it headed straight for us?

 

As the aircraft got closer, I was easy to see this was a large military plane - not a two seater private plane.

 

My mind was racing to find answers as to why a plane, so far out to see would be flying so low and directly at us.

 

9/11 suddenly loomed in my mind. There had been numerous news reports about threats against cruise ships before we left. As my mind raced but couldnt think of any reason why this plane would be flying like this legitimately my heart suddenly began beating at a faster pace.

 

I calmly pointed the plane out to my DH who until this time had been too engrossed in his lunch to notice. I pointed out to sea. The table next to me so me pointing and they looked out at the plane which was now gaining on us rapidly. The man at the other table stood up, so did several other passengers who had spotted the oncoming aircraft. People started to stand and back away from their tables.

 

Everything went quiet. Then suddenly, once the plane was so close we could see the pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit, the plane turned and flew starboard side. If made a steep incline and flew high off to starboard.

 

The man at the next table said "Phew. I guess we should just worry if he turns and comes back!!". We all laughed nervously.

 

But then the plane did turn, and it did come back. It circled the ship to its portside and started descending. It made a head on course for midships.

 

All I remember is my mind thinking "where's the safest place to be when it hits. Should we go inside, stay here, what should we do? Where's the Captain?"

 

As the plane made its approach a second time directly aimed at midships it then swooped up and over the ship. It flew away then and disappeared.

 

A few minutes later the Captain came on and apologised for the incident and hoped we hadnt been too frightened.

Later in the bar an officer told us the incident had been reported to the Italian Military who apparently had been using us as target practice!

 

I have to say, the sight of that plane coming towards us remains clearly in my minds eye.

I honestly thought our time was up and our honeymoon was coming to an early end.

 

DH......well, he just finished his lunch and asked what all the fuss had been about.

 

It sure scared the hell out of me!

[Arizona Laura]

These are such great stories dreams and real. Dreams for me are exactly like yours Acess 404.

I have wondered about a plane hitting a cruise ship before. It would be too easy. Thank God has not happened. I have found a new love..cruising and will put any fears aside to cruise again. My husband and I wish we had started cruising yrs ago. We waited too long. Someone had to talk us into it.

I bet the captain was a little nervous as well with that target practice wakelover. Would like to have been listening to the conversations related to that incident. Where do you go to be safe? Is there anywhere? :eek:

If you have more stories please keep them coming. Thanks again for sharing. Have loved them all...:)

[lulududumumu]

I have TWO actually! We were on the Carnival Glory last year. My husband daughter and I were all taking a nap in the cabin, the boat was rocking slightly, and we thought eveerything was fine. So the boat was leaning to the left side and I woke up and figued it would rock back as usual, but it kept going! I was scared! My daughter woke up as well and she started to freak out. Soon the boat rocked back, but not after the water in the pool came out and most plates in the dinning room had been smashed due to the tipping. There was a problem with the ship's stablizer or something. It was really scary!

Then Back on our first cruise on the Carnival Miracle. It was around 4 in the morning and we were sailing back to NY. My family was sleeping(again) when we heard the captain intercom thing go off in our cabin. That's when I heard(I am a light sleeper as is my daughter) "Hello, this is your captain speaking..all crew members ABANDON SHIP!":eek: my duaghter woke upand said "DID YOU HEAR THAT?" I sent my husband down to see what was happening...aparently two teenagers had figured out how to do that and were playing a joke! It was REALLY SCARY!

[danya83]

My daughter was on the Jewel last Oct. returning to Boston from Bermuda in an outside cabin when they hit a bad storm. She got very sick as many people did. Then she got scared as some crew members came into the cabin and clamped a large steel plate over the window. They told her a window on another outside cabin had cracked in the storm. Things turned out ok though.

 

 

I was on this cruise. It was my first cruise. didn't realize this was not supposed to happen. I loved it, however the rest of my group hated it. The glass in the elevator shaft had broken and everything was closed. I believe they said the seas were over 20 ft and the wind was horrible. You could barely walk out side. we are trying our hand at another cruise in Sept out of port canaveral on the mariner. Hope this one is more smooth.

[willysgrandma]

We did an NCL Hawaiian cruise a few years ago.

 

We were in Maui overnight. At 3AM, I woke to the strong smell of smoke. Woke DH. Called my in-laws in the room next door to wake them and get ready to run off the ship.

 

Opened the door into the hall in my pj's - see no one else, no one panicking. Decided to call the front desk - they told us they were burning the sugar cane on the island, that was what the smell was.

 

I was sure ready to get off that ship!

[neener]

That was, of course, the previous bridge. The present bridge is a replacement for the one that was hit and a bus load of people fell into the water. It was Mother's Day and very tragic.

http://www.sptimes.com/News/050700/TampaBay/Horrific_accident_cre.shtml

 

I have always ALWAYS hated to drive across bridges for no real reason other than the freaky weird events such as these (the bridge in the Bay during the earthquake, bridges washing away etc.) Fortunately living in the desert we don't have tons of bridges that I have to worry about. The above story was absolutely awful, I feel terribly for everyone who was affected by that, what a horrific experience.

[ceb0]

Nobody will ever want to get on a cruise ship with me. I've been on 3 cruises and had 2 unbelievable experiences:

 

Cruise #1 - Sky Princess 1992 - drunk women falls overboard at 12:00 AM. Ship makes an incredibly sharp turn, glasses crashing! We are in the disco and a Navy Man next to us stands up and says "In 20 years in the Navy, I have never seen a ship turn like this!" Thinking we are sinking, my husband and I walked up a hallway (I want a life vest now!), with the ship listing so far to the right that we have to hold on to the wall! Finally we hear the 'man overboard' call. After searching all nignt, the women was found alive, escorted off the ship and billed for the damage to the ship's contents.

 

Cruise #2 - Disney Magic 2003 - Serious Fire on board at 3:00 AM. We are all called to our muster stations and my husband emptied the safe as I woke the kids ( 9 and 7) and got them in their life jackets. We stood at our station and watched the smoke billow over us. We spent 2 hours on deck while the crew heroically fought a fire in the aft funnell. On the horizon, other cruise ships began to come towards us (to rescuse us perhaps!). We were later told by the crew that we were not far away from getting in the life boats. Fortunately, they extinguished the fire and we were allowed back into the ship by 6 AM. Disney did a fantasic job of communicating during the muster and of course by saving the ship!

 

Cruise #3 Disney Magic again - perfect, finally.

 

I'm on Empress of the Seas to Bermunda 8/18/07 so if anyone would like to cancel now, I'll understand. You've been warned of my bad luck!

[8 Bells]

It was about a month afer 9/11, and we were on a Princess cruise. While at sea one morning, we heard the noise from a helicopter that sounded like it was very close to the ship. We looked out from our balcony, and there it was -- hovering just off the starboard side, very low over the water! It stayed there for what seemed an eternity. I honestly thought we were under attack! Apparently, most of the other guests did, too, as the captain made an announcement that it was a British helipcopter that came over to say "hello", since we were flying the Union Jack. Not a great move on their part -- especially with a ship full of jumpy Americans!

[Arizona Laura]

The most important notations here are the good outcomes so yes I would travel with you if it were already planned.

[kingsgirl]

As long as I knew I would eventually be rescued, I'm all for being stranded on an island.

[Pomperaugrr]

While on the Carnival Holiday, in 1992, we were scheduled to dock in LA Guira Venezuala. Chavez had mounted a failed military coup attempt against Perez, the week before we left. I watched gun battles in the streets and a tank rolling up the stairs and through the front door of the presidential palace on CNN.

 

Much to our surprise, we still stopped in Venezuala the next week. We took a private taxi tour that our TA recommended and arranged from the port up to Caracas. I actually got to see the crushed steps, bullet holes and smashed facade of the presidential palace. The only really scary part was all of the military checkpoints we had to go through in and around Caracas. We were required to carry a special visa issued to us onboard to get through these.

 

The scary part was when I innocently took out my camera to memorialize the experience of having machine guns pointed at us and our car. Not understanding Spanish, I did not get that the soldier approaching me with his machine gun pointed toward me was telling me to "put down the camera or be shot." I was happy that our driver slapped the camera out of my hand and apologized to the soldier for me. I was relieved to get back on the ship and head to Aruba. It was an experience to be sure.

 

Eric

[Onessa]

First cruise (on a now defunct line) we were tendering to port - slightly choppy and drizzling. The cruise line had a narrow aluminum starway perched to the outside of the ship down which we had to climb to the tenders. It was over two decks and was not stable. The waves washed over the bottom few steps. An older gentleman slipped tumbled down six to eight steps about 2/3 of the way down and broke his leg - rather than having us all come back up, they had us stay on this contraption while the medical crew picked its way past us. (and me with a VERY 'healthy respect' for heights!)

 

An RCCI cruise to AK a few years back - rough seas just off Vancouver Island area in Canadian waters at about 5:00am. I awake to a jolt and everything shifting and banging (DH and DD slept through it). Although rough seas, nothing more happened and I had ALMOST gotten back to sleep when it happened again. This time DH also woke up. We bundled up and went out on the balconey. We were really clipping along -- faster than I ever imagined a cruise ship could go! within about 15 minutes we can see a small fishing vessal. We come up REALLY close and then stop dead in the water. Two zodiac are launched from our ship and they approach the fishing vessal which it is, now obvious even to me, in trouble with only the bridge house barely above water - The zodiacs pluck the three crew members from the fishing vessal (which has now disappeared) from the water and bring them back to the ship. They had video and the captain, the first mate (who lead the rescue effort) and the fishing vessal's crew (now all dressed in RCCI sweats from the gift shop) did an hour-and-a-half presentation about the rescue later that morning. Then a helio landed and picked up the fishing crew. Very exciting (and more than just a little scary even for me, a bystander!)