story2738.xml
Title
story2738.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
On 9/11/01, my husband and I were on a cruise to the western Caribbean. We were in Jamaica, and after sightseeing a while, I returned to the cruise ship and he stayed on shore to shop a while. Going back on the ship, I noticed that we had to check in through many more checkpoints than we had had to any time before. No one was explaining the extra security, and I thought that perhaps there had been a bomb threat against the ship.
I went to our cabin to nap, but my husband came in shortly and said to turn on the TV, that a cab driver had said something about a bomb in New York City. We turned on the TV in time to see reruns of the first plane hitting the Towers, and then the second plane hitting the Towers. We were stunned. Throughout the rest of the day and that evening, there was a definite air of grief over the whole ship, even affecting the passengers who were not American citizens. Passengers gathered in the lounges around the televisions, but there was little conversation. The show scheduled for that night was a comedian, and that was rescheduled.
We were due to leave Jamaica that evening at 7:00 to return to Miami. Of course, since the US was closed, the captain didn't know where his ship would go, so we just stayed in port until after midnight. We finally left Jamaica and, after a day spent at sea, returned to Miami on Thursday morning. The ship was escorted to the dock by several Coast Guard and other vessels. We were supposed to disembark that morning, but instead we were kept on the ship until late in the afternoon. During the day, we were told that the cruise line would pay for one night?s lodging in Miami, and would work with passengers to try to find a way for them to get home ? OR we could re-embark on the next cruise. We opted for that, as did the majority of the passengers. Trying to re-embark was a study in errors, since the cruise line wasn?t prepared to re-embark over 600 people!
Finally, after midnight we were able to go to our new cabins. The next day on TV, we saw a report that ?two Middle Eastern men were arrested off of a _______ cruise ship that docked in Miami on Thursday because their names were on the FBI list.? Our ship was the only one that docked that day! We had wondered why there were men with guns around!!
In Cozumel, as we disembarked, we were met by a huge crowd of people carrying suitcases. They were American tourists who were stuck in Mexico, because the planes weren?t landing in the US, and were desperately trying to find a way to go home.
We found out what it was like to be totally cut off from our country. While I appreciated having a place to stay and food to eat and things to do ? I kept thinking, ?I just wish we were in OUR country right now! I just want to be home in America.?
I went to our cabin to nap, but my husband came in shortly and said to turn on the TV, that a cab driver had said something about a bomb in New York City. We turned on the TV in time to see reruns of the first plane hitting the Towers, and then the second plane hitting the Towers. We were stunned. Throughout the rest of the day and that evening, there was a definite air of grief over the whole ship, even affecting the passengers who were not American citizens. Passengers gathered in the lounges around the televisions, but there was little conversation. The show scheduled for that night was a comedian, and that was rescheduled.
We were due to leave Jamaica that evening at 7:00 to return to Miami. Of course, since the US was closed, the captain didn't know where his ship would go, so we just stayed in port until after midnight. We finally left Jamaica and, after a day spent at sea, returned to Miami on Thursday morning. The ship was escorted to the dock by several Coast Guard and other vessels. We were supposed to disembark that morning, but instead we were kept on the ship until late in the afternoon. During the day, we were told that the cruise line would pay for one night?s lodging in Miami, and would work with passengers to try to find a way for them to get home ? OR we could re-embark on the next cruise. We opted for that, as did the majority of the passengers. Trying to re-embark was a study in errors, since the cruise line wasn?t prepared to re-embark over 600 people!
Finally, after midnight we were able to go to our new cabins. The next day on TV, we saw a report that ?two Middle Eastern men were arrested off of a _______ cruise ship that docked in Miami on Thursday because their names were on the FBI list.? Our ship was the only one that docked that day! We had wondered why there were men with guns around!!
In Cozumel, as we disembarked, we were met by a huge crowd of people carrying suitcases. They were American tourists who were stuck in Mexico, because the planes weren?t landing in the US, and were desperately trying to find a way to go home.
We found out what it was like to be totally cut off from our country. While I appreciated having a place to stay and food to eat and things to do ? I kept thinking, ?I just wish we were in OUR country right now! I just want to be home in America.?
Collection
Citation
“story2738.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 20, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/14222.