Bomb Threat on Legends

[Grumbo]

Now this would really screw up your excursions and day!!

Threatening notes prompt cruise ship diversion
Thursday, April 24, 2003 Posted: 5:36 AM EDT (0936 GMT)

HONOLULU, Hawaii (CNN) -- Vacationers who had expected to explore the lush beauty of Hawaii instead spent Wednesday crowded into cruise ship dining rooms, dressed in shorts and pajamas, as bomb-sniffing dogs searched the luxury liner room by room.

FBI agents questioned each person on board individually about two handwritten notes threatening "acts of terrorism" found in a ladies rest room early Wednesday. The discovery forced the ship's diversion from a port-of-call in Hilo, Hawaii, to an anchoring a mile off the coast of Oahu, according to Dan Dzwilewski, special-agent-in-charge for the FBI in Honolulu.

The Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Sea, with 2,400 people on board, was sailing from Ensenada, Mexico, to Hilo when the decision was made to divert the ship so the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force could board, Dzwilewski said.

The notes "threatened acts of terrorism" against the ship, passengers and crew, Dzwilewski said. The threats were "very anonymous" and "non-specific," he said. The FBI does not know if the threats involved a bomb or an armed person on board, he said.

Agents with bomb-sniffing canines boarded the ship Wednesday afternoon while investigators questioned those on board about the notes, he said.

Melissa Notice, a passenger from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, spoke to CNN by cell phone from on board the ship.

Passengers were abruptly ordered out of their state rooms late Wednesday afternoon, many of them wearing pajamas, and gathered in the ship's dining rooms, Notice said. They were "not too happy" about their treatment, she said. Passengers could only leave the dining rooms if accompanied by an escort, she said.

"It's not being handled very well," Notice said. She said passengers were grumbling about not being allowed to go ashore while the search and investigation continued.

Notice said she, along with the others on board, was individually questioned by FBI agents. Investigators asked them generally if they had any information about who might have written the notes.

The Legend of the Seas set sail from Ensenada on April 18 for what is supposed to be an 11-day tour with Hawaiian ports-of-call, including Hilo, Kailua Kona, Nawiliwili, Lahaina and Honolulu. It is unclear how the diversion will affect the ship's scheduled voyage.

Cheers,
Grumbo