Image 4 of 24      View larger image -- Barcelona Spain -- Sep 1 2001 View from the ship at port. The rows of what look like glass windows set into the mountain side are burial gravesites.

We started our cruise in Barcelona, Spain on September 1, 2001, sailing on the Golden Princess ship, part of the Princess cruise line. The trip was supposed to end in Istanbul, Turkey on September 13, 2001.

We were docked at port at 4:10 pm (local time) in Kusadasi, Turkey when we heard the news that rocked the world on "9/11". We left that port about 4:45 pm and arrived the next day around noon in Istanbul, Turkey. We were docked in Istanbul until September 16 because we could not get a flight out of Turkey to return to North America.

I want to commend and thank Princess for doing a fantastic job of making sure the cruise passengers were retuned to their original home destinations. They let us stay on the cruise ship until arrangements to return home were confirmed. Princess handled all travel arrangements and provided all flights, shuttles, and accomodations without any extra charges to the passengers. The ship left Istanbul on September 16 to return to Barcelona, Spain. The group I was in disembarked in Athens, Greece on September 17 to fly out of the Athens airport to North America.

This cruise was a trip of a lifetime for my family, and on "9/11" it became a trip we will certainly never forget.