Cruise ship sets sail after FBI search
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U.S. Coast Guard agents board the Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas Wednesday.
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Federal agents diverted a cruise ship to Honolulu after two threatening notes were found in a restroom. KHNL's Stephanie Lum reports (April 24)
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HONOLULU, Hawaii (CNN) -- A Royal Caribbean cruise ship was allowed to continue on its way early Thursday after federal agents searched the vessel following the discovery of written threats in a women's restroom, the FBI said in a statement.
Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas was diverted Wednesday 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.
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 onboard individually about two handwritten notes threatening "acts of terrorism" found in a ladies' restroom early Wednesday.
"The protective sweep of the ship did not identify any items to corroborate the threats contained in two separate notes found onboard Legend of the Seas," Dzwilewski said in a statement.
The vessel, with 2,400 people onboard, 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 onboard, he said.
Agents with bomb-sniffing dogs boarded the ship Wednesday afternoon while investigators questioned those onboard about the notes, he said.
Melissa Notice, a passenger from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, spoke to CNN by cell phone from 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.
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.
