I just woke up to the sad news of the earthquake in Japan; 8.9 magnitude. Also, tsunami warnings are posted for Hawaii as well as the west coast of the U.S. and other countries.

I pray our friends on LCT in Hawaii and other areas under the warnings are kept safe!!!

me too

We learned the news this morning from our room service waiter (I had not turned on the TV yet). Needless to say, much of the crew from the Phillipines, Bali and Indonesia were worried about family back home. But so far, it appears the tsunami effects for those countries have not been too serious.

My good friend is was at the Tokyo airport when it hit. I watched a video he took while the earthquake was happening, very scary stuff! He says they are not allowed to leave the airport. Here is a picture of his view now:

Wes just sent me this link of some incredible NY Times earthquake pics

We are enroute home from spending 2 weeks in Vietnam. Fortunately our flight left Tokyo 1 1/2 hours before the earthquake hit. The photos we have seen on the TVs in DFW look horrible.

I have family and friends in Tokyo and Yokohama and so far they seem to be OK just a bit rattled. It took they anywhere from 1-1/2 hours to 7-1/2 hours to get home. No transportation and all the phone lines were down but seem to be working for them.

Unbelievable devastation - my heart goes out to everyone.

My thoughts and prayers are with all that were in harm's way.
This is the only information I have found thus far regarding cruise ships that may have been near Japan or in the Pacific Ocean.
http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/03/...the-japan-earthquake-and-hawaii-tsunami/

wow Leslie, glad you got out and are on your way home. How was the rest of the trip?

Our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone affected by this horrible earthquake. And Leslie, my gosh what a close call - glad you and Brad are well and safe.

So glad you are safe Leslie and Brad! Our daughter in law Mariko has her entire family there. Her parents are OK, still waiting word on Her best friend and family that live in the town that was hit. It is so awful, our poor Mariko is very worried. Prayers to all.

Thoughts and Prayers go to everyone up there.

Just an update on cruise ships.
QM2's next call on her WC was to have been Nagasaki, but according to a posting on the CC Roll Call , she will no longer be going there.
Sun Princess is on her way up there from Australia, doing her annual 32 day Cherry Blossom cruise. Japan is the featured highlight and any calls there are now very much in doubt.

Such devastation! Would love to hear from Masaki and Captn John from Hawaii to hear that they're all safe and from LCT Westcoasters as well!

We're fine in Hawaii, thanks for being concerned! But our hearts are heavy given the situation in Japan. My family isn't affected in Japan but the devastation in the northeast portion of Japan affects all of us ... :(

Some members of the group that welcomed the Mariner to Sendai 18 months ago. I don't know any by name, but wishing the best for these and all people of that region.

Betty: It's so hard to believe that we were there and that most of what we saw isn't there now. It's just so shocking and sad. Lee

Aloha
Masaki glad to hear all is well with you and your family !
Christina and I are fine. Our home is located above 500ft.
Our real concern is with the people having to deal with such a devastating event.

We are also being selfish because we are scheduled to go through Narita on our way to Bangkok for a cruise on the Voyager next month. Just hope that things get better for Japan. We can always reroute ourselves.
John

I think that there is a reminder to all of us who travel that there are many unexpected things that can happen as we venture out.

We are in Kona and we arrived as the tsunami warning was given. We got to our hotel which was closed as we arrived. We had no food or water and the stores were also closed. People were sent to a parking lot to wait it out. There was a lot of damage to the buildings. A house next to the hotel was severely damaged.

We were lucky we were here with our friends for a wedding and we had a place for all of us to go. We faced really only a minor inconvenience.

But it's sure made us think about having a plan when we travel to deal with disaster.