Cruise ship rescues American students trapped in Israel
Cruise lines and cruise ships are widely known for their vacation value and appeal, but they can be much more. Cruise ships, as well as all commercial vessels at sea — like shipping containers, freighters, and transport ships — are required by maritime law to aid vessels that are in peril, and even passengers stranded at sea when their vessel breaks down.
Cruise ships have rescued hundreds of stranded people to include migrants left adrift at sea and in some cases, people floating at sea from a sunken vessel or from falling overboard.
In recent years, cruise ships have been used for events like the 2005 Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville. The city of Jacksonville contracted with several cruise lines to offer hotel space on cruise ships.
It was reported that when hosting a super bowl, there are requirements like having enough security, emergency services, transportation, and lodging for attendees from out of town.
In this case, Jacksonville contracted five cruise ships, Carnival Miracle, Holland America Zaandam, Zuiderdam, Volendam, and a ship from Reagent Seven Seas.
It cost the city $11 million to charter the five cruise ships turned into mere floating hotels, as reported by Mitch Stacy from the Associated Press.
Without them, the city would not have had enough lodging to host the spectacular Super Bowl where the New England Patriots squeaked out a win over the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21.
Cruise ships have also been used for other big world events, such as the 2009 Olympics in Barcelona, and as humanitarian assistance — like in Scotland and the Netherlands — to house refugees fleeing from Ukraine during the start of the war in 2022.
Cruise ship rescues students in Israel
As of mid-June 2025, Israel had hundreds of young adult students from the U.S. and abroad who were visiting on a Birthright Israel heritage trip to learn firsthand about their culture and history.
With conflicts rising between Israel and Iran, nearly 1,800 American students needed to evacuate immediately. With the airspace above shut down, this would not be an easy venture for so many people traveling at one time.
That's when the cruise line Mano Maritime/Mano Cruise, an Israeli-owned and operated cruise line, sprang into action and lent its cruise ship, the Crown Iris, to the Transport Minister of Israel.
The Crown Iris is a 1,700-plus passenger cruise ship with 750 state rooms. It is 680 feet in length and is just over 40,000 gross tons. The Crown Iris docks up at the port of Haifa, Israel, which it calls home.
Once the ship was secured, a plan was formed to shuttle and move hundreds of people out of Israel to a much safer haven.
On June 17, the ship, loaded to capacity with the students and several others, sailed to the nearby island country of Cyprus. This was a one-way trip to a safe area where they could then arrange to get home.
According to a government official I spoke with yesterday, the U.S. and Florida chartered flights to Cyprus to help retrieve the stranded students and others who were seeking safety.
The cruise ship Crown Iris, known for its vacation appeal, quickly switched to a luxury transport ferry on an 8-10 hour/more than 250-mile journey.
Upon dropping off the student passengers, the cruise ship-turned-ferry then switched gears. It brought Israelis — whose flights were diverted to Cyprus when air spaces over Israel shut down — back home to Israel, arriving on June 20.
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