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‘Almost Got Away With the Perfect Crime': Attorney Gets Life in Prison for Ex-Wife's Cruise Ship Murder

Lonnie loren kocontes, 62, is a "very smart, very educated'' attorney, but "he made a very critical mistake,'' orange county district attorney todd spitzer said., by city news service • published september 18, 2020 • updated on september 19, 2020 at 5:00 pm.

A former Irvine attorney was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing his ex-wife and throwing her body overboard while on a Mediterranean cruise to solve his financial disputes with the victim.

Lonnie Loren Kocontes , 62, was convicted June 15 of murder with a special-circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain in the killing of 52-year- old Micki Kanesaki, whose body was recovered by the crew of a research vessel on May 28, 2006, in the Mediterranean Sea near Italy.

The victim's brother, Toshi Kanesaki, told the defendant, "You, Lonnie, executed my younger sister on that Mediterranean cruise ship... You strangled Micki... then you threw her body overboard like trash... You are a vicious criminal, evil person, a cold-blooded killer, a sociopath.''

Toshi Kanesaki said his little sister "got the last revenge. Her body was found 36 hours later... You deserve life in prison without the possibility of parole. You are rotten to the core. I never want to see you again.''

When Kocontes attempted to accuse Toshi Kanesaki of "abandoning'' his sister, Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard King cut him off, saying there was "no relevancy'' to the comments. King admonished him to refrain from attacking the victim's brother.

"I stood by Micki Kanesaki through significant periods of depression,'' Kocontes said. "I went to counseling with her... I did everything I could to help Micki Kanesaki to overcome her depression. I did not murder Micki Kanesaki.''

Kocontes "almost got away with the perfect crime,'' Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer told reporters after the verdict was handed down.

He said the defendant strangled the victim before throwing her overboard, so there was no way for her lungs to fill up with water and the body floated instead of sinking, allowing it to be found. Kocontes is a "very smart, very educated'' attorney, but "he made a very critical mistake,'' Spitzer said, adding that the defendant picked the cruise ship because every room "had a direct drop'' to the water.

In her opening statement of the trial -- which began in February and was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic -- Senior Deputy District Attorney Susan Price said Kanesaki, at the time, "was with a man who no longer loved'' Kocontes and had remained with her for "financial'' reasons.

"Had they not found her body, we would never know she was strangled and was dead before she ever hit the water,'' Price said.

Kocontes, most recently a resident of Safety Harbor, Florida, and met Kanesaki while working at a Los Angeles law firm, where he was an attorney and she was a paralegal, Price said. They married in 1995 and divorced in 2002, but continued living together in Ladera Ranch and took steps to split up their assets to protect him from threatened litigation, she said.

Irvine Attorney Convicted in Ex-Wife's Cruise Ship Murder

Trial Begins for Irvine Husband Accused of Strangling Ex-Wife on Cruise

She suffered from severe arthritis and couldn't work as a paralegal any longer, so she turned to investing, according to the prosecutor.

Kocontes met a woman, Amy Nguyen, through a dating website in 2002 and they had an intimate relationship while the defendant continued living with Kanesaki, who initially "had no idea this affair was happening,'' Price said.

Kocontes' former best friend, Bill Price, told investigators that "nothing mattered more to (Kocontes) than money and sex,'' the prosecutor said.

She said Kocontes married Nguyen in Las Vegas in 2005 and the two moved in together in Orange. In September of that year, he filed a motion in court to have a judge force Kanesaki to sell their Ladera Ranch home, Price said.

"There was a dispute between the two whose house this was,'' she said, adding Kanesaki did not want to sell the residence or move out.

Eventually, Kocontes dropped the issue, left Nguyen and moved back in with Kanesaki, but told Nguyen he loved her and did not want to leave her, the prosecutor said.

Kocontes then had new wills drawn up for himself and Kanesaki, according to Price, who said Kocontes was named as executor of his ex-wife's estate.

Soon after, the two made plans to go on a cruise, which was unusual because he seldom went on vacation and was known for his thriftiness, Price said. Before the trip, Kocontes asked his best friend, a private investigator and retired cop, about security on cruise ships, such as surveillance cameras, she said.

Kocontes picked an unusual cruise vacation for Americans because it required a flight to Minnesota and then London before boarding the ship in Spain, Price said. The travel agent was concerned his client might not like it because it was a no-frills trip aboard a converted ferry, she said.

Kocontes "specifically asked for a balcony room. It was very important to him,'' the prosecutor said.

On the first day of the cruise, the defendant and Kanesaki opted for a daylong Sicily excursion. They returned to the ship, where they had dinner and shared a bottle of wine before going to a casino and seeing a show, Price said.

He told investigators he woke up about 4:30 a.m. on May 26, 2006, and realized she was missing. Kocontes told investigators that Kanesaki may have gotten nauseous from the wine and fell overboard, Price said.

The defendant was put up in a hotel in Naples, but he stayed just a day and returned home before his ex-wife's body was found, Price said. Instead of going to his home in Ladera Ranch, he went to Nguyen's house, where they resumed their intimate relationship, she said.

An autopsy showed Kanesaki's lungs "were completely free of water'' and she had "severe hemorrhaging around her neck,'' which was "consistent with strangulation,'' Price said. The pathologist, Dr. Pietrantonio Ricci told investigators that the victim also sustained a skull fracture or hemorrhaging in her brain, Price said.

Nguyen told investigators that at some point, Kocontes told her that he paid his friend Price to kill Kanesaki and hurl her overboard, according to the prosecutor, who said the friend did not go on the cruise. Nguyen lied to a federal grand jury in 2006 that was investigating the killing, Price alleged.

Kanesaki's niece, Julie Saranita, recorded phone conversations with Kocontes while she was cooperating with FBI agents, according to Price, who played some of the conversations for jurors during her opening statement.

Kocontes was angered when Saranita confronted him with the autopsy results and asked him if he had anything to do with her aunt's death, Price said.

While federal agents were looking into the death, Kocontes at some point talked Nguyen into removing a hard drive from one of his computers in his Irvine office, Price said. She lied to the federal grand jury because Kocontes threatened to kill her and make it look like an accident, Price alleged.

Kocontes' attorney, Denise Gragg, told jurors "there are very few things in this case that are not contested,'' but one of the main differences involves the relationship between the defendant and the victim.

Kanesaki had to stop working because of her arthritis and her only income was disability payments, Gragg said. Kocontes was the "breadwinner'' in the marriage, Gragg said.

They split up their assets due to the threatened litigation, but it never materialized, Gragg said. Kocontes continued to support Kanesaki from 2002 to 2005 even though he had "no legal obligation to do so,'' she said, telling jurors they would hear conflicting evidence about the cause of death.

"Essentially, her neck was broken,'' which was "consistent with someone who hits the water... consistent with a fall,'' Gragg said.

Gragg also told jurors that they would hear "evidence that Amy Nguyen is a liar'' and about her client's best friend's "role in the changing of her story.''

Kocontes was also charged with attempting to solicit the murder of Nguyen while he was in jail , but prosecutors moved to dismiss that case since the defendant was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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Former Attorney Lures Ex-Wife onto Cruise, Then Throws Her Body Overboard

She thought it was the vacation of a lifetime, but  Micki Kanesaki would never survive the Italian cruise with her ex-husband. 

When Micki Kanesaki boarded the Island Escape for a breathtaking Italian cruise, she believed she was rekindling her romance with ex-husband Lonnie Kocontes . 

How to Watch

Catch up on Dateline: Unforgettable on Peacock or the Oxygen App .

But the trip would cost her life. 

Micki disappeared from the boat on May 26, 2006, according to Oxygen’s Dateline: Unforgettable . It could have been a tragic accident or a decision by Micki to take her own life, but after her body was discovered the next day floating in the Mediterranean Sea, a medical examiner would reach a chilling conclusion: The 52-year-old had been murdered. 

To bring the murderer to justice, however, would take years and involve an investigation that used undercover tactics and relied on help from some unexpected sources. 

Who was Micki Kanesaki?

Micki Kanesaki’s trip on another boat decades earlier had completely transformed her life. In 1960, Micki traveled from Japan with her family to their new home in the United States.

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“Micki was maybe 5 or 6 and I was 8,” her brother Toshi Kanesaki recalled. “I think when you’re that young, we’re here in this strange country, but it’s kind of fun and exciting.” 

As an adult, Micki went on to work as a secretary at a high-powered law firm in Los Angeles. 

”Micki was smart, beautiful, had a great sense of humor,” her coworker Susan White recalled.  

It was at the law firm that Micki met “fireball” attorney Lonnie Kocontes and a romance blossomed. The couple bought a house together in Orange County, California and got married in 1995. 

“He was charming. She definitely thought that,” her niece Julie Saranita told Dateline reporter Josh Mankiewicz . “I think she liked that he had similar interests, that he was a hard worker and she appreciated that.” 

But not long after the couple tied the knot, the marriage began to crumble. Micki told coworkers Lonnie was controlling, especially when it came to the couple’s finances. Six years after they said “I do,” the couple got divorced and Lonnie moved to a downtown apartment near his office.

How did Micki Kanesaki die?

But in 2006, the pair were hoping to give their relationship another shot. 

“He said he was going to change, he was going to work less, and things were going to be better,” Sanarita said. “She was just so happy.” 

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Lonnie even purchased tickets for a Mediterranean cruise. They had been planning to make the voyage with another couple, their close friends Bill Price and Susan McQueen, but when Susan’s mom needed a sudden surgery their guests were forced to drop out of the vacation. 

Just two days into the cruise, Micki vanished. Lonnie would later tell the FBI that he and Micki had enjoyed some wine back in their room, before she left to go find some herbal tea. He took an Ambien and went to sleep and when he woke up around 4:30 a.m. on May 26, 2006, Micki still hadn’t returned. 

“He was alarmed, so he went looking for her,” FBI agent Rick Simpson said. 

The crew on the boat were notified and searched the vessel but there was no sign of Micki anywhere. The Italian Coast Guard began to search the open water for any sign of the missing 52-year-old. 

“Such a search is very challenging and very difficult because when a person disappears in open waters it’s very difficult to find a body,” Italian journalist Marco Grasso explained.

The  cruise ship docked in Naples and was scheduled to head out later that night. Lonnie packed his suitcase and Micki’s belongings and disembarked from the ship. He called his close friends Bill Price and Susan McQueen, who happened to run their own private investigations firm. They said he seemed scared and panicked on the phone.

“He was claiming that he was being treated unjustly, that no one spoke English and that everyone was just being mean to him, treating him as if he had done something wrong,” McQueen remembered. “He was a disheveled mess and he was acting fearful.” 

They decided it might be best for Lonnie to leave the country and Price booked him a ticket back to the United States less than 48 hours after his ex-wife disappeared. 

By the afternoon of May 27, 2008, Lonnie had already flown home when a scientific research boat discovered Micki’s body floating in the Mediterranean Sea. 

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The autopsy, conducted on June 16, concluded that Micki had been murdered. Her body was badly bruised, especially at the base of her neck, suggesting she had been strangled. Even more telling, there was no water discovered in her lungs, meaning that Micki was already dead before she entered the water.

Who killed Micki Kanesaki?

From the beginning suspicion fell on Lonnie, who had been the last known person to see his ex-wife alive. Since the crime happened to an American citizen overseas, it automatically came under the jurisdiction of the FBI to investigate. 

The FBI asked Micki’s niece to secretly record her phone conversations with Lonnie and she noticed something disturbing. Lonnie repeatedly referred to his ex-wife as “the body” during their talks, rather than use her name or call her his wife. 

“He was fixated on the condition of the body, he said multiple times, ‘I need to see the body, I need the condition of the body, I don’t know what’s going on with the body,’” Saranita recalled. 

Price, a former police officer from Washington D.C., and McQueen had been staunch supporters of their close friend from the beginning, but there were several details of the case that troubled them. 

Price learned that after Micki disappeared, Lonnie flew home to California and immediately went to visit a girlfriend — who had also once been married to him — Amy Nguyen. 

When they arranged for him to take a lie detector test to clear his name, Lonnie failed it. But it was a conversation they had with Nguyen in January 2009 that would remove any doubt about their suspicions.

RELATED: Who Really Killed Teresa Halbach? Dateline Dives into the Controversial Steven Avery Case

Nguyen, whose relationship with Lonnie had soured, told the couple that Lonnie had planned to kill his ex-wife on the cruise ship. 

“Her fear told me she was telling the truth with us,” McQueen told the show.

They recorded the conversation and passed it to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, but Nguyen initially refused to cooperate with authorities. She eventually agreed to cooperate after she was given immunity for previous false testimony she had given at a grand jury.

Was Lonnie Kocontes convicted of murder? 

Lonnie was arrested and charged with Micki’s murder. 

As for a possible motive? Simpson discovered that Lonnie inherited the couple’s nearly $2 million estate upon Micki’s death.

The largely circumstantial case finally went before a jury in 2020, but was briefly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. After a judge ruled the trial needed to continue, Lonnie took the stand himself in his own defense, describing Micki as having a volatile temper and denying harming his ex-wife.

RELATED: Graduate Student's Fatal Shooting Reveals A Secret Affair, But Who Is The Killer?

He also claimed that Nguyen had been lying and denied ever telling her he wanted to harm Micki.

But a jury wouldn’t buy his story. He was convicted of first-degree murder for financial gain and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

“I’ve reported on plenty of cold blooded crimes committed by husbands and wives but this murder was especially heinous because Lonnie convinced Micki that their Mediterranean cruise was going to remake their marriage, when in fact, it was going to end her life,” Mankiewicz said of what made the case unforgettable.

Dateline: Unforgettable

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Dateline: Unforgettable: Where Was Micki Kanesaki’s Body Found?

Dateline: Unforgettable will chronicle Micki Kanesaki’s tragic murder case while she was on a cruise. The episode is titled “Open Water” and it will air on Oxygen this Wednesday, November 22, 2023, at 8 p.m. ET .

The official synopsis says, “A Mediterranean cruise meant to rekindle the love between a woman and her ex-husband leads to her disappearance; the investigation reveals secret recordings and an undercover hitman; Josh Mankiewicz reflects on the cold-blooded crime.”

In May 2006, Micki Kanesaki went on a cruise with her ex-husband, Lonnie Kocontes, but she strangely went missing. The duo was reportedly reconnecting at the time. Two days later, a research vessel crew found her body floating off the coast of Paola, Italy, in the Mediterranean Sea. A subsequent autopsy revealed that the 53-year-old died of strangulation.

Micki Kanesaki’s killer: Who murdered her and why?

According to Sportskeeda, Micki Kanesaki boarded the cruise ship with her ex-husband and former Irvine lawyer Lonnie Kocontes on May 21, 2006. She went missing in the early hours of May 26. Kocontes claimed they spent the night together before he took a sleeping pill and went to sleep. He even suggested that she might have fallen overboard.

U.S. Sun reported that as per NBC Los Angeles, a research vessel crew found Kanesaki’s body in the Mediterranean Sea near Italy on May 28. The 52-year-old’s cause of death was later declared to be strangulation. Moreover, the autopsy stated that her lungs “were completely free of water” and she had “severe hemorrhaging around her neck, consistent with strangulation.”

The outlet further reported that the ex-husband, Lonnie Kocontes, “strangled the victim before throwing her overboard.” This was confirmed by Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. He further mentioned that “there was no way for her lungs to fill up with water.” Hence, “the body floated instead of sinking, allowing it to be found.”

According to NBC Los Angeles , Kanesaki and Kocontes had divorced in 2002 but were disputing over the sale of their Ladera Ranch home. Senior Deputy District Attorney Susan Price alleged that before the murder, “Kocontes then had new wills drawn up for himself and Kanesaki.” He was the executor of the victim’s estate when she died.

In June 2020, the case against Kocontes resulted in his conviction “with a special-circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain.” That same year, in September, he received a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole. The New York Post stated that he committed the crime to inherit up to $1 million, as per the Orange County DA Office.

The post Dateline: Unforgettable: Where Was Micki Kanesaki’s Body Found? appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More .

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Lonnie Loren Kocontes: Where is Micki Kanesaki’s Ex-Husband Now?

NBC’s ‘ Dateline : Open Water’ examines the May 2006 murder of 52-year-old Micki Kanesaki, a Californian woman who was strangled to death and then thrown overboard from a cruise ship sailing around the Mediterranean Sea. As the years passed by and the investigations into the matter proceeded, it turned out that Micki’s ex-husband, Lonnie Loren Kocontes, the one who had taken her on that cruise, killed her in an attempt to inherit her money.

Who Is Lonnie Loren Kocontes?

Lonnie Loren Kocontes, a former Californian lawyer, wanted his second ex-wife, Micki Kanesaki, dead so that he could financially benefit from the loss. After all, according to Orange County prosecutors, Lonnie stood to gain more than $1 million as the beneficiary of several bank accounts and the sale of a home Micki didn’t want to put on the market if she suddenly passed away. And Lonnie’s third wife, Amy Nguyen – whom he had married and divorced before Micki’s murder – testified to his plans.

Amy claimed that Lonnie and his best friend, Bill Price, who worked as a private investigator, had conspired to kill Micki on the cruise ship. “[Lonnie told me] that Bill’s people will throw Micki in the water, and Bill and his girlfriend will be his witness,” Amy said in court in 2020, adding that when the initial plan didn’t work out, Lonnie revealed that “he would have to take matters into his own hands.” Amy didn’t think that her ex-husband was serious at that time, which is why she didn’t go to the authorities.

But by the time she did come clean to law enforcement in 2013, it was already too late. The investigators subsequently arrested Lonnie from his Safety Harbor, Florida, home, from where he was extradited to California to stand trial. However, even though the former lawyer had drafted Micki’s will, naming himself to be the sole executor and beneficiary, he maintained his innocence for her murder, claiming that he had taken a sleeping pill on May 25, 2006, and had woken up to find Micki missing.

Lonnie Loren Kocontes is Imprisoned at RJ Donovan Correctional Facility

Lonnie Loren Kocontes’ murder trial kept getting delayed as it took the authorities years to determine whether or not the Orange County DA’s Office should even try the case since the crime took place in international waters. Ultimately, though, the matter was allowed to proceed on local soil itself, under the belief that Lonnie had carefully planned for it in California itself. The months-long trial, which began in February 2020, also saw a lengthy interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But, in the end, in June, with the myriad of testimonies and evidence against Lonnie, he was convicted of first-degree murder with a special circumstance allegation of financial gain against him. Thus, in September 2020, Lonnie was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in connection with Micki Kanesaki’s homicide. He “almost got away with murder,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement after the sentencing.

“Except for the fact that he strangled her to death before he threw her body overboard. Because she died before she hit the water, her lungs were filled with air… So she floated. And by a miracle, her body was discovered. That miscalculation allowed us to convict him of murder.” Lonnie was also charged with scheming to kill Amy Nguyen for testifying against him, but those were dismissed in light of his life sentence. Therefore, today, the 65-year-old, who has been behind bars since his initial arrest in 2013, is incarcerated at the medium-maximum security RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in unincorporated southern San Diego County, California.

Read More: Where Is Amy Nguyen Now?

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Costa Concordia Shipwreck Survivor Tales On Dateline

by 2Paragraphs in Culture | March 1, 2015

On January 13, 2012 the Costa Concordia was wrecked off the coast of Isola del Giglio. The ship, under command of Captain Francesco Schettino , struck a rock in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The wreck tore a gash on her hull which caused flooding in the engine room, resulting in power loss. “International maritime law requires all passengers to be evacuated within 30 minutes of an order to abandon ship,” but in the case of the Costa Concordia it took more than 6 hours and not all passengers were evacuated. There were 4,252 people on the ship. About 300 passengers were left on board after the evacuation, most of whom were rescued by helicopter or motorboats in the area. 32 people died. Captain Schettino left the ship prematurely.

[ Guilty Costa Concordia Captain Schettino Remains Free ]

On 11 February 2015, Schettino was found guilty of manslaughter of 32 passengers and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Now six of the survivors of the Costa Corcordia shipwreck are talking about their experiences with American TV network NBC. The three-part documentary series, Escape , will air Sunday, March 1 at 9pm on NBC’s Dateline.

Dateline Survivor: Miracle on the Wild Coast

• Episode aired May 23, 2010

A harrowing, dramatic story of heroism at sea after a cruise ship starts to take on water and sink with nearly 600 people on board. Almost every moment of the crisis was captured on home vid... Read all A harrowing, dramatic story of heroism at sea after a cruise ship starts to take on water and sink with nearly 600 people on board. Almost every moment of the crisis was captured on home video. How did the passengers survive after some crew members abandoned ship? A harrowing, dramatic story of heroism at sea after a cruise ship starts to take on water and sink with nearly 600 people on board. Almost every moment of the crisis was captured on home video. How did the passengers survive after some crew members abandoned ship?

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Crime and Public Safety

Crime and public safety | lonnie kocontes, ex-orange county lawyer who killed ex-wife on ship, is ‘dateline’ focus.

Lonnie Kocontes was sentenced last year to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 2006 murder of Micki Kanesaki. “Dateline’s” episode tells the story of a Mediterranean cruise that turned deadly and the long-running investigation that culminated with a murder conviction.

Dateline’s “Open Water” is scheduled to first air Friday, Jan. 8, at 9 p.m.

During his trial, prosecutors described how Kocontes meticulously planned to kill Kanesaki, his third wife, in an attempt to make it look like an accident. He chose a balcony room on a budget cruise ship that would allow him to drop her body into the sea without it hitting any part of the ship.

Two days after her disappearance, Kanesaki’s body was discovered in international waters, with an autopsy determining she was strangled and died before hitting the water. Suspicion immediately turned to Kocontes, who has continually denied playing a role in her death.

Kocontes claimed the cruise was meant to rekindle his and Kanesaki’s relationship. But Kocontes’ fourth wife testified that Kocontes had threatened to kill Kanesaki, or have her killed, on the cruise. A former friend of Kocontes testified that Kocontes feared he would have to split his assets with Kanesaki.

Kocontes was later charged with soliciting other inmates to kill his fourth wife to prevent her from testifying in his murder trial.

Among those interviewed in the Dateline episode: Bill Price and Susan McQueen, former friends of Kocontes who provided key testimony against him in the trial; Assistant District Attorney Susan Price and Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt, who both prosecuted Kocontes; and Toshi Kanesaki, Micki Kanesaki’s brother who attended the entire months-long trial.

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Crossing the international date line on a cruise ship from the US ⚓ This was my international date line cruise sailing west

I crossed the international date line on a cruise ship going west, which is the direction of going from the US to Asia.

What is it like to cross the international date line on a cruise ship?!

Well, it is really more about the anticipation that you build up yourself.

Like, here is how Celebrity Cruises builds up the excitement of crossing the international date line by cruise ship:

A cruise across the International Date Line is a once-in-a-lifetime event, particularly when you celebrate the time change from a luxurious cruise ship. Itineraries on Celebrity Solstice or Celebrity Eclipse to the South Pacific, Japan and the Bering Sea, or Hawaii, Tahiti and Bora Bora all spend a day at sea cruising past the International Date Line. Cross “time travel” off your bucket list when you embark on a transpacific cruise which takes you across the famous International Date Line. This imaginary marker runs between the North and South Poles and is located in the center of the Bering Sea. When you travel east across it, you’ll “travel” backward in time by 24 hours. When you’re traveling west, crossing the International Date Line means you’ll set your clock exactly 24 hours ahead.

You can search for international date line cruises with Celebrity Cruises .

If you don’t care about it, then it’s like nothing happened.

Depending on which direction you’re going, you’ll either skip a day, or you’ll repeat a day.

If you’re crossing the international date line on a cruise ship, it means that you’re already at sea for days on it, so you will hardly notice that you suddenly skipped a day or that you have an extra day at sea.

I was on a Princess cruise, and I looked in the cruise activities schedule and even walked around the cruise ship (a few times) the evening before we were going to be skipping a day, and I did not see anything special going on.

I was thinking maybe they would be handing out a free glass of champagne or something, NYE-style!

But no, there was nothing.

I got my excitement from constantly look at google maps and the GPS location!

Yes, you can follow along on google maps to know when you’re getting close to the international date line!

I found that I did have to be out on the open deck in order for the GPS to work.

It didn’t work in my cabin. I even had a balcony and tried to get outside but it still didn’t really work for me.

So really, if you want to follow along on google maps, you’ll want to be somewhere on the cruise ship with open skies.

What happens when a cruise ship crosses the international date line from east to west?!

So if you are on an international date line cruise, as the days go on, you will be adjusting an hour on a sea day here and an hour a sea day there.

Sailing from California to the international date line, there were several days over the course of the cruise in which the clock was set one hour back overnight.

In the same way that happens every fall when the clocks “fall back” for daylight savings time.

So basically, if you are on a cruise ship from California that includes crossing the international date line from east to west, you have several 25-hour days!

On the flip side, if you’re going in the opposite direction, if you are on a cruise ship crossing the international date line from west to east, you will have several 23-hour days .

Skipping a day on a cruise that crosses the international date line

I did a transpacific cruise from California to Japan on the Princess cruise ship called the Diamond Princess.

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Since this is a cruise ship sailing from east to west, it means that it skips a day!

This cruise crossed the international date line overnight.

On the cruise itineraries, it seems like they just put in a certain time as a filler. That is not necessarily when you will actually cross the international date line.

It seemed like we would be actually crossing the international date line in the overnight hours so I went to sleep.

Then, when I woke up the next morning, we were on the other side of the international date line!

How can you go on an international date line cruise from the United States?

From the US, the most common cruises that cross the international date line are cruises from California to the South Pacific, Australia, and/or New Zealand. These cruises will also stop by Hawaii.

Search: Princess cruises

For example, you can filter the search results so that the “destination” will include Tahiti, the South Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand. You can then further filter so that the “start/end port” will include all west coast cities. Choose Hawaii, all California ports, Seattle, and Vancouver in Canada, if they are there! You also might find it helpful to sort by “date.” (The default is the lowest price cruises show up first.)

Look through the cruises and look out for “international date line” on the cruise itinerary!

You are more likely to find one-way cruises, although you may also find the rare round trip cruise to the South Pacific from California.

A cruise that crosses the international date line will be long cruises with a lot of sea days!

Expect international date line cruises from the US to be over 20 days long.

Certificate for crossing the international date line by cruise ship

While there were no specific cruise activities around crossing the international date line, we did get a certificate to “certify” that we crossed the international date line! 😂

The certificate was titled “Crossing the International Date Line” and had the following text:

This is to certify that on 24 February 2023, [name] was aboard the mv Diamond Princess when the vessel crossed the International Dateline at the following position: Latitude 18° 42′ N and Longitude 180° 00′ W/E

The certificate was made official by being signed by the captain of the ship (Stefano Ravera) and the Cruise Director of the ship (Sophie Gideon). 😂

It was a fun certificate to receive!

HAPPY CRUISING ACROSS THE INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE!

NEXT: Watch the sea days from my 25-day transpacific cruise on youtube !

• Royal Caribbean International

Crossing Int'l Dateline on a cruise ship???

By stickyshocker , November 29, 2016 in Royal Caribbean International

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stickyshocker

Last night while going thru our Anthem reservations, DW pitched a curveball: Cancel this and Rhapsody and take a serious look at that Explorer sailing that crosses the International dateline, my take was "we've done it a few many times on a plane" to which she replied "things could be different on a ship". Has anyone done this before?Party time? I really don't know which questions to ask because I really don't know what to make of this, except that it will eat up 4 of my 6 weeks of holiday next year and don't even know what it's worth. Thank you in advance for sharing your insights and past experiences:)

-pre cruise isn't an issue, I got relatives in Sydney.

-interior cabin to offset the airfare.

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Last night while going thru our Anthem reservations, DW pitched a curveball: Cancel this and Rhapsody and take a serious look at that Explorer sailing that crosses the International dateline, my take was "we've done it a few many times on a plane" to which she replied "things could be different on a ship". Has anyone done this before?Party time? I really don't know which questions to ask because I really don't know what to make of this, except that it will eat up 4 of my 6 weeks of holiday next year and don't even know what it's worth. Thank you in advance for sharing your insights and past experiences:)   xs: -pre cruise isn't an issue, I got relatives in Sydney. -interior cabin to offset the airfare.

I've done it a few times on P&O. They have a crossing the line ceremony to celebrate. On one of them the captain was thrown into the pool, covered in gunge! You have to ask Neptune for permission and after crossing the line you change from a Pollywog to a Shellback!! I'm not sure what other other lines do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-crossing_ceremony

Changing from a polliwog to a trusty shellback happens when you cross the equator. Crossing the international dateline means you lose a day, or conversely, have the same day twice.

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I've done it a few times on P&O. They have a crossing the line ceremony to celebrate. On one of them the captain was thrown into the pool, covered in gunge! You have to ask Neptune for permission and after crossing the line you change from a Pollywog to a Shellback!! I'm not sure what other other lines do. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-crossing_ceremony

I'll find out more about those labels.I'll be more happy if Royal throws a happy hour once we crosses. Thanks

Changing from a polliwog to a trusty shellback happens when you cross the equator. Crossing the international dateline means you lose a day, or conversely, have the same day twice.     Sent from my iPad using Forums

ok, either I gain one sea day or lose one.

Desert Cruizers

We had a ceremony on the Radiance, getting egged, flowered etc, might be different on other ships. Our CD got tossed in the pool. We stayed on the same day heading East. It was a lot of fun.

crossing the dateline entitles one to enter the Domain of the Golden Dragon ...

http://tiffanypublishing.com/certificates/golden-dragon/

Lol! Who's throwin' the eggs?

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Crossed on the Legend a few years ago ENS-HNL-SYD. The ceremony was a BLAST. Crossing again in '18 on the Explorer, but northbound this time SYD to SEA.

Just do it. Bucket list stuff.

We crossed the dateline and equator on the Legend of the Seas back in 2003. Dateline, we had two Tuesdays. Equator, the shellback Polywog, Neptune pool thing.

I think the equator thing is somewhat meaningful, dateline not so much. The party was fine, but not OMG.

CruisinShips

I always find that if I buy something onboard before crossing the International Date Line, I can buy it again after, and then challenge the fact that i could have bought it twice at the exact same time.

What kind of flowers did they use?

We sailed it 2014 on Radiance and will be doing it again Apr 2017 on Explorer. They have a party on deck with crew and cruisers. There are a lot of sea days which is very relaxing. this cruise is hitting different ports we took 2 years ago.

If you have not been to Australia before you may want to get there a few days early to venture around Sydney and the surrounding area. Go out and look at the thread for the sailing Apr 2017 Explorer.

We sailed it 2014 on Radiance and will be doing it again Apr 2017 on Explorer. They have a party on deck with crew and cruisers. There are a lot of sea days which is very relaxing. this cruise is hitting different ports we took 2 years ago.   If you have not been to Australia before you may want to get there a few days early to venture around Sydney and the surrounding area. Go out and look at the thread for the sailing Apr 2017 Explorer.

April 2017 Explorer is the sailing we we're lookin' at and if you go back to my original post, that's where Anthem comes into play, its happening on the same month. Do Royal offer this itinerary every year? I might have to include it on my to do list. It's also 24 days, i don't know if i'm ready for this. And it's too soon, but i'll keep fishin'.

We crossed the dateline and equator on the Legend of the Seas back in 2003. Dateline, we had two Tuesdays. Equator, the shellback Polywog, Neptune pool thing.   I think the equator thing is somewhat meaningful, dateline not so much. The party was fine, but not OMG.   JC

background about crossing ceremonies .....

These 'crossing' things have their history in the naval services where they were an excuse for a big "party" {within the limits of what's allowed at sea on a US military vessel aka NO BOOZE} and, sad to say, what we today consider 'hazing'. That is, what was the majority of the party is now considered hazing and cruel and punishable as such. As Commanding Officer of a US military ship in recent times that did crossings I was encouraged to skip the ceremonies. If I allowed them to happen I was required to police the line between fun and hazing ..... As a fan of nautical lore, I allowed and participated, while policing ....

I can say from personal experience that the ceremony from one to the other is no less or no more ... depending on the folks that arrange and perform them. OTOH if you were able to compare what happened on a Navy ship during WWII for one of these events versus what would happen today you'd see BIG differences ... and neither would fly on a cruise ship except as a 'pool game' for a select few volunteers!

my sig states some of the 'societies' to which I've been admitted

Yep, you're right and I'm wrong, sorry. Like I could forget, they stole my birthday the first time I crossed the IDL!

Kokomo91165

How does it work on the east bound transpacifics? When you cross the dateline (say at noon on a Monday), do you then go back to noon Sunday and repeat again?

You have the same day twice! We changed our clocks at midnight. Going west we went from 12th to 14th February. On another cruise on our return (we lost a day going west and gained it coming back) we had March 18 twice!

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