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Low-Flying Navy Plane Causes Carnival Passengers to Panic

Carnival Elation Low Plane

It’s a bird, it’s a plane — no, really, it was a plane flying so close to a cruise ship that passengers freaked out!

In June of 2025, a P-8 Poseidon aircraft was cruising at a low altitude over the ocean when it flew past the 71,909-gross-ton Carnival Elation.

This caused guests to panic as they were unsure if the plane was crashing or if the ship was in any danger of being struck by the aircraft.

A video posted to TikTok by passenger Nathan Miller on June 18 captured the terrifying moments, as well as providing lively commentary about the situation.

“Look at the plane, that is low,” Miller said. “Y’all, this is making me nervous — I do not know what is about to happen.”

The plane was executing a turn but had already flown over the ship close to its water slides, which is what caught Miller’s attention in the first place.

“I heard everybody scream, but I didn’t know what they were screaming about,” he added.

Miller was on a Carnival Elation voyage that departed on June 9 out of Jacksonville, Florida, which called on several ports in the Bahamas.

The video now sits at 1.8 million views, as seeing an unmarked aircraft that large and that close to a ship is unusual; however, the situation ended up being not as scary as it seemed.

Nathan Strang, a retired Naval Flight Officer, shared that the aircraft seen in the video was most likely just collecting routine information about the ship.

“It is doing what is known as a ‘rig,’ which is where they take photographs and record things such as name, flag, and IMO number,” Strang shared.

He went on to add that most of the time, this kind of procedure is not done because it tends to alarm passengers.

There were also concerns over the plane crashing, but most larger aircraft can fly safely about 500 feet above the surface of the ocean and must remain 500 feet away from vessels, structures, and people.

While some were worried about the close proximity of the unmarked aircraft to the ship, at no time was any guest in any amount of danger during the flyover.

Where You Might See Military or Navy Aircraft on Cruises

Seeing a plane such as a P-8 Poseidon aircraft flying close to your cruise ship is not a common occurrence, but of course, it is not impossible.

Vessels departing from and stopping in Florida have a pretty strong chance of coming across either military or government aircraft on their sailings due to the fact that there are 24 active military installations across the state.

Given the proximity of cruise routes to the active military airspace, it is not unusual to see military or navy aircraft.

Carnival Low Plane
Carnival Low Plane (Credit: Nathan Miller)

Ships departing from Fort Lauderdale or Jacksonville — such as Carnival Elation when it came across the P-8 Poseidon — are the most likely to be in the path of these aircraft as the port and airspace overlap.

Read Also: Florida Cruise Ports: Your Full Overview and Guide

Another place you may see these aircraft more often is on cruises departing out of Norfolk, Virginia, as it is also home to the largest naval base in the world.

The Port of Norfolk sits only eight miles from Naval Station Norfolk, which has 134 aircraft that conduct about 100,000 flight operations annually.

While this port is not quite as busy as the ones down in Florida, your chances of spotting Navy aircraft are extremely high at this particular location.

At the end of the day, it is best to be aware of the aircraft you may see while sailing near one of these bases so that you can avoid being as panicked as the passengers were on Carnival Elation.

Low-Flying Navy Plane Causes Carnival Passengers to Panic


Credit Goes To: Source

9 hours ago
By Halo

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