My wife's Sister was an E9 on the Carl Vinson when 911 happened. They went from being on their way back home, straight to the gulf and started the bombings on Iran and Afghanistan. When their tour was over, my wife and two oldest daughters were able to do this. It was called a Tiger cruise.
They boarded in Pearl Harbor and stayed with the aircraft carrier through to San Diego where they deplaned all of the fighter jets and aircraft, and then on up to Washington where my sister in law was stationed. They said it was one of the coolest experiences they have ever had. They were on about 11 days. Got to sit in on some squadron briefings, watched an air show the pilots put on for the guests including dropping some ordinance out in the ocean. They even have a copy of the tour book that the navy makes for each tour and they are in a couple pictures working out on one of the decks during an excersise.
The only negative was that since it was so close after 911, and my family only purchased one way tickets to Honolulu, consequently they were basically stripped searched. My daughters being pretty young at the time were upset a bit by it, but they got over it pretty quickly when they got to Hawaii.
You should have a blast.
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