Just off the "O" questions about the Coast Guard.

[matondo]

It was a wonderful cruise. We had two medical evacuations. The last one took place last night. The Coast Guard flew a helicopter out to pick up a critically ill passenger. It was amazing to watch from our balcony and it took two attempts. I cannot imagine the skill that is required to do that while the ship was moving. Question #1 would the helicopter have flown out from San Diego...is their range that far? Question #2 if not San Diego then where did it come from?

 

Question #3...as we were coming in we had at least two Coast Guard boats accompany our ship. That was all I could see from our room. One was quite small and anytime a boat looked like it was coming anywhere near the "O" it looked like it was running interference. I have no memories of anything like this taking place in Port Everglades. What is up with the Coast Guard? I have theories but I knew where to go to get the facts.

[momatibm]

The last time we left FLL we had at least 2 Coast Guard vessels doing 'coverage' so don't know if the Oosterdam got anything special on its return to SD

[matondo]

It could be I never noticed them in the past. Too busy having fun on the sailaway....and sound asleep on the sail in. We were up early this time as we have a three hour time change to deal with and we are trying to get a jump on it.

[Linda&Vern]

Maybe Harbor Police? We noticed them in Norfolk in '04 and '05. They "protect" the ship.

[jd1966]

It was a wonderful cruise. We had two medical evacuations. The last one took place last night. The Coast Guard flew a helicopter out to pick up a critically ill passenger. It was amazing to watch from our balcony and it took two attempts. I cannot imagine the skill that is required to do that while the ship was moving. Question #1 would the helicopter have flown out from San Diego...is their range that far? Question #2 if not San Diego then where did it come from?

 

Question #3...as we were coming in we had at least two Coast Guard boats accompany our ship. That was all I could see from our room. One was quite small and anytime a boat looked like it was coming anywhere near the "O" it looked like it was running interference. I have no memories of anything like this taking place in Port Everglades. What is up with the Coast Guard? I have theories but I knew where to go to get the facts.

Port Everglades always has escorts. Either the Coast Guard or Sheriff's harbor patrol.

[manbehindthecurtain]

It was a wonderful cruise. We had two medical evacuations. The last one took place last night. The Coast Guard flew a helicopter out to pick up a critically ill passenger. It was amazing to watch from our balcony and it took two attempts. I cannot imagine the skill that is required to do that while the ship was moving. Question #1 would the helicopter have flown out from San Diego...is their range that far? Question #2 if not San Diego then where did it come from?

 

Question #3...as we were coming in we had at least two Coast Guard boats accompany our ship. That was all I could see from our room. One was quite small and anytime a boat looked like it was coming anywhere near the "O" it looked like it was running interference. I have no memories of anything like this taking place in Port Everglades. What is up with the Coast Guard? I have theories but I knew where to go to get the facts.

 

1: most likely San Diego yes

2: n/a

3: they are indeed escorts. this does not occur every time, but when they do they enforce a 100yard zone in which no other ships/boats are allowed, at least not without prior approval. They can't do it for every ship every time, the CG is on a budget too...

[mariner]

what curtain said.

 

The escorts are part of the post 9-11 security screen.

[bob brown]

In the years immediately following 9-11, it seemed all passenger ships had Coast Guard and/or harbor police escorts. In recent years, I haven't seen it much, except perhaps when a ship was drawing a lot of attention, such as on a maiden arrival.

I'm not sure of the rescue range of those helicopters from shore. In a couple of situations, including the recent supply mission to the Carnival Splendor, the helicopters launched from the USS Ronald Reagan.

In another noted event a couple of years ago, the Reagan steamed to meet a Princess ship also off the Baja coast and sent a helicopter to rescue a teenage girl stricken with a ruptured appendix. They performed a successful appendectomy in the Reagan's hospital.

[noblepa]

On the last couple of cruises I've been on, I've noticed that we were escorted out of the harbor by a Boston Whaler-type boat, in Coast Guard colors.

 

Did you notice the 50 caliber machine gun? A 50 cal is a pretty big gun. I believe that the rounds are more than a half inch in diameter. It will go right through the engine block of a V-8 automobile engine. The CG takes its job pretty seriously.

 

I'm never awake early enough to notice if we got such an escort on the return to port, but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

Paul

[Krazy Kruizers]

WE have always had escorts out of all US ports and excorts when we arrive back into the US ports.

 

We have seen lots of helicopters come to pick up critially ill passengers. They come from the nearest US if at all possible.

[JJ33328]

It was a wonderful cruise. We had two medical evacuations. The last one took place last night. The Coast Guard flew a helicopter out to pick up a critically ill passenger. It was amazing to watch from our balcony and it took two attempts. I cannot imagine the skill that is required to do that while the ship was moving. Question #1 would the helicopter have flown out from San Diego...is their range that far? Question #2 if not San Diego then where did it come from?

 

Question #3...as we were coming in we had at least two Coast Guard boats accompany our ship. That was all I could see from our room. One was quite small and anytime a boat looked like it was coming anywhere near the "O" it looked like it was running interference. I have no memories of anything like this taking place in Port Everglades. What is up with the Coast Guard? I have theories but I knew where to go to get the facts.

 

Question #1: Probably an HH-60 Jayhawk, they have about 300 mile range and 6-7 hours of endurance. If you were south of there then it definitely came from San Diego. If you were north it might have been an MH-65 from Los Angeles. Hoisting is an extremely difficult maneuver but it is practiced regularly, and its a lot more difficult in rough seas since not only do you have to keep up with the horizontal movement of the ship, but the vertical movement also.

 

Question #2: Answered above maybe.

 

Question #3: They Coast Guard is tasked to enforcing a "Security Zone" around the vessel entering/docked/leaving port. Passenger ships could be the target of a terrorist attack, the security zone will ensure that a USS Cole type incident won't happen in the port. They do it in Port Everglades also.

[foodsvcmgr]

Was even escorted in similar fashion by two small USCG patrol boats

with machine guns manned on the 1 1/2 hour Cape May - Lewes ferry

crossing on the Delaware Bay this past summer.

 

We were told it was a practice drill, but impressive none the less.