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Breakaway Sailaway Drama Today?

bob brown

By bob brown,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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bob brown

bob brown

Posted
Posted

Was watching the sailaway on the harbor cams, and heard and saw some sort of drama going on involving Coast Guard boats, and an NYPD helicopter. Mention was made over the marine channel scanner of a "boarding party" ready to disembark (on the Portside, out of webcam view).

 

Does anyone have an idea of what was going on?

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mking8288 "Live from...." Rare

mking8288

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My wild guess - maybe NYPD or USCG was onboard the ship, providing escort or doing some sort of security screening or safety inspection ?? Back in the immediate days after 9/11 - we had armed law enforcement on the Dawn and they get off when the small & fast patrol boat came along starboard side for the transfer, off the SI side before reaching the VZB and then, ship continued onward full speed.

 

Haven't seen or experience one in a long time, however. Unlikely to be any sort of medical evac. Another time, it was the harbor pilot getting off/transferring to the tug, but ... won't involve aviation's helo, however.

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Brian63

Brian63

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My mom, my sister and her family are on this. My sister took photos of the Helicopter flying along side and that there were NYPD and Coast Guard boats. Didn't mention anything about seeing anything beyond the presence.

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mking8288 "Live from...." Rare

mking8288

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Posted (edited)

NYPD Aviation (helicopter) was up in the air yesterday in Upper Manhattan/Washington Ht. by the Hudson - nothing unusual about it, routine patrol or could be a joint inter-agency exercise drills.

Checked my other sources & data feeds, nothing out of the ordinary - helo's identifier "N918PD" was back on the ground at its base, Ft. Bennett Field in Brooklyn and from flightradar tracking (live w. delays) - back up in the air flying north between SI & BK near the VZ Bridge just now if any of you near the shoreline have a visual - moving from Lower to Upper Bay.

I wouldn't worry about it - our tax dollars hard at work (next Sunday is the NYC Half Marathon)

 

send from my Google Nexus 5/7 via Tapatalk

Edited by mking8288
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karensletsgotravel

karensletsgotravel

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I have clients on the Breakaway that left yesterday and was talking to them as they were leaving port. It was right on time and she made no mention of any issues. Probably just a safety or security procedure, or perhaps someone fell ill right at sail away and they were trying to get them off. That happened once when I was sailing from Tampa. We weren't even out of the channel yet and the ship came to a stop, the helicopters and coast guard came up to the ship and got the sick passenger and his family off. Could've been anything really. Glad she got off on time - this is my clients first Norwegian cruise so I'm hoping they have a great time!

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bob brown

bob brown

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Thanks for the various theories...whatever it was, it wasn't a medevac...seen that before several times, even here in NY Harbor (a fireboat took an ill passenger off and brought her to Staten Island). No, this was something very different.

The Gem sailed away from here today, with no such drama.

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chengkp75

chengkp75

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The armed Sea Marshals (USCG) still periodically board ships, especially cruise ships. There will typically be 2-3 in the Engine Control room, maybe 1 in the steering gear room, and 2-3 on the bridge. Also typically, there will be an armed RHIB boat following the ship, and the boat used to transport the Marshals. I've rarely seen a helicopter, but it may have been part of a larger port security drill between USCG and NYPD. It sometimes gets the passengers going when a few guys in blue tactical gear carrying M-16's show up in the buffet line (which we believe is the real reason they board the cruise ships) :D

 

In Hawaii, our Security Officer actually turned one of these armed and uniformed guys away because he did not have a photo ID, as required by the ISPS code, which the USCG enforces. He probably is still living that one down on the USCG base.

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bob brown

bob brown

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The armed Sea Marshals (USCG) still periodically board ships, especially cruise ships. There will typically be 2-3 in the Engine Control room, maybe 1 in the steering gear room, and 2-3 on the bridge. Also typically, there will be an armed RHIB boat following the ship, and the boat used to transport the Marshals. I've rarely seen a helicopter, but it may have been part of a larger port security drill between USCG and NYPD.

 

Yeah, that sounds like the most logical explanation of what happened....especially in light of what was heard over the marine channel scanner....

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Annmeat

Annmeat

Posted
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The armed Sea Marshals (USCG) still periodically board ships, especially cruise ships. There will typically be 2-3 in the Engine Control room, maybe 1 in the steering gear room, and 2-3 on the bridge. Also typically, there will be an armed RHIB boat following the ship, and the boat used to transport the Marshals. I've rarely seen a helicopter, but it may have been part of a larger port security drill between USCG and NYPD. It sometimes gets the passengers going when a few guys in blue tactical gear carrying M-16's show up in the buffet line (which we believe is the real reason they board the cruise ships) :D

 

In Hawaii, our Security Officer actually turned one of these armed and uniformed guys away because he did not have a photo ID, as required by the ISPS code, which the USCG enforces. He probably is still living that one down on the USCG base.

 

 

We were boarded by the USCG on a Royal CC trip. They had helicopters in the air and a cutter pulled up and we were boarded during muster. They observed the muster and then asked random passengers afterward to show passports, and they questioned other passengers about luggage, etc.

 

An announcement was made at muster that they USCG was here for our safety and asked us all to cooperate.

 

My kids thought it was the coolest thing.

 

On a different trip we were boarded during debarkation in Miami when a white van blew through security and some men ran out and "disappeared "near the terminal. It was early in the morning,and we had just departed the ship.we were getting in to our van for the ride to MIA when a whole lotta action began!we had to show our id and cruise documents at a security check that was set up at the terminal exit.

 

Several CG helicopters and SWAT vans showed up. Debarkation was stopped

 

Turned out to be a very confused bunch of plumbing contractors who got "lost". At least that was the story that we were told!

 

Only found out what happened because I had a family member who worked for a certain department in DC -and he was meeting us at Reagan IA for lunch while we had a long layover. Still not sure I believe his story....

 

But it is nice to know that we were being protected.

Both these incidents were closer to 9-11- one in February 2002, the other in 2006 on the Jewel.

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Chuck2810

Chuck2810

Posted
Posted
The armed Sea Marshals (USCG) still periodically board ships, especially cruise ships. There will typically be 2-3 in the Engine Control room, maybe 1 in the steering gear room, and 2-3 on the bridge. Also typically, there will be an armed RHIB boat following the ship, and the boat used to transport the Marshals. I've rarely seen a helicopter, but it may have been part of a larger port security drill between USCG and NYPD. It sometimes gets the passengers going when a few guys in blue tactical gear carrying M-16's show up in the buffet line (which we believe is the real reason they board the cruise ships) :D

 

Bacon regulation being enforced....

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