Discovery Cruises, set to cease operations on September 6, just can’t catch a break. The tiny cruise line that has short sailings between Nassau and Port Everglades for years came to a dead stop last Thursday night in response to a bomb scare.
Responding to a 911 call made to Miami-Dade police, US Coast Guard and bomb squad technicians boarded the vessel some 18 miles off Florida and conducted an initial search of the ship according to Nassau’s Tribune242.com. After the search revealed nothing, the ship continued on to Port Everglades where law enforcement officers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, and the Broward County Sheriff Office were on hand for the ship’s arrival.
A full scale two-hour inspection was conducted by Broward County Sheriff Office Bomb Squad personnel and bomb detection dogs which also turned up no bomb.
“We take all bomb threats seriously and so we have to determine their credibility and err on the side of safety for the public and do a complete response as needed,” Mike Jachles, of the Broward Sheriff’s Office and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue stated.
The five-hour cruise from Grand Bahama usually arrives into Port Everglades between 10:30 and 11:00 PM. On this delayed run, passengers were finally allowed to disembark at 6:00AM on Friday. They were not happy.
Celia Mackey, a passenger on the ship, said there was no initial emergency announcement by ship officials as to what was going on.
“I was looking out the window and noticed that the ship was not moving; we were just stationary on the water for a while and everyone was trying to figure out what was happening,” Mackey recalled, adding “Everyone was very sacred and some persons were even upset because of the long delay and late arrival into Fort Lauderdale”
On the bright side, it’s good to know that so many law enforcement people get so involved with such matters, even when that 911 call comes from a cruise ship.
This is not the first bomb scare on a cruise ship. A Disney Cruise Bomb Threat in April 2007 caused a two hour delay leaving port for the Disney Magic (See video right). In that case too, no bomb was found.
Funny kids, real funny.
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