Drug Raid on Pacific Sun

[TommyH2006]

Cruised back in to Sydney this morning. It was a beautiful crisp, sunny morning. As we docked at Darling Harbour we were having a coffee on deck 10 aft. We were sitting at the pool bar as most of the tables were taken. I noticed a man dressed in navy blue enter the bar area. When he turned around I saw the "customs" sign on his back. Then another one appeared. And another. And another. They started searching through the cupboards, fridges etc. Then a ships officer appeared and was ordered to unlock all the fridges etc that were padlocked. More customs officers appeared and they did a thorough search using mirrors, swabs etc. Then police arrived as well.

Walking past a customs officer I overheard him tell a police officer that they had had a positive swab from one of the cruise card readers. i.e. One of the tills that they use.

Wonder if any of this will make the news???

[maxx]

Hey, what a great cruise. Did you know that a passenger was put off in Luganville? I will post details later. As for the drug raid, I'm not surprised. Ouvea had an odour of "something", & we are under the impression that the authorities may have had some intelligence prior to returning to Sydney.

[caribbean dreams]

You need to post this on all the other cruiseline boards, i have been reading a few posts lately and it seems that quite a few young adults think it is perfectly ok to posses drugs on the ship and they think there is no way they will get caught.

I am glad to hear, they really are keeping an eye on things like this.

[cre8ive1]

I was on the previous cruise #614 and there were a couple of girls locked up from Vila onwards. The Water police boarded just off Bradleys head and the regulare police boarded at the port while we were waiting to get off. There were sniffer dogs in Vila as we got on and off the ship.

The night nefore we got back there seemed to be a big police/customs presence on board in particular up near Park Lane.

When we first left Sydney we were chatting to a group of security guys and after that they must have all gone underground except for one who would have found it a little difficult to hide or go incognito. We never saw them again which I thought was strange.

We had read before we left that P&O were upping their security so my guess is that they have suspicions and have been acting on them. Good on them. We pay good money for a good time and don't need problem passengers.

[maxx]

I was really impressed with the secuirty on board. They were always there and we were a quiet cruise. N616 has a lot more younger cruisers. The passenger put off in Luganville was a 17 year old male allegedly gambling in the casino. He lost his money, was asked to leave the casino due to his behaviour and age. He apparantly went back and assaulted the croupier. He was put of and will now have to face court there and make his own way home. Could be a long wait.

[howsthis]

I was on the previous cruise #614 and there were a couple of girls locked up from Vila onwards. The Water police boarded just off Bradleys head and the regulare police boarded at the port while we were waiting to get off. There were sniffer dogs in Vila as we got on and off the ship.

The night nefore we got back there seemed to be a big police/customs presence on board in particular up near Park Lane.

When we first left Sydney we were chatting to a group of security guys and after that they must have all gone underground except for one who would have found it a little difficult to hide or go incognito. We never saw them again which I thought was strange.

We had read before we left that P&O were upping their security so my guess is that they have suspicions and have been acting on them. Good on them. We pay good money for a good time and don't need problem passengers.

 

Yes there were 3 girls marched off the ship by the police as soon as we docked. I heard a bit of talk about their behaviour in the previous days.

[Skyrules]

We were on the Pacific Star cruise that featured on Today Tonight - and on our arrival back into Brisbane customs did a thorough search of thes ship - including all the bars - with sniffer dogs etc, and they had sniffer dogs checking all the passengers coming off and all the baggage.

 

Don't know whether they found anything or not though.

[kaseyoz]

think the sniffer dogs etc are common practice as they were there before we boarded, at vila and back at sydney.

i also thougt there was a bigger security presence on board than on our last cruise in october. I certainly didnt think it was over the top and always felt safe.

One night my hubby went looking for son (16 ) at around 2am and the security guys knew where everyone was.My son is a very quiet shy guy and they knew where they had last him so i am guessing the troublemakers they know even better!!!

both were school holiday cruisers

[Casshew]

I overheard him tell a police officer that they had had a positive swab from one of the cruise card readers.

 

 

A positive read for what exactly? I don't know anything about drugs!

[TommyH2006]

Casshew

He didn't say. Just that they had a positive swab.

[Star-Man]

We were on the Pacific Star cruise that featured on Today Tonight - and on our arrival back into Brisbane customs did a thorough search of thes ship - including all the bars - with sniffer dogs etc, and they had sniffer dogs checking all the passengers coming off and all the baggage.

 

Don't know whether they found anything or not though.

 

we got warned the night before disembarking that all our luggage was going to be checked by sniffer dogs and customs but when we got off there was nothing p&o staff helping us find our luggage. bit of an anticlimax really.

[Skyrules]

we got warned the night before disembarking that all our luggage was going to be checked by sniffer dogs and customs but when we got off there was nothing p&o staff helping us find our luggage. bit of an anticlimax really.

 

Your luggage would have been checked by customs & quarantine before it was layed out in the bagge hall where you collected it - it goes through screening between the ship and the collection area. People on our cruise had "hold for quarantine" tape on their suitcases when they collected them indicating they'd been x-rayed and were suspected of containg "contra-band".

 

But as I recall you went on the 3 night cruise to nowhere didn't you? So they probably wouldn't have been as concerned about your luggage as you hadn't been off the ship since leaving Brisbane.

 

Kym

[Skyrules]

think the sniffer dogs etc are common practice as they were there before we boarded, at vila and back at sydney.

i also thougt there was a bigger security presence on board than on our last cruise in october. I certainly didnt think it was over the top and always felt safe.

One night my hubby went looking for son (16 ) at around 2am and the security guys knew where everyone was.My son is a very quiet shy guy and they knew where they had last him so i am guessing the troublemakers they know even better!!!

both were school holiday cruisers

 

We were told that as a result of the Today Tonight story the Pacific Star Cruise immediately after ours (school holidays/easter) was going to have saturation security - apparently they'd hired 5 extra security stafff to come on board.

[maxx]

Casshew

He didn't say. Just that they had a positive swab.

I think it may be related to Ouvea.

[Past it]

Along the same lines,on 616 they were installing cables in the ceilings along the passageways for the security cameras.Also as you go up the stairs to the webcam deck there was a piece of stickytape that read camera 123. Also my daughters bag had the tape on and they wanted to check shoes!!!When we went through the airport the man asked to wave his wand inside my hand luggage. He said it was to test for drugs and explosives.:eek:

[Suncoaster]

I always have to take my shoes off through airport security, as a lot of ladies shoes have metal bars running through them.

Also they do random checks on handbags for drugs or explosives at airports as I've had mine checked and I was only meeting someone off a flight.

Val