A couple from New Jersey was enjoying their international voyage on the Norwegian Epic when it made a sudden and unexpected detour to save a sailboat.

Diane Wieland and her husband were savoring the sights of the Greek islands and Italy along with thousands of other passengers on their cruise when on the second night, their ship responded to a search and rescue mission.

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A sailboat carrying dozens of people had become stranded in the Mediterranean Sea.

"My husband has binoculars, and we look there and we thought, there's an awful lot of people on that boat," Wieland explained.

The Epic's crews rescued 61 people from the sailboat and brought them to safety aboard the cruise ship.

In a letter to the Epic's passenger

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