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Aurora 16th Sept missing lady


Horseyjan
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just wondered if the missing lady they made the announcements about turned up? Didn’t appreciate the three in-cabin announcements between 3.45am and about 4.30am!! Hopefully the person they were searching for was eventually found.

 

We had a similar experience on Azura recently, being woke up at 5am by in-cabin announcements for 2 gentlemen to contact reception (reportedly 2 teenagers running round the ship and jumping in pools would you believe!).

You have my sympathy and I hope that you got back to sleep quickly (unlike me).

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I am just beginning to realise after over 20 years of cruising, that if someone "goes missing" (euphemism for gets drunk and goes to other cabin maybe) or someone needs a medical evacuation by helicopter, then you will be woken up. I am struggling to accept this. It just happened to me on Ventura and wrecked the entire cruise because of the circumstances and the fact that I was travelling alone. There is clearly nothing I can do about it, though I have complained to P and O about the way things were done on Ventura, and I suspect it is going to end my cruising days.

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I am just beginning to realise after over 20 years of cruising, that if someone "goes missing" (euphemism for gets drunk and goes to other cabin maybe) or someone needs a medical evacuation by helicopter, then you will be woken up. I am struggling to accept this. It just happened to me on Ventura and wrecked the entire cruise because of the circumstances and the fact that I was travelling alone. There is clearly nothing I can do about it, though I have complained to P and O about the way things were done on Ventura, and I suspect it is going to end my cruising days.

 

That's interesting as we noticed on Ventura last year that any medical emergencies / when medical teams were needed it went through the hole ship - cabin included. We did mention in conversation to someone that we had never known that before and staff told us that it was always the case. Have to say we can't remember it being standard before ..

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That's interesting as we noticed on Ventura last year that any medical emergencies / when medical teams were needed it went through the hole ship - cabin included. We did mention in conversation to someone that we had never known that before and staff told us that it was always the case. Have to say we can't remember it being standard before ..

 

I have never known that either, on any cruise ship and we have done a fair bit of cruising. I would expect the medical staff to carry pagers and there to be a system to inform were they are, if visiting a cabin for instance. If this is not the case then it should be, if only for the safety of the medical staff who are visiting cabins - who is to say the passenger who called them is not doing so with criminal intention.

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Cruise earlier this year had a passenger in critical condition. Just up from our cabin.

 

Announcement made through whole ship for critical medical response. Listed deck, side of ship, forward/aft and cabin number.

 

Senior doctor, nurse, hotel manager all came running within one minute. Literally running and politely yelling at passengers to get out of way as they came down corridor.

 

Porter arrived and held lift at deck in case of speedy transfer to medical centre.

 

Only happens for critical patients as quickest way to bring team together apparently otherwise by pager.

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I am just beginning to realise after over 20 years of cruising, that if someone "goes missing" (euphemism for gets drunk and goes to other cabin maybe) or someone needs a medical evacuation by helicopter, then you will be woken up. I am struggling to accept this. It just happened to me on Ventura and wrecked the entire cruise because of the circumstances and the fact that I was travelling alone. There is clearly nothing I can do about it, though I have complained to P and O about the way things were done on Ventura, and I suspect it is going to end my cruising days.

 

 

cabins immediately below the helicopter hover point will usually be evacuated and appropriate decks closed for safety reasons whenever a medevac takes place

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Yes I am not arguing with the need to wake people and evacuate if there is a real emergency, merely observing that it spoils the freedom of cruising. The comment about Ventura reflects my experience: the twin Gods of "Elf" and "safety" do indeed loom large on Ventura in comparison to other ships. I am now seriously wondering whether or not I want to go on cruising if being woken at night is going to become a more frequent occurrence.

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Personally think you are being over the top in your reaction! How many times is this likely to happen on any one cruise.

And also good to know the speed of response if you were the one in need.

 

My parents were on this Ventura cruise and the medical evacuation did not occur late at night. I believe it happened shortly after she had left port and the ship turned to head back to meet the helicopter which had been delayed due to being on another call out. This is all part of cruising, and very rarely does it actually happen.

 

On all the cruises my parents have been on (20+) this is only the 2nd time they have experienced this. The first time was on Arcadia when it was in the middle of the night and they were in one of the cabins that had to be evacuated. They were just concerned about the passenger in difficulty and in no way did they say it had affected their cruise. It is just something you have to accept may happen, just like a missed port or bad weather.

 

I think we should all be thankful that such an immediate response is, and can be, taken when we are at sea, and appreciate that the experience and worry for the passenger in difficulty is very different than any of us will have on land.

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Personally think you are being over the top in your reaction! How many times is this likely to happen on any one cruise.

And also good to know the speed of response if you were the one in need.

We have been cruising for a good 20 years+ and have never had this happen, so totally agree it is not a common occurence. A thought if it were Clodia who had the medical emergency in the middle of the night, would she want all the staff to tip toe around and say wait to call the helicopter until it will not wake people up.

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I've been cruising since 1993 and never been woken at night for a medical emergency, so think that this was an exceptional circumstance and something highly unlikely to occur often enough to put anyone off cruising surely.

 

I'm sure we would all be understanding of the need to get emergency assistance to a fellow passenger even if it disturbed our schedule for a short while??

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The only time ( in 47 cruises ) that we have been woken by a call through all cabins at night was when someone had to be winched off. The captain explained the next day that he had to make the announcement incase anyone heard the helicopter and went out on the deck or balcony.

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We have had two airlifts both on different ships, one early hours of the morning, which we were woken up but soon settled back down to sleep.

The other was a day time one which they isolated part of the ship whilst the helicopter did the airlift in a matter of minutes .

At no time did it ever spoil my cruise or have me wishing I had not booked the cruise.

 

I was just glad that unfortunate person was getting the help they needed and their family took comfort from the fact they were in good hands or if they were solo then they would not feel alone.

 

Away from cruising we have some OAP bungalows opposite our house and a few times we have been woken to flashing blue lights and an ambulance radio blaring away.

Just like cruising , we are thankful by the grace of God ,it is not us in urgent medical need .

 

I'm just thankful that land air and sea rescue is there for us all should we ever need them and to be woken now and again is better than being the one who needs them .

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We've had one medical helicopter evacuation on the Arcadia.

 

This year on Princess we had a medical emergency call through all the cabins in the early hours of the morning. The unfortunate gentleman passed away.

 

I like to think we are all unselfish when something like this happens.

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Pagers only work when the wireless signal can reach the device. It won't work in inside corridors, or inside cabins for example. Even when the pager can be reached it still needs the person paged to phone and find out what, where and when. The only way to get everybody to where they are needed in an emergency is a ship wide announcement.

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We had an emergency message put through all cabins in the middle of the night last year on a Princess cruise asking for anybody of a certain blood group to contact reception ASAP.

 

We have had that on P&O as well but they can only take it if you have a blood doner card or something official with you to prove your specific blood type or that you can be a universal doner with resus -.

 

It was not my blood type they needed but ever since then I have a blood doner card with my passport, just in case. I would be grateful if it was me who needed a pint or two!

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We have had that on P&O as well but they can only take it if you have a blood doner card or something official with you to prove your specific blood type or that you can be a universal doner with resus -.

It was not my blood type they needed but ever since then I have a blood doner card with my passport, just in case. I would be grateful if it was me who needed a pint or two!

We had this happen on Ventura and being the right blood group and having my donor card with me I went to the medical centre. I was amazed by the number of passengers who had responded but then as I waited to be seen I realised how many misguided people were there because they wanted to offer their blood even though they had no donor card and there were actually people who did not even know their blood group. I did donate blood but I would ask that if anyone finds themself on a ship requiring blood that unless they know their blood group and have some way of proving it they stay away from the medical centre, the doctor took my blood and she said that while they were grateful for the response the number of "timewasters" had actually delayed the taking of blood and subsequently the treatment of the patient.

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We had this happen on Ventura and being the right blood group and having my donor card with me I went to the medical centre. I was amazed by the number of passengers who had responded but then as I waited to be seen I realised how many misguided people were there because they wanted to offer their blood even though they had no donor card and there were actually people who did not even know their blood group. I did donate blood but I would ask that if anyone finds themself on a ship requiring blood that unless they know their blood group and have some way of proving it they stay away from the medical centre, the doctor took my blood and she said that while they were grateful for the response the number of "timewasters" had actually delayed the taking of blood and subsequently the treatment of the patient.

 

The ship should have made an appropriate announcement as they did on the occasion I mentioned above. They made it clear you needed a card with you.

 

That said it’s surely common sense that they can’t take blood if you don’t know what group you are (and can prove it).

 

Well done for helping out Josy.

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The ship should have made an appropriate announcement as they did on the occasion I mentioned above. They made it clear you needed a card with you.

 

That said it’s surely common sense that they can’t take blood if you don’t know what group you are (and can prove it).

 

Well done for helping out Josy.

The announcement did specify that you needed to have a blood donor card with you but it was truly amazing how many people ignored that. When I was queuing the staff were constantly reiterating the need to see donor cards but people just ignored them too. They obviously didn't consider that someone was seriously ill and they were holding up the process of procuring the blood.

 

P&O did give us more than the tea and biscuit that I get when I usually donate, later in the day we went back to our cabin and found a very nice bottle of wine and a thank you card signed by the captain. :D

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We have been cruising for a good 20 years+ and have never had this happen, so totally agree it is not a common occurence. A thought if it were Clodia who had the medical emergency in the middle of the night, would she want all the staff to tip toe around and say wait to call the helicopter until it will not wake people up.
Exactly.

You have to be thankful that it is not yourself or family who need immediate medical treatment.

Surely none of us in this situation would begrudge anyone the help they need and if it means being woken in the middle of the night so be it.

Hopefully whoever it was is okay.

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