LAFFNVEGAS Says Aloha LIVE from the MS Oosterdam

[dobiemom]

Saying prayers for the passenger and his family and friends.

I'm also saying prayers for the safety of all of you.

[bet410]

Keeping the passenger & family in my prayers. Hope things go well with all involved. We have relatives on this cruise and have been watching your blog with interest.

[sassyredhat]

Wow. Prayers to that family.

Unfortunately, on the longer voyages, this often happens.

Our last 2 Hawaii cruises involved air evac's and we had to turn back to Honolulu.

Pat

[Darlipoo]

Boy, between the postings on food and crowding problems, and now this, I'm wondering if I should still take this cruise next year. Kind of scary.

[DAllenTCY]

An extra day onboard for Tom and Lisa isn't a bad thing, but I'm sorry to hear that it is because of serious medical complications to 3 elderly guests. I hope all of them fully recover. Even if it involved one guest, this was the proper thing to do.

As far as the scenario for this weekend, the Oosterdam will now arrive on Sunday morning. Rebooking airfare costs and internet fees have been covered in the past by the cruise line. I'm sure we will hear about how this was handled by Lisa and Copper.

HAL is trying to locate available housing in the San Diego are for those who arriving for the scheduled Saturday 11/5 cruise. Transportation will be provided as well as hotel expenses, by way of voucher. The 7 day cruise will now become a 6 day voyage going to Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta.

David

[aliaschief]

Boy, between the postings on food and crowding problems, and now this, I'm wondering if I should still take this cruise next year. Kind of scary.

 

Maybe time to think of others than yourself. Our prayers for those in need and the board will not permit my other thoughts.

[Bearnaise]

Maybe time to think of others than yourself. Our prayers for those in need and the board will not permit my other thoughts.

My thought is that if people are too ill to be able to successfully complete a two week cruise without affecting the travel plans of 4,000 other "innocent" people (the other passengers on that cruise and the next), they should think of others and perhaps stay at home. I can understand illness or accident befalling a passenger occasionally, but three at once :eek:

[cccole]

Boy, between the postings on food and crowding problems, and now this, I'm wondering if I should still take this cruise next year. Kind of scary.

 

If I went through the list of things that might happen to me when I stepped out my front door I might not go anywhere. I consider traveling a privilege and I do so knowing that there are many things that might happen. You are the only one that knows if you can be flexible. Cherie

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Tuesday November 1, 2011

Greetings from the MS Oosterdam much closer to the Hawaii Islands than we were yesterday or should be.

As I reported last night we ended up having three passengers that had to be medically disembarked from the Oosterdam and we had no choice but to turn around the ship We got within 100 miles of Hillo Hawaii at 10 this morning ship time when they started to medivac the three passengers via helicopter. There were two US Coast Guard Helicopters that picked up the first two passengers from the bow of the ship, then they rushed those helicopters into Hilo and about an hour later one chopper returned to pick up the third passengers. During this whole procedure there was a US Coast Guard Plane that continued to circle the ship. They closed off everything in the front of the ship including the Gym, Crow's Nest. they did allow us in the Hydrotherapy Pool area and Thermal Suite but it ended up only Paula one of our Spa friends and I were in there. Sher had called down and they told her no it would not be opened. But these areas were techinically behind the sectioned off areas so it was OK. I watched from the Thermal Suite the first two Helicopters while Tom was mid ship deck 10 with camera in hand catching a lot of what went on. By the time the third chopper returned I had gone back to our cabin, showered changed and we actually watched it on the bow camera on the television. Everything finished up successfully at about 12:10 ship time which is 2 hours behind Pacific time.

At 12:30 we had Reservations for lunch in the Pinnacle with Sher and Bob and of course the Captain came on the PA for his 1 pm Report from the Bridge. He said that all patients are now in the Hilo Hospital and the evacuation was sucessful and as I guessed we are delayed exactly 24 hours. We will be arriving in Ensenada Mexico at 8pm Saturday night instead of Friday night and will arrive in San Diego at 7:00 am Sunday November 6th. All Internet and Phones charges from the ship have been waved thru Thursday night so that we can make the needed changes for flight etc. I actually purchased Travel Guard insurance for this cruise so I called Travel Guard a little while ago they took down my flight information and looked to see that there was available flights for the same time on Sunday and were going to contact Southwest for me to make the changes and would email me the confirmation change. I now need to get a hold of my Boss because I am scheduled to work on Sunday and Tom will also have to call in because he too was to work Sunday.This is just a minor problem and that I hope and pray that the passengers that needed to be disembarked off the ship will be OK. I know if it was one of my family memebers or myself I would be thankful that HAL is doing all they can to get us the proper medical care and that the health of the passengers come first.

Tonight is the the Invited Cocktail Party (formally known as VIP Party) in the Crow's Nest at 7:15 we will make a quick stop by then we will want to head to the Vista Lounge early to grab good seats for Elton John Tribute Show by Joel Mason which I am of course looking forward to.

It seems odd to think we still have 5 full nights yet on the ship.

I am going to sign off now to get this posted and then start contacting my Boss and our son to let him know we will be returning a day later.

Signing off from the Beautiful MS Oosterdam.

added note, Internet has been horrible at best to attempt to log into and I am still working to try to get my flights corrected, it looks like best pricing will be if I do it and let the Travel Insurance reimburse me but keep getting kicked out of SW. Still have not contacted boss or our son. I will try to write more much later tonight.

[Sea-travelers]

My thought is that if people are too ill to be able to successfully complete a two week cruise without affecting the travel plans of 4,000 other "innocent" people (the other passengers on that cruise and the next), they should think of others and perhaps stay at home. I can understand illness or accident befalling a passenger occasionally, but three at once :eek:

 

 

My thoughts and prayers are with the passengers that had to be evacuated and their friends and families left on the ship. I applaud Holland America for thinking of the well being of those that needed to be evacuated first and formost. That is why I continually chose to cruise on Holland America. I would hope you would be grateful if your family was treated with the same respect and urgency that Holland America has shown these passengers. The plans of the other 4000 passengers are small in comparison to someones life.

[erewhon]

Lisa,

Thank you for the update.

Really feel so very concerned for those passengers who had to be taken to hospital, so very far from their homes.

Hope that they all make good progress so that they can soon return home

[FoghornLeghorn]

My thought is that if people are too ill to be able to successfully complete a two week cruise without affecting the travel plans of 4,000 other "innocent" people (the other passengers on that cruise and the next), they should think of others and perhaps stay at home. I can understand illness or accident befalling a passenger occasionally, but three at once :eek:

 

Unbelievable statement!

 

Well, I would be happy to be sailing on a cruise with you! I would KNOW that if you, or any of your loved ones onboard, should happen to have an accident or become seriously ill...that MY cruise would go on as planned, since YOU would insist on not inconveniencing any of us "innocent people" and would not want the ship to get you to the nearest hospital....and you would be more than happy to just stay down in the medical center until a convenient time for you to disembark the ship and get medical attention as our cruise proceeded as scheduled

[cccole]

Unbelievable statement!

 

Well, I would be happy to be sailing on a cruise with you! I would KNOW that if you, or any of your loved ones onboard, should happen to have an accident or become seriously ill...that MY cruise would go on as planned, since YOU would insist on not inconveniencing any of us "innocent people" and would not want the ship to get you to the nearest hospital....and you would be more than happy to just stay down in the medical center until a convenient time for you to disembark the ship and get medical attention as our cruise proceeded as scheduled

 

Well said. The alternative of staying in the onboard medical center would be to be transported to the onboard morgue. Sorry to hyjack your "Live From" Lisa. Hope Joel Mason is fabulous tonight!!! Cherie

[Himself]

I hope the three passengers who were evacuated do well in the Hilo Hospital and return to good health. I hope your extra day at Sea does not mess you up too much. Have a good cruise back to the mainland.

[hpf]

Our prayers and speedy recovery to those evacuated. And maybe a prayer for those who need a little compasion for their fellow traveller's.

Helen ;)

[Dlarruso]

So for those of us that are supposed to depart on Nov 5 for Mexican Riviera what do we do? Show up to the SD port for Check-in and they tell us to go find a hotel for the night? Will they comp it and food costs?

 

First the 7 day was supposed to be Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan then Cabo. Then they took away Mazatlan and made it Puerto Vallarta for two days then Cabo. Now it sounds like its a 6 day cruise with 1 day PV and 1 day Cabo. Not really the cruise we signed up for.

[Boatdrill]

my thought is that if people are too ill to be able to successfully complete a two week cruise without affecting the travel plans of 4,000 other "innocent" people (the other passengers on that cruise and the next), they should think of others and perhaps stay at home. I can understand illness or accident befalling a passenger occasionally, but three at once :eek:

 

are you serious ?????

[Boatdrill]

So for those of us that are supposed to depart on Nov 5 for Mexican Riviera what do we do? Show up to the SD port for Check-in and they tell us to go find a hotel for the night? Will they comp it and food costs?

 

First the 7 day was supposed to be Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan then Cabo. Then they took away Mazatlan and made it Puerto Vallarta for two days then Cabo. Now it sounds like its a 6 day cruise with 1 day PV and 1 day Cabo. Not really the cruise we signed up for.

 

Then cancel it.

[Dlarruso]

Then cancel it.

 

Thanks for your wisdom - very helpful.

 

Yes I am frustrated but am still planning on going - just wondering what to expect. Should I make hotel reservations on my own for Sat. night now or will HAL be providing Housing? Again what about the costs of meals for the extra day in SD?

[Copper10-8]

So for those of us that are supposed to depart on Nov 5 for Mexican Riviera what do we do? Show up to the SD port for Check-in and they tell us to go find a hotel for the night? Will they comp it and food costs?

 

First the 7 day was supposed to be Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan then Cabo. Then they took away Mazatlan and made it Puerto Vallarta for two days then Cabo. Now it sounds like its a 6 day cruise with 1 day PV and 1 day Cabo. Not really the cruise we signed up for.

 

Take a deep breath, take a compassion pill or five, relax, and in the morning (or THU, or FRI) give HAL a call. Without a doubt, certain crew onboard OSDM, inside offices at 300 Elliott Street in Seattle, shore-side in San Diego, and who knows where else, are losing sleep tonite coming up with contingency plans to take care of those onboard the ship missing their air connects, hotel reservations for SAT night, and others like you, scheduled to embark for the next voyage!

 

I guess you would rather have had the OSDM's captain ignore the conditions of three of his guests dealing with a heart attack, internal bleeding and abdominal pain, possibly lose some of them, and cruise full speed ahead to SD. Sometimes, ship happens which will affect others; tough decisons have to be made! You're experiencing it!:cool:

[ASIWISH]

Wow... I feel horrible for the passengers - all of them.

 

It's hard to believe this can happen... kudos to all the posters who advise people to book flights home the DAY AFTER a cruise... I always thought they were crazy!

 

Best of luck to all involved... I hope your vacations don't get ruined.

[805bonvoyage]

Take a deep breath, take a compassion pill or five, relax, and in the morning (or THU, or FRI) give HAL a call. Without a doubt, certain crew onboard OSDM, inside offices at 300 Elliott Street in Seattle, shore-side in San Diego, and who knows where else, are losing sleep tonite coming up with contingency plans to take care of those onboard the ship missing their air connects, hotel reservations for SAT night, and others like you, scheduled to embark for the next voyage!

 

I guess you would rather have had the OSDM's captain ignore the conditions of three of his guests dealing with a heart attack, internal bleeding and abdominal pain, possibly lose some of them, and cruise full speed ahead to SD. Sometimes, ship happens which will affect others; tough decisons have to be made! You're experiencing it!:cool:

 

Oh my gosh 10-8. 10-12.

 

I think all D and I are curious about is what our 10-20 will be on Saturday if the cruise is 10-85 due to multiple 10-50. Will HAL 10-78 hotel accomodations or will we be 10-7? :rolleyes:

[Copper10-8]

Oh my gosh 10-8. 10-12.

 

I think all D and I are curious about is what our 10-20 will be on Saturday if the cruise is 10-85 due to multiple 10-50. Will HAL 10-78 hotel accomodations or will we be 10-7? :rolleyes:

 

Great questions to pose to HAL Ship Services in the morning

800-541-1576

[boaterette]

Loving the review. I think when you cruise on a ship that caters to an older demographic that you have to expect some sort of emergencies health wise. It just goes with the territory.

[jmk22574]

Hi Lisa...I'm not sure if you're gotten through to Southwest Airlines or your son yet (as the connections are understandably slow), but just to give you a heads up, here are the flights/times Southwest has open seats as of tonight (November 1st) on Sunday, November 6th:

 

Eliminating anything earlier than 11 a.m.:

 

11:50 a.m. - flight 1306

12:20 p.m.- flight 1881

1:25 p.m. - flight 1801

3:15 p.m. - flight 607

5:55 p.m. - flight 706

8:45 p.m. - flight 348

9:20 p.m. - flight 718

 

As of today, the fare is $151/person, so not bad if you need to book it yourself and get reimbursed later. I'm going to post this to your Facebook inbox too in hopes that you'll get this information through one of the venues.

 

Jill