Medical Emergencies?

[CMMNonna]

How often are there medical emergencies on board? My daughter just finished a four day trip and they were delayed leaving the first day due to a medical emergency and had a helicopter pick up a guest yesterday. Thinking back on past several cruises, we have had to go back or change routes several times. Is this typical?

[Clarea]

It's getting to be around every other cruise in our experience.

[Shmoo here]

How often are there medical emergencies on board? My daughter just finished a four day trip and they were delayed leaving the first day due to a medical emergency and had a helicopter pick up a guest yesterday. Thinking back on past several cruises, we have had to go back or change routes several times. Is this typical?

Sort of typical.

 

We've been on a few cruises that had medical emergencies. Our most recent one, we diverted to a port to drop off one. And the next day we had a Coast Guard helicopter evacuation of another.

 

Remember, generally, the passenger load on many cruises does skew a bit toward the older population, so it's not really a surprise. That added to the "I'm on a vacation" mentality where some people try activities that they're not prepared for, as well as eating differently than they usually do, it's not surprising there are some.

[Kartgv]

I'd say we've seen medical emergencies on about half the cruises we've been on. It's not always one of us 'old folks' - on the Crown Princess South Pacific cruise RT from LA a couple of years ago, we lost a whole day, having to turn back to the French Marquesas because a 23 year old crew member had a ruptured appendix. When a life is at state, all cruise lines will do whatever they can to get the necessary care.

[Keith1010]

It will vary by the length of cruise and the ages of the guests.

 

Keith

[rkacruiser]

During one Behind the Scenes Tour on a ship, we were told that on a typical 7-10 day cruise, it is not unusual to experience one death during the cruise. On several cruises, I have observed crew and guests who needed to be removed during the cruise because of injury or illness In my cruising history, however, (see my signature), I have been on only one cruise that experienced a helicopter evacuation. That was on the Eurodam soon after leaving a Norwegian port.

[cb at sea]

Happens all the time.....even if you're perfectly healthy, accidents can happen. And, unfortunately, folks do sail with pre-existing things that are likely to need immediate attention. You aren't supposed to, but it happens!

[Capt_BJ]

statically they aren't more common or frequent

 

what you see today is a BUNCH more folks cruising on a bunch more ships which makes the number of events in a given week go up while the X events per Y passengers stays the same or goes down. (remember this the next time your president proposes cutting USCG funding <the ones doing the free medivacs> to pay for 'the wall' .... lest you be waiting on deck for a helo that will not come .... but I digress)

 

AND you 'see' more of the events today because minutes after one occurs a dozen folks post pictures and video!

 

I was in USCG working the Carib' between Miami and USVI for a good part of the 80's and 90's and launched many a MEDIVAC helo off my deck in those days. Seldom did anyone know 'cept the ones directly involved. Today it is a YOUTUBE event ....

[DRS/NC]

Capt. BJ -- thanks for your "on target" remarks!

The Coast Guard is vastly under-rated!

[celle]

I have a friend whose son works on cruise ships. He says that, in his experience, the average has been one medical emergency on each cruise. Not all of these result in an evacuation.

[wheezedr]

Think about the fact that on mass market ships that continue to grow in size you may be dealing with a small town whose floating population ranges from a couple thousand to 6 or 7 thousand, remember to count crew as well as passengers. It never shocks me to see 1 or 2 emergencies on a cruise and I spent 40 years practicing medicine. On our canal crossing we made 2 unscheduled stops to transfer people off.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have way more medical evacuations on our cruises in recent years compared to when we started to cruise in the 80's.

Of course there are more ships and more passengers as compared to back then. And there are a lot more older people cruising as compared to back then.

Just hope all people buy medical insurance.

[whogo]

We returned to port just once for a sick passenger. I have often heard that cruise ships average a death per week. Handled discretely, few passengers find out about the deaths. We did see two bodies leaving the ship in Iceland and one woman on a stretcher.

 

As to evacuations, cruise lines are probably more anxious to get sick or injured passengers off the ship than they were a few years ago.

[navybankerteacher]

Mass market cruise ships carry between 2,500 and 6,000 people (passengers and crew). What can there be surprising about there being some sort of medical problem or accidental injury in any population of that size? When you add the age factor of many cruisers and the increase in alcohol consumption of some vacationers, it would seem that a cruise without an evacuation of one sort or other should be more notable.

[capriccio]

We have way more medical evacuations on our cruises in recent years compared to when we started to cruise in the 80's.

Of course there are more ships and more passengers as compared to back then. And there are a lot more older people cruising as compared to back then.

Just hope all people buy medical insurance.

The majority of ships are much larger and carry many more passengers too.

[LA_CA_GAL]

 

I was in USCG working the Carib' between Miami and USVI for a good part of the 80's and 90's and launched many a MEDIVAC helo off my deck in those days. Seldom did anyone know 'cept the ones directly involved. Today it is a YOUTUBE event ....

 

We were cruising back from Puerto Rico to NY, had to turn the ship around to meet up with a USCG copter for an evacuation.

 

Amazing seeing that in the middle of the night, moving ship, dropping a basket with USCG personnel, lifting the passenger to the copter. Something to see in action.

[SuiteTraveler]

I was told by a senior officer on Allure of the Seas that helicopter medical evacuations only occur about twice a year on that ship.

 

We did a cruise on Celebrity Eclipse out of Southampton to the Med. There were a lot more elderly on that cruise and some of them, well even on the first night, I questioned whether or not they were fit to cruise. We had a very rough crossing of the Bay of Biscay and I would not be surprised if several of these elderly passengers fell due to the rough seas. On the first port morning and every single morning in port thereafter on our 13 day cruise, there would be 2- 3 ambulances on the pier taking away some unlucky cruisers from our ship. Not too far from our table on about the 3rd night a very elderly lady passenger collapsed at dinner and they had to get a wheelchair to take her to the doctor. The final night, while we were in the English Channel at 10:00pm, there was a helicopter medical evacuation that we were able to observe from our forward cabin. Sadly at the same time, one of the crew members jumped overboard and after the helicopter left, the ship went into a full scale sea search. Tragically, he was never found.

 

In the Caribbean, I have seen a crew member who had gone diving and got the bends, and several other medical emergencies - heart attacks, a young woman with a broken ankle, etc. But they seem to occur a bit less often than our Med cruise.

[sail7seas]

We were cruising back from Puerto Rico to NY, had to turn the ship around to meet up with a USCG copter for an evacuation.

 

Amazing seeing that in the middle of the night, moving ship, dropping a basket with USCG personnel, lifting the passenger to the copter. Something to see in action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a number of vifrod og mrdicals errvacusgtions asyt dsdrss posted on several CC forums and on Yo tube. it is aan amazinginfgly skilled operation for the pilot and captain of the ship to sync. Watch the videos,

 

it is worth it, IMO. Thanks to those who train and perform these services for the rest of us. Wha t they do is not free of risk to themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

there are

[LA_CA_GAL]

I was told by a senior officer on Allure of the Seas that helicopter medical evacuations only occur about twice a year on that ship.

 

We did a cruise on Celebrity Eclipse out of Southampton to the Med. There were a lot more elderly on that cruise and some of them, well even on the first night, I questioned whether or not they were fit to cruise. We had a very rough crossing of the Bay of Biscay and I would not be surprised if several of these elderly passengers fell due to the rough seas. On the first port morning and every single morning in port thereafter on our 13 day cruise, there would be 2- 3 ambulances on the pier taking away some unlucky cruisers from our ship. Not too far from our table on about the 3rd night a very elderly lady passenger collapsed at dinner and they had to get a wheelchair to take her to the doctor. The final night, while we were in the English Channel at 10:00pm, there was a helicopter medical evacuation that we were able to observe from our forward cabin. Sadly at the same time, one of the crew members jumped overboard and after the helicopter left, the ship went into a full scale sea search. Tragically, he was never found.

 

In the Caribbean, I have seen a crew member who had gone diving and got the bends, and several other medical emergencies - heart attacks, a young woman with a broken ankle, etc. But they seem to occur a bit less often than our Med cruise.

 

What!?!?? No Nuro virus?

[zqvol]

How often are there medical emergencies on board? My daughter just finished a four day trip and they were delayed leaving the first day due to a medical emergency and had a helicopter pick up a guest yesterday. Thinking back on past several cruises, we have had to go back or change routes several times. Is this typical?

 

Not at all typical. In over 30 cruises I can recall one true medical emergencies that involved a delay leaving port, and never a helicopter pickup.

[navybankerteacher]

We were cruising back from Puerto Rico to NY, had to turn the ship around to meet up with a USCG copter for an evacuation.

 

Amazing seeing that in the middle of the night, moving ship, dropping a basket with USCG personnel, lifting the passenger to the copter. Something to see in action.

 

Was that on Noordam in early February 2008? We turned south at about midnight, and steamed south to get within copter range of San Juan.

[LA_CA_GAL]

Was that on Noordam in early February 2008? We turned south at about midnight, and steamed south to get within copter range of San Juan.

 

I will never forget it. We were heading back from Puerto Rico to NY.

 

We were in the MDR. I look out our window and see the sun, It is to our right, the East. Setting. Since when does the sun set in the East?

 

I tell everyone at our table, we are heading back to Puerto Rico. :confused:

 

Towards the end of dinner the Captain came on with the announcement that yep, we were heading back to rendezvous with USCG helicopter for medivac.