Infirmary - could be a movie

[Bookworm1985]

You can just go to guest services for a bandaid if you don’t bring your own.  I have never personally had to get service from the medical teams on the ships, but i have went with family who have. Pretty much the same service as any urgent care, except they were a lot friendlier. 

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

5 minutes ago, Bookworm1985 said:

You can just go to guest services for a bandaid if you don’t bring your own.  I have never personally had to get service from the medical teams on the ships, but i have went with family who have. Pretty much the same service as any urgent care, except they were a lot friendlier. 

Totally agree. They were super nice and caring and friendly for sure. 

[bingomamma19]

20 hours ago, bjfitz0703 said:

Was on the Sunrise a few weeks back and on the first sea day, my 16 year old son had cut his finger, so we went to the infirmary to get a band-aid.  Mistake!

 

My Lord one of the scariest places we have been.  There was a young lady here with her parents who looked green.  So sick.  My son was like Dad did you see that girl?  Also there was a boy in the back screaming at the top of his lungs.  Screaming "what are you doing to me"?  Like they were sawing his foot off.

 

The "nurse" at the desk was something out of a movie.

 

Felt like a horror movie.

 

Had nightmares for days.  We couldn't stop talking about it all week.

 

Don't go there!

I completely disagree.   My friend on the Legend last year had a severe back ache (turned out to be from colon cancer they found when she got back home and has since passed).  

 

I took her at 2am to the medical facility on board, they were completely kind, caring and calm.   She was in there for about an hour for an exam and xray...she also received some pain patches.   Her total bill was $220, no travel insurance.

 

There was another person in there with some serious issues--was hooked up to an IV, and they were ordering different tests.

 

I also have an adult son that had awful nausea and he is asthmatic. We were on the Dream about 6 years ago.  He had been in bed for 24 hours with vomiting---now granted it was from too much cheers  LOL.    As an asthmatic he can not take certain meds for nausea---they were very helpful with getting us proper medicine and charged nothing for it.   He was better within just a few hours.

 

I give them an A ++++ for what I saw and experienced with them.

Edited July 29, 2019 by bingomamma19

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

19 minutes ago, bingomamma19 said:

I completely disagree.   My friend on the Legend last year had a severe back ache (turned out to be from colon cancer they found when she got back home and has since passed).  

 

I took her at 2am to the medical facility on board, they were completely kind, caring and calm.   She was in there for about an hour for an exam and xray...she also received some pain patches.   Her total bill was $220, no travel insurance.

 

There was another person in there with some serious issues--was hooked up to an IV, and they were ordering different tests.

 

I also have an adult son that had awful nausea and he is asthmatic. We were on the Dream about 6 years ago.  He had been in bed for 24 hours with vomiting---now granted it was from too much cheers  LOL.    As an asthmatic he can not take certain meds for nausea---they were very helpful with getting us proper medicine and charged nothing for it.   He was better within just a few hours.

 

I give them an A ++++ for what I saw and experienced with them.

So many serious and not so serious trips to the infirmary that are all positive with the results everyone experienced. 

[MistyRo76]

On our Vista cruise in 2017, we did the Blue Hole excursion in Ocho Rios. My older sister intended to just walk the paths with us and not do any of the jumps because she has a shoulder that has dislocated several times in the past and she didn't want to risk it getting hurt. Well, against her better judgement she decided to do the last (very small) jump with the whole group. As she as she came up to the surface, I could tell something was wrong just by the look on her face and she was holding her shoulder. It had dislocated. Our tour guide got us back to the ship and my other sis took her back on board and straight to the infirmary. 

 

We didn't see her again until dinner, but we were happy to hear that she got excellent care there. They gave her something to help with her pain and got her shoulder back in place. They put her in a sling for the remainder of the trip and followed up with her the next day. When she got to dinner she was a little loopy from the meds but felt overall so much better and was able to enjoy the rest of our trip! 

[silvercrikhix]

We had the misfortune of needing to visit the infirmary 2X on our 2nd Breeze Cruise. 

DH got a horrendously horrible tooth ache. The Dr was appropriate, professional & handled the issue satisfactorily. 

The next day we’re in the waiting area for me to see the Doc.  

Something had bit my foot in Key West and my foot was in major pain & swelled up like crazy. 

I couldn’t even walk on it. Nasty. 

 

After a few jokes from the Dr on our passion for him & his staff, he helped us out again. 

We didn’t think the area was scary at all. Just blah sterile medical as usual. 

This Dr followed up with each of us until we disembarked. Service was 10 out of 10! 

The costs were pretty minimal. We refer to this cruise as “the cruise from hell” not only because of the medical issues,

but several others that came up. 

Edited July 29, 2019 by silvercrikhix

[DebJ14]

22 hours ago, bjfitz0703 said:

Was on the Sunrise a few weeks back and on the first sea day, my 16 year old son had cut his finger, so we went to the infirmary to get a band-aid.  Mistake!

 

My Lord one of the scariest places we have been.  There was a young lady here with her parents who looked green.  So sick.  My son was like Dad did you see that girl?  Also there was a boy in the back screaming at the top of his lungs.  Screaming "what are you doing to me"?  Like they were sawing his foot off.

 

The "nurse" at the desk was something out of a movie.

 

Felt like a horror movie.

 

Had nightmares for days.  We couldn't stop talking about it all week.

 

Don't go there!

 

 

It sounds like every emergency room we have ever visited on land!

 

[Lovefuninthesun]

As an experienced cruiser, I have been in a ship's infirmary twice -- once with my daughter who developed strep throat, and once with my SIL who fell and had a bad sprain.  Both times. we were treated very compassionately and efficiently.  Charges were around $100, par for the course I thought.

As a very experienced (read "old") ER nurse, I work in a hospital (in a port city) that receives patients all the time from cruise ships; they have been airlifted by the Coast Guard.  Each time, I have been impressed by the care the patient received while on board, before coming to us -- they have received heart attack and stroke care consistent with all current care standards, and have had their lives saved.

So please excuse the eye roll at going to the infirmary for a Bandaid and then complaining .....

[bjd2]

We had such wonderful care from the team at the infirmary on the Vista in the spring of 2017. Penny was the nurse practitioner. My hubby had one of the Havana swing chairs fall with him in it (twisted himself up to spin out) and cut his head open.  We spent sail away at the infirmary and she took the stitches out on the last day (8 night cruise). We couldn't have felt more cared for.

[obx_fintoo]

Had to make a short trip to the infirmary on our recent Ecstasy cruise - non-emergency issue, but not a band-aid either.  It was such a clean, welcoming place.  The doctor and receptionist were so friendly and helpful with my questions.  It was at a time when we were docked in port and I am sure that if there had been multiple emergencies occurring it would have been more of an ER vibe, but overall, I was very pleased with my visit.  To each his own.

[Baxter1234]

Just want to echo the folks who have reported great care and customer service while on-board.  My mother had an accident the first night while starting a back-to-back.  The care was great, and the monitoring/follow-up was even better.  The environment may not have been pretty but that’s not why they went there.  

[Super27]

On 7/28/2019 at 2:41 PM, bjfitz0703 said:

Was on the Sunrise a few weeks back and on the first sea day, my 16 year old son had cut his finger, so we went to the infirmary to get a band-aid.  Mistake!

 

My Lord one of the scariest places we have been.  There was a young lady here with her parents who looked green.  So sick.  My son was like Dad did you see that girl?  Also there was a boy in the back screaming at the top of his lungs.  Screaming "what are you doing to me"?  Like they were sawing his foot off.

 

The "nurse" at the desk was something out of a movie.

 

Felt like a horror movie.

 

Had nightmares for days.  We couldn't stop talking about it all week.

 

Don't go there!

 

I'm guessing that you've been lucky enough not to have spent much time in ERs or hospitals in general. The ship's infirmary is basically a mini-ER, and any ER can be a scary place if you're not used to that type of atmosphere. People are there, by definition, because they are having a medical EMERGENCY. Screaming in pain, sick-looking people, etc are unfortunately to be expected. I can promise you it would be 100x worse if you happened to be in a big-city hospital ER. Bottom line, the fact that you saw those things should not cause anyone to avoid going there if they need care.

[sprint180]

I've went there to get sea sickness pills.  No they weren't free.  But, I would also go there for a band-aid if I needed one.  

[CateV04]

"Also there was a boy in the back screaming at the top of his lungs.  Screaming "what are you doing to me"?  Like they were sawing his foot off."

 

Soooo . . . . I'm guessing you don't know what was actually wrong with the boy. My daughter, if she gets in contact with the amount of artificial red food dye found in a few drops of the stuff they sell for dying eggs, goes into full-on hysterics that you'd expect to see in a psych ward or horror movie. Last time it happened was six years ago when she was 8, and all of 70 pounds soaking wet, and despite the fact that I did heavy farm and construction work at the time and was regularly found carrying well over 100#, could barely restrain her to keep her from running into walls and injuring herself. It's a bad reaction. I'm guessing this was probably something similar, or we would all have heard about the lawsuit by now. If it was a teen or young adult, could have been drugs. At any age, could have been a psych disorder. Don't judge the quality of the care based on the reaction of the patients unless you know the background, I'm sure the medical staff had their hands seriously full at that point. The girl may have already been given dramamine and the parents were waiting to see whether it would kick in or if it would require further care before they left. And as a first responder with 24 years under my belt, always pack a basic (or more than basic) first aid kit and make sure everyone in your party knows where it is 🙂

[Jenn1974]

I for one am very thankful for the infirmary.  Last cruise my daughter got very ill with a high 103 fever and was delirious.  We went down for a rapid strep test and they did a flu test. They gave her some tylonel and once her fever came down we were on our way.    Both tests were negative and her tonsils were inflamed.  Her prescribed her an antibiotic anyway and sent us on our way.  They didnt confine us to our cabin.  I did think they stuck the flu swab way up into her head and that alarmed me.   But 180 $ later and  we were on our way.   I am sure the docs there cant be that bad after all they treat the crew and sick passengers all the time.  And in our case my daughters mystery illness was a 24 hour bug and she was feeling better the next day after a full day of sleep.  

[skridge]

You can buy first aid stuff in the liquor store in the Fun Shoppes.