Dental Emergencies??

[chloes nana]

okay, try as I might I have searched the threads for HAL and cannot find any info on dentists on board the vista ships or any other ships in the fleet for that matter. How do you handle a dental emergency on a 20 day cruise, if one should arise? Are there any dental services available?

[serendipity1499]

okay, try as I might I have searched the threads for HAL and cannot find any info on dentists on board the vista ships or any other ships in the fleet for that matter. How do you handle a dental emergency on a 20 day cruise, if one should arise? Are there any dental services available?

 

As far as I know there are no dental services on board HAL ships..

We've heard that years ago they did have dental services...Now believe they have the port agent set up an appointment with a local Dentist to take care of emergencies..

For that reason some passengers take emergency dental kits especially for crowns that might come loose..:o

Betty

[rkacruiser]

It is my understanding that there are no dental services aboard the ships at this time. Some experienced grand world voygers were surprised during the 2008 cruise that a dentist was not part of the medical staff. According to them, there had been one during past world cruises.

[Mary Ellen]

HAL used to have a dentist on board (free cabin for taking care of the crew on sea days and also passenger emergencies). That was one of the things that kept us loyal to HAL - the way they took care of their crew. That has passed.

[mamaofami]

HAL did have dentists on board ALL their ships for many years. My husband was one of the dentists who served the passengers in an emergency and the crew on a regular basis. That's how we first started to sail HAL. I believe all the dentists were American, had to submit their credentials to be approved for the program, and sailed for several weeks or one cruise at a time.The end of that program is a long story that doesn't need to be repeated here.

The best advice is to bring something with you for an emergency and if you do need to see a dentist the nurse will know someone in most every port...I think. At any rate, someone will know someone. It used to give me great comfort to know my husband was able to treat me if I had an emergency since wherever we went, I always broke a tooth. Happy to say it never happened while on a HAL ship.

However, he did get many calls from passengers who had emergencies and were so happy to be able to get them taken care of in HAL's modern state of the art dental clinics that were part of the ship's facilities. Now, those rooms are empty.

[chloes nana]

thanks! Since I still have all my own teeth, even if some are crowns, I always like to know my options when gone for a longer period of time. Guess I will get a little emergency kit put together. Like you said, you never know:D

[Juanita462]

The last cruise we were on that had a dentist aboard was in 2002. Haven't seen any since.

Now we carry a dental repair kit for an emergency and an antibiotic

from our dentist in case of an infected tooth. A visit to the doctor

on the ship for an antibiotic was $80 last time and the antibiotic was $50 - at home we would only pay about $20 for the med and nothing for the doctor visit. We are always given the same thing so it isn't a question

of what is best for the infection.

[mamaofami]

DH's last cruise as a dentist on HAL was in 2005. I know there was a dentist on one of the world cruises about 2 years ago.