Carnival Spirit - Crewmember airlifted off...

[suziehmkr]

If this is a duplicate, I apologize. Just heard from a dear friend on the Spirit - a crewmember was just helicopter airlifted from the Spirit.

 

More.......

[suziehmkr]

From her email (with her permission):

 

"It's definitely a crew member. They asked everyone on the Lido deck, aft pool area (Fantail) to leave so they could prepare for the helicopter to land. They removed EVERYTHING from tables to chairs to lights etc. They strapped down everything else. They've blocked all walkways to the aft area and those of us in the aft cabins have all our furniture inside our cabins. They made the annoucement at approx 1:30 or so, saying that the Coast Guard would be arriving in 'a couple of hours'. When the crew member came and asked me to come inside, because it wasn't safe for me to be out there.....I asked him if the crew member would be alright and he got a very sad look on his face and said, "I really hope so". They're back, hold on! They're gone again. They lowered a basket and lifted the guy up. The whole 'rescue' took just about 30 minutes. "

[quickrate]

I wish him or her well-it must be tough to be ill so far away from your home and family.

Pat

[Byn]

From her email (with her permission):

 

"It's definitely a crew member. They asked everyone on the Lido deck, aft pool area (Fantail) to leave so they could prepare for the helicopter to land. They removed EVERYTHING from tables to chairs to lights etc. They strapped down everything else. They've blocked all walkways to the aft area and those of us in the aft cabins have all our furniture inside our cabins. They made the annoucement at approx 1:30 or so, saying that the Coast Guard would be arriving in 'a couple of hours'. When the crew member came and asked me to come inside, because it wasn't safe for me to be out there.....I asked him if the crew member would be alright and he got a very sad look on his face and said, "I really hope so". They're back, hold on! They're gone again. They lowered a basket and lifted the guy up. The whole 'rescue' took just about 30 minutes. "

Please, let us know what you find out.

[deborahjo]

Must be at sea. Hope the crew member is okay. Never like hearing this kind of thing.

[boaterette]

I hope they will be ok. But for the life of me I can't understand everyones interest in medical evacuations. Is it sort of like needing to slow down and look at traffic collisions? Kind of strange.

[Nunu]

I hope they will be ok. But for the life of me I can't understand everyones interest in medical evacuations. Is it sort of like needing to slow down and look at traffic collisions? Kind of strange.

It is bizarre.

[BIG_Steve]

I hope they will be ok. But for the life of me I can't understand everyones interest in medical evacuations. Is it sort of like needing to slow down and look at traffic collisions? Kind of strange.

 

Being awed by a huge helicopter staffed by professionals who drop a basket down to a ship at sea is quite normal. How anyone could compare that to a slack jawed yokel looking for crumpled fenders amazes me.

[jayesouthworth]

I would rather hear about real life stuff happening on the ship than people bitching about someone smoking a cigarette. :rolleyes:

[suziehmkr]

After watching some video of an airlift and seeing the amount of coordination needed between the ship & the helicopter... yes, I do find it quite interesting.

[cb at sea]

I have a friend who's working on Spirit--he's had some medical issues in the past....was it crew member or an entertaiment personnel?

[LemurCat]

Being awed by a huge helicopter staffed by professionals who drop a basket down to a ship at sea is quite normal. How anyone could compare that to a slack jawed yokel looking for crumpled fenders amazes me.

 

 

You've obviously never driven the Garden State Parkway during the Burning Season. ;)

[BIG_Steve]

You've obviously never driven the Garden State Parkway during the Burning Season. ;)

 

I have. New Jersey is a great state to be from.....

[gumballz]

I have a friend who's working on Spirit--he's had some medical issues in the past....was it crew member or an entertaiment personnel?

 

We were told it was a crew member. As this evacuation happened on our last sea day, we weren't told of any update (at least that I heard).

 

To see how everyone on the Spirit worked together to prepare for this evacuation was simply amazing. There were crew members in the white jumpers working alongside officers. Everyone seemed to join together to prepare for this evacuation as a team. I know they're trained for this and it's just 'part of their job'.......but the togetherness and concern was something I'm very happy to have witnessed. And yes, seeing the Coast Guard fly in and take care of the evacuation WAS pretty darn cool. I don't look twice at a car accident, but I definitely couldn't keep my eyes off this procedure!

 

I'm still in the process of going through pics and videos.....but here's one pic I took of the Coast Guard helicopter from our aft balcony (deck 8). For those of you that are interested in this type of thing, that is! ;)

 

[mjrich73]

I hope they will be ok. But for the life of me I can't understand everyones interest in medical evacuations. Is it sort of like needing to slow down and look at traffic collisions? Kind of strange.

 

What I find funny is you say you don't understand everyone's interest in this topic...however, you clicked on the post to read it and also took the time to respond to it. Seem to me that you may have been a little interested too :D

[boaterette]

What I find funny is you say you don't understand everyone's interest in this topic...however, you clicked on the post to read it and also took the time to respond to it. Seem to me that you may have been a little interested too :D

 

I just found it interesting that people are interested in medical evacuations. Just seems strange.

[Willie T]

Not strange. Amazing! The ship did not stop or slow down for this. The helicopter had match our exact speed and hover to lower the basket, then it circled us for about 10 min. while the person was secured in the basket. Then it had to hover again while the basket was brought up to the chopper. The U.S. Coast Guard are awesome! Watching some one risk their life for another was so uplifting. The chopper rotor blades were so close to the ship. Kinda scary.

There was nothing morbid or gruesome watching this rescue at sea. It made me proud of our Coast Guard men and women.

[GoofyDog]

Gumballz.... please tell me what cabin you were in. We are in 8275 on the 11/27 cruise. How was your aft cabin?

[jerseygirl79]

What I find funny is you say you don't understand everyone's interest in this topic...however, you clicked on the post to read it and also took the time to respond to it. Seem to me that you may have been a little interested too :D

 

Ha! That's pretty funny. But I agree, this is fascinating. The coordinated effort is impressive. Also, as a passenger, I'd like to know how they handle such emergencies. My co-worker shared with me that his sister in law was air lifted off a ship with some sort of brain bleed. Apparently, her life was saved due to their swift response.

[lady_cruiser]

I have to agree with the majority of you. Its not that I am curious about a person being sick or injured but how the Coast Guard can preform their duties when airlifting someone off a moving ship.

 

So here's one for all the men and women in the U.S. Coast Guards who put their lives on the line to rescue any one of us. I have to share this true story that happen to us. Several years ago we were in Cozumel and one of our Coast Guards cutters was also docked there. "Every" American from our ship yelled and clapped for those men and women standing on the cutter as we all walked by it. And you could tell that they were so happy that we were acknowledging them.

 

Our American flag, flying in the wind over a foreign port never looked so pretty as it did that day.

[lenny2948]

If this was from the Spirit on the Sept 16 sailing, I was there and too some great videos and stills.

The ship stopped first for the Coast Guard plane to airdrop medicine, then as we got closer to Hilo, we stopped again for the helo airlift.

It was a passenger with a reaction to a drug he had been taking, the ship's Doctor requested more of the medicine that she was treating him with. and evacuation.

The patient was retired Army and was airlifted to the Army hospital on Oahu, and eventually met his family at the dock there. A happy ending.

[scchasgal]

If this was from the Spirit on the Sept 16 sailing, I was there and too some great videos and stills.

The ship stopped first for the Coast Guard plane to airdrop medicine, then as we got closer to Hilo, we stopped again for the helo airlift.

It was a passenger with a reaction to a drug he had been taking, the ship's Doctor requested more of the medicine that she was treating him with. and evacuation.

The patient was retired Army and was airlifted to the Army hospital on Oahu, and eventually met his family at the dock there. A happy ending.

 

October 26th not Sept 16

[cruizinator]

I have to agree with the majority of you. Its not that I am curious about a person being sick or injured but how the Coast Guard can preform their duties when airlifting someone off a moving ship.

 

So here's one for all the men and women in the U.S. Coast Guards who put their lives on the line to rescue any one of us. I have to share this true story that happen to us. Several years ago we were in Cozumel and one of our Coast Guards cutters was also docked there. "Every" American from our ship yelled and clapped for those men and women standing on the cutter as we all walked by it. And you could tell that they were so happy that we were acknowledging them.

 

Our American flag, flying in the wind over a foreign port never looked so pretty as it did that day.

 

lady cruiser,

I was on the 10/26/09 Spirit MR cruise and observed the evacuation of the Spirit crewmember. As a former member of the U.S. Coast Guard, I am proud of the outstanding professionalism and dedication shown by the men and women in the USCG. Your sincere acknowledgement in Cozumel was appreciated more than can be put into words. Thank You!!!

[Willie T]

Just a little note, it was a pretty exciting day! Not only did we get to witness the rescue that day, but we also saw about 40 whales going south! Everywhere you looked, whales! Awesome! And no doubt a once in a lifetime event.

[gumballz]

Willie T, I don't want to undermine what you posted about the speed.....but we did slow down to 10 knots for the rescue. The wake wasn't as rough as it had been so I looked at the tv and saw our speed.

 

Goofydog, we were in 8272. It was excellent! The only thing that we didn't particularly care for was the soot on the balcony. A couple days it was somewhat bad....but we just got in the habit of wiping down the railing & our seats before leaning or sitting on them. I mentioned to our cabin steward that it was sort of bad, and they got a cleaning crew to come in and take care of it. As long as you're aware of it before getting it on your clothes, it's not a big deal (to me, anyway).

 

It was always quiet by our cabin (except when the crew members were playing with our door decorations) and the views we had of the ports, dolphins, whales, moons, sunsets, sunrises, the rescue, etc couldn't be beat!

 

Anyway, back to the topic......the Coast Guard did a great job, as well as all of the other people that were involved in making this a safe & successful rescue. :)