What's the strangest thing you've ever seen on a cruise?

[mackozie]

While a cruise from Fremantle to Singapore last year my companions and I became part of a group of quiz masters. To say we had a lot of fun is an understatement. We won lots of booty.

One of the members of the group was a moaner and groaner. He moaned about everything. He had the premium drinks package and used to flaunt it as a prize that he was owed.

He went to the bar and asked for a glass of wine that wasn't included in the package. He started to argue with the barmaid saying that it was his right to have that wine.

So he left us mid quiz and went straight to guest services and put in a complaint. They told to read the conditions of the package.

Over the next couple of days the man got angrier and angrier. Some from guest services must of had enough of him so they gave him two bottles of red wine to shut him up.

The best bit is that our last port of call before Singapore was in Malaysia. Singapore doesn't allow the importation of alcohol from Malaysia. So as he was going through customs at Singapore they confiscated his wine. They rest of us just s******ed. Personally I would have enjoyed the wine on the ship

[MLBFan24]

A crew member was cleaning the drink station in one of the buffet dining rooms late in the evening (around 10pm). He did this by standing on top of the counter and using his shoe and a rag to wipe the counter.

 

I definitely reported that to corporate

[GlendaleCruiser]

We were on the Celebrity Equinox and someone became ill and had to be evacuated by helicopter. Now, that in itself isn't strange. But what was unusual was that there had to be at least a thousand people out on deck to watch the evacuation. And when it was done safely, the applause and cheering would have led one to believe they just saw the end of the Super Bowl!

 

Happens every time! We always like to see our Coast Guard in action. When they do their awesome job, we celebrate a successful evac. They are our heroes.

[declansdad]

A crew member was cleaning the drink station in one of the buffet dining rooms late in the evening (around 10pm). He did this by standing on top of the counter and using his shoe and a rag to wipe the counter.

 

I definitely reported that to corporate

 

Why not report it on the ship?

[MLBFan24]

Why not report it on the ship?

 

 

I considered it, but since it happened on a Saturday night (and disembarkation was the following morning), there was no point in complaining to Guest Services on the ship.

Edited July 14, 2016 by MLBFan24

[SadieN]

On Princess we had s steward named Noordam. Yes, he was named after a ship his father worked on.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Magnum60]

Happens every time! We always like to see our Coast Guard in action. When they do their awesome job, we celebrate a successful evac. They are our heroes.

 

I'm a fan of the Coast Guard too but the following story was beyond the Cost Guards expertise. Aboard QE2 years ago on a leg of a world cruise a single very proper and impeccably dressed English gentleman sat down next to me in the Yacht Club Bar and ordered a 'tonic and gin'. While in his late 70s he could have been the poster child for what good health should look like after 70. We chatted for a few minutes and as he finished his drink he signed his tab and most likely left a nice tip. He then stood up, smiled at me and died. I caught him before he could fall and 'escorted' him (semi carried him like he needed assistance walking or had been over served) to one of the small cocktail tables away from the bar area as if we were friends. He showed no signs of trauma. The bartender (a friend of mine who I'd cruised with many times) quickly came to the table and the two of us confirmed that he had passed away.

Electing not to cause a scene by having the ships PA call out the QE2 code, "Starlight, Starlight Yacht Club Bar" which indicates a medical emergency and its location the bartender instead quickly called the ships doctor. There was nothing anyone could have done to save the man as he likely suffered a fatal heart attack. The doctor and an his aid arrived moments later and like the bartender and me the two men very discreetly confirmed that the gentleman was indeed dead. The doctor and aide then 'escorted' the dead man out of the bar exactly the same way I'd moved him to the table.

The only people in the Yacht Club Bar that night that knew anything had happened out of the ordinary were the bartender, the doctor, the aide and me. You can't make stuff like this up.

[MommaBear55]

I'm a fan of the Coast Guard too but the following story was beyond the Cost Guards expertise. Aboard QE2 years ago on a leg of a world cruise a single very proper and impeccably dressed English gentleman sat down next to me in the Yacht Club Bar and ordered a 'tonic and gin'. While in his late 70s he could have been the poster child for what good health should look like after 70. We chatted for a few minutes and as he finished his drink he signed his tab and most likely left a nice tip. He then stood up, smiled at me and died. I caught him before he could fall and 'escorted' him (semi carried him like he needed assistance walking or had been over served) to one of the small cocktail tables away from the bar area as if we were friends. He showed no signs of trauma. The bartender (a friend of mine who I'd cruised with many times) quickly came to the table and the two of us confirmed that he had passed away.

Electing not to cause a scene by having the ships PA call out the QE2 code, "Starlight, Starlight Yacht Club Bar" which indicates a medical emergency and its location the bartender instead quickly called the ships doctor. There was nothing anyone could have done to save the man as he likely suffered a fatal heart attack. The doctor and an his aid arrived moments later and like the bartender and me the two men very discreetly confirmed that the gentleman was indeed dead. The doctor and aide then 'escorted' the dead man out of the bar exactly the same way I'd moved him to the table.

The only people in the Yacht Club Bar that night that knew anything had happened out of the ordinary were the bartender, the doctor, the aide and me. You can't make stuff like this up.

 

 

I think this would be the way many of us would choose to go if we had a choice.

[cruzincurt]

If it was me, I think I would've rather have the medical team scramble to my location than rely on a passenger and a bartender to decide I was deceased and try to just locate the doctor.

Edited July 14, 2016 by cruzincurt

[Beachdude]

If it was me, I think I would've rather have the medical team scramble to my location than rely on a passenger and a bartender to decide I was deceased and try to just locate the doctor.

 

Um, you need to read the post again.

 

Burt

[Hornet441]

my wife ( now ex wife ) with another guy in the piano bar.:eek:

 

My Favorite!

[DirtyDawg]

I think this would be the way many of us would choose to go if we had a choice.

 

Frankly I'd rather go right after hitting a hole-in-one at the Old Course at St. Andrews. Heck I'd take one at any old course.

[cruzincurt]

Um, you need to read the post again.

 

Burt

 

"The bartender (a friend of mine who I'd cruised with many times) quickly came to the table and the two of us confirmed that he had passed away."

 

"Electing not to cause a scene by having the ships PA call out the QE2 code, "Starlight, Starlight Yacht Club Bar" which indicates a medical emergency and its location the bartender instead quickly called the ships doctor."

 

Did I miss something? Perhaps if the on-call medical team showed up with an AED the outcome might have been different?

Edited July 14, 2016 by cruzincurt

[Beachdude]

"The bartender (a friend of mine who I'd cruised with many times) quickly came to the table and the two of us confirmed that he had passed away."

 

"Electing not to cause a scene by having the ships PA call out the QE2 code, "Starlight, Starlight Yacht Club Bar" which indicates a medical emergency and its location the bartender instead quickly called the ships doctor."

 

Did I miss something? Perhaps if the on-call medical team showed up with an AED the outcome might have been different?

 

Yes, "we quickly called the ships doctor."

 

Burt

[Magnum60]

The tech needed to [perhaps] change the outcome of the event was not available at the time and even if it were, by the time it could have been deployed the patient would have been dead too long to alter the outcome. Had the deceased gentleman been in the ships hospital when stricken he would not have been able to have been revived either. While I'm certainly no doctor or one of the many people that learned medicine staying at a Holiday Inn I [sadly] know what dead looks like (US Army Veteran, Vietnam, 1966). Nothing any of us could have done with the available tech one might find on a state of the art ocean liner back then would have changed a thing. The patient had absolutely no vitals and had moved on. If he had any chance at all all of us would have acted immediately.

 

 

"Frankly I'd rather go right after hitting a hole-in-one at the Old Course at St. Andrews".

 

Not me, I'd wait until the party celebrating my hole in one was over, take an exaggerated bow, through my clubs at the nearest sand trap and yell, "Well that does it for me!"

[ronandannette]

If it was me, I think I would've rather have the medical team scramble to my location than rely on a passenger and a bartender to decide I was deceased and try to just locate the doctor.

 

Um, you need to read the post again.

 

Burt

 

I'm with you cruzincurt. I understand that not everyone is a trained first-responder, but if I ever "go down" like has been described here, I certainly hope somebody has the ability and presence of mind to start CPR immediately and call for trained medical personnel. I bet Beachdude would prefer that too if it ever happened to him.

Edited July 14, 2016 by ronandannette

[donaldsc]

"The bartender (a friend of mine who I'd cruised with many times) quickly came to the table and the two of us confirmed that he had passed away."

 

"Electing not to cause a scene by having the ships PA call out the QE2 code, "Starlight, Starlight Yacht Club Bar" which indicates a medical emergency and its location the bartender instead quickly called the ships doctor."

 

Did I miss something? Perhaps if the on-call medical team showed up with an AED the outcome might have been different?

 

Are you a doctor. Have you had much experience confirming that people are dead? Did the bartender also have the same medical experience that you have. That fact that you did want to "cause a scene" when someone keels over is to put it mildly slightly absurd. I sure don't want you around when I have my heart attack on a ship.

 

DON

[AmazedByCruising]

If it was me, I think I would've rather have the medical team scramble to my location than rely on a passenger and a bartender to decide I was deceased and try to just locate the doctor.

 

I agree. Diverting from a standard procedure, that has been developed using many years of experience needs more than a guest and a bartender deciding they shouldn't bother other guests.

[Goosebear Mum]

You do say a doctor arrived moments later, and I hope so. My husband had a cardiac arrest 5yrs ago. We live in a rural area. It was just me doing CPR for c. 15 to 20 mins until the ambulance arrived, they continued for an hour at home, still without getting a heart beat. When a back up fire engine crew arrived to help carry him downstairs, (stairs steep and narrow) they took him to hospital where they finally got a heart beat. Operation then 8 days in coma, where I was asked to consider turning off his life support, followed by a miracle recovery. Now I realise a ship (esp a world cruise, maybe a long way from land) won't have the same facilities to operate and keep a person cooled for 24 hrs to reduce brain injury. But CPR until a doctor arrived may have made a difference if you were near land. Don't ever assume a person cannot be helped.

 

GbM

[Schlepporello]

Let's cut the guy some slack, folks. The doctor was called immediately and not everyone is properly trained in CPR. What's done is done and rehashing what would have, should have, could have isn't going to bring the gentleman back. And for all we know, it may not have done any good anyway. I'd be thankful that someone was there to catch me when I died rather than being found dead in my cabin or on deck much later.

 

My father-in-law died in my arms. I was right there performing CPR until the paramedics arrived and he remained dead. Sometimes you just can't bring people back.

[Magnum60]

Perhaps I should add that this unfortunate incident took place in 1981 (that's 35 years ago) when few knew about CPR, how to administer it and portable defibrillators were [to my knowledge] unknown. I doubt the QE2 would have had a defibrillator in its infirmary either. Doctors on ships, even on modern day cruise ships, are not specialists in any specific field of medicine nor are the infirmaries they staff equipped like today's modern trauma centers. We all can speculate as to what should have been done and how it should have been done but the fact is that the outcome would not have changed when you wind the clock backwards 35 years.

As for not making a scene and upsetting other passengers I think that that nameless and long gone gentleman that died that evening would have appreciated what a few unknown people attempted to do.

[Goosebear Mum]

Yes, the info that it was 1981 makes a big difference. A cardiac arrest back then was generally untreatable :( And I agree, moving him so other passengers were less likely to know, was in my opinion, the best initial response to avoid a 'scene' for all

[cruzincurt]

On a positive note, I've noticed that some recent ship board doctors now appear to have trauma and emergency room experience rather than just being general practitioners. And perhaps the crew is aware of passengers that are vacationing doctors. I met a retired kidney surgeon on a recent cruise.

[ronandannette]

On a positive note, I've noticed that some recent ship board doctors now appear to have trauma and emergency room experience rather than just being general practitioners. And perhaps the crew is aware of passengers that are vacationing doctors. I met a retired kidney surgeon on a recent cruise.

 

I'm not sure what jurisdictional laws would apply, but here in Alberta, OH&S regulations require that businesses have a certain number of staff members certified in 1st Aid - which includes CPR training. I'd imagine in any sizeable crowd today there would be more than 1 person qualified in first-response. Calling out for help in a medical emergency would absolutely the right thing to do. And although I understand the context of the "Weekend at Bernie's" event, I still shudder at the idea of being "discreetly dispatched" in a similar situation...

[marco]

This was many years ago whilst on a Home Lines cruise on the "Oceanic" a single women bought in St Thomas a 6ft stuffed animal of Micky Mouse. She brought it to the lounge and sat him down as though he were a regular person and then danced with him once the band started to play.