FOS Delayed 7/24/11

[RM]

There goes Freedom!

[lrn2cruise]

Darn! I missed it! I was reading a blog and went back and it was gone.

 

Next week I wont miss it!!!! I will be on it!

[Lloyd555]

Almost out of the port now.

 

Bon voyage! Safe sailing.

[estoyer]

Did anyone find out what happened and with whom??

 

Earl

[PCalabrese]

Just watched Freedom leave Port. She does this only 8 more times and on the 9th time we'll be onboard!

[Clarea]

Per my husband something doesn't seem right. They have a pad for hellicopter landings. Why the need to actually go into the port of Nassau?

Per one of the Captains at a Q&A, helicopter landings have a degree of risk to them, and if they can safely go to a land port without compromising the health of the patient, they will opt for that.

[cello56]

I was talking with a fellow who was one of the first off the boat this afternoon and he said that they had to stop for a gentleman who had a stroke. He also said that unfortunately the man died. :( Not sure how reliable his info was, but that is what everyone was saying.

[emtfirefighter86]

I wonder why would they or the persons family want the ill person to be brought to Nassau when in fact the FOS would of been docked at 6am in Florida, where the person can be brought to a hospital here in america? I always assumed the doctor aboard the ship can take care of a person and that they had communication with a high end hospital/medical staff here in america that would tell the doctor what to do? Of course the doctor is no surgeon I wonder if anybody knows what exactly was the emergency (or was this a person who assumed it was a medical emergency when in fact the FOS may have had another proble??) I like to know the reason for this delay.....

 

Actually surprisingly medical emergencies have to be pretty bad to get some body off the ship at a port or by helicopter the newer ships like the freedom class up have full ICU units from what I understood someone on liberty last year fell on the flowrider and broke their right clavicle and right femur and they had no problem treating him he was in there the rest of the cruise but he was ok and treated when we got back to the port of Miami... I will say however the staff on board the ships have no clue what to do if an emergency happens but to stand around multiple times on my cruise I had to jump in and take control of situations because the crew is not trained in even basic first aid

[Cruisegirl6]

Emfirefighter your wrong! I know as a fact cruise lines have total communication with land based top hospitals with excellent doctors of all types.

 

Royal Caribbean

 

The Basics: Medical centers on all Royal Caribbean ships are staffed with a minimum of two fully qualified medical doctors and three registered nurses. Oasis-class ships have a complement of three doctors, five nurses and one medical secretary.

 

Medical Training: Staff meet ACEP guidelines and have been credentialed to verify current physician or registered nurse licensing. Also required are three years of post-graduate/post-registration clinical practice in general and emergency medicine -- or board certification in emergency medicine, family practice or internal medicine. Medical staffers must also have skills in life support and cardiac care. Staff must be fluent in English.

 

Hours: Set office hours, plus 24-hour emergency services, are available.

 

Additional Equipment: All ships have 24/7 professional medical consultations available through affiliation with The Cleveland Clinic (Weston, Florida). Helipads for medical evacuation are available on all of the line's Radiance-, Voyager-, Freedom- and Oasis-class ships.

 

I live in Florida and last year my dad had a quintriple bypass and Cleveland Clinic was the hospital that was the most updated in the entire state with all the new techniques/equipment, etc.....they are the finest when it comes to heart emergencies in addition to any other emergency. One not need to worry all cruise lines have land based communications with top notch physicians/hospitals including John Hopkins and Mayo Clinic.

[cruisinfanatic]

Per one of the Captains at a Q&A, helicopter landings have a degree of risk to them, and if they can safely go to a land port without compromising the health of the patient, they will opt for that.

If the ship is at sea, med helicopters don't usually land because it's very dangerous. They send down a basket

[Capt_BJ]

If the ship is at sea, med helicopters don't usually land because it's very dangerous. They send down a basket

 

I've several comments on this point and I'm not going to try and weave them together ... my qualification for giving them tho: 30 years in USCG, many of those on ships in cruse ship territory and in many cases being the launching point of a helo doing a cruise ship medivac as the On Scene Commander - I sat in the Captain's chair.

 

- landing a helo on a ship is nothing for the feint of heart, it is a demanding operation with huge risk. Helo pilots do not like to land on ships (unless they NEED TO LAND NOW and a ship is the only place they can find :D). Among the problems is if they land and find a mechanical problem and reg's say they can not launch again - they're stuck...

 

- to land on my ship a helo from our own organization had to land 20 plus times a month for training to keep our qualification for the crash crew. Of course a commercial vessel can decide who lands and who does not but reg's prohibited even a helo from another service from landing on my deck 'cuz we were not trained for it. Does the commercial pilot even want to risk it is a different question but I'm still waiting for a picture of a commercial air-amb hoisting or landing in the 'vicinity' of the US. Captain of a cruise ship can OK anyone he wants . . .

 

- there has to be a helo available. Contrary to popular belief the average air ambulance has zero training or availablity to even fly over open water much less land on a ship OR perform a hoist to/fm a ship at sea. In my 30 years I never saw it ... period. The Bahamas - for this case - has no intrinsic air sea rescue capability. Yes there is the BDF with a few boats and BASRA but neither has a helo with ship landing qualification or at sea hoist capabiltiy. If a hoist happens in the Bahamas it was by a USCG helo. That helo was either a helo of opportunity (a pre-deployed helo for another mission :rolleyes: or a helo on a ship also there for another mission :rolleyes:)

 

- if you think a hoist is easier .... NO, but it eliminates several issues for the helo like the problems of landing and not being able to launch. USCG guys practice ship hoists a LOT .... again I'll say I've NEVER seen or heard of a commercial ambulance hoist un US waters in the last 30 years

 

- If there was no USCG helo of opportunity available there are two choices, go to a port where the patient can be transferred to a treatment facility, or keep the person aboard until the next port. In a typical case of this sort, the ship contacts the internationally recognized rescue coordination center for a medical emergency. For the Bahamas this is going to be the Seventh Coast Guard Distict, Miami Florida Command Center. Even tho the ship is in the Bahamas, they contact the US . . . The command center is going to put the ship's doctor in touch with a USCG Flight Surgeon (actually a doctor detailed from US Public Healt Service). The FS will make a recommendation as whether the patient can stay on board until the next port or is better evacuated sooner assuming sooner means air or heading to the nearest port. This is done in consultation with the Command Center and in some cases by contacting the helo facilities in the area (like my ship) to determine if and how soon a resource might be available. After all these facts come in the flight surgeon and the sar mission controller make a decision as to which way the case will be handled

 

- keep all this in mind when you sail, and when your congressman has the opportunity to comment on the USCG budget. Security and safety in the Carib' is due to USCG - end of editorial.

 

- Sea story from not that long ago - I was in command of a CG cutter on patrol off the coast of Haiti monitoring illegal migration. In the middle of the night a cruise ship contacted the RCC - they had a patient with a very hot appendix and were in the passage between Cuba and Haiti - the Windward passage. What were the options? the nearest hospitals were Nassau? and Port Au Prince ???? and Guantanamo and all were more then a 24 hour sail away. Hmmm, where does that air ambulance come from? In the end - decided in an hour or so - I launched the helo off my ship which went to the cruise ship and hoisted the patient around 1 am, they then returned to my ship where we quickly refueled the helo - around 2 am - and it then flew to the Navy Base at Guatanamo Cube where the patient rec'd emergency surgery....

[Clarea]

I've several comments on this point and I'm not going to try and weave them together ... my qualification for giving them tho: 30 years in USCG, many of those on ships in cruse ship territory and in many cases being the launching point of a helo doing a cruise ship medivac as the On Scene Commander - I sat in the Captain's chair.

 

- landing a helo on a ship is nothing for the feint of heart, it is a demanding operation with huge risk. Helo pilots do not like to land on ships (unless they NEED TO LAND NOW and a ship is the only place they can find :D). Among the problems is if they land and find a mechanical problem and reg's say they can not launch again - they're stuck...

 

- to land on my ship a helo from our own organization had to land 20 plus times a month for training to keep our qualification for the crash crew. Of course a commercial vessel can decide who lands and who does not but reg's prohibited even a helo from another service from landing on my deck 'cuz we were not trained for it. Does the commercial pilot even want to risk it is a different question but I'm still waiting for a picture of a commercial air-amb hoisting or landing in the 'vicinity' of the US. Captain of a cruise ship can OK anyone he wants . . .

 

- there has to be a helo available. Contrary to popular belief the average air ambulance has zero training or availablity to even fly over open water much less land on a ship OR perform a hoist to/fm a ship at sea. In my 30 years I never saw it ... period. The Bahamas - for this case - has no intrinsic air sea rescue capability. Yes there is the BDF with a few boats and BASRA but neither has a helo with ship landing qualification or at sea hoist capabiltiy. If a hoist happens in the Bahamas it was by a USCG helo. That helo was either a helo of opportunity (a pre-deployed helo for another mission :rolleyes: or a helo on a ship also there for another mission :rolleyes:)

 

- if you think a hoist is easier .... NO, but it eliminates several issues for the helo like the problems of landing and not being able to launch. USCG guys practice ship hoists a LOT .... again I'll say I've NEVER seen or heard of a commercial ambulance hoist un US waters in the last 30 years

 

- If there was no USCG helo of opportunity available there are two choices, go to a port where the patient can be transferred to a treatment facility, or keep the person aboard until the next port. In a typical case of this sort, the ship contacts the internationally recognized rescue coordination center for a medical emergency. For the Bahamas this is going to be the Seventh Coast Guard Distict, Miami Florida Command Center. Even tho the ship is in the Bahamas, they contact the US . . . The command center is going to put the ship's doctor in touch with a USCG Flight Surgeon (actually a doctor detailed from US Public Healt Service). The FS will make a recommendation as whether the patient can stay on board until the next port or is better evacuated sooner assuming sooner means air or heading to the nearest port. This is done in consultation with the Command Center and in some cases by contacting the helo facilities in the area (like my ship) to determine if and how soon a resource might be available. After all these facts come in the flight surgeon and the sar mission controller make a decision as to which way the case will be handled

 

- keep all this in mind when you sail, and when your congressman has the opportunity to comment on the USCG budget. Security and safety in the Carib' is due to USCG - end of editorial.

 

- Sea story from not that long ago - I was in command of a CG cutter on patrol off the coast of Haiti monitoring illegal migration. In the middle of the night a cruise ship contacted the RCC - they had a patient with a very hot appendix and were in the passage between Cuba and Haiti - the Windward passage. What were the options? the nearest hospitals were Nassau? and Port Au Prince ???? and Guantanamo and all were more then a 24 hour sail away. Hmmm, where does that air ambulance come from? In the end - decided in an hour or so - I launched the helo off my ship which went to the cruise ship and hoisted the patient around 1 am, they then returned to my ship where we quickly refueled the helo - around 2 am - and it then flew to the Navy Base at Guatanamo Cube where the patient rec'd emergency surgery....

Really interesting info, thanks for taking the time to post.

 

Bob

[AirGorilla]

I've several comments on this point and I'm not going to try and weave them together ... my qualification for giving them tho: 30 years in USCG, many of those on ships in cruse ship territory and in many cases being the launching point of a helo doing a cruise ship medivac as the On Scene Commander - I sat in the Captain's chair.

 

- landing a helo on a ship is nothing for the feint of heart, it is a demanding operation with huge risk. Helo pilots do not like to land on ships (unless they NEED TO LAND NOW and a ship is the only place they can find :D). Among the problems is if they land and find a mechanical problem and reg's say they can not launch again - they're stuck...

 

- to land on my ship a helo from our own organization had to land 20 plus times a month for training to keep our qualification for the crash crew. Of course a commercial vessel can decide who lands and who does not but reg's prohibited even a helo from another service from landing on my deck 'cuz we were not trained for it. Does the commercial pilot even want to risk it is a different question but I'm still waiting for a picture of a commercial air-amb hoisting or landing in the 'vicinity' of the US. Captain of a cruise ship can OK anyone he wants . . .

 

- there has to be a helo available. Contrary to popular belief the average air ambulance has zero training or availablity to even fly over open water much less land on a ship OR perform a hoist to/fm a ship at sea. In my 30 years I never saw it ... period. The Bahamas - for this case - has no intrinsic air sea rescue capability. Yes there is the BDF with a few boats and BASRA but neither has a helo with ship landing qualification or at sea hoist capabiltiy. If a hoist happens in the Bahamas it was by a USCG helo. That helo was either a helo of opportunity (a pre-deployed helo for another mission :rolleyes: or a helo on a ship also there for another mission :rolleyes:)

 

- if you think a hoist is easier .... NO, but it eliminates several issues for the helo like the problems of landing and not being able to launch. USCG guys practice ship hoists a LOT .... again I'll say I've NEVER seen or heard of a commercial ambulance hoist un US waters in the last 30 years

 

- If there was no USCG helo of opportunity available there are two choices, go to a port where the patient can be transferred to a treatment facility, or keep the person aboard until the next port. In a typical case of this sort, the ship contacts the internationally recognized rescue coordination center for a medical emergency. For the Bahamas this is going to be the Seventh Coast Guard Distict, Miami Florida Command Center. Even tho the ship is in the Bahamas, they contact the US . . . The command center is going to put the ship's doctor in touch with a USCG Flight Surgeon (actually a doctor detailed from US Public Healt Service). The FS will make a recommendation as whether the patient can stay on board until the next port or is better evacuated sooner assuming sooner means air or heading to the nearest port. This is done in consultation with the Command Center and in some cases by contacting the helo facilities in the area (like my ship) to determine if and how soon a resource might be available. After all these facts come in the flight surgeon and the sar mission controller make a decision as to which way the case will be handled

 

- keep all this in mind when you sail, and when your congressman has the opportunity to comment on the USCG budget. Security and safety in the Carib' is due to USCG - end of editorial.

 

- Sea story from not that long ago - I was in command of a CG cutter on patrol off the coast of Haiti monitoring illegal migration. In the middle of the night a cruise ship contacted the RCC - they had a patient with a very hot appendix and were in the passage between Cuba and Haiti - the Windward passage. What were the options? the nearest hospitals were Nassau? and Port Au Prince ???? and Guantanamo and all were more then a 24 hour sail away. Hmmm, where does that air ambulance come from? In the end - decided in an hour or so - I launched the helo off my ship which went to the cruise ship and hoisted the patient around 1 am, they then returned to my ship where we quickly refueled the helo - around 2 am - and it then flew to the Navy Base at Guatanamo Cube where the patient rec'd emergency surgery....

 

Great post, Captain!! Thank you!!

 

AG

[HB Cruiser]

Thanks Capt Bob!!!

 

It is real nice learning things from those that really KNOW what they are talking about.

 

NOTE: The last statement was not intended to start a flaming war, just a THANK YOU for knowledge.

 

Tim

[Puffinater]

Capt_BJ thanks for the info. Back in May of 07 we were on the Explorer out of NJ and there was in fact a helo removal of a passenger. Not sure where we were in relationship to land. Did not realize it was such a rare thing. Thanks again for the great insight.

[YoGOCraig]

Hi all. I was aboard the Freedom this past week. Officially, we were told by the captain that there was a medical emergency and a patient had to be taken to Nassau. We watched as one patient was removed on a stretcher from the ship to a waiting ambulance. It also appeared that there were two other folks (family is my guess) who also got off the ship and left with the patient. Beyond that, there was no official word that we were informed of as to the specifics on the emergency. In fact, most of the time, the captain referred to the patient as "the patient". He did slip a couple of times and said "he" or "him" so everyone aboard figured it to be a male patient.

 

I heard about 3 different possible causes: stroke, heart attack, something respiratory. We were standing on the bow on the helipad when we entered the port at Nassau. Everyone was talking about "why not tender the patient in" or "why no helicopter". There were also about a thousand different reasons floating around. Some were prefaced with "I would guess that..." while others were "I heard directly from the captain..." Helo stories were that there were no helos available, insurance wouldn't cover a medivac flight unless it was truly life-or-death, it would take too long to prep the helipad, etc. I don't know the official reason why no helo but in my uneducated guess, the reason why a smaller, faster vessel didn't meet us was possible that there was a bit of a swell and there was some wind so a small boat would not have been able to get very stable next to the Freedom.

 

A comment was made above that the patient died. I haven't heard that before. Not saying it didn't happen but he was alive when he was taken off the ship. We could see him on the stretcher.

 

The next morning, there was a bit of chaos on the ship but overall, it wasn't too bad if you actually had patience. I didn't see anyone blowing their top or causing any problems. I know a LOT of people were not listening to directions as there were MANY MANY announcements saying to NOT go to deck 4 unless you have ALL your luggage in hand. The announcements said many people were leaving the ship without their luggage and were expecting it to be off already. We finally started to leave the ship (luggage tag 2) probably about 12:45 or so. While it was crowded, it was fairly orderly.

 

We had stayed in Cocoa Beach for two nights before we embarked so we had cruise parking at the hotel. We caught our shuttle from the dock back to the hotel. All the restaurants, gas stations and and stores right near the port were JAMMED with people. I think it was Burger King (first fast food on the right as you head from the port south towards Cocoa Beach) we saw that had luggage wrapped around the building. Many places also had shuttles/taxis filling the lots just waiting.

 

We got into our vehicle and were heading out of town by 1:30pm or so. This was our first cruise but not our last. Aside from a small bout of sickness (combo of getting overheated, alcohol and a probably a touch of sea sickness) the first night and stubbing my toe in St Martin scraping off about a dime size chunk of skin, we had an incredible time. We were fortunate that we drove down from South Carolina and didn't have a flight to worry about. Other family with us had a flight but it wasn't until 5:20pm. They got to the airport and still had over 2 hours to spare.

 

Just wanted to share what little we knew and our experience on board.

 

Craig

[SherriZ366]

Hi all. I was aboard the Freedom this past week. Officially, we were told by the captain that there was a medical emergency and a patient had to be taken to Nassau. We watched as one patient was removed on a stretcher from the ship to a waiting ambulance. It also appeared that there were two other folks (family is my guess) who also got off the ship and left with the patient. Beyond that, there was no official word that we were informed of as to the specifics on the emergency. In fact, most of the time, the captain referred to the patient as "the patient". He did slip a couple of times and said "he" or "him" so everyone aboard figured it to be a male patient.

 

I heard about 3 different possible causes: stroke, heart attack, something respiratory. We were standing on the bow on the helipad when we entered the port at Nassau. Everyone was talking about "why not tender the patient in" or "why no helicopter". There were also about a thousand different reasons floating around. Some were prefaced with "I would guess that..." while others were "I heard directly from the captain..." Helo stories were that there were no helos available, insurance wouldn't cover a medivac flight unless it was truly life-or-death, it would take too long to prep the helipad, etc. I don't know the official reason why no helo but in my uneducated guess, the reason why a smaller, faster vessel didn't meet us was possible that there was a bit of a swell and there was some wind so a small boat would not have been able to get very stable next to the Freedom.

 

A comment was made above that the patient died. I haven't heard that before. Not saying it didn't happen but he was alive when he was taken off the ship. We could see him on the stretcher.

 

The next morning, there was a bit of chaos on the ship but overall, it wasn't too bad if you actually had patience. I didn't see anyone blowing their top or causing any problems. I know a LOT of people were not listening to directions as there were MANY MANY announcements saying to NOT go to deck 4 unless you have ALL your luggage in hand. The announcements said many people were leaving the ship without their luggage and were expecting it to be off already. We finally started to leave the ship (luggage tag 2) probably about 12:45 or so. While it was crowded, it was fairly orderly.

 

We had stayed in Cocoa Beach for two nights before we embarked so we had cruise parking at the hotel. We caught our shuttle from the dock back to the hotel. All the restaurants, gas stations and and stores right near the port were JAMMED with people. I think it was Burger King (first fast food on the right as you head from the port south towards Cocoa Beach) we saw that had luggage wrapped around the building. Many places also had shuttles/taxis filling the lots just waiting.

 

We got into our vehicle and were heading out of town by 1:30pm or so. This was our first cruise but not our last. Aside from a small bout of sickness (combo of getting overheated, alcohol and a probably a touch of sea sickness) the first night and stubbing my toe in St Martin scraping off about a dime size chunk of skin, we had an incredible time. We were fortunate that we drove down from South Carolina and didn't have a flight to worry about. Other family with us had a flight but it wasn't until 5:20pm. They got to the airport and still had over 2 hours to spare.

 

Just wanted to share what little we knew and our experience on board.

 

Craig

Craig -- thanks for the detailed description of why Freedom was delayed. We are also drive to folks as we live in SC too -- near Hilton Head. Glad to hear that you liked cruises.

[Eng23]

I've several comments on this point and I'm not going to try and weave them together ... my qualification for giving them tho: 30 years in USCG, many of those on ships in cruse ship territory and in many cases being the launching point of a helo doing a cruise ship medivac as the On Scene Commander - I sat in the Captain's chair.

 

- landing a helo on a ship is nothing for the feint of heart, it is a demanding operation with huge risk. Helo pilots do not like to land on ships (unless they NEED TO LAND NOW and a ship is the only place they can find :D). Among the problems is if they land and find a mechanical problem and reg's say they can not launch again - they're stuck...

 

- to land on my ship a helo from our own organization had to land 20 plus times a month for training to keep our qualification for the crash crew. Of course a commercial vessel can decide who lands and who does not but reg's prohibited even a helo from another service from landing on my deck 'cuz we were not trained for it. Does the commercial pilot even want to risk it is a different question but I'm still waiting for a picture of a commercial air-amb hoisting or landing in the 'vicinity' of the US. Captain of a cruise ship can OK anyone he wants . . .

 

- there has to be a helo available. Contrary to popular belief the average air ambulance has zero training or availablity to even fly over open water much less land on a ship OR perform a hoist to/fm a ship at sea. In my 30 years I never saw it ... period. The Bahamas - for this case - has no intrinsic air sea rescue capability. Yes there is the BDF with a few boats and BASRA but neither has a helo with ship landing qualification or at sea hoist capabiltiy. If a hoist happens in the Bahamas it was by a USCG helo. That helo was either a helo of opportunity (a pre-deployed helo for another mission :rolleyes: or a helo on a ship also there for another mission :rolleyes:)

 

- if you think a hoist is easier .... NO, but it eliminates several issues for the helo like the problems of landing and not being able to launch. USCG guys practice ship hoists a LOT .... again I'll say I've NEVER seen or heard of a commercial ambulance hoist un US waters in the last 30 years

 

- If there was no USCG helo of opportunity available there are two choices, go to a port where the patient can be transferred to a treatment facility, or keep the person aboard until the next port. In a typical case of this sort, the ship contacts the internationally recognized rescue coordination center for a medical emergency. For the Bahamas this is going to be the Seventh Coast Guard Distict, Miami Florida Command Center. Even tho the ship is in the Bahamas, they contact the US . . . The command center is going to put the ship's doctor in touch with a USCG Flight Surgeon (actually a doctor detailed from US Public Healt Service). The FS will make a recommendation as whether the patient can stay on board until the next port or is better evacuated sooner assuming sooner means air or heading to the nearest port. This is done in consultation with the Command Center and in some cases by contacting the helo facilities in the area (like my ship) to determine if and how soon a resource might be available. After all these facts come in the flight surgeon and the sar mission controller make a decision as to which way the case will be handled

 

- keep all this in mind when you sail, and when your congressman has the opportunity to comment on the USCG budget. Security and safety in the Carib' is due to USCG - end of editorial.

 

- Sea story from not that long ago - I was in command of a CG cutter on patrol off the coast of Haiti monitoring illegal migration. In the middle of the night a cruise ship contacted the RCC - they had a patient with a very hot appendix and were in the passage between Cuba and Haiti - the Windward passage. What were the options? the nearest hospitals were Nassau? and Port Au Prince ???? and Guantanamo and all were more then a 24 hour sail away. Hmmm, where does that air ambulance come from? In the end - decided in an hour or so - I launched the helo off my ship which went to the cruise ship and hoisted the patient around 1 am, they then returned to my ship where we quickly refueled the helo - around 2 am - and it then flew to the Navy Base at Guatanamo Cube where the patient rec'd emergency surgery....

Thanks for the very detailed and insightful explaination on the realities of deciding to evacuate or sail into the nearest port for a medical emergency. I'm sure there are a few more factors involved but all that you included is spot on. :D

[RoyalDiamond]

We were on Mariner in June 2009. It was one of the "rerouted" cruises northbound out of Los Angeles/San Pedro due to the Mexico health scare. While headed back Southbound from Seattle back to Los Angeles, we had a medical emergency while off the coast of Oregon. They did, in fact, land a helicopter on the helipad and evacuate the passenger via helicopter! Very interesting experience!

[emtfirefighter86]

Emfirefighter your wrong! I know as a fact cruise lines have total communication with land based top hospitals with excellent doctors of all types.

 

Royal Caribbean

 

The Basics: Medical centers on all Royal Caribbean ships are staffed with a minimum of two fully qualified medical doctors and three registered nurses. Oasis-class ships have a complement of three doctors, five nurses and one medical secretary.

 

Medical Training: Staff meet ACEP guidelines and have been credentialed to verify current physician or registered nurse licensing. Also required are three years of post-graduate/post-registration clinical practice in general and emergency medicine -- or board certification in emergency medicine, family practice or internal medicine. Medical staffers must also have skills in life support and cardiac care. Staff must be fluent in English.

 

Hours: Set office hours, plus 24-hour emergency services, are available.

 

Additional Equipment: All ships have 24/7 professional medical consultations available through affiliation with The Cleveland Clinic (Weston, Florida). Helipads for medical evacuation are available on all of the line's Radiance-, Voyager-, Freedom- and Oasis-class ships.

 

I live in Florida and last year my dad had a quintriple bypass and Cleveland Clinic was the hospital that was the most updated in the entire state with all the new techniques/equipment, etc.....they are the finest when it comes to heart emergencies in addition to any other emergency. One not need to worry all cruise lines have land based communications with top notch physicians/hospitals including John Hopkins and Mayo Clinic.

 

 

 

I Already Know all this stuff but you have to realize it takes a long while for the nurses or doctors to respond. I was making reference to the rest of the staff on the ship who have no idea what they are doing and should be atleast first aid certified and considering they have to deal with the situations until qualified help arrives they were lost souls. During our life jacket drills it became very hot last year and one lady who was at the back of the crowd ended up having a heat stroke. Me and a Nurse who was in our group were the ones treating her and tell me why not one medical staff showed up. The employees just stood around watching and didnt even help at first until I requested a Wheel Chair to have a more rapid transport to the medical facility. I also sprung into action along with a doctor when the male fell on the flowrider and it took them 5-7 minutes to even find an officer to start the ball rolling to get the pt. to the medical facility a nurse did eventually show up to this incident after about 15min after the initial fall. that response time just shows a huge lack of knowledge by the regular staff. If you had actually took the time to read what I wrote I said they had very good facilities onboard about that of a Intensive care unit. I just feel the other staff on the ship should be better trained... what happens if someone is choking in the dining room the wait staff just gonna stand there sad to say but from my experience it would be my guess. Im not trying to put down royal caribbean or anything if I were I would not continue to sail the line but they do need to establish a training program for all employees so they know how to react to situations that may occur.

[Mainer59]

The next morning, there was a bit of chaos on the ship but overall, it wasn't too bad if you actually had patience. I didn't see anyone blowing their top or causing any problems. I know a LOT of people were not listening to directions as there were MANY MANY announcements saying to NOT go to deck 4 unless you have ALL your luggage in hand. The announcements said many people were leaving the ship without their luggage and were expecting it to be off already. We finally started to leave the ship (luggage tag 2) probably about 12:45 or so. While it was crowded, it was fairly orderly.

 

 

We were on board as well. I'll add more later but echo the deck 4 comments. Looking down the stairwells and where you can see deck 4 from the forward end of Promenade ther were loads of people in line without luggage long before they called any tag numbers. I'd like to thank them for the night at the hotel in Orlando because of a missed flight and no room on any remaining flights on Suday and the 8 hour delay in Atlanta today. :(

 

 

We were tag 22 and arrived at Orlando at 4PM. Just as our flight left. Finally got home at 11:00 Monday night.

[Takemetoaspa]

We were on the Serenade of the Seas this past May. The crew were excellent, except for one day in the Windjammer. We were eating lunch and a lady at the table next to us was having problems with her blood sugar. The family said she was diabetic. It took forever for the staff to respond with a wheelchair and get her down to the medical clinic. They did nothing with her while she was going in and out of consciousness. Luckily she turned out to be ok, but the response time was just too slow. Maybe they need to keep wheelchairs on some of the other decks since the medical clinic is usually on deck 2 or 3.

[alcie]

We were also on FOS this last week and we heard all kinds of rumors. Everything from a heart attack to a pre-mature birth. After the captain used the words "he" and "his" in some of the announcements we figured it probably wasn't pre-term labor. ;) But otherwise no one ever seemed to know exactly what was the cause of the emergency.

 

We were in group 12 scheduled to leave the ship at 9:30am. We ended up getting off the ship around 1:30. There was a lot of frustration and concern about missed flights but everyone I saw seemed pretty calm. Our table mates had scheduled a 1pm flight out of Orlando but I don't think there's anyway they made it. I also heard from our flight attendant (we flew home yesterday) that she was talking to a lady who said United charged them a\the re-booking fee per ticket when they missed their flight.

 

The only time I saw anyone truly angry was at the car rental location. There was a group of people waiting to get on the shuttle to the port and there were some arguments as to who got to go first. It ended with someone yelling that they would kill the driver, the driver sticking his head out the window and yelling back then a couple of staff and a manager coming out side to diffuse the situation.

[Mainer59]

Though we missed flilghts we didn't get overly upset. That doesn't help.

 

We'd booked air and transfers through RCI and, though we had a bit of an issue getting to them (the number given to us by Guest Services on board closed after 5:00), they arranged for a flight the next day and indicated they'll cover cost of a hotel.

 

 

The almost comical part of it all....

• We initially got group 1 luggage tags but switched for 22 as we had a 4:00PM flight and didn't see a need to rush breakfast to make group 1. Better a relaxed breakfast than sitting in the airport from 10AM to 4PM
  
• Almost tossed the group 22 tags when we got our valet service tags and instructions, once we realized that the valet service worked differently (first time with valet but I guess the next time will be the first time). Valet service was cancelled once the delay became apparent.
  
• Had we kept the group 1 tags we'd have likely made our 4:00 flight (but likely not by that much).
  

Next time we'll get in a day early to avoid the 3AM wake-up in Maine on departure day and leave on Monday to avoid the inevitable long day on arrival day. Of course I said that last year...:o

[davidsmum]

. Our table mates had scheduled a 1pm flight out of Orlando but I don't think there's anyway they made it.

 

My friend came off FOS sunday and made their 1 p.m. flight in Orlando...by the skin of their teeth but they made it!