statistics for medical emergencies

[NoobCruise]

This is just curiosity. I've only been on here for about a month, and I've seen a few cases where ships were diverted to different ports due to medical emergencies. I'm curious what the statistic are for this? Anyone know? I would have thought it was relatively rare, but it sounds more common than I thought.

 

On my first and only cruise, my husband needed to see a dr towards the end of our trip only to discover there was no dr on the ship because a passenger had a heart attack and he had stayed with her during transport.

 

I've also seen it stated repeatedly that the general age of the passengers on HAL is much older. So are ports missed more frequently due to emergencies on HAL then other lines? Just curious.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have been on quite a few ships with medical emergencies -- and the last few years they have become quite common. And it has not just been on HAL -- we had them happen on Princess, Cunard and NCL. Nothing happened on our one RCI cruise.

So far we have only missed a couple of ports -- but we have been very late to many ports when a helicopter or change of cruise plans have to made to get the ill passengers off the ship -- especially when the ship is "at sea" and the next day is not a port day.

[Typhoon1]

We met the ships doctor at a cocktail party last month on our cruise. DH asked him what was the worst medical emergency he encountered on cruises.

 

His reply: Death.

[sail7seas]

We have 70+ cruises with HAL and think we missed a port maybe two or three times due to medical emergency. We arrived late a few times and definitely have seen any number of guests medically debarked in various ports. We have also been aboard a few times when they did a helicopter medical evacuation.

 

It is my understanding a cruise ship cannot sail without a doctor aboard.

 

HAL almost always (maybe always ?) has a doctor licensed in U.S. or Canada for guests. There is also a crew doctor and, of course, nurses. The number varies by size of ship/number of guests.