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Video of the Helicopter rescue on Liberty of the Seas 6Dec2012

reedl

By reedl,
in Royal Caribbean International

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reedl

reedl

Posted
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I was in my forward facing cabin when the helicopter rescued the customer who was very sick. Here is the full video of the diver repelling from the copter, the other people being raised into the copter, the patient, and finally the diver.

 

My hats go off to the Coast Guard. They are amazing people who train for this every day. To see it go off exactly as it should makes me proud.

 

The video is 14 minutes long and contains the entire event.

 

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Silvery Seas Cruiser

Silvery Seas Cruiser

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What an ordeal for the passenger and companion! I just can't imagine being so ill or so badly injured and then on top of that have to be lifted up to a helicopter on a stretcher in the dark of night.

 

I ownder how far away from shore the ship was at the time of thos event. Anyway, as said above, hats off to the brave Coast Guard who made this rescue.

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reedl

reedl

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From what I heard, the helicopter had to travel an hour to get to where we met her. We continued in the direction that the helicopter needed to travel, so the return time was probably less, but if it had to go to the mainland US, then it would have been a longer trip. The place where this happened was between Haiti and Cuba.

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Griswolds

Griswolds

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My step father was taken off a cruise in Alaska this very same way. I was not there but my mom said it was a very organized process. The only she had, and I'm still not clear of the reason for this, was they did not allow her to leave the ship in the helicopter with him. She had to wait until they docked the next morning. The cruise line let her make a few free phone calls. We found out step father was taken to Portland so we booked a flight for my mom. The cruise line had arranged transportation for her to the airport and assisted her with getting off the ship with all their luggage. Everyone was as helpful as they could be given the circumstances.

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Riggy84

Riggy84

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Thanks for the video, it was great to see how amazing a job the crew do!

But how scary must that have been for the patient, swinging about in thin air!!

Does anyone what happened to the passenger to make them be airlifted?

Hope they have recovered well.

I also wonder what happened to their luggage!

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littlesteelo

littlesteelo

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wondering why the helicopter didn't land on the pad?

 

It is far too dangerous to actually land a helicopter on a cruise ship, so they always winch the passenger off. That and most helicopters are too heavy for the pad. The helipad is there to provide a clear space for them to do it from, whereas on ships without it they have to clear an area of deck space and tie everything down, and even then usually end up losing some deck chairs overboard.

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PH8

PH8

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That was fascinating to watch! I hope that the woman involved is okay!

According to those onboard,it was a man..

 

I watch Coast Guard Florida and CGAlaska and it is amazing the rescues they make.......the other day was the one about the Bounty.....smack dab in the middle of a hurricane.The men and women of the CG are truly amazing..

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reedl

reedl

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According to those onboard,it was a man..

 

I watch Coast Guard Florida and CGAlaska and it is amazing the rescues they make.......the other day was the one about the Bounty.....smack dab in the middle of a hurricane.The men and women of the CG are truly amazing..

 

Actually it was a woman. We saw her husband get lifted up first on the video, and also I heard from someone else who said that he was up drinking on the pool deck while she was in the infirmary.

 

From what I heard she had a hysterectomy a few weeks ago, and her Dr. cleared her for travel, but I guess things did not go well.

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Gator83

Gator83

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Actually it was a woman. We saw her husband get lifted up first on the video, and also I heard from someone else who said that he was up drinking on the pool deck while she was in the infirmary.

 

From what I heard she had a hysterectomy a few weeks ago, and her Dr. cleared her for travel, but I guess things did not go well.

 

 

I was on the cruies and heard that the doctor did not clear her to sail. Recuperation is 6 weeks.

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kymbakitty

kymbakitty

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That medivac has to be very, very expensive.

 

Does anyone know who pays for this? I've seen it on a couple insurance plans that I have purchased, but what if you don't have insurance (contrary to what a lot of folks may think, many cruise passengers do not buy insurance because they never think anything like this will ever happen to them.....or, they are very wealthy and can afford to pay out of pocket for a service like this.

 

Anyone know how much this would cost--if not covered by insurance?

 

Dawn

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