Is there a physician or medical facility on Windstart cruises

[Husney]

Can anyone tell me if there is a physician or medical facility on the ship. If there is not, how do they handle medical emergencies. Thanks,

[RAYSAN11]

There was a doctor on board on the two cruises I was on this year

[Husney]

Thanks a million!!

[stcruise]

On the Wind Spirit deck plans, the medical facility is located on Deck 2 next to Cabin 203. It is the white area with no indication of what it is. We were in 203 on one of our cruises. It looks like it is in the same location on the Wind Star.

 

Not sure where it is on the Wind Surf, since we have never cruised on her.

[ducklite]

Definitely a doctor aboard, he was quite the hit during the crew talent show on the Surf last year!

[landj999]

Windstart! I like that.

[acruisefan]

I saw them handle a medical emergency aboard the Windsurf (with the dancing doctor attending - he is a blast!). I was very impressed. The patient had to be transported to a hospital (heart attack, maybe)- the ship was enroute, but just passing an island with a good medical facility. They stopped, took the passenger off, with the doctor accompanying him to the hospital. They told us later that their policy is to personally accompany a passenger to the hospital and release them to another doctor, a doctor to doctor exchange, not just drop them off.

 

As an aside, there was another passenger on board with a huge camera and lenses, taking a million pictures of this poor guy being carried on a stretcher, like a paparazzi. It was awful. One of the attending officers, who carried the man out on the stretcher, yelled at the guy to stop immediately and threatened to find him later and deal with him. The guy slunk off, but I saw him on board still a day or two later. They should have kicked him off.

[ducklite]

Wow, that is really wrong to take photos of someone like that. I always think "what if it were me" before taking a photo of someone in a public place.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[dandee2]

And he sings pretty well :D

[milepig]

I don't know how usual this is, but on our last cruise the physician was introduced as being a certified Emergency Room Doctor. My wife, who's in the medical field, whispered "perfect".

[maryella]

I was on the windsurf last January for the yachtmans caribbean cruise (so great I booked again this march) when my daughter got food poisoning from a beach bar on Antigua our first day. She was severely sick. I called the doc ( a young female) who was to our room in 15 minutes. She gave my daughter a shot and meds. It was a rough night for her but in about 48 hours she was better. I was very thankful for the medical care onboard

[rafinmd]

I believe any ship that carries more than about a dozen passengers is required to have a physician on board.

 

Roy

[RAYSAN11]

We were on Holland America at one time and we got friendly with the Doctor, he was am emergency room doctor. He basically got a paid vacation and his family had a free cruise also. What I do not know is if that was the regular practice or he was standing in whilst the normal doctor was off

[ducklite]

I believe any ship that carries more than about a dozen passengers is required to have a physician on board.

 

 

 

Roy

 

 

The exception is the European River cruise boats.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[SailorJM]

When on the Windstar a couple of years ago, my back went out, second day of the trip. I have long history of back issues, but they had been under control. Yet, I could hardly walk after I rocked one way while tying my shoes as the ship rocked the opposite way. Knowing it was a complete long shot, I asked if there was a chiropractor on board. Surprisingly, I was told that the masseur was actually a chiropractor from South Africa in his "real" life. He worked on my back and then did a procedure called "needling" (not to be confused with acupuncture). The pain was lessened considerably, and within a couple of hours of seeing him, I was totally ok. I saw him in the hallway that evening and thanked him for saving my cruise!

[Capt. Mike]

On all the Windspirit cruises we have been on the doc is usually someone that agreed to be the doc for a cruise in return for a free cruise for him and his wife. I am totally ok with that. Several years ago the doc was one of the top cardio guys from Dallas. Not a bad guy to have on board. Not sure that is the way they still do it since the owner change. A passenger tripped and fell with a wine glass resulting in a nasty cut to his forearm. The cardio doc did a marvelous job of sewing the guy up and getting him back to bar in record time.

[danalhf]

I have just returned from Venice - Rome on the Star Pride. The ship's doctor (Dr. Gary Razon) whom we have had on 2 prior Windstar ships (Windsurf and Windstar) was absolutely horrible and unqualified to treat my Grandmother's illness. He put her life in jeopardy for 6 days and put the burden of her care on me and I have no medical training what-so-ever.

 

Please know that I did purchase the trip insurance through Windstar prior to the trip, the company is called On Call International. In order for it to work properly, the ship's physician must sign paperwork and speak with their physician to coordinate all care (evacuation, medi-vac home, nursing etc.). This process was horrible and as result it did not work. My family had to hire private a AmbuAir Nurse, pay for first class full flat bed seats for the comfort of my grandmother to lay down and arrange for a private ambulance to transport her to a hospital. In my opinion, the ship's doctor was the barrier that held back the insurance company from moving forward to help us. He was unable to make a proper diagnosis and inform On Call of what was needed to help us.

 

On the 3rd day of our trip, My grandmother ended up in the ER in Dubrovnik, Croatia. On our way back to the Star Pride (tender from dock to ship) we saw Dr. Gary on the dock in town. When he and another officer asked us how our day in the town was we replied with the fact that we had just come from the ER. Dr. Gary walked away. He did not even offer to come back to the boat with us, did not check his passenger who had just come from the ER, no, he continued to go out to dinner! This is just the beginning of his poor medical care.

 

His medical care, if you can call it that, over the next several days consisted of checking her blood pressure twice and glucose level once. That was it. What he missed was that she had UTI which caused her to swing from lucid to delusional for 6 days and have extreme pain, it is also that she likely suffered a minor stroke.

 

After Dubrovnik, my Grandmother never left her cabin. I became her nursemaid 24/7. It was the most hellacious trip for my Grandmother and myself, and my children and husband. My grandmother is still in the hospital recovering.

[6rugrats]

It's a shame you had such a problem. I see by your other post that your grandmother is 94 years old.

 

I am not sure what exactly happened by your post. On Call International is not what I would consider "trip insurance". It basically covers emergency medical evacuations, and if this is the same grandmother referenced in the other post, I don't see where this company offers policies at all if you are over age 85. Am I missing something?

 

Windstar offers travel insurance through CSA. Did you really purchase On Call through Windstar?

 

If your grandmother was in the hospital, didn't On Call work with the hospital physician? Without specific details, it's really impossible to comment on her care or what happened.

Edited July 27, 2014 by 6rugrats

[SailorJM]

I saw post re on the comment that any ship carrying more than 12 had to have a doc on board. I'm wondering about that. I've been cruising on sailing cruise ships for some 14-15 years, and never a doctor aboard any I've been on other than Wind Star ships--that I was aware of. Star Clipper's Star Flyer last Nov had a nurse. The smaller sailing ships (the late Windjammer ships, Arabella, Island Windjammers ships, all carrying from 12-76 pass) had no one on crew who was specifically a medical person. Maybe someone on crew with some kind of medical training, but not a doc or nurse, per se.

 

I wondered about US-registered ships vs other having such a requirement, but Arabella is a US-registered ship. I'll have to delve deeper.

[lovecruisingtoo]

Sorry to hear about your problems.

 

However, I too have a hard time understanding what really happened. As 6rugrats said, On Call is not medical / trip insurance. From the On Call web site they specifically talk about them coordinating with the hospital doctor. Once she was released from the hospital (especially after continuing the cruise) I don't see where On Call would be involved.

 

I hate to sound callous, but with all the issues your mother was having, why did you continue on the cruise? In my opinion, ship doctors are there for relatively minor problems. With a 94 year old person it can be very difficult to really understand what the real problem is - especially when you have never seen the person before and don't know how they normally act.

Edited July 28, 2014 by lovecruisingtoo

[rafinmd]

I think the other exception to the physician requirement if for ships that never go very far from land.

 

Roy

[danalhf]

It's a shame you had such a problem. I see by your other post that your grandmother is 94 years old.

 

I am not sure what exactly happened by your post. On Call International is not what I would consider "trip insurance". It basically covers emergency medical evacuations, and if this is the same grandmother referenced in the other post, I don't see where this company offers policies at all if you are over age 85. Am I missing something?

 

Windstar offers travel insurance through CSA. Did you really purchase On Call through Windstar?

 

If your grandmother was in the hospital, didn't On Call work with the hospital physician? Without specific details, it's really impossible to comment on her care or what happened.

 

 

My grandmother turned 96 the night we set sail out of Venice. Please don't judge her by her age. This is 3rd Windstar cruise we have done in the last 4 years with her. She has cruised 50 times in her lifetime. We would not embark on such an endeavor if we did not feel she was fit to travel.

 

When you purchase the insurance through Windstar, The policy and plan you receive has Windstar's name on it and it says "Travel Protection Plan" and "Trip Mate". However when it is time to actually activate the plan in a medical emergency you/the ship's doctor contact and work with One Call -- they are the 24 hour medical emergency service that takes care of you up to $100,000 worth of coverage. Trip Mate is merely the underwriter of the plan.

 

And lovingtocruisetoo, I was trying to get her medi-vaced off the ship and home to a hospital, using the insurance coverage we purchased. The ship's doctor wasn't qualifying her to make that happen. We were working with time constraints at the end of days/leaving port, then days at sea, then days on small islands with poor hospitals. Please don't assume anything about our situation. It was very complicated. I looked into a private medivac jet off of the next island but that cost $164,000. I was really hoping to work with the insurance that I purchased first.

 

I will add that in the 6 days that my grandmother lingered in her cabin, the ships doctor only visited her twice. Once with his medical bag only to check her blood pressure and pulse, the other he didn't bring anything and just stopped by to say hello. That is not medical care. She was bed bound and completely immobile.

 

I post this here so people know that this ship's doctor is not qualified to do anything more than dole out bandaids, gatorade and aspirin. And to be wary of the trip insurance offered through Windstar. Look into purchasing your own. This is a cruise line that targets a demographic ages 55-75, you would think that the medical care would be tailored to handle them.

[6rugrats]

No one judged her by her age. I only commented on it because On Call seems to not sell policies to anyone over 85, and from the information you first gave, it appeared you had simply purchased an On Call policy. I still don't really understand what happened and no one here can comment on her care or medical condition. Ship's doctors are not there to provide extensive medical care. It is unclear why your grandmother was not sent home.

 

I can only say it's too bad this happened, and in your shoes, I probably would have left the ship if her condition was that bad.

 

As best as I can understand, Trip Mate is not the underwriter of the plan sold by Windstar; they are simply the administrator. The insurance provider is CSA. They are underwritten by Generali U.S. Branch for most states. I am guessing On Call was the designated provider for medical evacuation.

Edited July 28, 2014 by 6rugrats

[stcruise]

CSA was the old underwriter. From the website here is current information:

 

The plan certificate you purchase will be included in your cruise documents. These plans are underwritten by United States Fire Insurance Company, 5 Christopher Way, Eatontown, NJ 07724. The plans are offered and administered by Trip Mate, Inc. (In CA, Trip Mate Insurance Agency), 9225 Ward Parkway, Suite 200, Kansas City, MO 64114. Phone: 800-888-7292.

 

One Call is the 24-hour service that can be contacted in emergencies - including a nurse helpline.

 

OP - did you contact One Call directly and not receive any help from them?

 

Did you make any other officers aware of the situation - especially the Captain? Ultimately, he is in charge of everything on board. Did none of them take any action to help?

[lovecruisingtoo]

Also, you ave a situation where the ER doctors, I assume, felt that it was acceptable for your mother to continue the cruise. Did she get significantly worse after the ER? If she did, then I would have talked to the ship's doctor and have him help make arrangements to go to a hospital at the next port that had reasonable facilities. If you had done this, and the ER suggested that she not continue the cruise then I am sue that On Call would have made the arrangements to get you and your mom home.