Death on the Magic?

[Runaway Parent]

Heard a call for "team zero" (I think) last night for a cabin a few doors down. We figured it was some medical emergency but didn't lurk in the hallway to find out. On shuttle to parking lot someone said there was a death on board. Anyone know what happened?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Pine Bluff]

Death on cruise ships is a Common occurance. They just don't have an obituary column in the fun times.

[bluejay555]

Death on cruise ships is a Common occurance. They just don't have an obituary column in the fun times.

 

Wait. Deaths are a common occurrence on cruise ships?? I know it's bound to happen occasionally, because death happens everywhere, but just how "common" is it? yikes.

 

How many of you have been on a cruise where someone passed away? I don't think I ever have... and rumors travel fast, so I think I would have known. We always get wind of accidents/emergencies somehow.

[snc_cam]

my wife and I were on one a few years ago that the deceased was taken off in the first stop, key west, on a western carib cruise.

[megmno]

Well, if you think about it, Carnival has 24 ships. If you figure there are about 3,000 passengers per ship, that's 72,000 passengers aboard Carnival ships at any given time (not even thinking about all of the other cruise lines).

 

In a population of 72,000 (a pretty good chunk of whom are elderly) the chances of someone dying on any given day are pretty high.

[1kaper]

Wait. Deaths are a common occurrence on cruise ships?? I know it's bound to happen occasionally, because death happens everywhere, but just how "common" is it? yikes.

 

How many of you have been on a cruise where someone passed away? I don't think I ever have... and rumors travel fast, so I think I would have known. We always get wind of accidents/emergencies somehow.

 

I live in a cruise port that sees a few smaller cruise ships, like 1 ship, sometimes 2 maybe 2 or 3 times week during the season. I know through my job when they have to deal with a deceased person on board at our port. It happens at least once or twice a season here so it wouldn't surprise me that it is considered common when dealing with many more ships and higher amounts of passengers.

[T. Advisor King]

Well, if you think about it, Carnival has 24 ships. If you figure there are about 3,000 passengers per ship, that's 72,000 passengers aboard Carnival ships at any given time (not even thinking about all of the other cruise lines).

 

In a population of 72,000 (a pretty good chunk of whom are elderly) the chances of someone dying on any given day are pretty high.

 

Or, if the 72,000 number is close (and don't forget to include crew), then bearing in mind that a lifespan might be in the range of 30,000 days at the high end, then the combined crew and passengers live out the equivalent of about 2.5 lifetimes fleet-wide during the course of every single day. On that basis, estimating that only one person would die fleet-wide every single day seems low.

 

I'd love to hear an actuary's take on this question.

[jaded_reckless]

On 2 of the 5 cruises I've been on people have died, 2 on one cruise and 1 on the other.

 

The 2 seemed to be more so natural cause ones because no delays to ports at all and the 3rd one must have been suspicious because we were held up for a customs investigation in St. Thomas for quite a while.

 

No announcements were made about who or how, other than a quick "a fellow passenger has passed, please have them and their family in your thoughts and prayers"

 

-Lauren

[russianmom]

my wife and I were on one a few years ago that the deceased was taken off in the first stop, key west, on a western carib cruise.

 

Same when I was on Triumph. The lady in the cabin next to us passed away on our first night. When we got to KW an ambulance came and the body was removed.

[momof4boys]

On at least 2 of our five cruises there has been a death. On one cruise a man had a CA while snorkeling, and on another cruise a man had a CA on the ship.

 

Sad for the families.

[PinaColadaPlease]

Someone died on a cruise I was on. I think I only know that because he died right ouside dining room with lots of commotion. So word got around fast. I think there are lots of deaths onboard we never know about. I'm sure they are descrete more than we know about.

 

Sent from my Desire HD using Forums mobile app

[PROCRUISE]

Wait. Deaths are a common occurrence on cruise ships?? I know it's bound to happen occasionally, because death happens everywhere, but just how "common" is it? yikes.

 

How many of you have been on a cruise where someone passed away? I don't think I ever have... and rumors travel fast, so I think I would have known. We always get wind of accidents/emergencies somehow.

 

Certainly doesn't happen on every cruise, but every ship has a morgue. Been on 24 cruises, aware of three deaths. It does happen.

[Elaine5715]

On some other cruise lines where they have an older population plus lengthy 14-30 days, there is several deaths a trip.

[Mysticks1]

On our Mediterranean cruise on Celebrity back in 2009 I was up just after daylight when we were docked in Mykonos, Greece. I was looking off the balcony and saw an ambulance drive onto the dock. The crew brought a body bag off on a stretcher and loaded it onto the ambulance. An elderly lady came off as well with luggage and a crew member left with her in another car. A sad thing to happen on a cruise.

[pbxtech]

Very sad for the family, But if I have a choice of when it is my turn to go, it would be on the last day of a cruise

[what to go here and there]

6 cruises 4 deaths - the only one i have any details about was on the Liberty, when we were in St Thomas and the FBI held us all up on the ship for a while as it was a murder. Sad for all families

 

PS Liberty was our first cruise and as a Canadain seeing the FBI was not a comfort.. :eek:

[sailingawaysoon]

Sad to hear.

[gvlgolflady]

Wait. Deaths are a common occurrence on cruise ships?? I know it's bound to happen occasionally, because death happens everywhere, but just how "common" is it? yikes.

 

How many of you have been on a cruise where someone passed away? I don't think I ever have... and rumors travel fast, so I think I would have known. We always get wind of accidents/emergencies somehow.

 

 

I have been on 2 cruises where death occurred. Once was in Cozumel and they took the body off with the wife leaving the ship with other family members. This happened immediately after docking. The other was on a Southern Caribbean cruise and I don't remember what island we were on. It does happen; very sad though.

[mishka422]

Just curious, why would it make you uncomfortable seeing the FBI as a Canadian? I wouldn't be nervous to see the RCMP as an American.

[macleay]

One death that I know of and I think it was natural causes, all we saw was the crew helping the family disembark early. It was our longest cruise, 16 days.

[SMSACE6]

I work in health care, and have been there with those who take their last breath. It truly is a very humbling and personal experience whether you know the person or you don't. I now do fully expect that this might or might not happen on a cruise that I am on. My last cruise was four years ago on the Freedom, and the first night out of Pt Everglades, we left on time close to 4pm, sailed out to sea, but after dinner in the MDR, and the welcome aboard show, and time in the casino....like about 11pm...I returned to my stateroom to see lights and land not far off. Turns out a very ill passenger needed to get back and to hospital. At another port along the way...heard that someone else had passed away, and saw what may have been the family disembark at a further port of call with luggage and crew were hugging them, lots of tears. I know it happens everywhere...but no matter where, when, there are always people who are affected and sad.

Edited March 16, 2014 by SMSACE6

[Cruise life]

A passenger passed away on LSC in June last year and we were provided with the announcement that a poster mentioned about keeping the family in your prayers- I believe we were told because the family may have been waiting for a private plane to take them and the deceased off the tiny island as we were slightly delayed leaving.

 

My next door neighbor's husband passed away on a cruise several years ago...I think it was his retirement cruise.

 

In both cases, I truly hope the deceased had a wonderful experience prior to their passing. I used to visit the infirmaries on all the ships I sailed because I am an RN. Now that I am home with our twins I have stopped visiting, but I keep my license current and helped last year when a passenger passed out in the heat during an excursion. It is important to keep in mind your limitations and take preventative measures against injury and illness as many of our POCs have third world type medical facilities. Families with children should know if and where Children's Hospitals are located and use them unless the issue is life-threatening and time cannot be wasted traveling to a distant hospital.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[SHayesShip]

Unfortunately, this is more common then you might realize. We had really bad luck on a btb cruise on the Dream in Nov/Dec 2012. The first week a person had some type of emergency on a tender and died. On the second week the last day prior to getting back to port a man was playing ping pong and collapsed and died.

I am aware of one death on the HAL Zuiderdam along with Veendam.

On the old Rotterdam V on an 89 day trip there were 3 deaths.

There may have been more during my cruises that I was not aware of.

The above does not include the countless medical evacuations I have seen from ships through my cruising lifetime.

When you have thousands of people sailing each week it is a microcosm of our population. This is a fact of life, albeit a sad one.

 

 

Wait. Deaths are a common occurrence on cruise ships?? I know it's bound to happen occasionally, because death happens everywhere, but just how "common" is it? yikes.

 

How many of you have been on a cruise where someone passed away? I don't think I ever have... and rumors travel fast, so I think I would have known. We always get wind of accidents/emergencies somehow.

[happy cruzin]

Wait. Deaths are a common occurrence on cruise ships?? I know it's bound to happen occasionally, because death happens everywhere, but just how "common" is it? yikes.

 

How many of you have been on a cruise where someone passed away? I don't think I ever have... and rumors travel fast, so I think I would have known. We always get wind of accidents/emergencies somehow.

 

Common enough that the ships have morgues!

[murphyarnold]

I have been on five cruises and on the last one Carnival Pride 2012, two people passed away. One person on the tender to HMC had a heart attack and another person passed away on the snorkeling excursion at HMC, kinda freaked me out,two people in one day. Both were middle age, terrible and so sad.