Are you prepared to disembark in an emergency?

[AntjeG]

 

What did you do? How do you wish you had prepared? Did it go smoothly?

What would you do? How would you prepare?

 

My idea is to prevent the kind of panic I felt due to my need to pack the cabin with the help of room stewards and find the important papers and all that while my husband couldn't help me. [Celebrity handled their part wonderfully but I was not a calm, cool, fall-apart-later person. I was crumbling then and there. Always thought I was an independent woman, I've got to work on that.] Our emergency turned out not to be at all serious but at the time, I didn't know that.

 

Things I wish I had or did have:

• Passports in the safe, ready to go
  
• Medications in a bag, ready to go
  
• Lists of regular medications for each person
  
• Emergency phone numbers (health insurance, travel insurance, doctors at home, the port agents)
  
• Where everything you've unpacked is located in the cabin (maybe a list? photos?)
  
• An organized list of the private excursions you have planned with the phone numbers for the people you are with (I didn't have this and wasn't sure what I could do to deal with the excursion and transfer I had planned if we didn't continue). Not everyone reads Cruise Critic Roll Calls when they are on board.
  
• I was just hoping we would be back on the ship by the next port or so if not that night.
  
• A guide book with simple phrases in the languages of the ports. Amusingly, I did do this for the Roll Call, but I never printed it for myself and in an emergency, you can't go fooling around with your computer. I'm printing these lists soon to add to our Next Cruise file.
  

What would you do?

 

Thanks,

 

Beth

 

Well, thankfully I have never been in this situation while on a cruise but I had stressfull moments during the land portion of my Australia/NZ-trip last year when a tour company cancelled a tour last minute and I had to find transportation to my next destination.

 

But as a standard I have most of the things you mentioned. Passport, wallet and emergency contact numbers go into the safe first thing after I first get into the cabin. Meds are packed in a little bag in the bathroom, ready to take whereever I may need them. A folder with my excursions will have its place on the desk for the entire cruise.

 

What I don´t have and don´t think I will have in the future is a list/photo of where I put all the other stuff in the cabin. The most important things are in the safe, bathroom and on the desk. If I forget to pack something else I can cope with the loss.

The simple phrases for the ports: No. I think in a real emergency I would need to find somebody who speaks English or German anyway and English has taken me almost everywhere in the world with little to no problems. So no phrases in writing for my emergency procedure. What I do is I try to learn please and thank you and good morning in the language spoken in any country I travel to.

[Straughn]

My late husband worked for a number of years at the U.S. State Dept. He always looked up and traveled with the contact info for the U.S.Embassy/consulate for any country we visited. Why? Not only for a medical emergency, but any other issue where help from the U.S government would be beneficial. That includes medical, legal, missed ship, language assistance. You may think this is overkill, but, in some countries, the authorities won't be very cooperative, even if you request it, in putting you in touch with U.S. officials. It is very easy to get this info off the State Dept. website.

 

Another piece of advice-- If you don't wish to carry your passport ashore, carry a copy. If the Embassy needs to help with your return to the U.S., a copy will greatly assistant them in providing you with the documentation needed when leaving a foreign country.

[OCruisers]

Good Question.

I have a plan for being called to Muster in the middle of the night so would do the basically the same if we had an emergency disembark.

LuLu

[chemmo]

I always thought I was organised until I read this post....I have certainly picked up some good tips where a few minutes pre cruise could prevent a lot of unnecessary stress and concern in an emergency situation.

 

I would also agree with the post re the importance of quality insurance. In these days of high holiday insurance premiums it is so important to check the level of your cover and exactly what you are covered for.

[H2OH!]

This is a follow-up to my "Celebrity Shows Its Strength" post. I'm inviting those who have been forced to disembark due to a medical emergency and those who are highly organized and sensible to contribute to this thread.

 

What did you do? How do you wish you had prepared? Did it go smoothly?

What would you do? How would you prepare?

 

My idea is to prevent the kind of panic I felt due to my need to pack the cabin with the help of room stewards and find the important papers and all that while my husband couldn't help me. [Celebrity handled their part wonderfully but I was not a calm, cool, fall-apart-later person. I was crumbling then and there. Always thought I was an independent woman, I've got to work on that.] Our emergency turned out not to be at all serious but at the time, I didn't know that.

 

Things I wish I had or did have:

• Passports in the safe, ready to go
  
• Medications in a bag, ready to go
  
• Lists of regular medications for each person
  
• Emergency phone numbers (health insurance, travel insurance, doctors at home, the port agents)
  
• Where everything you've unpacked is located in the cabin (maybe a list? photos?)
  
• An organized list of the private excursions you have planned with the phone numbers for the people you are with (I didn't have this and wasn't sure what I could do to deal with the excursion and transfer I had planned if we didn't continue). Not everyone reads Cruise Critic Roll Calls when they are on board.
  
• I was just hoping we would be back on the ship by the next port or so if not that night.
  
• A guide book with simple phrases in the languages of the ports. Amusingly, I did do this for the Roll Call, but I never printed it for myself and in an emergency, you can't go fooling around with your computer. I'm printing these lists soon to add to our Next Cruise file.
  

What would you do?

 

Thanks,

 

Beth

 

I am so glad everything turned out ok. This is a good reminder to all of us and thank you for sharing your story.

 

What I have done the past few years is scan and send documents (passport photos, med list, etc) to our yahoo account, I also place them in evernote and I leave a hardcopy at home. upon returning home, we dump the yahoo copies and keep evernote copies. We do upgrade our phone plans when traveling to Europe so we have access to our documents.

 

We do keep all valuables and passports in the safe. we keep our meds in the bedside tables which could be easily forgotten in an emergency.

[Project_gal]

I would also agree with the post re the importance of quality insurance. In these days of high holiday insurance premiums it is so important to check the level of your cover and exactly what you are covered for.

 

I could not agree with you more. For us now, travel insurance is a major cost as well as a limitation on how long we can cruise for in one stretch but we would never consider leaving home without it. I do worry about how many people do not check whether their insurance covers them for the additional risk of being on a ship (such as emergency evacuation whilst at sea).

Edited September 27, 2016 by Project_gal

[Hydrokitty]

I could not agree with you more. For us now, travel insurance is a major cost as well as a limitation on how long we can cruise for in one stretch but we would never consider leaving home without it. I do worry about how many people do not check whether their insurance covers them for the additional risk of being on a ship (such as emergency evacuation whilst at sea).

 

When we were young(er) we never bothered with travel insurance but once we reach retirement age and started serious travel, we won't leave home without it. Sometimes it almost doubles the cost of the trip (it's based on the cost of the trip and the ages of the travelers) but it's the peace of mind that we're paying for....especially when we went to third world or emerging countries....I want to know that I will be evacuated to a modern, well-equipped hospital with well trained doctors.

[Moonlitherial]

I hadn't been doing it for in case of emergencies but because I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached to my body so I'd be okay for some stuff but this thread has given me some ideas for others.

 

I tend to pack in travel cubes and leave things sitting in them just unzipped in drawers so I'd be fine for clothing. I have a hardcopy file of all cruise info (but I've got some additions coming like embassies and medical info) and I keep most documents on a sharepoint site I can get to from anywhere with internet access. I have a travel bag that holds our passports, cash and any hard copy of travel documents that goes straight into the safe as soon as we arrive. We use our home security system code on the safe so neither of us will forget it.

 

My issues will come around other stuff, but if it's a real emergency I don't suppose I'd really care about the flashlights, charging cables and shelves of makeup/cleansers/sunscreen/18 pairs of sunglasses that I strew around the room.

[travelpeon]

When we were young(er) we never bothered with travel insurance but once we reach retirement age and started serious travel, we won't leave home without it. Sometimes it almost doubles the cost of the trip (it's based on the cost of the trip and the ages of the travelers) but it's the peace of mind that we're paying for....especially when we went to third world or emerging countries....I want to know that I will be evacuated to a modern, well-equipped hospital with well trained doctors.

 

MedJet Assist for premium evacuation to a hospital of your choice/home offers a discount for AARP members. AARP doesn't restrict membership based on age. It is worth looking into if you go to exotic locales or difficult to evac from areas (birders, climbers, divers, etc).

Edited September 27, 2016 by travelpeon

[RLTRUVALUE]

I hadn't been doing it for in case of emergencies but because I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached to my body so I'd be okay for some stuff but this thread has given me some ideas for others.

 

I tend to pack in travel cubes and leave things sitting in them just unzipped in drawers so I'd be fine for clothing. I have a hardcopy file of all cruise info (but I've got some additions coming like embassies and medical info) and I keep most documents on a sharepoint site I can get to from anywhere with internet access. I have a travel bag that holds our passports, cash and any hard copy of travel documents that goes straight into the safe as soon as we arrive. We use our home security system code on the safe so neither of us will forget it.

 

My issues will come around other stuff, but if it's a real emergency I don't suppose I'd really care about the flashlights, charging cables and shelves of makeup/cleansers/sunscreen/18 pairs of sunglasses that I strew around the room.

 

Travel Ins. will not pay till you submit the bill to your Health ins. frist. Husbands back went out, over $900.00 had to submit to Kaiser Medical frist, Kaiser paid. We purchase the travel ins. each trip knowing it will cover other than medical, for our medical ins. will cover us anywhere in the world.

[RLTRUVALUE]

Travel Ins. will not pay till you submit the bill to your Health ins. frist. Husbands back went out, over $900.00 had to submit to Kaiser Medical frist, Kaiser paid. We purchase the travel ins. each trip knowing it will cover other than medical, for our medical ins. will cover us anywhere in the world.

 

The reason I bring a flash drive with my and my husbands complete medical info, in a medical emergancy I may forget (rattled) what the doctor needs to know.