Edge Class Ships Medical Evacuations

[aquashores]

I’ve never sailed on any Edge Class ship and glancing at deck plans it appears they have no helipad (at least not the conventional ones I’m used to on their other ships) I’m curious how they would handle medical evacuations on edge class..do they coordinate a sea based evacuation or divert the ship to land?

[cruisestitch]

If close to land yes, they will divert.  But most helicopter evacuations do not involve the copter landing.  It hovers above the ship and the patient is winched  up.

 

I have seen several of these helicopter evacuations since I used choose forward-facing rooms.

[aquashores]

Thank you for the reply!

[jwlane]

Just now, cruisestitch said:

But most helicopter evacuations do not involve the copter landing. 

 

No evacs involve landing, on any Celebrity ship.  S Class also use the Lawn Club as the winch site.  There's a video online showing them using the jogging track area on Edge Deck 15 as the hoist site.

[JLMcruise]

4 minutes ago, jwlane said:

No evacs involve landing, on any Celebrity ship.  S Class also use the Lawn Club as the winch site.  There's a video online showing them using the jogging track area on Edge Deck 15 as the hoist site.

We had one land on the Solstice 4.5 years ago - off of New Zealand. We watched from the Aqua Spa Lounge. The helicopter landed on the bow of the ship. 

 

[cruisestitch]

1 hour ago, jwlane said:

No evacs involve landing, on any Celebrity ship.  S Class also use the Lawn Club as the winch site.  There's a video online showing them using the jogging track area on Edge Deck 15 as the hoist site.

Not true!  I witnessed a helicopter landing on the bow.  Only once but it does happen on Celebrity.

[D. B.]

3 hours ago, jwlane said:

No evacs involve landing, on any Celebrity ship.  S Class also use the Lawn Club as the winch site.  There's a video online showing them using the jogging track area on Edge Deck 15 as the hoist site.

Wrong! I thought so but we just had a Chilean Cost Guard Helicopter LAND on the Celebrity Eclipse helipad a few days ago at sea near the bottom of South America for a Medical Evacuation.

The ship did stop and the sea conditions were moderate.

[hcat]

but X does hold sailaway and sail in parties on E class ships  from the helipad area..so they are there..if not used???

[cruisestitch]

Are you sure you are thinking of edge class ships hcat?  This kind of event definitely happens on m and S class vessels.

Edited April 14 by cruisestitch

[paulh84]

4 minutes ago, hcat said:

but X does hold sailaway and sail in parties on E class ships  from the helipad area..so they are there..if not used???

I have never seen the helipad accessed by passengers on E class. 

 

Some S class ships can accommodate a light helicopter. The ones marked WINCH ONLY means exactly that. It’s used as the hoist location but no landings. You can see this on Reflection. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

In 22 X cruises have seen 3 helicopter evacuations.  For those arguing, does it matter if winched or landing?  Also 4 or 5 missed ports and a couple others where we went toward the nearest land and the transfer was made either at sea or pulling up to a pier - sort of a touch and go.  

 

[mom says]

According to Google Images, there does appear to be a helipad on the bow of the Beyond. How any medivac is handled depends on many factors. Most important, the severity of the patient's condition.  Distance and time to sail to to port. Availability of Coast Guard ship or helicopter. Size and type of available helicopter.  Time of day. Sea conditions. Weather conditions. If by helicopter, final decision is the helicopter captain's. 

[cruisetonowhere10]

1 minute ago, mom says said:

According to Google Images, there does appear to be a helipad on the bow of the Beyond. How any medivac is handled depends on many factors. Most important, the severity of the patient's condition.  Distance and time to sail to to port. Availability of Coast Guard ship or helicopter. Size and type of available helicopter.  Time of day. Sea conditions. Weather conditions. If by helicopter, final decision is the helicopter captain's. 

I literally was typing something similar.  I sm

sure there are standard protocols, but any situation has its own nuances and actions taken.

[Boatharbour]

We had a medical evacuation in Milford Sound on the Edge 10 two weeks ago. The ship stayed at the end of the sound for three hours until a helicopter arrived and landed on the shore. A tender took the patient to the shore. 

[peterde]

I remember hearing Capt Kate saying that they don’t use the front of the ship for helicopter evacuation on the Beyond. They prefer using the top deck midship area. 

[mauimary]

2 hours ago, mom says said:

According to Google Images, there does appear to be a helipad on the bow of the Beyond. How any medivac is handled depends on many factors. Most important, the severity of the patient's condition.  Distance and time to sail to to port. Availability of Coast Guard ship or helicopter. Size and type of available helicopter.  Time of day. Sea conditions. Weather conditions. If by helicopter, final decision is the helicopter captain's. 

When we were on the Beyond in Feb Capt Kate made an evacuation around midnight. She came on the speaker into the staterooms to announce it. Something she rarely does that late at night.  We saw the helicopter lights off our veranda on the aft before the announcement was made.  She said the Beyond’s helicopter pad is too small. They did the evacuation off the side of the ship. Probably the lawn Club. 

[phoenix_dream]

7 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Not true!  I witnessed a helicopter landing on the bow.  Only once but it does happen on Celebrity.

Agree.  Have seen it a couple times on my cruises.

[Tyler414]

Do you plan to get evacuated?   Captain Kate explains this and the procedure on her Insta. 

[hcat]

7 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Are you sure you are thinking of edge class ships hcat?  This kind of event definitely happens on m and S class vessels.

Guess I have to rethink??  We have only Sailed E Class since Edge came online a few yrs ago....so I must be  thinking about   "long ago" in  our cruise history.

 

I recall having to meet at a certain point, having to wear closed toe shoes, security cleared,  and then being escorted to the party..

 

We were walked through a crew bar area and up.one more flight of stairs to the party.  Sometimes there were champagne and passed goodies..but no seats  Other times just the hot sun.. but an awesone view!

 

Guess my sense of past cruises was in error??   My husb has no idea.

[cruisestitch]

What you described? Definitely takes place on S class ships. I don’t think it happens on E class but I can’t be sure of that. Only sure that it absolutely yes happens on S class.  Here are some people exiting that hatch and a view of a helipad.  

 

 

Edited April 14 by cruisestitch

[Barwick Cruiser]

7 hours ago, paulh84 said:

I have never seen the helipad accessed by passengers on E class. 

 

Some S class ships can accommodate a light helicopter. The ones marked WINCH ONLY means exactly that. It’s used as the hoist location but no landings. You can see this on Reflection. 

That actually appears to be the Solstice. 

[cruisestitch]

21 minutes ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

That actually appears to be the Solstice. 

Yep…you can see the beginning of the name on the side

[Cruising Is Bliss]

6 hours ago, peterde said:

I remember hearing Capt Kate saying that they don’t use the front of the ship for helicopter evacuation on the Beyond. They prefer using the top deck midship area. 

 

Yeah, she talked about medical evacuations on one of her daily video reports. They don't use that front deck helipad on Beyond because there's not enough clearance from the superstructure.

Edited April 15 by Cruising Is Bliss

[floridianny]

8 hours ago, mauimary said:

When we were on the Beyond in Feb Capt Kate made an evacuation around midnight. She came on the speaker into the staterooms to announce it. Something she rarely does that late at night.  We saw the helicopter lights off our veranda on the aft before the announcement was made.  She said the Beyond’s helicopter pad is too small. They did the evacuation off the side of the ship. Probably the lawn Club. 

We were on this sailing too.  Saw it from up by OceanView. They used the Retreat Sundeck, I believe because there was more room/favorable conditions there. 

[cruisegirlppp]

22 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

If close to land yes, they will divert.  But most helicopter evacuations do not involve the copter landing.  It hovers above the ship and the patient is winched  up.

 

I have seen several of these helicopter evacuations since I used choose forward-facing rooms.

Yikes!!