LIVE from Splendour

[aimmike&meg]

Hi all!!

 

Live from Splendour of the Seas and for anyone sailing out tomrrow on her just a quick note we are going to be late getting back into Galveston.

 

There has been some type of medical emergency onboard and we have had to change course temporarily and head towards New Orleans so we can meet up with a helicopter for an emergency evacuation at around 5 or 5:30 this evening. That is all we know at this time. Captain informed us around 1 1/2 ago and said we would be a little late getting into Galveston tomorrow maybe around an hour or so late.

 

Just a quick note and to let everyone know. Hopefully the sick/injured person will be OK and everything works out.

 

Also on a side note this is our first small RCCL ship and it has been an experience for us. We have very much enjoyed the crew, the absolutely friendliest we have EVER sailed with!!! Just quite different in some of the way things are done compared to the large ships. We have enjoyed it but we perfer the larger ships for sure! But both the large and small both have +'s and -'s :D

 

Oh wait the captain is now speaking..... The Coast Guard will arrive in 1 and 1/2 hour from now. The pool deck MUST be cleared out becuase the helicopter will hover there and in 30min. they are going to start clearing out the pool deck and deck 10 above. The evacuation will take place at about 3 pm. The time was moved up because we made better time than expected to the evacuation point.

 

This is not going to be an easy task to say the least I am sure. My DH and I are both Paramedics and my DH is a flight medic, all I can say is thank heavens for the Coast Guard!

 

Anyway just wanted to update!

[texasnana]

same thing happened on our jan cruise but we were able to turn back and go back to cozumel....

[texasnana]

same thing happened to us in jan cruise but during the night and turned back and dropped off person in cozumel( maybe cancun) so we were about 6 hours late....enjoy

[StefanieTX]

Hi Amie & Mike,

 

I'm here too... waiting on deck 8 by the Centrum to see the helicopter. I hope whoever it is will be okay.

 

I'm glad you like the Splendour. This is our 3rd time on this same cruise and it's our favorite ship. Everything is wonderful on here. I am going to miss her when she leaves Galveston for good. :(

 

I was hoping for a bit longer delay since we had an 8 hour delay getting on back in December, but then I would feel sorry for the people after us! Maybe we'll get to sleep a little later though!

[AALCRUISER]

We set sail tomorrow 3/26 on the Splendour. This will be our second time on this ship. We were on it 4 years ago to the day on a Panama Cruise. I wish they would be a ship back to Galveston for Panama. This will be our 14th cruise. I just booked it last Monday.

 

Question. With the crackdown on bring Liquor on board, do they offer some type of romm service, that you can pay for a bar set up?

[Mikew0805]

On our cruise on the Splendour in December, a crew member had a medical emergency, and we turned back to Cozumel, after leaving Costa Maya. We ended up in Galveston at about 4pm on the day we were supposed to be back.

[sailor moon]

I always wondered how they could do a medical evac with a helicopter.

 

Glad you are having fun. We were on Splendour 3/12-17th and enjoyed it very much. It was our 4th cruise on it. I prefer the Radiance class size but the Splendour is great for short cruises. The crew is wonderful.

[RockyMtnMama]

Thanks for the update! We are in Galveston now waiting for the ship to come in.

[SomeBeach]

I always wondered how they could do a medical evac with a helicopter.

 

It is one of those things that you hope you never have to see but if you do, you are amazed by it. I saw one while on the Majesty New Years cruise and was very impressed with how the ships' crew worked with the helicopter crew to take an 8 yr old off the ship.

After a CG member was lowered on the ship, a basket was sent down and a nurse taken up, then the little girls father, and last, the CG fellow with the girl held securely in his arms.

The ships crew does not really interfer in this process but they are at the ready should something go wrong. Many of us were in the Viking Crown Lounge and 3 crew firemen were up there and others at various outside areas of the ship. You are requested to not use the flash on your camera because that can interfer with what the helicopter pilot has to watch.

The evacuation went as planned with no problems. We later learned the little girl was fine after surgery.

Now the funniest thing............. a lesson to chair hogs. The announcement that the pool and sun decks would have to be cleared was first made an hour before it would happen. When it was time, we all started to leave the areas, taking all belongings because all chairs must be removed. Of course some chairs had no person in them but had towels, books, etc on them.

One man, determined to get his stuff, went into the area after it was closed off. He got his stuff and if time had allowed would have probably gotten much more but was shooed out fairly quick. I believe another person tried to get down there but the attempt was stopped by a very angry Captain chasing him/her away. I didn't see the person, couldn't hear the Captain but sometimes a look and an arm pointing at someone says a lot.

As a side note, the crew had both areas cleared and secure in about 10 minutes.