Carnival Dropped the Ball when guy died.

[steven41782]

There was a guy in his 30's who died on our Fascination cruise while playing basketball. I have not posted on this board much, and want everyone to know that I am not a troll. I would want people who are concerned about their safety to know that Carnival does not have a clue how to handle emergency situations. It took forever for anyone to arrive at the scene. There was no crowd control. When crew members finally arrived they were WALKING with no equipment, difribulators, etc. No one could believe their eyes. I will never take a carnival cruise again. This cruise was a great value, but I can't have my family's life in their hands. I would hate to see what kind of chaos would have prevailed if they had to evacuate the ship. Just felt the need to share.

[MsTabbyKats]

There was a guy in his 30's who died on our Fascination cruise while playing basketball. I have not posted on this board much, and want everyone to know that I am not a troll. I would want people who are concerned about their safety to know that Carnival does not have a clue how to handle emergency situations. It took forever for anyone to arrive at the scene. There was no crowd control. When crew members finally arrived they were WALKING with no equipment, difribulators, etc. No one could believe their eyes. I will never take a carnival cruise again. This cruise was a great value, but I can't have my family's life in their hands. I would hate to see what kind of chaos would have prevailed if they had to evacuate the ship. Just felt the need to share.

 

Isn't there a ship's doctor on board? Or a nurse?

[steven41782]

Yeah. I cleared out and all I know was passed down from other passengers. I don't want to spread rumors on what I didn't see. I can tell you that the crowd control and response time was troubling. If that were my wife....Like I said... never Carnival again for us.

[happy cruzin]

There was a guy in his 30's who died on our Fascination cruise while playing basketball. I have not posted on this board much, and want everyone to know that I am not a troll. I would want people who are concerned about their safety to know that Carnival does not have a clue how to handle emergency situations. It took forever for anyone to arrive at the scene. There was no crowd control. When crew members finally arrived they were WALKING with no equipment, difribulators, etc. No one could believe their eyes. I will never take a carnival cruise again. This cruise was a great value, but I can't have my family's life in their hands. I would hate to see what kind of chaos would have prevailed if they had to evacuate the ship. Just felt the need to share.

 

When was your cruise??

[Mrs. Ram]

That is really sad. Not to start ragging on Carnival but thought I would share something that happened a couple years ago on Glory with us. We went with 2 other couples (our very good friends) & the second to last night on the ship my female friend started having terrible pains (she said she felt like she was dying) Her husband took her down to the infirmary where they diagnosed her with a kidney stone. When she got off the ship, she went directly to the hospital in Port Canaveral because she was still in serious pain and they told her that she did not have a kidney stone and that they could not find anything wrong. Well, when she arrived home in NC after riding in the car for 12 hours in horrible pain she once again ended up at the ER and had to have emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy. Doctor said 1 more day and she would not have made it!:eek: Very, very scary! Not something I would want to be misdiagnosed with, although without the right equipment it can be easily missed!

[munraven]

The Carnival "medical" staff is the main reason we wont sail with them again either. My sister and her DD and SIL were with us on the freedom last March, SIL had a severe allergic reaction to the sun, my sister has been a nurse for over 30 years and took him directly to the infirmary. The doctor proceded to give a lecture to them all about not using sunscreen that went on for what seemed like forever (we were all using sunscreen, this was not a sunburn) meanwhile SIL was literally writhing in pain, no one was very concerned about his state, more that they were being bothered by stupid tourists. Because my sister had the experience she did, she had to really get in their face before they would do anything for him, turned out he needed morphine to releive the pain and was out of it for the remainder of the cruise. We were in shock at the uncaring attitudes of these so called professionals. I will not leave the safety of my family in their hands either. My thoughts are with the family of the young man from your cruise.

[steven41782]

Fascination 1/15 - 1/19 Jacksonville, Freeport, Nassau

[VolzCruiser]

Yeah. I cleared out and all I know was passed down from other passengers. I don't want to spread rumors on what I didn't see. I can tell you that the crowd control and response time was troubling. If that were my wife....Like I said... never Carnival again for us.

 

LOL don't want to spread rumors. :cool:

[NevadaHiRoller]

Horrible stuff! This is not good nor right. I truly believe the doctors on ships are not qualified and are doctor "rejects" from the real world where they couldn't make it in their own practices. I think they are second rate doctors and most of them are from other countries.

[renalrn]

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/news-article.aspx?storyid=129029&catid=3

[DarthGrady]

On our cruise in 2007 on the Glory a young lady in our group slipped and fell on some spilled liquid while walking on the Promenade. She hit her knee pretty hard and it swole up badly. I made not one,,, not two,,,, but three calls on the medical line and we waited almost a half hour before anyone came to help her. Once some crewmen arrived they had to wait for a wheelchair, even though I told them that one would be necessary since she couldn't walk. A pretty poor response, which was surprising since we live in such a litigious world lately.

[steven41782]

?? Seriously, I wish I could give more details from personal encounter. I am hoping someone else from that cruise can complement my post.

 

LOL don't want to spread rumors. :cool:

[mimirdh]

Your story reminds me of how the staff on our ship (Valor, 7/07) were so disconnected from both themselves and the passangers. My son and I did the "Family Scavenger Hunt" on an at sea day- one of the things we had to "find" was the captain's name. We asked FIVE different workers- a bartender, two waiters, and two room stewards- none of them knew the captain's name. A scary thought ran trru my mind....'Is this the type of crew that would run for the lifeboats and save themselves if there were an accident, leaving the passangers behind?' Something to think about...

[BND]

That is really sad. Not to start ragging on Carnival but thought I would share something that happened a couple years ago on Glory with us. We went with 2 other couples (our very good friends) & the second to last night on the ship my female friend started having terrible pains (she said she felt like she was dying) Her husband took her down to the infirmary where they diagnosed her with a kidney stone. When she got off the ship, she went directly to the hospital in Port Canaveral because she was still in serious pain and they told her that she did not have a kidney stone and that they could not find anything wrong. Well, when she arrived home in NC after riding in the car for 12 hours in horrible pain she once again ended up at the ER and had to have emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy. Doctor said 1 more day and she would not have made it!:eek: Very, very scary! Not something I would want to be misdiagnosed with, although without the right equipment it can be easily missed!

 

In all fairness as you said an ectopic pregnancy cannot be diagnosed without lab tests and/or ultrasound. It's not unusual for it to be misdiagnosed or missed. If she didn't know she was pregnant, it's not likely a doctor who isn't an ob/gyn would even think of it. This cannot be blamed on the cruise ship doctor as he doesn't have the equipment to do those tests. The hospital in PC on the other hand should have done more as they do have all the required equipment and labs.

 

From what I can tell, the OP wasn't actually there for everything that transpired so he needs to be careful about what he posts as facts.

[Mrs. Ram]

In all fairness as you said an ectopic pregnancy cannot be diagnosed without lab tests and/or ultrasound. It's not unusual for it to be misdiagnosed or missed. If she didn't know she was pregnant, it's not likely a doctor who isn't an ob/gyn would even think of it. This cannot be blamed on the cruise ship doctor as he doesn't have the equipment to do those tests. The hospital in PC on the other hand should have done more as they do have all the required equipment and labs.

 

From what I can tell, the OP wasn't actually there for everything that transpired so he needs to be careful about what he posts as facts.

 

I completely agree about the fact that it is very difficult to diagnose and especially without the equipment. I also did not mention she was bleeding internally when she went in to the infirmary and she told them her symptoms, which I would think would make a good doctor say hmm..., and they did not think anything of it! Maybe Carnival should consider having an OB on board or someone that knows how to deal with women. I would say that at least half of the pax on cruise ships are women and women problems can be very dangerous. Not to mention, I have never been on a cruise where I haven't seen several pregnant women. I know they go at their own risk, but you never know when a healthy pregnant woman can suddenly have a serious problem. JMO!

[Wants2cruise]

First of all let me state that I work in the medical field. If someone codes on a cruise ship there should be an emergency plan in place to get the medical staff and their equipment to the patient in a matter of minutes.

 

If an AED is used within 10 minutes of collapse the survivability rate rises to 80%. If everything is as you explained Carnival has better get a game plan together. I will testify that when an emergency occurs, everything goes into slow motion. Mere minutes seem like forever.

 

 

 

That is really sad. Not to start ragging on Carnival but thought I would share something that happened a couple years ago on Glory with us. We went with 2 other couples (our very good friends) & the second to last night on the ship my female friend started having terrible pains (she said she felt like she was dying) Her husband took her down to the infirmary where they diagnosed her with a kidney stone. When she got off the ship, she went directly to the hospital in Port Canaveral because she was still in serious pain and they told her that she did not have a kidney stone and that they could not find anything wrong. Well, when she arrived home in NC after riding in the car for 12 hours in horrible pain she once again ended up at the ER and had to have emergency surgery for an ectopic pregnancy. Doctor said 1 more day and she would not have made it!:eek: Very, very scary! Not something I would want to be misdiagnosed with, although without the right equipment it can be easily missed!

 

 

I am more distressed that the hospital in Port Caraveral didn't find her problem. While a ship has a doctor they will not have all of the equipment to test for everything that is available to even a basic ED. They would not have more than a handful of lab tests available. I don't think that a pregnancy test would be available in a cruise clinic.

[5waldos]

Lets have an O-GYN? Sure. And how about a specialist in prostates since so many of the guys are old. And perhaps some alcohol rehab specialists- lots of that on board. And a specialist in teen angst- nasty stuff. At least one or perhaps 2 psychiatrists- lots of craze people on board. A pediatrician- those kids! I am sure there are other specialists we need here.

 

And having hired all these specialists- your fare just doubled. Emergencies happen- and it sounds like the young man who died on the basketball court was a horrible and sad one. But from what I have seen the clinics do a decent job with what they are there to do- this is not a fully stocked hospital but rather a small satellite clinic. And a few bad experiences don't change my view. How many have been in a modern emergency room lately- people die there too.

[deerby27]

As a professional medical first responder, I can tell you that with rare exceptions that the chances of survival for that kind of event would have been no better on land than on that ship. By the time that someone recognizes a problem, calls 911, answers all their questions, dispatches the proper response, travel time etc. it is almost always too late to change the outcome. Unless someone is standing next to you with a defibrillator when you have the big one, then the outcome is usually bleak. So don't blame Carnival.

[Mrs. Ram]

Wow...someone thinks they are the only person entitled to suggestions! You must not understand how many women's health problems require an OB. If you did you would not try and sound so smart! These problems are life and death not just a prostate problem ;)

[calgarygary]

LOL don't want to spread rumors. :cool:

 

You really find posting about the death of a young man a laughing matter? The OP was not posting rumours but rather what he/she experienced. Maybe others can add to the little info. about the incident that the OP posted. Given these boards, I am sure that some will blame the victim.

[steven41782]

Okay, maybe they could not have saved his life since they don't stand around with defribillators, but they could at least make it look like they had a plan in place or a procedure of some sort.

[LanaJae]

I am not going to defend the lack of response, but I seriously doubt it would be any better on any other ship (or public place), unless it was a heart specialist convention, and even then, their first thought might not be a heart attack in a 30-something guy.

 

It's very sad for his family and also for those passengers who witnessed this, but response like this is very common in public places unfortunately.

[welldone60]

Not defending Carnival, but in our home town, most people will drive 30 mins to another town before they set foot in our ER.

Pour response is bad no matter where you are. You would think in this day they would have emergency response at the top of there list.

It won't stop me from cruising, but it does make one think.

[tbjl24]

The fact is that the infirmary is there to triage medical emergencies, not perform emergency surgery or diagnose ectopic preganancies or women's issues:confused:. Why do you think we here about medavacs and ships pulling into unschedule ports???

 

Unfortunately, medical emergencies do happen. It is a part of life. Perhaps Carnival could have reacted differently, but I haven't seen any facts posted, so lets not get ahead of ourselves.

 

I imagine a lot of these emergencies could be prevented by a simple physical even before stepping foot on the ship.

[iwannacruznow]

:cool:

Horrible stuff! This is not good nor right. I truly believe the doctors on ships are not qualified and are doctor "rejects" from the real world where they couldn't make it in their own practices. I think they are second rate doctors and most of them are from other countries.

It make you wonder if you get the standard of care that you normally get.I also wonder if its a industry thing and not just Carnival.