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Another medical evacuation off Ovation of the Seas


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Do people get airlifted iff cruise ships on a nightly basis?

 

The captain just announced we are diverting our course slightly heading towards New Caledonia (from Vanuatu) at full speed to randevu with a helicopter so we can airlift someone off the ship sometime tonight. It's 6pm now, my guess at 20-22kts is we won't be in range until about midnight. The Captain apologised in advance for a slightly rougher ride due to the extra speed (again who cares if it means the patient gets the attention they need as fast as possible.

 

Though we have just left a Vanuatu island we are actually about 1/2 way between the capitals of Vanuatu and New Caledonia, both of which have good hospitals and access to medical flights to New Zealand and Australia if needed (Vanuatu is made up of over 100 islands stretching many 100s of kms). New Caledonia is more in the direction of our destination (New Zealand) and closure to NZ and Aust if they do eventually need further medical attention (though New Caledonia is a very good hospital and would handle all but very server cases).

 

No word on the nature of the condition. I imagine the demographic of some cruise passengers age related emergencies aren't uncommon.

 

Again the captain has done a great job in keeping the ship updated and I suspect the free will do another amazing job later tonight getting the patient on the helicopter and to hospital asap.

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  • 1 month later...

pamw -this is the biggest reason I tell older clients to get cruise insurance

Yes the PASSENGAR pays for the helicopter, and if they are not insured, and/or

do not have the credit on hand, they will not send a helicopter out - this does

happen.  And yes it costs between $35,000 - $50,000 depending on where you

are for the flights.

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pamw -this is the biggest reason I tell older clients to get cruise insurance

Yes the PASSENGAR pays for the helicopter, and if they are not insured, and/or

do not have the credit on hand, they will not send a helicopter out - this does

happen.  And yes it costs between $35,000 - $50,000 depending on where you

are for the flights.

 

This is true, and air-ambulance repatriation can be even more expensive than that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We just finished our 9 night on the Navigator of the Seas and during the night around 1am the cruise director made an announcement looking for people with "O" negative blood.  A passenger needed a blood transfusion.  Not sure if that person got one but he repeated the announcement three times.  We were in a port the next morning and a friend saw the medical team remove that person on a stretcher.  It would have been nice to hear an update on that person.

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I'm O RH Negative. A rare blood group. Would this be what they were asking for as chance of getting this on a ship would maybe slim.

I have to carry a card with me advising of my blood group.

O Negative is the universal donor because anyone can receive blood from them. There are no A, B, or Rh antibodies attached to their blood. Where as AB Positive is the universal recipient, they can get blood from anyone.
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  • 3 weeks later...

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