Medical evacuations on cruises: What to know

Table Of Content

• MORE: Northeast storm: Maine police searching for 2 missing people swept away in floodwaters
• Royal Caribbean Ship Impacted by Sudden Storm in Gulf of Mexico
• What is a medical evacuation on a cruise?
• news Alerts
• Voyager of the Seas Encounters Storm
• 'Devastated': Passengers speak out after Bahamas-bound cruise diverted to New England, Canada over weather

Evacuations from a cruise ship are typically covered by the Coast Guard or similar entity, Walch said. Comprehensive travel insurance plans that cover the cost of travel as well as a variety of unforeseen circumstances can generally cost between 4% and 10% of the overall trip cost, according to Meghan Walch, Director of Product at InsureMyTrip. Because the ships were heading back to their homeport, they were not able to adjust their route as significantly as if the incidents happened mid-cruise, when a port of call could be rescheduled or cancelled. The storm was likely the same squall line that Carnival Dream also passed through when guests and crew members were advised to stay in their cabins.

MORE: Northeast storm: Maine police searching for 2 missing people swept away in floodwaters

Haley Ott is the CBS News Digital international reporter, based in the CBS News London bureau. Cholera, an infection that causes severe diarrhea and dehydration, is rare in the developed world, but it is almost always fatal if left untreated. Walch said travelers should read the details of a policy to find out what is and isn't covered.

Royal Caribbean Ship Impacted by Sudden Storm in Gulf of Mexico

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Disney Cruise Ship Develops Engine Trouble, Skips Port of Call.

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Displays tipped over in retail stores, and in the ship’s casino, slot machines tipped and fell. Royal Caribbean International’s Voyager of the Seas recently encountered a severe squall in the Gulf of Mexico while finishing her most recent sailing. Passengers scheduled for those late-March cruises are being offered full refunds and credit that can be used for a future cruise, it said. "There was a moment of silence that the captain requested. And that entire scenario did affect the entire cruise. Things were canceled, joyous events were canceled, and we really just thought about mortality — the people who perished on the ship." Two civilian support vessels are aiding the ship in its journey to port, Danish rescue authorities said.

What is a medical evacuation on a cruise?

It is unknown whether guests onboard Voyager of the Seas were similarly asked to return to their staterooms during the roughest weather. "Our team are working to arrange onward travel back home for guests onboard," the statement added. About 2,000 of those travelers were set to complete their journey on Sunday by disembarking in Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean just east of Madagascar, the Ports Authority said. The sick guests “experienced mild symptoms of a stomach-related illness,” Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement Sunday. The cruise ship can accommodate up to 5,624 passengers and 1,608 crew members, the cruise line says on its website. There are 2,184 passengers on the Norwegian Dawn along with 1,026 crew members.

The rogue wave shattered windows on the ship's bridge, which caused water to enter the vessel and resulted in a power outage, Reuters reported. The MS Maud lost power after the wave hit as the ship was sailing toward Tilbury, England, from Florø, Norway, HX, a unit of Norway’s Hurtigruten Group, said in a statement. It’s expected that the ship will be allowed to dock Tuesday, the cruise line said, after results of tests conducted Sunday become available. "The complexities involved in obtaining last-minute berths for unplanned stops and provisioning the ship along its new route left sailing to Canada and New England as the only viable option," the cruise line added. "We were celebrating the last day of the cruise," she said, when the mood changed "to something extremely somber."

Voyager of the Seas Encounters Storm

About 2,000 of those passengers would have completed their trip and disembarked in Port Louis, while 2,279 new passengers were expected to board the ship, Reuters reported. "The health and safety of passengers as well as that of the country as a whole are of the utmost importance to the authorities," the port authority of Mauritius said. MIAMI — Two crew members died on board a Holland America cruise ship, and a fire broke out on a Carnival ship while both of the ships were in the Bahamas this weekend, officials said. Faust said that cruise lines typically have a "contract of carriage" clause that doesn't guarantee the ports the ship will travel to and allows the cruise operator to change the itinerary for various issues, including weather.

'Devastated': Passengers speak out after Bahamas-bound cruise diverted to New England, Canada over weather

Crew members reacted quickly to clean up, including putting towels down to soak up water in flooded areas and to ensure flooring was safe for guests. Security was stationed around the ship to reassure guests and offer guidance as needed. The vessel was listed noticeably, and furniture on the open decks was tossed about, while indoor lounges had broken glassware and other damage.

The U.S. Coast Guard airlifted four passengers from three different cruise ships off the coast of California over the weekend using helicopters. The aircrews evacuated the Carnival Cruise Line and Princess Cruises passengers over a 24-hour period that started Friday night because the travelers suffered from various ailments. The way cruise ships get sick or injured passengers to shore depends largely on "the weather, the location and the assets available," Scott said.

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"We’ve been in contact with the families of both team members and are offering our support to them and to all of our crew at this difficult time." "There was an accidental steam release in an engineering space on board Nieuw Amsterdam, which sadly resulted in the death of two crew members," the cruise line said. “Following ongoing safety checks and technical assessments, given the weather conditions, we decided to amend the planned sailing route.

Carnival Cancels Sailing for Ship Impacted by Propulsion Issue - Cruise Hive

Carnival Cancels Sailing for Ship Impacted by Propulsion Issue.

Posted: Wed, 19 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The authority said that the passengers who were due to start their cruise Sunday would not be able to do so that day and that they would have to be relocated to available hotels. Around 15 passengers aboard the Norwegian Dawn remain in isolation because of an undisclosed "health risk" and are undergoing testing, according to the Mauritius Ports Authority. Passengers of a cruise who were expecting a sunny getaway in the Bahamas this week were instead sailed to a much colder climate due to severe weather. There have been a number of cholera outbreaks in southern African countries over the last few months, the BBC reported. Since January 2023, over 3,000 people in the region have died from cholera and 188,000 have been infected, according to the BBC. Coast Guard (or equivalent officials in other countries) are available to them, who can provide an evacuation by helicopter, or by boat if they are closer to shore.

Even in the midst of bad weather, however, cruise ships can change their orientation, adjust speed, deploy stabilizers, and take other steps to ensure guests’ safety and comfort as much as possible until the severe weather passes. While cruise ships do attempt to steer clear of bad weather, it is not always possible to completely avoid lengthy squall lines or large storm systems. This is particularly true in the case of Voyager of the Seas and Carnival Dream, both of which were heading back to Galveston at the time of the severe weather. A Norwegian cruise ship with over 2,000 passengers and 1,000 crew on board was given permission to dock in Mauritius on Tuesday after being denied permission over fears of a potential cholera outbreak on board. At least 15 people on the cruise ship Norwegian Dawn were isolated and samples were taken for testing on Sunday, according to a statement from the Port of Mauritius.

The cruise line said a technical team determined the ship sustained enough damage that it will need repairs before it can be returned to scheduled cruises. The funnel was stabilized, passengers were expected to be returned to Port Canaveral, and the ship will set off to Freeport for repairs, it said. While major cruise lines' ships are equipped with medical facilities, there are limits to the health care they can offer on board. The storm’s intensity created onboard flooding, furniture damage, glass breakage, and other impacts, but fortunately, no severe injuries were reported and the ship returned to Galveston as scheduled. Fire on the port-side exhaust funnel of another Florida-based cruise ship in the Bahamas, the Carnival Freedom, rocked some passengers Saturday and took the ship out of commission for repairs, the cruise line said.

The ship was in the North Sea at the time, in an area hit by a storm late Thursday with hurricane-force gusts forecast to continue Friday, the Danish Meteorological Institute said according to Reuters. "The situation is stable, the ship has propulsion and they are able to navigate the ship manually via emergency systems," the Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said in a statement Friday local time. None of the 266 passengers or 131 crew members were seriously injured, HX said. Norwegian Cruise Line said the ship's "management team met with local authorities to confirm precautions and actions were being taken to ensure the wellbeing of all on board." MSC also said it offered passengers a choice of sailing to the new destinations or canceling for future credit, "which allows them to put the full value paid for this cruise toward another at their convenience."

People on board the ship developed mild stomach symptoms after visiting South Africa for a couple days in mid-February, CBS News partner network BBC News reported. Dr. Joe Scott, senior director of fleet medical operations at cruise line operator Carnival Corp., told USA TODAY in February that its ships' facilities are generally set up like a typical emergency department. Scott oversees day-to-day operations for the company's North American brands, including Carnival, Princess and Holland America Line. Guests onboard reported that some individuals were injured by slot machines falling, but no severe injuries have been reported.

The Bahamas Maritime Authority and the Dutch Safety Board were investigating the exact cause of the release, Holland America said. Because of a lack of navigational abilities, the ship had to be steered manually from the engine room, per the news agency. As for the cruise, Montgomery said it's getting "a little depressing because you can imagine as we’re making the most of it, but most people are walking around in coats, gloves and hats." Speaking to "Good Morning America," Lakeya Allen, who said she arranged the trip with her best friend Val Montgomery as a joint family holiday to the Bahamas, said she was "devastated" by the divergence of the course. The MSC Meraviglia is slated to arrive in the Port of Saint John in Canada on Thursday, the port wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "The only alternative would have been to take the more extreme step of canceling the cruise -- and thousands of people's vacations -- outright," MSC said.

Despite the difficult seas, the ship was able to return to Galveston as planned, and departed on her next sailing – another 5-night Western Caribbean sailing – without problems. Voyager of the Seas had to sail through a severe sudden storm over the weekend, causing flooding and interior damage on the ship. "All of us at Holland America Line are deeply saddened by this event," the cruise line said.