Cruise Law News : Maritime Lawyer & Attorney : James M. Walker : Walker & O'Neill Law Firm : Admiralty Law, Cruise Ship Accidents & Injuries

A 73 tear old passenger from the Carnival Triumph received a ride of a lifetime when an U.S. Coast Guard helicopter plucked him from the deck of the cruise ship and flew him to Galveston for emergency medical treatment.

The Carnival cruise ship was around 120 miles off the coast of Galveston when the Coast Guard performed the medical evacuations early Friday yesterday morning.

Carnival notified the Coast Guard around 10 PM Thursday night that the cruise passenger had a blood clot in his foot and needed immediate medical treatment.  An MH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter was dispatched from Coast Guard Air Station Houston around 11:40 PM>  As you can see from the Coast Guard video below, they helicopter crew successfully lifted the passengers from the Triumph cruise ship. He was flown to the University of Texas Medical Center in Galveston.

We have reported on around a dozen Coast Guard - cruise ship medevacs this year.

Video credit:  U.S. Coast Guard via Houston Chronicle

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NBC Miami reports today that twelve Cuban migrants on a raft trying to sail to the U.S. were intercepted after Royal Caribbean alerted the U.S. Coast Guard.

Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas cruise ship spotted the Cubans today and radioed the location of the raft to the Coast Guard in Miami. 

The NBC affiliate reports that one of the Cuban migrants, a 40-year-old man, had a foot injury and was allowed to go aboard the cruise ship for treatment.  The U.S. Coast Guard sent a vessel to the scene and took all 12 of the Cuban rafters. 

Under current U.S. immigration laws, the U.S. Coast Guard will take the Cubans back to Cuban where they will likely be imprisoned.

This is the second so-called rescue of Cubans trying to flee Cuban by a cruise ship in the last few days.

On December 21st, a Princess cruise ship "rescued" 20 Cubans, including 9 children.  CBS affiliate KPHO Channel 5 in Scottsdale Arizona reports that three families from ages 3 to 80 were picked up by the Princess cruise ship on its way back from the Panama Canal.  A Scottsdale man vacationing on the cruise ship captured the event on camera.

The Cuban escapees tried to make it to American land.  Cruise passenger Nestor Guzman, himself an immigrant, explained that being rescued doesn't  mean they were freed, because the Cuban refugees never made it to American soil and were found at sea, they were returned to Cuba.  "It was good that they didn't perish in the middle of the ocean," Guzman said.

"What is going to happen now that they go back to Cuba?  All the dream lost . . .  To me especially, being from Latin America it was very emotional because I see the desire to go to the U.S. to be free after all these years, I'm sure all their partners were thinking about their children, we want the kids to be in America."

These two "rescues" this week end a frustrating year for desperate Cuban families who find themselves sent right back to Cuba after risking their lives to come to the U.S. for freedom and better lives for their children.  In the last year, four Royal Caribbean cruise ships, The Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Monarch of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas, have intercepted Cuban rafters:  

Royal Caribbean Intercepts Cuban Immigrants

Allure of the Seas "Rescues" Migrants Fleeing Cuba 

Happy Fourth of July - Enjoy Your Freedom

Video credit: CBS affiliate KPHO Channel 5

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The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced an ill passenger from the Queen May 2 cruise ship off of the coast of North Carolina.

The video below shows the the skilled crew of a Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter lifting a 64 year old woman from the deck of the QM2 cruise ship.  The passenger was suffering from severe abdominal pains.  The cruise ship was sailing 110 miles off the coast of Nags Head, North Carolina on December 20, 2011.  The Coast Guard flew the ill woman to a hospital in Norfolk Virginia. 

Video Credit:  U.S. Coast Guard

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One of the stories I never tire of reporting is when a Coast Guard helicopter plucks a sick cruise passenger from the deck of a cruise ship and takes the passenger ashore for emergency medical treatment.

The skill of the U.S. Coast Guard in rescuing people from cruise ships is rather remarkable. The Coast Guard can fly 200 miles out to sea to medevac ill and injured passengers and crew.  Other than England, Canada and perhaps a few other countries, you will not see anyone performing life saving heroic missions to rescue the needy on the high seas other than the U.S. Coast Guard.     

Below is a video of a Coast Guard helicopter hoisting a young woman from the deck of the Explorer cruise ship as the ship returned from a Caribbean cruise.  The helicopter took the passenger to a hospital in Key West.

At the end of the video, you can see the young lady in the rescue basket waving to the cruise ship, and kissing goodbye perhaps to a loved one below.

Video credit:  U.S. Coast Guard

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WSVN - TV reports that the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a cruise passenger after she experienced symptoms of appendicitis.

The incident occurred on December 12, 2011 on the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas cruise ship about 130 miles southwest of Key West.  A Coast Guard helicopter hoisted the 21 year old cruise passenger and transported her to the Lower Keys Medical Center. The cruise ship was sailing back to Port Everglades, Florida.

This is the second Coast Guard rescue of a sick cruise passenger yesterday.  Earlier today we reported on the Coast Guard medevacing an Ill NCL passenger off the coast of North Carolina.  

December 13, 2011 Update and Correction:  An astute reader of Cruise Law News noted that the cruise ship is not Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas but, instead, is the SAS' Explorer.  Thanks to Tom Roesser from Hawaii who you can follow on twitter at @tomsroesser. 

Thanks Tom!
 

Video Credit:  U.S. Coast Guard via WSVN

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A number of news sources are reporting that yesterday the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced an ill cruise passengerman from a cruise ship to a North Carolina hospital for treatment.

The ship doctor on the Norwegian Cruise ine's Gem cruise ship notified the Coast Guard that  a 38-year-old man was going into shock. The cruise ship was reportedly about 75 miles east of Wilmington at the time.

A helicopter from the Coast Guard Air Station in Elizabeth City North Carolina then flew the man from the cruise ship to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.

The Coast Guard says the man was in stable condition. His name was not released.

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Yesterday the Sun Princess cruise ship responded to a disabled sailing yacht in the middle of the Tasman Sea.

The Tasman Sea is a wide body of water measuring some 1,200 miles across, between Australia and New Zealand. 

According to the Ballina Shire Advocate, the vessel, named the Scotch Bonnet, was adrift when it was located by the crew of the Sun Princess.  It was de-masted apparently due to rough weather. 

The vessel had been sailing from the Bay of Islands in New Zealand's North Island to Sydney. 

After the Sun Princess pulled alongside the derelict vessel, the crew of the cruise line determined that no one was aboard. 

The cruise ship then communicated with the "Rescue Co-ordination Centre" on the mainland and was given permission to continue the voyage to Brisbane.

The Sun Princess was on day twelve of a fourteen day cruise from Brisbane to the South and North Islands of New Zealand when it encountered the Scotch Bonnet.

If anyone has information regarding the safety of the Scotch Bonnett's crew, please leave a comment below.

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The LA Times reports that yesterday the U.S. Coast Guard saved the life of a 77 year old cruise passenger from the Carnival Spirit while the cruise ship was 230 miles southwest of San Diego. 

The cruise passenger reportedly showed signs of a stroke and was medically evacuated from the Carnival cruise ship by a U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter dispatched from San Diego.

The video below shows the helicopter lifting someone who appears to be a nurse, then the ill passenger, and finally a member of the helicopter crew.

Thank God that ill passengers have the benefit of skilled and dedicated men and women of our country's Coast Guard to help them out in tight spots like this:    

Video credit:

U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Diego; produced by PADET San Diego: and edited by Petty Officer 2nd Class Henry G. Dunphy

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At this moment the U.S. Coast Guard is in the process of medevacing three elderly passengers from a cruise ship 100 miles east of from Hilo, Hawaii. 

The Republic reports that an 86 year old man appears to having a heart attack, an 82 year old man has symptoms of internal bleeding, and a 76 year old woman is suffering from abdominal pains.

The helicopter deployed two helicopters and a plane to the Holland America Line cruise ship, the Oosterdam.  The cruise ship is headed for San Diego.  The Coast Guard intends to take the ill passengers to Hilo Medical Center.

A cruise ship in the middle of the ocean is not where you want to be if you are gravely ill. 

The newspaper reports that a Coast Guard flight surgeon made the decision to medically evacuate the elderly passengers after hearing about their conditions from the ship's medical staff.

We have covered lots of cruise ship medevac stories, but none involving three separate passengers in need of emergency medical evacuation.

If you are on the cruise ship and have information or photographs or video of the medevac, please leave us a comment below. 

Video Credit:  U.S. Coast Guard / Department of Homeland Security

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Earlier this month, crewmembers aboard the Celebrity Century cruise ship recorded interesting video of the rescue of an injured skipper in the Pacific as the cruise ship sailed to Hawaii.

The incident involved the Quantum Leap, a 49 foot sailing yacht which was being delivered from San Diego to Honolulu by captain Phillip Johnson, together with his nephew and another friend. 

After the sailboat left California, it began experiencing problems with its generators and batteries, which compromised power to the sailboat's satellite phone and GPS. 

Captain Johnson was injured badly when rough weather struck the sailboat. Because of the distance to the closest port (some 700 miles), the U.S. Coast Guard was unable to send a helicopter but contacted vessels in the area.

In this case, the Celebrity Century was sailing to Hilo.  As explained in an interesting account from Sail World,  Celebrity Captain Konstantinos Patsoulas turned the 815 foot cruise ship around and headed for the sailboat which took approximately 12 hours. 

You can see how the cruise ship deployed the rescue boat and took the crew of the Quantum Leap aboard the cruise ship, to the applause of the passengers and crew.  The sailboat was adrift as the Century then continued it cruise to Hawaii.  

Sail World also explains about how, three weeks later, the Quantum Leap washed ashore on a beach in Maui without its captain or crew . . . 
 

An interesting account of the rescue is also contained in an article "Rescue at Sea" by Lorraine Thompson who was cruising with her husband, Charles, on their 56th cruise. 

Video credit: wb6jao (YouTube)

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According to WAVY.com, on October 29, 2011, the Norwegian Gem cruise ship responded to a distress signal initiated by a disabled sailboat which had lost power and was taking on water.  The sailboat was 256 miles northeast of Bermuda, and it would have taken days for a Coast Guard cutter to respond from the U.S. 

The Coast Guard sent a C-130 aircraft from Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina and coordinated the arrival of the NCL cruise ship which was in the area.  

The Norwegian Gem deployed a lifeboat which the NCL crew tethered to the sailboat which had five sailors aboard.

Video Credit:  WAVY.com

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News sources in the U.K. are reporting on the dramatic rescue of a 23 year old passenger who fell from what is being described as a cruise ferry which was heading from England to the Netherlands. 

The incident reportedly occurred, according to the Whitley Gazette, on Monday night around 9:00 PM when the young woman trying to light a cigarette near a railing.

The ship in question is the Princess Seaways which, according to the Journal Live in the U.K., was built in 1986  and is a "large cruise ferry," subsequently renovated in 2006, with the capacity for 580 cars and can more than 1,500 passengers."  

The passenger was in the water for thirty minutes.  The ship turned around and the crew rescued her and she was evaluated by the ship doctor.  

A RAF helicopter then transported the lucky passenger back to England where she was checked for hypothermia.  The video below shows the helicopter hoisting the young woman from the deck of the ferry.  

Don't you wish that all overboards turned out like this? 

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Happy Fourth of July!

Two hundred and thirty-five years ago - on July 4, 1776 - the Second Continental Congress voted to declare the independence of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain. 

In the 1700"s my family's ancestors got in a boat and sailed from Great Britain to the U.S.  I have always thought about what that must have been like, to leave your homeland and embark on a voyage to a new world.  A world of liberty. 

independence Day is a symbolic day of the break from tyranny and the emergence of a new nation based on concepts of freedom and self-determination.    

Independence Day remains a great American tradition - associated with fireworks, family barbecues, picnics, and baseball games. 

But there are many people who do not enjoy freedom from tyranny.

This weekend saw seven Cubans "rafters" trying to escape Cuba and come to the U.S. for a better life.  But they were stopped by a cruise ship, the Oasis of the Seas, and taken aboard and then handed over to the U.S. Coast Guard.  Rather than celebrating the 4th of July in Little Havana in Miami, these rafters are back in Castro's Cuba.   

Newspapers and television stations in South Florida called this a "rescue."  

According to an agreement between the U.S. and Cuba, often called the “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy, Cubans who reach U.S. shores are allowed to stay.  But those intercepted by the Coast Guard at sea are forced back to Cuba. 

This is not the first time a Royal Caribbean cruise ship "rescued" Cuban immigrants. 

On May 15th, the Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas stopped to pick up nine Cubans as the cruise ship sailed back to Fort Lauderdale.

On May 1st, the Navigator of the Seas picked up eight Cubans 40 miles north of Cuba.  You can see the dramatic photos here.

Last December, the Monarch of the Seas picked up six Cubans who had been at sea.  You can read about that ordeal in Royal Caribbean Intercepts Cuban Immigrants.

In all of these cases, the U.S. Coast Guard sent the Cubans back to Cuba. In all of these cases, the Miami press called the interceptions a "rescue."    But these are no rescues.  These are interceptions.  As we light fireworks, attend family reunions, and watch our favorite baseball teams, these brave people who risked their lives seeking freedom and liberty are likely in a Cuban jail.  

Photo credit:  Cruise passenger Christi Nasser via the Miami Herald 

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Multiple news sources are reporting that a passenger from a Norwegian Cruise Line cruise ship went overboard in the Mississippi River last night. 

The Norwegian Spirit had sailed for approximately three hours from New Orleans when the passenger went into the river around 8:00 p.m.

A rescue boat was deployed from the NCL cruise ship.  The passenger was rescued and returned  back to the cruise ship.

The passenger was injured and received medical treatment aboard the cruise ship which made arrangements to disembark the passenger ashore further treatment.

There are no reports explaining how and why the passenger went overboard.  The good news is that the passenger was rescued safely, which is not the usual outcome of cases like this.

A photograph was taken of the rescue by a passenger aboard the cruise ship and posted via Twitter, @sheets.

Does anyone have information about this latest overboard?  Please leave a comment below.

Photo credit:   @sheets

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BBC News is reporting today on the dramatic rescue of a critically ill passenger from Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas.

The U.K. Coast Guard was notified by the captain of the Independence of the Seas on Saturday night that a passenger was very ill and needed to be evacuated from the cruise ship.  A helicopter was dispatched from Portland, which is in southern England on the Dorset coast, 23 miles out to the cruise ship.  

The BBC reports that the helicopter was too heavy for the cruise ship's landing pad.  The vessel's crew had to lift the passenger, in her wheelchair, up and into the helicopter as it hovering above them. 

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokeswoman is quoted stating "in a supreme example of skill, the coastguard helicopter pilot touched the wheels of the aircraft on to the moving deck of the Independence of the Seas, keeping the rotors powered-up so that no weight was taken by the relatively fragile landing pad."

The helicopter then flew the ill woman and her husband to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester.

The BBC did not comment on the nature of the cruise passenger's critical illness.

We have received comments from crew and passengers that the Independence of the Seas has been experiencing Norovirus outbreaks for much of this year, although it is unknown what ailed this particular passenger.

The Independence of the Seas was last in the news when an oil tanker exploded while the cruise ship was docked at the port in Gibraltar.   

Photo credit:  Petty Officer 2nd Class Richard Fertig via Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System (image is of U.S. Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter responding to a medical emergency aboard the Explorer of the Seas 230 miles east of Cape Henry Virginia on March 11, 2011.) 

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WVEC (local ABC channel 13) reports that the Coast Guard airlifted an ill  60 year old passenger from a cruise ship off the coast of North Carolina yesterday. 

The passenger was sailing on Carnival's Miracle when he had a heart attack.

The Coast Guard sent a MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City to medevac the man from the Carnival cruise ship, which was about 43 miles off the North Carolina coast.  The passenger was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

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Yesterday, we discussed the latest overboard from a Celebrity cruise ship, this time involving a 31 year old Filipino on the Eclipse who by all accounts committed suicide by climbing a rail and jumping into the English Channel.

While some people may be inclined to say oh,a suicide end of the story, my thought is that an investigation is warranted to study the significant number of crewmembers who decide to end their life in this manner.  Is there a correlation between the long hours and difficult working conditions of "ship life" and crew suicides?   

There are a number of interesting comments posted on line about this sad incident, which apparently occurred shortly after an ill passenger was medevaced from the Eclipse.  A medevac of an ill passenger and a crew suicide is not how you want to remember a family cruise holiday.   

One post links to Ship Finder which charted the cruise ship altering course and returning to the location where the crewmember went overboard.  It looks like the Eclipse may have originally  altered course to sail closer to France to meet the helicopter involved in the passenger medical evacuation.  

Image credit:   Lee Armstrong via Pinkfroot

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The U.S. Coast Guard has issued a press release indicating that  a MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Air Station Sitka safely medevaced a woman from the cruise ship Celebrity Millennium during an Alaskan cruise.  The Coast Guard helicopter transported the passenger to Hoonah where she was then flown by aircraft to Juneau. 

The passenger, a 59 nine year old woman, reportedly was suffering from symptoms of a stroke.

Medical evacuations by helicopter are routine during emergencies like this while cruise ships are in relatively close proximity to U.S. and Canadian ports of call.

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The Miami Herald reports that  Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas stopped to pick up nine Cubans (eight men and one woman) as the cruise ship sailed back to Fort Lauderdale around 2 p.m. today.   

The newspaper indicates that the migrants had been at sea for eight days. The cruise ship personnel provided food, water and medical attention to the Cubans.  The narration to the video mentions that the immigrants were using "brooms" to paddle, but you can clearly see from photos posted on the Cruise Critic site that they were using long paddles. 

Although you can hear the cheers on the video when the migrants were rescued, the story does not end happily for the Cubans.  The U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security will undoubtedly deport then back to Cuba where they run the risk of ending up in one of Castro's jails.

In this video, you can see the rescue vessel taking the Cubans out to a Coast Guard cutter which arrives on the scene.

This is not the first time a Royal Caribbean cruise ship "rescued" Cuban immigrants.  On May 1st, the Navigator of the Seas picked up eight Cubans 40 miles north of Cuba.  You can see the dramatic photos here.

Last December, the Monarch of the Seas picked up six Cubans who had been at sea for 15 days in a raft consisting of a bunch of tires tied together with a makeshift sail.  If they made it ashore to the U.S. they could remain here; however, if they are "caught" in the water by the U.S. Coast Guard, they will be deported.  You can read about that ordeal in Royal Caribbean Intercepts Cuban Immigrants.

Video credit:  Hinch family via Miami Herald / CBS Channel 4 (Miami) 

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A magazine in Bermuda is reporting that two cruise ships recently diverted toward Bermuda to transfer ill passengers ashore for medical treatment.

On May 9th, the Princess Crown Princess diverted to Bermuda to disembark a 57 year old male passenger who was suffering from breathing difficulties. The magazine reports that the pilot cutter St. George met the cruise ship at the sea buoy and the sick passenger was transfered between the two vessels. 

Open water passenger transfers are potentially dangerous exercises.  You will recall that a rescue vessel recently dropped an elderly passenger into freezing water while trying to transfer her ashore.  A recent investigation found that the crew used unsafe procedures and did not even place a life vest on the sick passenger.

In this case, the Princess passenger was transferred safely to the pilot boat and then ashore where an awaiting ambulance transported him to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. 

The second diversion occured on May 7th when Princess' Grand Princess altered course toward Bermuda to disembark a 55 year old male passenger who needed urgent medical attention.  The passenger was also transfered ashore via the same pilot boat.

Both Princess cruise ships were sailing from Port Everglades, Florida to the Azores Islands.

Photo credit  kathhooson Flickr

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The Royal Gazette newspaper reports that a crew member from the the Norwegian Sun cruise ship was transported to Bermuda because of a medical emergency.

The Norwegian Cruise Line ship was near Bermuda after sailing from Port Canaveral, Florida en route to the Azores when the 23 year old Peruvian crew member became ill.

The cruise ship took the crew member off the ship by stretcher to a pilot vessel which transported her to the island of Bermuda where she was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Cruise Lines like NCL have a non-delegable duty to provide prompt, adequate and complete medical care to their ill and injured crew members. 

Medevacs involving crewmembers are relatively rare, especially compared to medical evacuations of passengers.

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Sad news.  Cruise passenger Janet Richardson, who was dropped from off of a stretcher while rescue staff tried to transfer her from the Ocean Countess cruise ship to a rescue vessel, died in the hospital in the U.K.

Ms. Richardson suffered from some medical problems and apparently was experiencing internal bleeding when a decision was made to take her to hospital by a rescue vessel.  We have reported on the disastrous circumstances which thereafter followed in prior articles.

The news sources we have read indicate that she remained in the freezing waters from 4 to 8 minutes.  An autopsy may indicate whether her death was due to her illness or the shock of the fall and exposure to freezing water.

According to the U.K. press, Ms. Richardson's husband, George, said: “Janet died peacefully on Thursday night in the Cumberland infirmary with her family and friends around her."

The cruise ship was operated by Cruise and Maritime voyages.  A spokesperson for the cruise operator told the U.K. press: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the richardson ­family at this sad time.”

We first learned of Ms. Richardson's passing when her niece left a message on our YouTube site which has a video regarding the incident:

"This is my auntie .  .  .  such a lovely kind and very caring person who will be greatly missed, we all love you so much  . . ." 

Photo credit:  Patrick Hill via BBC News 

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SkyNews has an interesting update on the situation involving  cruise passenger Janet Richardson who was dropped from off of a stretcher while trying to transfer from the Ocean countess cruise ship to a rescue vessel into -3 Celsius waters off the coast of Norway (there is a reason why I live in South Florida).  Regrettably, Ms. Richardson does not seem to be improving.

We have written prior article about this incident: Cruise Passenger Dropped into Freezing Waters During Botched Rescue and yesterday we posted photographs of the terrifying ordeal. 

Video:  SkyNews

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Today, a number of newspapers in the U.K. published articles about an incident we reported on April 6th - Cruise Passenger Dropped into Freezing Waters During Botched Rescue - involving a seriously ill British passenger from the Ocean Countess cruise ship who was inadvertently dumped into freezing waters off of the coast of Norway by the crew of a rescue vessel.  Our article was based on a news account from the U.K.'s Champion newspaper.     

The rescue vessel and cruise ship drifted apart as the passenger, 73 year old Janet Richardson, was in a precarious position between the two vessels, causing the crew to dump the passenger from the stretcher into the icy waters. 

The most remarkable photographs (taken by Patrick Hill) are found in the U.K.'s Mail Online, showing the sequence of events as the crew attempts to transfer the stretcher between the vessels (top), the passenger in the water after being dumped (middle), and the vessels begin to leave the passenger behind (bottom).

As we mentioned in our prior article, the passenger remained in the water for approximately eight minutes before being finally pulled into the rescue vessel.  It is extraordinarily negligent for the passenger not to have been thrown a rope immediately or for her not to have been fitted with a rope attached to a life-vest, not to mention being dumped from the stretcher into the water in the first place.  

Photo credit:  Patrick Hill via U.K.'s Mail Online

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A family from Illinois is thankful that their son survived a medical emergency during a Caribbean cruise aboard Carnival's Dream cruise ship which quickly turned into a nightmare. 

NBC Chicago reports that the Cohn family were three days into their week long cruise, when their 14 year old son Stephen became very ill with severe stomach pain and internal bleeding.

Heading to St. Thomas, the captain diverted the cruise ship to Puerto Rico.  However, Stephen's medical  condition deteriorated and the captain summoned a coast guard helicopter to medevac the child from the ship.  The child's mom, Michelle Cohn, was also lifted from the cruise ship and accompanied her son to an intensive care unit in Puerto Rico.

The helicopter rescue avoided what would have been a 6 hours journey to the port in Puerto Rico.

The boy's parents thanked Carnival for saving their son's life, saying "They saved his life. They absolutely saved his life." 

For other happy endings, read our articles about cruise ship medevacs here.

Video credit:  NBC Chicago

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A newspaper in the U.K. reports that a seriously ill British passenger was inadvertently dumped into freezing waters off of the coast of Norway during what is described as a "bungled cruise ship rescue."  

The Champion newspaper reports that a couple on the cruise ship, Colin and Sheila Prescott, watched in horror as Norwegian emergency crews were attempting to transfer the sick passenger from the cruise ship to a rescue vessel.  The two vessels drifted apart several feet as the transfer was taking place, causing the rescue crew to drop the stretcher into the icy sea. 

Mr. Prescott snapped a photo of the incident.   

The water was reportedly "minus three degrees" (celsius - salt water begins to freeze at this temperature).  The passenger was in the water for about "eight minutes or so" before she was finally rescued and transported shore-side to the hospital.

The newspaper reports that the incident involved the "Ocean Princess," which seems to be an error.  It appears the cruise ship was actually the Ocean Countess operated by  Cruise and Maritime Voyages.

April 20, 2011 Update: A number of newspapers are now reporting on this story and contain some interesting photos - Cruise Passenger Dropped into Freezing Waters During Botched Rescue - Continued.

Photo credit:  Colin Prescott via Champion newspaper

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Multiple news sources are reporting that another small cruise ship to Antarctica has run aground. 

This time it was the Polar Star which was carrying 115 passengers and crew when it ran aground in the Matha Strait, on its way back to Argentina.  Rescue workers based at the Chilean port of Punto Arenas were evacuating the ship, which left the port of Ushuaia (in southern Argentine) last week with 80 passengers and 35 crew members. 

The passengers reportedly included 32 Americans, 9 Canadians, 14 Britons and 8 Australians.

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) released a statement indicating that the cruise ship suffered a hole in the outer hull, with the inner hull intact.

There have been a number of mishaps on cruises to and from Antarctica recently, with several groundings and one horrifying trip with extreme weather: 

The Clelia II - Another Antarctic Cruise Ship Skirts Disaster 

The Clelia II Skirts Disaster Again in Antarctica

Who's Responsible When a Cruise Ship Sinks in Antarctica?

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NBC - 2 News reports that Carnival Cruise Line's Valor cruise ship rescued three Floridians (and their cat) just 12 miles off the coast of Cuba around 2 p.m. yesterday. The motor boat was ownded by Wes Demott of Naples.  A Carnival cruise ship came to the rescue. One of the passengers, Carl Ray, recorded the rescue.  The two other passengers were from Fort Myers and Port Charlotte.

Carnival issued the following statement:

On January 22, 2010 at approximately 2:00 p.m. the Carnival Valor engaged in the rescue of three U.S. citizens and a cat, after receiving a distress call from a nearby small craft vessel. All three individuals and the cat were brought onboard. According to the individuals rescued they departed Key West on January 20, and were headed towards the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula. The Carnival Valor was returning to the Port of Miami from a seven-day Caribbean cruise and arrived as scheduled at the port earlier this morning.

January 24, 2011 Update:  This story is receiving a lot of press, including being covered by USA Today which has a story "Carnival Cruise Ship Sails to the Rescue of Cat Lost at Sea."  Why is it that the media will cover a cat-rescued-at-sea story but ignores the recent passenger-lost-at-sea story we covered two weeks ago??   

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The U.S. Coast Guard evacuated a 46 year old passenger from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico following a fall on Saturday.

Passenger Andrew Spicer was aboard Holland America Line's Ryndam cruise ship when he was reportedly injured.  The cruise  was roughly 120 miles southwest of St. Petersburg when the Coast Guard helicopter arrived around 8:00 p.m.  Mr. Spicer was taken to Tampa General hospital.

On Friday, a  Coast Guard rescue helicopter crew medevaced a 16 month old  girl and her mother off the Norwegian Gem cruise ship approximately 245 miles south of Cape Lookout, North Carolina.  The infant was suffering from upper respiratory tract infection and respiratory distress.

Our U.S. Coast Guard serves an important function of transporting sick and injured passengers to emergency medical facilities ashore.  Earlier in the week we discussed the medical and legal implications of cruise medevacs in U.S. Coast Guard Rescues Sick Teenager from NCL's Jewel.

Where you on any of these cruises?  Do you have photos or video to share?  Please leave a comment  .  .  .

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The United States Coast Guard crews medevaced an ill thirteen year old from the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Jewel cruise ship near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on Saturday. 

The boy had symptoms of acute appendicitis.  The Coast Guard lifted the boy and his mother from the deck of the Jewel and flew them to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

This is the type of story which we have reported on frequently.  Medical rescues like this are a regular occurrence when there is a medical emergency and the cruise ships are within the range of Coast Guard helicopters.  As I have said many times, a cruise ship is one of the last places on earth you want to be if you have a serious medical issue. 

One of the most infamous involving appendicitis aboard a cruise ship is Carnival v. Carlyle.  A family from Michigan sailed on Carnival's Ecstasy when 14 year old Elizabeth felt ill with abdominal pain.  The family took their daughter to the ship infirmary.  The  foreign trained doctor repeatedly told the family that the child had only the flu.  When the family returned home, a qualified doctor diagnosed a ruptured appendix and infection, but due to the delayed diagnosis and treatment the young girl was rendered sterile.

Carnival defended the case by claiming that it was not responsible for the malpractice of "independent contractors."  The cruise line and the cruise industry fought the case for a decade and finally won before the U.S. Supreme Court.  The bottom line?  The family went on a family cruise vacation and their daughter returned home sterile due to the gross negligence of the Carnival ship doctor.  After ten years of litigation, the young girl received nothing.    

So when I see a helicopters picking up a sick kid off of a cruise ship, I know that one parent's prayers have been answered.  They will not have to suffer like the Carlyle family from Michigan.

So, thanks to the the U.S. Coast Guard!

The medevac was filmed by a passenger, Allan, aboard the Jewel:

Credit:   CNN iReport

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The news today is filled with stories about a cruise ship which "rescues" rafters adrift in the Atlantic.

What the news reports fail to mention is that the "rafters" were trying to get to Florida.  They are  probably already back in Cuba pursuant to U.S. immigration policy. 

Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas cruise ship reportedly "rescued" six people who were floating on a raft near the Bahamas. 

A passenger on the cruise ship spotted the raft and the ship stopped.  As most of the news reports claim, the cruise ship then "rescued" the people on the raft.

An employees of a Houston news station FOX 35 employee (Scott Schroeder)  was on cruise ship and reported that the raft looked like "it was a group of tires tied together with green burlap and a makeshift sail."  

The make-shift raft had apparently been at sea for 15 days.  The Fox employee says the captain of the ship told the cruise ship passengers that there were seven people on board the raft and one of them died.

As tragic as this is, the indignity is that the survivors, probably related in some way to the deceased "rafter," will be deported back to the evil Castro regime in Cuba.  If they made it ashore to the U.S. they would one day be raising their children in Miami (God bless them).  But if they are "caught" in the water by the U.S. Coast Guard, they will be "deported" / "repatriated" back to Cuba to face, at best, an uncertain future.   

Perhaps this is a "rescue' in the minds of the happy-go-lucky cruise passengers and the PR people at the cruise lines, but according to the Cubans in the raft seeking freedom in Miami - they undoubtedly feel that they are screwed.

May 15, 2011 Update:  Royal Caribbean "rescues" another boat of Cubans fleeing Castro: Allure of the Seas "Rescues" Migrants Fleeing Cuba.

Credits:  Fox 35 Houston

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Last night, the U.S. Coast Guard performed a medical evacuation of a 75-year-old passenger who became sick while cruising on the Holland America cruise ship, Oosterdam, about 180 miles southwest of San Diego.

A HC-130 Hercules aircraft from the Coast Guard station in Sacramento located the HAL ship ship.  A MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter dispatched from the Coast Guard's San Diego station then medevaced the passenger to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

The medevac came just 2 days after the Coast Guard assisted the disabled cruise ship Carnival Splendor into San Diego.

In October, the Coast Guard conducted essentially an identical rescue.   A 74-year-old passenger with pancreatis was rescued from HAL's Oosterdam 36 miles from San Diego and sent via helicopter to Scripps Memorial Hospital. 

The U.S. Coast Guard spends millions of dollars a year assisting passengers who are sick or injured on foreign flagged cruise ships.

Photo credit:

U.S. Coast Guard via Cruise Critic member Copper10-8 (depicting medevac from HAL Noordam)

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The Coast Guard is reporting that it medically evacuated a 17-year-old female passenger from a cruise ship 83 nautical miles southeast of Wilmington, N.C. Monday.

Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads received a phone call from a crewmember aboard the cruise ship Carnival Pride at approximately 8 p.m. stating that there was a female aboard who was experiencing symptoms of appendicitis.

An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City was launched at 9:30 p.m. to respond. The helicopter crew arrived on scene at 11:30 p.m., and hoisted the 17-year-old female, her mother and the cruise ship’s nurse. The helicopter crew then transferred them to New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington.
 

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Cruise Law News is a big fan of the United States Coast Guard which came to the rescue of a 79-year-old passenger aboard the Carnival cruise ship Spirit yesterday. 

According to 10News.com, the Carnival cruise ship was about 570 miles south of San Diego when the vessel notified the USCG that a passenger was experiencing health problems.  At around 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, a 41-foot-long Coast Guard utility boat met the cruise ship at the entrance to San Diego Bay.  The sick passenger and a member of the cruise ship's medical staff were taken by the Coast Guard to the San Diego Harbor Police dock. The patient was then taken by ambulance to Scripps Mercy Hospital.  The nature of the passenger's medical problem and her current condition were not discussed. 

For other articles on Coast Guard medevacs, consider reading:

U.S. Coast Guard Medivacs Passenger From HAL Cruise Ship

Helicopter Medevacs Passenger from Princess Cruise Ship

Coast Guard Medevacs Sick Cruise Passengers

Photo credit  U.S. Coast Guard via 10News.com

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Medivac defintion: "Air transport of persons to a place where they can receive medical or surgical care; medical evacuation."

"Medivac" is a word that you hope the cruise ship doctor has heard before if you become seriously ill or injured during a cruise.  As I have mentioned in prior blogs, a cruise ship is the last place you want to be if you have a life threatening situation with your health.  Elderly passengers are particularly vulnerable when they have to rely on the medical skill and experience of ship doctor trained outside of the U.S.   

Over one-half of the passengers who seek medical treatment during cruises are over age 65.  Many passengers have pre-existing medical conditions including heart conditions.  Elderly passengers are at risk for complications on cruise ships with noro-virus and are then at the mercy of the ship doctors. 

Luckily for passengers on cruise ships near U.S. ports, the U.S. Coast Guard can come to the rescue.  U.S. citizens don't appreciate just how fortunate they are when a U.S. Coast helicopter arrives on the scene and saves the day.  Sometimes we hear of the Canadian Coast Guard rescuing Americans, like here.

Here we have a Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Astoria pulling an injured passenger from the deck of the Volendam cruise ship operated by Holland American Line. 

The passenger apparently sustained head and back injuries in a fall as the cruise ship was headed from Seattle to Hawaii.  Luckily for him, the ship was still a hundred miles from Oregon. Thanks to the Coast Guard, the cruise passenger was taken to Oregon Health and Science University in Portland for medical treatment.

Credit:

Video - U.S. Coast Guard (via NWCN.com / Washington News)
  

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Professor Ross Klein's Cruise Junkie web site contains an account of a passenger jumping overboard from Celebrity Solstice last Friday:

From a reader:  The story on the cruise that I was on goes like this:  On early Friday morning around 1:30 am a person fell overboard from the 5th floor.  It took them about an hour to locate and rescue the person who was alive (amazing).  He was fighting and very belligerent when he was rescued.  They put the person in handcuffs and he was taking off the ship in the next port of sail which was Roatan Honduras.  The gentleman of approximately 65 years of age had an argument with his wife at an 80's party being held in the Sky Lounge near the bow.  At about 1:30 am on deck 5 starboard he removed most of his clothing and dove off the deck.  Fast acting crew members threw a flashing buoy overboard immediately to mark his location and the man-overboard call was made. 

The Captain was summoned and many of us heard the code "Oscar, Oscar" Apparently 2-zodiacs were launched the second after some issues with the first .... of this I am not certain.  Upon reaching the very lucking gentleman he did not wish to be rescued and when pulled on board the zodiac became belligerent and hence was cuffed.  We were told he was removed from the ship in Roatan.  Yesterday in the afternoon, on our last day at sea, the Captain came on the loudspeaker and thanked his hard working crew for their efforts for the rescue. 

Last November, a passenger disappeared from this cruise ship.  You can read about the prior incident:  Passenger Reported Overboard from Celebrity's Solstice Cruise Ship

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A "Careflight Rescue" helicopter winched a 48 year-old passenger with a suspected case of the potentially fatal meningococcal disease from a cruise ship off the south-east  coast of Australia. 

Several news have reported the incident; however, no one disclosed the name of the cruise ship or cruise line.  The passenger was taken to a hospital in Australia.

ABC News in Australia has finally identified that the passenger was rescued from the Pacific Sun cruise ship (web cam photo left).  The news station reports that the ship is traveling from Sydney to New Caledonia. 

The Pacifc Sun is operated by P&O Cruises in Australia.  Information about P&O Cruises and the Pacific Sun can be read here.

It is not uncommon for the press to try and avoid publishing the name of the cruise line or cruise ship in cases like this.
 

Photograph Credit:  P&O Cruises Pacific Sun webcam

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Heart attacks on cruise ships are one of the leading causes of passenger deaths.  The U.S. and the Canadian Coast Guards do a remarkable job rescuing passengers from cruise ships, far distances from the mainland.

The video below show the rescue by the Canadian Coast Guard of a 78 year old passenger who suffered a heart attack and was in critical conditions. The cruise ship, the Sea Princess, was 100 miles from Vancouver Island.   

Credit:           /A\ News Vancouver Island

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