The United States Coast Guard medevaced a 59 year old passenger from a Carnival Cruise Line ship earlier this week.
On Monday, July 1st, the Carnival Imagination contacted the Coast Guard station in San Diego at approximately 6:30 P.M. requesting an air evacuation for a man who suffered a stroke. The Coast guard station dispatched a MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter which flew approximately 45 miles northwest of San diego to meet the Carnival ship. The helicopter crew medevaced the ill cruise guest from the ship and transported the patient to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla around 9:20 P.M.
The Coast Guard performs many dozens of medevacs from cruise ships each year. There are no expenses to either the guest or the cruise line by the U.S. government for performing such services.
The Imagination is currently on a four night cruise from Los Angeles, California, having left Los Angeles on June 30th to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico, returning to Los Angeles on July 4th in the morning.