Med Evac 3/9 Epic

1st of all thanks to the CC posters who gave this NCL newbie some great suggestions about the Epic. Now while I was on her last week, there was a medical emergency of some sort and a helicopter was needed to bring the stricken person to San Juan. No announcement was made prior to the helicopter's arrival that night somewhere around midnight.

The following morning, the Captain was irate that some pax had attempted to film this event using flash. He stated it was dangerous and illegal, and that the Coast Guard might investigate and even prosecute the offenders.

I know that flash photos can temporarily blind a pilot, making a risky evac at sea extremely riskier. My question then, is why wasn't an announcement made prior to the copter's arrival, explaining the situation and advising of the flash prohibition? How have these been handled on other ships? On CCL, I heard various codes being announced, but that's all I can remember.

I have no experience with this, but ignorance of the law is no excuse (especially when it involves people's lack of common freaking sense).

I would imagine for the privacy and saftey of the patient, an announcement would not be made. Can you imagine if an announcement was made the amount of people who would possibly (probably) flock out side to watch?

I hope and pray all is well with the patient.

Sorry to hear about this. I was on the Epic for a helicopter evac. You can read my review from 2010 when I had physical confrontations with passengers running over people and trying to video tape the evac. It was horrible. There was one guy that actually asked us to move out of our chairs so he could take pictures. I flew into a rage and started yelling at people. All I could think about was the poor family and victim trying to stay alive and the idiots on the Epic below taking pictures as if it was an excursion for their vacation photos. Imagine if an ambulance showed up at your house and your neighbor came over and started to take pictures. It is a sad commentary on humans. Almost the entire pool deck on Epic was flashing away. The captain did make an announcement about the flashes. But screw the flashes, what about the privacy of the family?

I can only imagine since the captain did not make an annoucement is because the family wanted privacy. But the captain had a right to be mad. No one except me and my wife shamed these idiots and they looked at us like we were crazy.

However, it is common here at CC for people to post the medical evacuation photos in their cruise review as if it was a dolphin in the water. To take photos of someone dying or in desperate need of medical attention is SICK

I think the Captain was in a no win situation. Making a PA announcement would have drawn the ire of all kinds of people. I hope whoever was airlifted off will be okay. That would have been a very difficult maneuver both The Epic and the Coast Guard.

Maybe the best coarse of action is to tell people to get inside and no pictures out of courtesy to the family. Not that everyone would abide by that, but at least the decent folks would

I was on a Holland America ship in Alaska, where there was a med evac. An announcement was made, because we stopped to wait for the helicopter. An upper deck was blocked off, so while you could see the helicopter arrive and depart, the injured person was not in view. I did take pictures of the helicopter arriving, you don't usually get to see a helicopter flying by at almost eye level. Most people have no idea how to use their cameras, so telling them not to use flash is pointless, they have no idea how to turn it off. That doesn't excuse stupid, but that's the way it is!

I imagine time of day had something to do with this.. during the day they make announcement, and ask passengers to stay clear of area/below deck.

This is what is wrong with our society. People have no sense of decency. No one should be even thinking about taking pictures and they shouldn't have to be told by the Captain.

I can't stand the rubber necking...but it does happen with the masses....

Perhaps mentioning protocol (and sensitivity) could become part of the muster drill's repertoire...ie: 'should the need for a med evac occur...' etc...

If spelled out & indicated on cruise documents, I would guess that just goes unread...maybe a blurb (on repear) on the cruise channel in stateroom tv's...

Very inconsiderate and equally dangerous :mad:

Hope everyone involved directly in the med evac on this past cruise are well.

While it should be common sense not to take a flash picture at the helicopter you can not teach common sense.

As for those that think it is rude to take pictures. I have yet to see a pic posted where you can actually see the patient involved. It is usually just pics of the helicopter flying in next to the ship and I don't see how that is rude or disrespectful. If they were taking pictures of and posting pictures of the patient where you could see and or possibly identify them then yes that would be rude and disrespectful.

Not only could flashes blind the pilot or otherwise interfere, they aren't even effective for lighting up far-away objects like a helicopter. Many people think that having the light next to their camera somehow makes it possible to take pictures in the dark; they don't realize that the flash works by lighting the object that is being photographed. :rolleyes: I was once at a fireworks display where people were taking flash pictures, blinding others who were trying to enjoy the show and insisting that their flashes would somehow make their photographs show the fireworks. :eek:

I was on CCL when they had two emergency evacuations. Both times an announcements where made and they roped off they area prior to the helicopter landing and no one was able to go where they copter landed. It was kind of peaceful. Although, everyone was looking and wondering I don't believe anyone attempted to go up the roped off stairs. Also, I don't believe there was an announcement about flash but these evac were done during daylight.

My in-laws were on a cruise, I can't remember if it was NCL or Celebrity, and there was a medical emergency late at night. The captain said they were going to slow down for the helicopter and please do not take flash photography because the crew wears night vision goggles and it would impair their vision. Do you think people listened to his warning? Nope, people just took flash pictures anyway.

This was a personal medical emergency and pax have no right to film it..neither to pedestrians have the right to film a person being moved from car accident to ambulance..etc.

It is called a right to privacy and those looney pax who think it was just part of their "cruise experience" and felt they had a right to film it should be ashamed of themselves....

and yes, even though it may have altered their cruise ever so slightly...they still had no right to film it..no right to know the details....and the Captain had every right to be irate...

I was reading some Epic reviews a few days ago, and there was one written by someone who may well have been the person evacuated here.

It seems that the videoing of the evac was not the only issue that was faced. Apparently, a number of people were also complaining about being a bit late to their next port.

A few years ago we were on the Norwegian Dream and someone was evacuated by helicopter. From memory, an announcement was made and passengers were asked to keep away from the area.

It was all very civilised.

I was reading some Epic reviews a few days ago, and there was one written by someone who may well have been the person evacuated here.

 

It seems that the videoing of the evac was not the only issue that was faced. Apparently, a number of people were also complaining about being a bit late to their next port.

Oh yes people will complain when someone dies. When the Oasis of the Seas lost one of it's crew overboard, the ship turned around and began to look for their lost crew. I dont believe his body was ever found. But if you read the reviews here on CC from passengers, some are so angry they were forced to miss a port. Some were saying if it was a passenger the capatain would not have done it and special courtesy was given because the deceased was a crew member. It was so harsh and sickening. As I mentioned earlier, it is a lesson in humankind. Remember during Black Friday in NY when someone was crushed to death by the shoppers. The police closed the store and people were spitting mad they could not buy their $19.99 DVD. Sometimes humans can be very selfish and hateful of other humans.

I was reading some Epic reviews a few days ago, and there was one written by someone who may well have been the person evacuated here.

 

It seems that the videoing of the evac was not the only issue that was faced. Apparently, a number of people were also complaining about being a bit late to their next port.

I believe that Nassau was our next and last port - we were scheduled to arrive at noon and got to the dock at maybe 12:05. Not much to complain about, perhaps not the same cruise?

I believe that Nassau was our next and last port - we were scheduled to arrive at noon and got to the dock at maybe 12:05. Not much to complain about, perhaps not the same cruise?

And then the further delay was for the ship to be cleared by Bahamian Customs/Immigration.

The Captain had the EPIC going full speed at 22 knots for the entire leg to Nassau after the incident. Seriously, I thought he was doing a great job at getting us to that port. Imagine the cost in fuel to go that speed when our general cruising speed was around 18 knots.

I was also on this cruise and I do believe that the Captain mentioned a day or two later that the person was doing fine. I completely missed the whole thing and only learned about it when he was yelling at everyone. It made me incredibly embarrassed that people would put other people's (mainly the pilot who they were blinding with their flashes) lives in danger for a stupid photo.

I agree that an announcement should have been made. I was on a Carnival cruise once that had to evac a crew member at night. The Captain did make an announcement about slowing down and to not use flash cameras, and to my surprise I did not see a single flash. The back half of the ship was roped off and you could not see the injured person. I would like to say how extremely impressed with the Coast Guard pilot I was. To hover over the back of a moving ship like that must take a lot of skill!

I was on this cruise and an announcement was made in the casino. The casino said it had to shut down for an air evacuation and would close in 10 minutes. This was about 9:30pm. Then a few minutes later a clarification was made and we were told that we would be going to San Juan to get the person off the ship. We cashed out of the blackjack table and went to bed. Come to find out, we did not dock in San Juan but came close. My teenage son said they took all of the nets down on the basketball court and that is where it landed for the evac. He said he did not see the evac. Apparently, there was not a ship wide announcement. And yes, we were a whole 1/2 hour late for Nassau... no biggie if it saved a life!

I was reading some Epic reviews a few days ago, and there was one written by someone who may well have been the person evacuated here.

 

It seems that the videoing of the evac was not the only issue that was faced. Apparently, a number of people were also complaining about being a bit late to their next port.

leaves me very sad and speechless

So well said!!