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Does anybody know what a "Code Alpha" is?


Shoalwater
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Had a ship wide anouncement on the CB last week notifying the crew of a Code Alpha in a particular, named stateroom. Ship's officers converged, sealed off the hallway, kept an elevator at the ready and transported someone presumably to sick-bay or the other place. I assume it refers a coronary since there wasn't a fire. Anyone know?

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I believe that a Code Alpha is a medical emergency--we had one at about 3 am one nuight-scared the he** out of us--the room was directly above or below us--I looked from the balcony and could see a very bright Yellow glow--thought it was a fire--John went to the room--was mistaken for the Dr.

 

This wasn't long after the fire on the Star--sur a way to walke up--as it turned out this was the Mother of a gentleman we had eaten with the day before

 

Just never know--now that I think about it--it would have to have been above us for me to see the light the way I did

 

Nancy

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I believe that a Code Alpha is a medical emergency--we had one at about 3 am one nuight-scared the he** out of us--the room was directly above or below us--I looked from the balcony and could see a very bright Yellow glow--thought it was a fire--John went to the room--was mistaken for the Dr.

 

This wasn't long after the fire on the Star--sur a way to walke up--as it turned out this was the Mother of a gentleman we had eaten with the day before

 

Just never know--now that I think about it--it would have to have been above us for me to see the light the way I did

 

Nancy

 

You are right... a code alpha is a medical emergency. I was on the CB and the person w/ the Code Alpha dies on board.

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You are right... a code alpha is a medical emergency. I was on the CB and the person w/ the Code Alpha dies on board.

 

This patient also died that night--it was a large family traveling together on the TP

--She was the Mother with adult children and grandchildren aboard--everyone left the cruise except the oldest son and her husband

 

Since we had met the son earlier--he told us it would be hard to remove the body at most of the stops in FP--I think that she was taken from the ship on its return to Papette--very sad situation

 

Nancy

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You know, it might be better for everyone on board if they said exactly what it was instead of some mysterious code. Like the OP, you would wonder if it were a fire.

 

Same thing happened on the Sun Princess on our Aussie Cruise. Middle of the night, I happened to be up going potty and heard a call for an assessment party to report to a certain cabin on our side of the ship. I looked over the balcony, saw what appeared to be smoke but wasn't. Scared the you-know-what out of me.

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our waiter indicated there are certain codes referring to different emergencies. ie: medical, domestic fight in a cabin ect
For example, code Oscar is for a person overboard.

 

When we were in port on my last cruise, there was a call of "Code Oscar by the passenger gangway". The immediate reaction of all the spa staff was to fall about laughing, for obvious reasons.

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You know, it might be better for everyone on board if they said exactly what it was instead of some mysterious code. Like the OP, you would wonder if it were a fire.

 

Same thing happened on the Sun Princess on our Aussie Cruise. Middle of the night, I happened to be up going potty and heard a call for an assessment party to report to a certain cabin on our side of the ship. I looked over the balcony, saw what appeared to be smoke but wasn't. Scared the you-know-what out of me.

Not sure that this would help. It would have the whole ship screaming around in panic every time there was a report of a fire (which happens much more than you might think). At least this way, most of the passengers are blissfully ignorant of what is going on or what's being investigated.

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I too like to stay blissfully ignorant of sad situations.

If I was on a plane that was going to fly into a mountain, I would just as soon nobody told me about it. Just continue reading my book or having a tasty beverage. :D

 

Very sad for the family of the above mentioned though.

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You know, it might be better for everyone on board if they said exactly what it was instead of some mysterious code. Like the OP, you would wonder if it were a fire.

 

Same thing happened on the Sun Princess on our Aussie Cruise. Middle of the night, I happened to be up going potty and heard a call for an assessment party to report to a certain cabin on our side of the ship. I looked over the balcony, saw what appeared to be smoke but wasn't. Scared the you-know-what out of me.

 

 

Thank god you had gone potty all ready;)

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We had a Code Alpha on our Royal Princess cruise in November. We heard later that the gentleman had passed away. It happens more frequently than you realize.

 

As the others have said, a Code Alpha is a medical emergency but I also think it means an "immediate" medical emergency. I don't know if there are codes to differentiate the type of medical emergency but almost every time I've heard it used, someone has had a medical episode severe enough for them to either pass away or need to be disembarked to a hospital as soon as possible.

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We had a code alpha on our last cruise. The next day I overheard someone say that if she were going to die of a heart attack, she hoped it would be doing something she loved like cruising. So, I guess our code alpha person died, but I don't know.

 

A few nights later at 2 pm, I heard a "code 0" and a call for security to go to Skywalkers - it was 2:30 am. This was odd because Skywalkers was always empty by 11 pm. The next day, I believe 2 of the entertainers were put off the ship in Ensenada.

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We've just returned from the CB.

Marvin Smith (formerly of the Contenders) died on board the CB on Sat. Believe his body was discovered in his stateroom on Monday.

He was to perform on the ship in one of the shows.

:( His body was taken off in an ambulance in St. Thomas.

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We've just returned from the CB.

Marvin Smith (formerly of the Contenders) died on board the CB on Sat. Believe his body was discovered in his stateroom on Monday.

He was to perform on the ship in one of the shows.

:( His body was taken off in an ambulance in St. Thomas.

 

Marvin "Sweet Louie" Smith

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marvin "Sweet Louie" Smith, one half of the R&B duo, the Checkmates, has died. He was 68.

Smith died Saturday of a heart attack aboard the Caribbean Princess cruise ship in the Caribbean, where he was scheduled to perform, said his agent, Mike Moloney. Smith's counterpart, Sonny Charles, a friend since childhood in Fort Wayne, Ind., found Smith in his cabin before they were to rehearse for a show that evening, Moloney said.

The two had served in the Army together under the late-1950s "buddy system," touring in the entertainment division of the Army's Special Services, after which they set their sights on Las Vegas.

The act took off in 1964, when the Checkmates started performing at the Pussycat A Go Go, located on what is now the site of the Wynn Las Vegas resort. The group went on to perform at the Sands and Caesars Palace.

The duo's best-known recordings include "Love is All I Have to Give" and a remake of "Proud Mary." But 1969's Phil Spector-produced "Black Pearl" was their most successful single, a Top 10 hit.

Some of the duo's highlights included performing with Frank Sinatra at the Oakland Coliseum, a concert at Madison Square Garden with Herb Alpert and singing the national anthem for the "Thrilla in Manila," the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier heavyweight championship boxing match in the Philippines.

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Think you're correct on that one --I think that's one we picked up after that scary night on the TP

 

Nancy

Once on a cruise, in port, I heard "Bravo, Bravo, Bravo, this is not a drill!" with accompanying ships bells.

You should have seen the crew start RUNNING! Later found out it was a fire, that was put out very quickly.

The passengers, myself included, did not know what was wrong and carried on. Perhaps we did not needlessly get worried. But after that, I was convinced there was some serious crew training going on behind the scenes.:cool:

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I don't know if the codes differ between cruise lines, but DH and I were on the Glory in March with the "jumper." We were awakened at 12:45am with "Bravo, portside, Bravo." The passenger had jumped off his balcony and the coastguard found him the next day. So, at least on Carnival, "Bravo" means man overboard.

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Emergency codes do tend to vary between different cruise lines.

But Code Alpha is nearly universal in identifying medical emergencies on ships.

 

Why use codes instead of naming the actual event?

1. Codes are easier for trained ship's crew to understand.

2. Codes are quicker to use.

3. Privacy issues for the victims and their families.

4. Most importantly, as soon as some of the "ghouls" onboard get an inkling that there might be a death or medical debark, they immediately run to the reception desk to try to get their hands on a free upgrade. I have had cruises where there were dozens of passengers at the reception desk within minutes of announcing a death onboard. They all wanted that cabin - even before the body was cool.

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But after that, I was convinced there was some serious crew training going on behind the scenes.:cool:
Yes, there is. Often, on port days, they have drills but they also have drills on sea days if there are a lot of sea days. You can bet they're trained. I just love it when I'm on a cruiseline that has outdoor musters under a tender where people say, "I want to be out here no matter what the weather near 'my boat' rather than inside and unable to get out." Yes, I've really heard them say that as we're standing in the rain freezing, waiting for people to show up for muster and the idiot with the bullhorn is turned the other way so you can't hear a thing he's saying.
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