Live from Eclipse-medical emergency onboard

Live from the Eclipse on day 13 of a 14 day cruise. We had a medical emergency onboard and originally we were going to head towards Jamaica and do a medical evac by helicopter. Turns out that was too dangerous to accomplish so we are now heading high speed towards Miami. No word yet on when we will arrive, or how they will handle things when we get there as respects the rest of the cruise, as we were not due to arrive until Sunday morning.

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Thanks for the heads up. We have friends on board. Just texted to check on them.

I hope that the passenger who requires evacuation has a speedy and full recovery. I've been on ships that needed to divert to another port to discharge a passenger, but have never arrived early to the home port. Only a guess: I would think that they would either have an extending stay in Miami or have a sea day before returning. In either case there should be some consideration offered to passengers. Please let us know what happens.

I also wish the passenger well, and am also curious as to how they would handle this. Interestingly, this is the second medical emergency on this cruise. Earlier in the cruise we made an unplanned, middle of the night stop in Puerto Rico to evacuate someone else (we docked in that situation). I also have never been on a cruise where they got to the home port earlier than planned. Will post more when I know it.

My family and I were on the Anthem of the Seas when the little boy drown in the pool just after leaving the port. We went back to Bayonne and they took him and his family off. We then sped to Bermuda.

Unfortunately just after leaving Labadee, a man fell down a flight of stairs, and we were supposed to be diverted to Miami to offload him and his family. He passed away on board, so the family asked if the ship could go back to NJ. We were headed there anyway. We sped back to NJ and arrived in the evening before disembarkation.

We had a normal disembarkation time.

I suspect that if we arrive Miami early it will have little to no effect on any of the other passengers.

If we happen to get there before midnight tomorrow the casino would have to shut down but more likely we would arrive during the night and disembarkation would take place as normal on Sunday.

We have been on ships with similar emergencies. Our experience is that they get close to shore and then evacuate the individual(s) by boat or helicopter. We have never actually docked due to an emergency.....if we arrived the night before to evacuate someone, we just turned around and sailed at sea until arriving at the "scheduled time" the next day.

On eclipse on baltic cruise in 2015 we sped to Poland due to medical emergency on board and arrived and docked around midnight, about 8 hours or so ahead of schedule. Captain made ship wide announcement around 7pm before we got there saying that there was an emergency, we were going full speed, and would arrive around midnight and the passenger and family would get off the ship. He also informed everyone that even though the ship would be docked and stationary overnight, nobody would be allowed off the ship until the normal dock time.

Hopefully the passenger has improved, but it seems like there would be other options on the way back to Miami, perhaps Grand Cayman, Cancun or even Key West.

I wish the press would give better and more positive reports of the many times RCL and Celebrity ships do the Right Thing.

I’ve been on a number of cruises that have been altered to accommodate emergency health situation. Hope all is good with all involved. Now that my wife and I are aging it’s good to see them take care of passengers.

23 years ago when we started cruises it was not an issue for us. Bravo.

As we were to the east side of Jamaica at the time, neither Grand Cayman nor Cancun were "on the way to Miami." Key West would also be out of our path. Closest island were Cuba, not an option, and Haiti, also not recommended for a medical evacuation.

As we were to the east side of Jamaica at the time, neither Grand Cayman nor Cancun were "on the way to Miami." Key West would also be out of our path. Closest island were Cuba, not an option, and Haiti, also not recommended for a medical evacuation.

why would cuba not be an option?

As we were to the east side of Jamaica at the time, neither Grand Cayman nor Cancun were "on the way to Miami." Key West would also be out of our path. Closest island were Cuba, not an option, and Haiti, also not recommended for a medical evacuation.

Haiti may not be a good option, but the Dominican Republic on the other side of the island might be a good choice

Bringing a ship to Cuba without prior permission would be a huge hassle, the nationality of the affected passenger may also be a preventing factor, and finally, we were at the far side of Cuba away from Havana, and finally, if the ill passenger needed specialized medical equipment it might not even be available there.

It appears that we have slowed down to normal speed, so perhaps we are back on normal schedule. I say 'perhaps' as the Captain neglected to give any update during his morning announcement. I do not expect him to provide a medical update (privacy and all of that) but I am disappointed that he did not choose to at least give us a status as to what does affect us - that is, are we still rushing to Miami or are we now arriving on normal time. Sad lack of communication. He could definitely provide that detail without getting into the specifics of the medical emergency. One can only speculate what has changed and hope it means the patient has improved. But that is not my business, I only care to know what the status of our journey is and it looks like I will not know that until we get to Miami. But in the meantime, great cruise overall and enjoying our last day!

It appears that we have slowed down to normal speed, so perhaps we are back on normal schedule. I say 'perhaps' as the Captain neglected to give any update during his morning announcement. I do not expect him to provide a medical update (privacy and all of that) but I am disappointed that he did not choose to at least give us a status as to what does affect us - that is, are we still rushing to Miami or are we now arriving on normal time. Sad lack of communication. He could definitely provide that detail without getting into the specifics of the medical emergency. One can only speculate what has changed and hope it means the patient has improved. But that is not my business, I only care to know what the status of our journey is and it looks like I will not know that until we get to Miami. But in the meantime, great cruise overall and enjoying our last day!

Pointing out the obvious...if the patient expired, they would not announce it and they would slow down.....no more reason to rush to Miami.

It appears that we have slowed down to normal speed, so perhaps we are back on normal schedule. I say 'perhaps' as the Captain neglected to give any update during his morning announcement. I do not expect him to provide a medical update (privacy and all of that) but I am disappointed that he did not choose to at least give us a status as to what does affect us - that is, are we still rushing to Miami or are we now arriving on normal time. Sad lack of communication. He could definitely provide that detail without getting into the specifics of the medical emergency. One can only speculate what has changed and hope it means the patient has improved. But that is not my business, I only care to know what the status of our journey is and it looks like I will not know that until we get to Miami. But in the meantime, great cruise overall and enjoying our last day!

After the Captains update, the CD Sue said that

“all on board are OK”. I took this to mean that the patient is stable. Let’s hope so for them and their family.

After the Captains update, the CD Sue said that

“all on board are OK”. I took this to mean that the patient is stable. Let’s hope so for them and their family.

That would be good news. I confess I always tune out the CD announcements so I didn't catch that.

After some more thought, though, I have to feel that is unlikely the case. If someone is in such a critical state that they are attempting a helicopter evacuation (and you could see on the bridge view channel that preparations were underway), and then revamping the schedule for a ship with over 3,000 passengers for many hours I think the odds that the person is suddenly "ok" are somewhere in the slim or slimmer category. Could it be true? I suppose (and sincerely hope so for the passenger and his/her family!), but not likely. Old skeptical me thinks the news was not actually so good, and the Captain did not want to personally say so, so he delegated a fairy tale to Sue to present. But I hope I am wrong. And if I am right, I am sure it was done with all the best of intentions - for the sake of the family and the mood of the passengers.

No announcement of a patient' demise will ever be made on Celebrity. While we hope the patient stabilized sufficiently (with help and advice from doctors on shore via radio and video transmission) that we don't have to get to Miami early, we recognize that the news may not be so good.

After some more thought, though, I have to feel that is unlikely the case. If someone is in such a critical state that they are attempting a helicopter evacuation (and you could see on the bridge view channel that preparations were underway), and then revamping the schedule for a ship with over 3,000 passengers for many hours I think the odds that the person is suddenly "ok" are somewhere in the slim or slimmer category. Could it be true? I suppose (and sincerely hope so for the passenger and his/her family!), but not likely. Old skeptical me thinks the news was not actually so good, and the Captain did not want to personally say so, so he delegated a fairy tale to Sue to present. But I hope I am wrong. And if I am right, I am sure it was done with all the best of intentions - for the sake of the family and the mood of the passengers.

As a nurse I can tell you, yes a patient can go from critical to much improved in a short amount of time with good medical care. Happens with great regularity. :)

We had a medical emergency onboard and originally we were going to head towards Jamaica and do a medical evac by helicopter. Turns out that was too dangerous to accomplish

Interestingly, there a news report tonight that there is unrest in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Tourists are warned to stay inside their gated holiday complexes, unless they book an organised excursion.

Interestingly, there a news report tonight that there is unrest in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Tourists are warned to stay inside their gated holiday complexes, unless they book an organised excursion.

From the Canadian government travel advisory:

As a nurse I can tell you, yes a patient can go from critical to much improved in a short amount of time with good medical care. Happens with great regularity. :)

You would know better than I. I hope that is the case!

Interestingly, there a news report tonight that there is unrest in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Tourists are warned to stay inside their gated holiday complexes, unless they book an organised excursion.

Wonder if this was the real reason they changed their minds. We'll never know. But a good reason to stay away from that part of Jamaica (actually IMHO all parts, but that is just me)