The Diamond Princess Hospital Ship

[tomcarson]

I would never have surgery in Mexico.

[star gazer]

I would never have surgery in Mexico.

 

Mexico would not be my choice; but I'll accept any port in a storm.

[prarie cruiser]

People die on cruises (the very nice man in the cabin across from me died a couple of years ago on a shore excursion while in Jamaica) and people can get very ill on cruises. This is pretty normal considering the number of people on board and the age of passengers. I think the ships handle this bad situation very well. I have confidence in their medical staffs, the equipment available, and believe that most passengers have their priorities together and understand the need for some other passengers to get proper medical attention. When we land in other ports it is sometimes worth the pause in our activities to be thankful for the good medical care we have available in the USA.

[Princess Chatterer]

I wasn't trying to be negative, just surprised. I was just reporting what I remember happening. I was told by a ship nurse that they didn't actually use blood donations from the first blood call. Two blood volunteers were called to report on the second blood call. As far as the helicopter evac. goes I was told that the helicopter didn't actually land on the Diamond Princess but hovered right above and sent a person(s) down to the ship on a rope. I suspect that the helicopter hovered over the aft end of the ship as the helicopter was very audible in my cabin in the back of Baja with all my cabin doors closed. When each of the ship wide blood donation calls were made there was a hush that fell over the entire ship. One passenger I talked to was quite skeptical about the quality of medical care one could expect on a cruise ship. The captain, or anybody else didn't tell us anything officially about the nature of the medical emergencies but Captain Yoeman was really stern about passengers going out on their balconies after he had given the order to stay inside. The Captain was concerned about ship debris getting into the helicopter engine as it hovered over the ship. The ship slowed but never appeared to stop moving during the helicopter evacuation.

[chefajax]

Hi to All...

My wife and I were on this cruise and 2 decks below wOkie. From our cain we watched the helicopter hover on the side of the ship, then over the ship, they did load the passenger. It was a sight to see.

 

As to Cabo, the place has worked hard to improve itself. I was very happy to see the changes. Mexico has made strides for making it a better place and I look forward to see more of the country. As to the condition of Cabo, I have seen worse places, but if one has lived in this country and have limited travels abroad. Cabo WOULD look bad to them. It is a point of reference. We really don't know WHAT poor is and I thank God for letting me live here and my parents for taking the chance and move from Europe. :).......Dennis

[J18ktleo]

Unfortunately we have been on the other side of this discussion as my DH took very ill a couple of years ago and almost bled to death onboard. The ship we were on (a brand new Carnival ship) had a fabulous medical facility but no ability to do blood transfusions and throughout the day my husbands levels got lower and lower. That nite they re-routed the ship into Grand Cayman so that he could get to a hospital and that was the ONLY choice...thank god the medical care there was fantastic (British run) and after 4 days in ICU we were able to return home.

This was so totally unexpected (we're both very very healthy and at the time under 50) and was a really freak occurance...but taught us some valuable lessons (like how really cheap insurance is taking into consideration how much it can save you!). I think it also gave us new insight into the challenges that these cruise lines have to deal with on a daily basis and try to keep the thousands onboard happy too! :rolleyes:

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thank goodness your hubby is alright. The worst we've been is allergic reactions to the water (hubby) and to burning trash (me in Puerta Vallerta twice) and vegetation (daughter and me). We bring lots of Sudafed.

[MaryPoppinz]

The ship we were on (a brand new Carnival ship) had a fabulous medical facility but no ability to do blood transfusions

 

I was actually surprised to hear that Diamond Princess had the capability to tranfuse blood. Maybe not so much the actual transfusion, but the ability to type, crossmatch, and screen donated blood.