San Francisco-Star Princess today

[ofthesea]

Star Princess was in port today, absolutely gorgeous ship. I'm so lucky to see her, but I wish I was onboard her...

 

Question for everyone who saw her today or can give input on this. I watched the ship sail away at 4PM, very prompt. I ended up leaving San Francisco at 6PM and as I was driving back home, I saw another Princess ship sailing out from under the Bay Bridge towards the Golden Gate. I was driving and it was too far for my to see the name... but it looked like it said Star Princess... But I just watched the Star sail away 2 hours before.

I checked everywhere to see what other Princess ship is in San Francisco and Star is the only one.

 

I think I'm going crazy, but everyone else in the car saw it too! Maybe the ship turned back for something? They definitely didn't go pick a late passenger up since the ship was coming from the Bay Bridge.

 

Maybe I'm just too curious.

Hope everyone is having a good day.

Cheers!

[IECalCruiser]

Star Princess was in port today, absolutely gorgeous ship. I'm so lucky to see her, but I wish I was onboard her...

 

Question for everyone who saw her today or can give input on this. I watched the ship sail away at 4PM, very prompt. I ended up leaving San Francisco at 6PM and as I was driving back home, I saw another Princess ship sailing out from under the Bay Bridge towards the Golden Gate. I was driving and it was too far for my to see the name... but it looked like it said Star Princess... But I just watched the Star sail away 2 hours before.

I checked everywhere to see what other Princess ship is in San Francisco and Star is the only one.

 

I think I'm going crazy, but everyone else in the car saw it too! Maybe the ship turned back for something? They definitely didn't go pick a late passenger up since the ship was coming from the Bay Bridge.

 

Maybe I'm just too curious.

Hope everyone is having a good day.

Cheers!

I checked the Star's route on Marine Traffic. After she sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, she turned back and sailed all of the way under the Bay Bridge and then back out to sea. The maneuver took about two hours and I have no reason why. She didn't stop back at the pier but just did a leisurely cruise around the Bay. You did see her twice.

 

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Edited June 15, 2014 by IECalCruiser

[ofthesea]

I checked the Star's route on Marine Traffic. After she sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, she turned back and sailed all of the way under the Bay Bridge and then back out to sea. The maneuver took about two hours and I have no reason why. She didn't stop back at the pier but just did a leisurely cruise around the Bay. You did see her twice.

 

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THANK YOU! :) I am glad to know I wasn't going absolutely insane.

Well I'm glad I got to see her sail out twice!

[Saymyname]

We were on the Star today.. BVE

As we were on the SF Ferry headed back to Oakland..We saw the Star under the Bay Bridge...(We passed by the Star and we were pretty close to it)

 

It was a strange site... I was hoping this thread would shed some light on why they were sailing under the Bay Bridge....

[Saymyname]

Its me again..

 

I just went to Roll Call for the Star Princess June 14 Alaska

 

This will answer what happened:

 

"Just past the GG bridge and the Captain comes on to tell us we are turning around. There is a medical emergency on board so I guess it is back to the dock."

[IECalCruiser]

Its me again..

 

 

 

I just went to Roll Call for the Star Princess June 14 Alaska

 

 

 

This will answer what happened:

 

 

 

"Just past the GG bridge and the Captain comes on to tell us we are turning around. There is a medical emergency on board so I guess it is back to the dock."

Interestingly, on Marine Traffic it doesn't appear that she ever went back to the pier.

 

 

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[Colo Cruiser]

I believe she did the same thing thing a few weeks ago and it was for a medical debark while underway. She never went back to the pier that time either.

[IECalCruiser]

I believe she did the same thing thing a few weeks ago and it was for a medical debark while underway. She never went back to the pier that time either.

That looks like what was done again yesterday as it took her about 30 minutes to sail the short distance from the Bay Bridge back past the pier area so she must have been going very slowly.

 

 

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[ofthesea]

Wow! I hope whomever it is, is okay! Will be in my prayers.

 

Thanks for all the information! :)

[EdmPair]

Would a chopper lift be faster than pulling into a dock? Might be but guessing more risks to do it. And did you folks say it passed under the bay bridge too? I had to look at the map of SF but the dock is still before that bridge. No??

 

Regardless, I hope the person taken off for medical reasons does fine and recovers to sail again.

[IECalCruiser]

Would a chopper lift be faster than pulling into a dock? Might be but guessing more risks to do it. And did you folks say it passed under the bay bridge too? I had to look at the map of SF but the dock is still before that bridge. No??

 

Regardless, I hope the person taken off for medical reasons does fine and recovers to sail again.

It went all of the way under the bay bridge and turned around.

 

Choppers are problematic because there is really no landing pad on Princess ships. Chopper needs to hover while patient is transferred using a basket.

 

 

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[JohnPaulla]

On the second cruise of the season to Alaska, Star Princess did one of these turn around at Victoria, B.C. What Capt Todd McBain did then was to lower a tender to take the evacuee ashore, then turn around to pick up the tender. Maybe this was what happened….

[elliair]

On the second cruise of the season to Alaska, Star Princess did one of these turn around at Victoria, B.C. What Capt Todd McBain did then was to lower a tender to take the evacuee ashore, then turn around to pick up the tender. Maybe this was what happened….

 

We were on that cruise when he did that. I thought it would be faster for the ship to turn around and go back than to lower the lifeboat, but I was wrong about that, the lifeboat was definitely faster. Capt. McBain did turn the ship around to meet the lifeboat, and we were on our way fairly quickly. Also, there's a pilot on board as the bay is pretty tricky to navigate. I hope the patient is okay. Also, on the day we returned to San Francisco, there was a medical emergency in the hallway on the Baja deck. The medical crew was working on someone who had a heart attack. These things do happen.

[Colo Cruiser]

Would a chopper lift be faster than pulling into a dock? Might be but guessing more risks to do it. And did you folks say it passed under the bay bridge too? I had to look at the map of SF but the dock is still before that bridge. No??

 

 

 

Not feasible in the bay or near the bridge.

 

Yes they passed under the bridge on their way out to open sea and then came back.

[gcvt]

We had the same thing happen on Grand to Hawaii in mid-April. Colo Cruiser, is this the one you were thinking of?

 

We were almost to the Golden Gate Bridge when we slowed and turned around, went under the Bay Bridge, and had a tug pick up a passenger that had a heart attack.

 

 

A helicopter rescue would be a last resort. Risky and expensive, and would probably not be attempted unless it was absolutely necessary. We went way past the Bay Bridge. I assume the tug took the passenger to shore and he/she was then taken to SF General Hospital which is somewhat nearby.

Edited June 16, 2014 by gcvt

[Colo Cruiser]

We had the same thing happen on Grand to Hawaii in mid-April. Colo Cruiser, is this the one you were thinking of?

 

We were almost to the Golden Gate Bridge when we slowed and turned around, went under the Bay Bridge, and had a tug pick up a passenger that had a heart attack.

 

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Think you are right. ;)

[gcvt]

Think you are right. ;)

 

The GF heard the announcement during muster. I missed it because I was sleeping. I kid, I kid :p

 

I hope that passenger is doing well today. What a horrible way to have to get off a cruise.

[caribill]

The GF heard the announcement during muster.

 

Since muster is before the ship leaves the dock, what announcement did she hear?

[EdmPair]

Now you have me confused on the geography and I just went to my map and the reread the OP. A Princess ship would leave from Embarcadero area and sail out under the Golden Gate Bridge. If it has to take off a passenger, why would it return to the Bay and pass under the Bay Bridge?? Or did the OP not mean to say that?? It is definitely farther to go and you sail past the dock you left.

 

Later,

M

[RickEk]

Now you have me confused on the geography and I just went to my map and the reread the OP. A Princess ship would leave from Embarcadero area and sail out under the Golden Gate Bridge. If it has to take off a passenger, why would it return to the Bay and pass under the Bay Bridge?? Or did the OP not mean to say that?? It is definitely farther to go and you sail past the dock you left.

 

Later,

M

 

Read post #15

[deadzone1003]

Major ER in San Francisco is at San Francisco General. They probably thought it was the fastest way to get the patient to an ER without a helicopter.

[gcvt]

Since muster is before the ship leaves the dock, what announcement did she hear?

 

I just asked her and she doesn't really recall, but she remembers that it didn't sound very urgent. It was just as muster was ending.

[nilesrick]

We were on the Star Princess when this happened (just off yesterday from Alaska). The captain announced that there was a medical emergency and that we'd return to port. We never docked, however a tug pulled up next to the starboard side (where our mini suite was located). We saw four passengers transfer to the tug with all of their luggage. We couldn't see that any were ill. Once the transfer was completed, we turned around, sailing back under the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate. The two hour process was absorbed into the schedule as we docked at Ketchikan on time two days later.

[peety3]

We had a similar experience on our '12 Alaska cruise northbound. We returned partway towards the cruise terminal where a small boat met us. Interestingly, I heard about this at dinner, then when we returned home I reviewed our time-lapse video and sure enough, I caught it on "film":

 

Around 0:30 you'll see the ship turn around, then around 0:38 you'll see the other boat approach. Shortly thereafter we were underway again.

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[Thrak]

Its me again..

 

I just went to Roll Call for the Star Princess June 14 Alaska

 

This will answer what happened:

 

"Just past the GG bridge and the Captain comes on to tell us we are turning around. There is a medical emergency on board so I guess it is back to the dock."

 

Given the average age of Princess passengers and the (sometimes extremely) "portly" condition of many of them as well, I'm sure this happens quite often. I'd guess that heart attacks are fairly frequent occurrences and also that deaths onboard are actually a pretty regular occurrence as well. Princess isn't likely to advertise the death rate of passengers but I feel sure it happens far more than most of us realize. There actually is a morgue on the ship...

 

It certainly sounds like a lousy start to a cruise but it's great that Princess has the trained medical staff and facilities to deal with most issues and, if it was going to happen at all, it's good that it happened while in port where access to ambulance transportation and a full-service hospital was only a short distance away.