What just happened with Liberty?

[TLex]

Before opening this post, I checked the board and saw nothing on this.

 

From review of Marine Traffic map this week, it appears Liberty left Cozumel from normal stop on Tuesday, then doubled back and is now directly en route to Falmouth, skipping Grand Cayman.

 

Maybe that was planned, but I thought this was the Cozumel, Grand Cayman, then Falmouth week.

 

So if anyone knows what's going on or whether I just misread the track, please post here.

 

Thanks!

 

VR,

 

T Lex

[HicksRA]

I read on FB that a medical emergency occurred which caused them to circle back and miss GC.

[TLex]

Thanks for the update.

 

From the map track, it didn't appear that Liberty got very far out of Cozumel before returning to the island. I wonder if it was allowed to moor at the International Pier overnight and maybe allow passengers to debark.

 

VR,

 

T Lex

[wolfcathorse]

Definitely not. She docked just long enough for the evacuation process then headed to her next stop. If they had overnighted they would have had to burn more fuel going faster to get to Grand Cayman. It's all about fuel savings.

[TLex]

Makes sense. Aside from additional fees such as bunkering, the ship would be better off moving to Falmouth. But it’s nearly 2300 CDT here and last check on Marine Traffic site showed Liberty moving at 23.4 knots. From your observation, it appears Grand Cayman just wasn’t feasible.

 

Spent nearly 18 years serving in Panama and I’m very cognizant of the costs associated with missed stops and having to re-route.

 

VR,

 

T Lex

[internetwhiz]

Makes sense. Aside from additional fees such as bunkering, the ship would be better off moving to Falmouth. But it’s nearly 2300 CDT here and last check on Marine Traffic site showed Liberty moving at 23.4 knots. From your observation, it appears Grand Cayman just wasn’t feasible.

 

 

 

Spent nearly 18 years serving in Panama and I’m very cognizant of the costs associated with missed stops and having to re-route.

 

 

 

VR,

 

 

 

T Lex

 

 

Liberty left Cozumel this morning at about 6. The speed you mention on Marine Traffic was from 18 hours ago right after she left Coz. She will be at Falmouth in the am. My son and family are onboard.

[FPP777]

Liberty left Cozumel this morning at about 6. The speed you mention on Marine Traffic was from 18 hours ago right after she left Coz. She will be at Falmouth in the am. My son and family are onboard.

 

Is that an app or website ?

[Clarea]

Is that an app or website ?

Both: www.marinetraffic.com.

Links at the bottom of the page for the apps.

[chengkp75]

When using marinetraffic, especially the app where the position is not shown on the "live map", you have to be very careful and note the time since the last position and speed reference. When the ship is outside of range of land based AIS stations (20-30 miles tops), marinetraffic will display the "last received" position on the map and note the date and time of the last position in the map window or on the mobile app. Until the ship enters the range of another AIS land station, there will be no indication of a change in position or speed for the ship.

[TLex]

Yep, I know that 😀! Thanks former Chief Engineer!!

 

The speed was old and the website states that one can obtain a satellite fix but wasn’t sure if that entailed registering with Marine Traffic and rendering payment. So I didn’t.

 

FWIW, Liberty shows that it’s at Falmouth now.

 

BREAK//// Internetwhiz (sorry, I’ve read many of your posts but never caught your name), did the Master announce why they could not make Grand Cayman? Just curious.

 

Thanks.

 

VR,

 

T Lex

[chengkp75]

Yep, I know that 😀! Thanks former Chief Engineer!!

 

The speed was old and the website states that one can obtain a satellite fix but wasn’t sure if that entailed registering with Marine Traffic and rendering payment. So I didn’t.

 

FWIW, Liberty shows that it’s at Falmouth now.

 

BREAK//// Internetwhiz (sorry, I’ve read many of your posts but never caught your name), did the Master announce why they could not make Grand Cayman? Just curious.

 

Thanks.

 

VR,

 

T Lex

 

Yes, the satellite "upgrade" costs to apply, and is limited to 2 updates in 24 hours.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Definitely not. She docked just long enough for the evacuation process then headed to her next stop. If they had overnighted they would have had to burn more fuel going faster to get to Grand Cayman. It's all about fuel savings.

 

I thought they were skipping Grand Cayman?

 

 

Bill

[internetwhiz]

Yep, I know that [emoji3]! Thanks former Chief Engineer!!

 

 

 

The speed was old and the website states that one can obtain a satellite fix but wasn’t sure if that entailed registering with Marine Traffic and rendering payment. So I didn’t.

 

 

 

FWIW, Liberty shows that it’s at Falmouth now.

 

 

 

BREAK//// Internetwhiz (sorry, I’ve read many of your posts but never caught your name), did the Master announce why they could not make Grand Cayman? Just curious.

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

VR,

 

 

 

T Lex

 

 

 

I’m Karen.

 

When you leave Cozumel at 6 am after dropping off a patient you aren’t gonna make it to Grand Cayman that same day. They were at sea yesterday with the hammer down to get to their last port, Falmouth, today. Our son and family are onboard.

[internetwhiz]

I thought they were skipping Grand Cayman?

 

 

 

 

 

Bill

 

 

They did.

[OSUZorba]

I did the all access tour today and the Chef Engineer did the talk in the engine control room. He told us that on the way back to Cozumel we got up to 25.3 knots and that it was the fastest he'd ever seen the ship go.

 

The Alpha call came around 945pm after we left Cozumel at 4pm. I was in comedy when we turned around, but probably around 1030. Much closer to Cozumel than Cayman and as soon as you turn around there is no making it to Cayman on schedule. We passed Cayman around 630pm after doing about 21.5 knots (iirc) all day leaving Cozumel around 5am.

 

They burned a massive amount of fuel getting that passenger back to Cozumel all so he could get to a hospital a few hours sooner then if we had pushed on, so they definitely put passenger health and safety in front of money.

[steorra]

I was on this cruise..and when talking to another couple during Chef's Table on Friday night, they told me that apparently someone had collapsed in the casino and it was cordoned off for a time. They got the person stabilized but then opted to turn around back to Cozumel. IMHO, I would have found it incredible (in a technical sense) if they could have even med evac'd that evening as I remember a lot of thunderstorms and lightning happening having been up in the solarium at the time.

[Junkhouse]

Why the heck do they have a helipad? If it was an evac situation why wouldn't they use the helipad or meet a boat 1/2 back to Cozumel? I understand the safety of the passenger but if it was an extreme medical evac minutes matter, not hours.

[denamo]

Why the heck do they have a helipad? If it was an evac situation why wouldn't they use the helipad or meet a boat 1/2 back to Cozumel? I understand the safety of the passenger but if it was an extreme medical evac minutes matter, not hours.

 

Have been on a couple of cruises where patients had to be evacuated for a medical emergency. Have been told it would be extremely difficult for a helicopter to actually land on the ship. It serves as the staging area for them to get the patient on the helicopter. We actually watched a medical evac from inside. Quite impressive to watch the medical team on board the helicopter hover and get the patient secured.

[Capt_BJ]

Why the heck do they have a helipad? If it was an evac situation why wouldn't they use the helipad or meet a boat 1/2 back to Cozumel? I understand the safety of the passenger but if it was an extreme medical evac minutes matter, not hours.

 

you are assuming a helo was available

 

in the US you are used to seeing the USCG do medivac from cruise ship

 

This case was from Cozumel ….

 

You assume Mexico has similar capabilities and helos stationed around the country to do this work ….. ever heard what is said about assumptions ….

 

When sailing in the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, near Haiti Grand Turk and Jamaica, when you hear of a helo medivac do you think it was a helo from the nearest country that did the mission? A commercial entity?

 

HELLO …. it was almost certainly a USCG asset - possibly a USN or even an EU partner - patrolling the area for drugs ….. called into the case because that's what we do …. bail out folks otherwise up the creek. Heck, if any of these places HAVE helos they are probably ones retired from US service and given away … and then we pay for the pilot training … and maintenance … and when a case comes in "sorry, pilot has the day off" :loudcry: a euphemism for "we won't pay for the gas"

 

Did WAY too many of these cases over the years ….. where we were on patrol with a helo on deck for law enforcement but a cruise ship had a valid medivac so we'd launch and the helo went to the cruise ship - then to the land hospital - then back to us. Had we not been there ….. then what?

 

****************************

 

p.s. if you search you can probably find my LONG reply to why don't helos use the helo pad ….. while it is unwise to never say never …. this is a VERY uncommon thing for USCH helo's for a long list of reasons.

Edited June 9, 2018 by Capt_BJ

[Junkhouse]

you are assuming a helo was available

 

in the US you are used to seeing the USCG do medivac from cruise ship

 

This case was from Cozumel ….

 

You assume Mexico has similar capabilities and helos stationed around the country to do this work ….. ever heard what is said about assumptions ….

 

When sailing in the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, near Haiti Grand Turk and Jamaica, when you hear of a helo medivac do you think it was a helo from the nearest country that did the mission? A commercial entity?

 

HELLO …. it was almost certainly a USCG asset - possibly a USN or even an EU partner - patrolling the area for drugs ….. called into the case because that's what we do …. bail out folks otherwise up the creek. Heck, if any of these places HAVE helos they are probably ones retired from US service and given away … and then we pay for the pilot training … and maintenance … and when a case comes in "sorry, pilot has the day off" :loudcry: a euphemism for "we won't pay for the gas"

 

Did WAY too many of these cases over the years ….. where we were on patrol with a helo on deck for law enforcement but a cruise ship had a valid medivac so we'd launch and the helo went to the cruise ship - then to the land hospital - then back to us. Had we not been there ….. then what?

 

****************************

 

p.s. if you search you can probably find my LONG reply to why don't helos use the helo pad ….. while it is unwise to never say never …. this is a VERY uncommon thing for USCH helo's for a long list of reasons.

 

My point is if it was an emergency evacuation, it took hours. Why couldn't they have waited several more to get to the next port?

[ReneeFLL]

My point is if it was an emergency evacuation, it took hours. Why couldn't they have waited several more to get to the next port?

Because those several more hours could mean the difference between life and death.

[TEXASMUNK]

Junkhouse….if it was a critical medical situation, they go to the nearest possible medical care. If you had, let's say, a serious heart attack, would you prefer to give it a few more hours or get your care as fast as possible?

[Tulsacoker]

Had a co worker on that cruise and he said the winds were over 35 knots and they couldn’t land a hellocopter so they had to turn around. Ironically if they were a few more hours out they would have continued to Grand Cayman

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[internetwhiz]

Had a co worker on that cruise and he said the winds were over 35 knots and they couldn’t land a hellocopter so they had to turn around. Ironically if they were a few more hours out they would have continued to Grand Cayman

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

It was a bit longer than that. So what if they got to GC and couldn’t tender or get a helicopter to land with those winds? I’m

Sure Captain made the best, informed decision.

[Scotty G]

It was a bit longer than that. So what if they got to GC and couldn’t tender or get a helicopter to land with those winds? I’m

Sure Captain made the best, informed decision.

Excellent points!