Arvia unscheduled stop.!

[keithhutch]

Noticed Arvia changed course last night according to cruise mapper,she diverted to just off the coast to portimao around midnight for some reason.Back on course this morning.!

[molecrochip]

The initial approach to the coast is consistent with a medical emergency offload. What is odd is that they then start to make their way back to sea and then change course coastwards again.

[keithhutch]

Yes that’s what I thought,no idea what’s gone on.!

[laslomas]

According to a social media post it was a 'medical emergency' with a helicopter evacuation at around 2:30 am. Hope all are well.

[Wiseyowl]

Yes. Helicopter took someone off at approx 02:45hrs, we were heading to land but when medical evacuation occurred we returned to course. I suspect it was plan B as captain stated the helicopter was planned for earlier but was delayed. Heard loud unfamiliar noise and very Surprised to look up and see helicopter by balcony!

[tring]

8 minutes ago, Wiseyowl said:

Yes. Helicopter took someone off at approx 02:45hrs, we were heading to land but when medical evacuation occurred we returned to course. I suspect it was plan B as captain stated the helicopter was planned for earlier but was delayed. Heard loud unfamiliar noise and very Surprised to look up and see helicopter by balcony!

 

We were on an Arcadia cruise in June and there was a helicopter evacuation.  We were in the rear section, just forward of the lifts, so almost under the deck where they lift the evacuee up from, and had to evacuate our cabins for about 1.5 - 2 hours as they said it was company policy.  Were you directly under the evacuation deck, or a bit to the side of it and do you know if anyone had to get out of their cabins?  At least we were showered and dressed for dinner (formal day), but some were not.

 

I asked our cabin steward what happens if there is an overnight evacuation and he said that he is woken and has to come and make sure we all got out of our cabins, no matter what time it is.  I have never known this on any other cruise line, but know they do tell people to keep off their balconies.  I would be interested if @molecrochip could confirm if this is the standard company policy.

 

 

[molecrochip]

This is correct. Ultimately, there is a risk that the helicopter could crash. Cruise ships are built well but not to withstand everything.

 

Each ship has a cruise ship helivac plan which details where the helicopter will drop its person & rescue basket, which cabins and deck areas need to be cleared etc. it’s a massive operation involving many staff. A helivac is an expensive last resort, will have been signed off by both the captain personally and head office, If in middle of the night, you can be sure that the captain, senior officers and various other members of crew have all been woken to carry out the process.

 

Bear in mind, you usually are doing this cause you have a critically ill person in the medical centre so it’s not just the evacuation but getting a clear run from medical centre to evacuation point at the correct time. Staff will use lift overrides, and close corridors to do this.

 

If your cabin has to be vacated at night for this process, the decision has not been taken lightly. A helivac is not a quick process so there is sufficient time to wake you, let you dress, collect a book to read etc/tablet and then proceed to a public room. A comfortable lounge is used and a crew member should offer tea/coffee. I think the room service menu may be offered to you.

 

Finally, expect a captain’s announcement throughout the ship including cabins advising that balconies & outside decks are closed. Unfortunate to wake people but safety first.

 

Helivac at night is always last last resort. I know someone who faced this prospect. Passenger was deteriorating. Captain had been woken - it was all signed off. It will interest you to know that the ship’s doctor and land hospital are in constant contact. Just before the helicopter was due to leave land, the hospital consultant suggested something be tried for the passenger. It was enough to stabilise the passenger and allow them to remain on board til land the next day.

[molecrochip]

As an aside, if you hadn’t been dressed for dinner, you would still have got into the restaurant even casually dressed.

[Wiseyowl]

1 hour ago, tring said:

 

We were on an Arcadia cruise in June and there was a helicopter evacuation.  We were in the rear section, just forward of the lifts, so almost under the deck where they lift the evacuee up from, and had to evacuate our cabins for about 1.5 - 2 hours as they said it was company policy.  Were you directly under the evacuation deck, or a bit to the side of it and do you know if anyone had to get out of their cabins?  At least we were showered and dressed for dinner (formal day), but some were not.

 

I asked our cabin steward what happens if there is an overnight evacuation and he said that he is woken and has to come and make sure we all got out of our cabins, no matter what time it is.  I have never known this on any other cruise line, but know they do tell people to keep off their balconies.  I would be interested if @molecrochip could confirm if this is the standard company policy.

 

 

 

[Wiseyowl]

No we didn’t have to evacuate cabins and were deck 14. The next morning We were told the upper decks were blocked off so they could safely transfer the patient to the helicopter. Captain said he didn’t wake everyone to tell them as nothing we needed to do other than go back to sleep. It was the noise that woke us. 

[tring]

1 hour ago, molecrochip said:

This is correct. Ultimately, there is a risk that the helicopter could crash. Cruise ships are built well but not to withstand everything.

 

Each ship has a cruise ship helivac plan which details where the helicopter will drop its person & rescue basket, which cabins and deck areas need to be cleared etc. it’s a massive operation involving many staff. A helivac is an expensive last resort, will have been signed off by both the captain personally and head office, If in middle of the night, you can be sure that the captain, senior officers and various other members of crew have all been woken to carry out the process.

 

Bear in mind, you usually are doing this cause you have a critically ill person in the medical centre so it’s not just the evacuation but getting a clear run from medical centre to evacuation point at the correct time. Staff will use lift overrides, and close corridors to do this.

 

If your cabin has to be vacated at night for this process, the decision has not been taken lightly. A helivac is not a quick process so there is sufficient time to wake you, let you dress, collect a book to read etc/tablet and then proceed to a public room. A comfortable lounge is used and a crew member should offer tea/coffee. I think the room service menu may be offered to you.

 

Finally, expect a captain’s announcement throughout the ship including cabins advising that balconies & outside decks are closed. Unfortunate to wake people but safety first.

 

Helivac at night is always last last resort. I know someone who faced this prospect. Passenger was deteriorating. Captain had been woken - it was all signed off. It will interest you to know that the ship’s doctor and land hospital are in constant contact. Just before the helicopter was due to leave land, the hospital consultant suggested something be tried for the passenger. It was enough to stabilise the passenger and allow them to remain on board til land the next day.

 

Thank you, though I must say that what you have said is not as the system was described to me when I asked our cabin steward.  I was told that once he had come to our cabin we would not be able to do anything other than go straight out of the cabin, yes in our nightwear (I had questioned that).  I was shocked about that and asked if at least we would be given the opportunity to use the toilet before we left the cabin, (an essential for me at night if I get up) and I was told a firm NO, not even that, we would have to go straight off absolutely immediately.  

 

When we had been told to leave the cabin, we were on the balcony, so got my bag and I did use the toilet before we left (that took very little time).  That caused another member of staff (cabin steward told me she was from the staff office) coming along during that very short time, banging on the door and very aggressively yelling at us to leave the cabin in an extremely rude manner.   As you say, this is not something which happens immediately, but the arrangements need to be made and the helicopter needs to actually get to the ship (another hour later in this case), so I do not see the need for us being treated that way.  Your explanation sounds much different to our experience.

 

Just to add the captain had earlier mentioned that cabins underneath the appropriate deck would need to be evacuated.  As we were not under the pool deck (rear or otherwise), we assumed it would not apply to us, though seems they evacuate all cabins in that section of the ship, not just the deck below the pool deck.  There is no reason IMO why the Captain could not have said in his announcement which cabins would be affected, so people had a bit of notice - from what you say, that would be a foregone decision which cabins would be affected, so that should not have been a problem at all.  Incidentally, the same captain had no qualms whatsoever about waking us up very early one morning to talk at length about the long Danish bridge we went under, and then short time after that, wake us again to talk about a naval ship which was passing.

 

We quite understand the decision to have cabins evacuated is for safety and, yes, it is only because someone is very ill, but we do feel that this system could be operated in a reasonable, organised  and polite manner, rather than passengers being treated both as we were and as we were told would be if it happened again in the middle of the night.  I do wonder if the cabin stewards would be given time to get dressed before getting people out of their cabins in the middle of the night on Arcadia, if that is the method used on that ship. Again even in the middle of the night an announcement could be made for that purpose, stating cabins affected, people who are not affected could go back to sleep after that.

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by tring

[molecrochip]

It sounds like the crew has been a bit slow responding and therefore time was more limited than it should have been. That said, tell someone now snd they comply in 5 mins… tell someone they gave 5 minutes and they comply in 15!

 

Even in an emergency you’re told to dress warmly - night clothes wouldn’t be appropriate there.

[tring]

13 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

It sounds like the crew has been a bit slow responding and therefore time was more limited than it should have been. That said, tell someone now snd they comply in 5 mins… tell someone they gave 5 minutes and they comply in 15!

 

Even in an emergency you’re told to dress warmly - night clothes wouldn’t be appropriate there.

 

Five minutes would have been way over what we needed, I was no more than a minute or two, however what really shocked me and left me feeling very concerned for the rest of the cruise is if it may have happened again at night, after  what I was told by the cabin steward. 

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by tring

[Clodia]

This happened to me once on Ventura. Unfortunately I do not possess nightwear as I am a naturist. The cabin steward pulled the duvet off me then screamed and ran away. At least that gave me time to put something warm on and use the loo.

[showingdiva]

I often (on average tree times a week) have both coastguard and air ambulance helicopters fly past my office window (NHS emergency department).   Even in a modern building, once they're on the helipad, you can feel the ground floor corridors vibrate underfoot, four floors below, and we have to shut windows with the coastguard helicopter (they are huge beasts close up!).   It's little surprise the immediate area on a cruise ship is evacuated.

 

I hope  Arvia's medivac recovers quickly.   As others have said, would not have been an easy decision.

[sogne]

Having been 

on the shsrpe end of medivacs safety comes first. The downdraft from the current Sirkorsy CG helos is considerably greater than the sea kings they replaced.

 

 

[tring]

4 hours ago, Clodia said:

This happened to me once on Ventura. Unfortunately I do not possess nightwear as I am a naturist. The cabin steward pulled the duvet off me then screamed and ran away. At least that gave me time to put something warm on and use the loo.

 

Poor you, it certainly sounds that P&O really need to get a decent system together when they are evacuating a section of the ship.  Whilst I appreciated that may be the best thing to do, I still maintain this is not the way to do it.  I still do not see why the captain cannot make an announcement over the tannoy initially, even if it is at night.  I am sure we have all been disturbed at times for medical alerts when they need to call the medical staff and no one would complain about that.  In fact on that recent cruise we did have three announcements in the early hours (perhaps about 2 or 3am) as someone had gone missing.  They were over a period of about 45 minutes, so yes, it was disturbing, but obviously it could have been a life threatening situation, so neither we, and I assume no one else, felt that was a big problem.  In fact luckily there was not a problem that night, as it seems the person concerned had gone to sleep on a lounger on the pool deck, so was safe. 

 

If an announcement is made regards evacuating a certain part of the ship, it may take a little while to make if the cabins to be evacuated are mentioned, but at least it would mean people could be alerted to the need to evacuate as soon as possible, so a little time could be allowed for people to get dressed, whilst those not needing to evacuate would have a minimal of disturbance and could go back to sleep.  There could even be written notifications in cabins which would be affected in such circumstances, so people in those cabins were aware they may need to leave the cabin in the case of a medivac, and evacuate to a place which perhaps had been pre arranged - just as you would leave any building on hearing a fire alarm, and go to your assembly area.  That along with an initial announcement, should be enough to ensure people evacuate, though the cabin stewards would need to ensure the cabins had in fact been evacuated.

 

Walking into a cabin and pulling a duvet off is not, IMO the best way to get people to evacuate.  It does seem that molecrochip is not aware of how the system works in practice.  To be honest, I am starting to feel somewhat sorry for the cabin staff who are expected to deal with this. There must be better ways to do it than have one cabin steward wake people and make sure they leave all the cabins for which they are responsible.

 

It was the following day when I asked our cabin steward about what happens if there is a medivac at night, I was not stupid enough to ask at the time we had been asked to leave our cabin.  That meant he was able to give a realistic answer as to what he would be expected to do in such a case - allowing someone to get dressed and use the toilet was clearly not something that was in his training for that event.

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by tring

[Red Ray]

13 hours ago, Clodia said:

This happened to me once on Ventura. Unfortunately I do not possess nightwear as I am a naturist. The cabin steward pulled the duvet off me then screamed and ran away. At least that gave me time to put something warm on and use the loo.

Which cruise are you on next Clodia? Asking for a friend.

[lindyloo22]

According to fb it was a young girl 11 yrs old she had sun stroke and they could not stabiliser her. According to her mum she is doing well and they will be flying home soon.

I was on this cruise and all we heard was the helicopter.

[Angel57]

1 hour ago, lindyloo22 said:

According to fb it was a young girl 11 yrs old she had sun stroke and they could not stabiliser her. According to her mum she is doing well and they will be flying home soon.

I was on this cruise and all we heard was the helicopter.

That’s good to know. I had friends on board so will pass that info on as always good to know of a happy outcome.

[CarlaMarie]

On 7/23/2023 at 4:43 PM, tring said:

 

We were on an Arcadia cruise in June and there was a helicopter evacuation.  We were in the rear section, just forward of the lifts, so almost under the deck where they lift the evacuee up from, and had to evacuate our cabins for about 1.5 - 2 hours as they said it was company policy.  Were you directly under the evacuation deck, or a bit to the side of it and do you know if anyone had to get out of their cabins?  At least we were showered and dressed for dinner (formal day), but some were not.

 

I asked our cabin steward what happens if there is an overnight evacuation and he said that he is woken and has to come and make sure we all got out of our cabins, no matter what time it is.  I have never known this on any other cruise line, but know they do tell people to keep off their balconies.  I would be interested if @molecrochip could confirm if this is the standard company policy.

 

 

 

This happened to my parents on Arcadia. They had a cabin at the aft, and had gone to bed one evening and heard loud knocking on the door. It was the steward informing them they had to evacuate the cabins as a medivac was needed. 

[Shelley61]

My husband woke up for a wee in the night and peeked out the window and said "why is there land in front of us?".  I was too sleepy and just ignored him and went back to sleep, then the next morning we noticed the strange tracking on the map that proved he was right (he was delighted he was right about something!)

 

We didn't hear a thing with the helicopter though as we were at the front of the ship.

 

As a PP said, the Mum of the little girl posted on facebook recently to say her daughter couldn't be stabilised after severe heat stroke.  We'd just left Cadiz and had two sea days back to Southampton.  They were still in Spain a few days after we'd got back.