Royal Caribbean - Explorer of the Seas 12/17/06 sailing nightmare

There might be more to this than everyone thought about. The cost to
airlift by chopper is between $25 & $50,000 depending how far out at
sea the pick up is. If the ill passenger didn't have health insurance
they could have denied the air transport. The airlift alone could send
someone into financial ruin who can't afford it. The on board doctor
could have kept the passenger stable but request the ship return to a
US Port for medical treatment. As was stated earlier the next Port of
Call might have been either too far or not of the quality of a US
Hospital. Either way RC could have been held resposible if the
passenger died. Being the ship returned to Miami for Coast Guard
transport says the ship was closer to Miami than Key West. Key West
would have been closer had they been further out and enroute to the
Western Caribbean. Being Belieze is a tender port the medical
emergency might have eatten away at the better part of that stop. But
the other port changes don't make sense. As far as the fuel issue goes
they could have arranged additional fuel at any of the future stops.
As far as drugs in Jamacia....I was told by someone in this very NG
that they have never seen that and when I complained about it I was
told I was making it up.

In article om, Rick
wrote:

There might be more to this than everyone thought about. The cost to
airlift by chopper is between $25 & $50,000 depending how far out at
sea the pick up is. If the ill passenger didn't have health insurance
they could have denied the air transport. The airlift alone could send
someone into financial ruin who can't afford it.

The US Coast Guard does not charge. However I don't think a decision
would have been made on the basis of cost to the ill passenger in a
life and death situation.

I will mention that I read that the patient had thrown up, choked on
her own vomit, ending up with vomit in her lungs, causing both lungs to
collapse. She was in critical condition and it was decided she was too
unstable to be transported by helicopter.

--
Charles

Thats why I thought they might have opted for the Coast Guard (no
Charge) as opposed to air lift (charge).

Jean O'Boyle wrote:
We never book air with
the cruise lines. First of all, you don't save that much

You don't save anything at all! In my experience booking air via the
cruise line is *the most expensive* air option - usually by hundreds of
dollars. **

Warren

** air from NYC. This might not be true from other points of departure.

Charles wrote:
Sounds simple but I have read there was not enough fuel left to stay on
the rest of the original itinerary. They burned too much fuel having to
return to Miami to continue that itinerary.

This doesn't sound right to me. Either they aren't topping off the
tanks in Miami, or the ship isn't achieving its stated range. The
Explorer class can go transatlantic without stopping regardless of the
sea conditions. There's no reason this ship would burn so much fuel
that she couldn't make her ports on this itinerary.

I'm more inclined to believe that sea/weather conditions combined with
the distances of the ports vs time remaining played more of a role.

This reminds me of the rumor I've heard on every cruise I've taken
since 1983 (35+): "I heard the captain isn't using the stabilizers to
save on the cost of the fuel."

Warren

LeeNY wrote:
First question everyone always asks
me when I book a cruise is, "where are you going". I tell them that I
don't care, as long as the air temp is hot, the skies are blue, the
seas are turquoise, etc.

My answer is always the name of the ship. "I'm going on the Norway" was
always my favorite answer until my final voyage on her September 2001.
I'm usually pressed with a "yeah, but where are you going?" and we'll
go around in circles until I can remember the ports (if any).

Warren -- going on the Noordam next Saturday

"Warren" wrote in message
oups.com...

Jean O'Boyle wrote:
We never book air with
the cruise lines. First of all, you don't save that much

You don't save anything at all! In my experience booking air via the
cruise line is *the most expensive* air option - usually by hundreds of
dollars. **

Warren


** air from NYC. This might not be true from other points of departure.


You are probably right, Warren...I have only booked air with a cruise line
once and found a diminutive saving but horrendous times for flights...But
then you, in NYC, have more airlines to choose from and more possibilities
for direct flights. There aren't many direct flights from San Antonio that I
know about and we are usually routed through Dallas or Houston which are the
big hubs in Texas.

--Jean

On 1/1/2007 8:30 PM Lee Lindquist wrote:
On 27 Dec 2006 15:43:02 -0800, "Rick" wrote:

There might be more to this than everyone thought about. The cost to
airlift by chopper is between $25 & $50,000 depending how far out at
sea the pick up is. If the ill passenger didn't have health insurance

Should a helo evacuation have been needed in that area, it would
have most certainly been performed by the US Coast Guard.

No charge. That's their mission.

During one evacuation we watched, the patient, his wife, and
one of the ship's nurses were hoisted; along with the coastie
swimmer.

I presume the cruise line billed the patient for the nurse.

passenger died. Being the ship returned to Miami for Coast Guard
transport says the ship was closer to Miami than Key West. Key West

Gee, to me it says there is a trauma center in Miami, not in the keys.

Key West has no trauma center. There is a Medical Center on Stock
Island. However once a patient is stabilized they are air lifted to
Homestead or Miami for additional care if it is needed.

--
____
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
____
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

It's disappointing that they had the itinerary change but knowing that
they did it to help save a passenger should give you comfort, not
frustration.

Had it been you, they would have done the same.

Expecting, or even hoping, to be reimbursed for the cruise is not a
reasonable expectation. Keep in mind that they still incurred
expenses. Add to that the fact that a cruise is what you make of it
-- not simply the ports of call.

On 26 Dec 2006 14:27:21 -0800, "Greg" wrote:

There were so many people lodging complaints with Guest Relations that
they were simply noting there was a complaint from you and were passing
that onto the corporate folks with no other details about the complaint
needed. We got ours in too. The is already a response being made,
which is apparently unusually fast. My expectation is to be either
reimbursed (unlikely) for the cruise cost or offered a voucher for
another one.

Years back when something like this happened to us, RCCL gave us a
$200 pp voucher to be applied toward a future stateroom. It was nice
but altogether unexpected.

On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 22:46:58 -0500, "Ray"
wrote:


I don't think it would be unreasonable for R.C. to give all the
passengers some sort of voucher or discount on a future cruise , although
I'm sure they don't have to.