Living on a cruise ship for 7 years...
#31
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 394
Heh, well, except for the meat grinder part, yeah, this is true. Obviously it's going to be somewhat correlated to the ship size, but these days with any fair sized ship, my understanding is that it's actually fairly normal to have a passenger die on any given sailing. A lot of people eating a lot of rich food they're not used to and getting a lot more exercise than they're used to. Makes for a bad combination.
I know one recent cruise I was on we had ambulances meet us at every port. I haven't been on a cruise that required an airlift off, although I know my parents have. I have been on a cruise that returned to port after leaving because of a medical emergency. But cruise ship captains must be miracle workers, because according to them, every time they update you on the evacuated passenger's status, they're always doing much better .
I know one recent cruise I was on we had ambulances meet us at every port. I haven't been on a cruise that required an airlift off, although I know my parents have. I have been on a cruise that returned to port after leaving because of a medical emergency. But cruise ship captains must be miracle workers, because according to them, every time they update you on the evacuated passenger's status, they're always doing much better .
I am a big fan of transoceanic port-light cruises, so I wouldn't be surprised to see an airlift one of these days, especially since my current cruise line of choice has an average age of about 70 on those longer cruises.
The website cruiseshipdeaths.com is kind of interesting reading, but it's really maritime-related deaths (ferries and shore excursions from ships).
#32
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,154
I would guess those are probably less likely to have airlifts to be honest. The issue there is that there's large portions of time on those types of cruises where the ship is simply out of range of helicopters, so even if they really needed to do an airlift, they probably can't. Which of course doesn't bode well for the person needing the airlift.
#33
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 394
I would guess those are probably less likely to have airlifts to be honest. The issue there is that there's large portions of time on those types of cruises where the ship is simply out of range of helicopters, so even if they really needed to do an airlift, they probably can't. Which of course doesn't bode well for the person needing the airlift.
#34
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Join Date: Jul 2013
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Yes, for days and days, there is often nothing within flying distance. For me, that's a big part of the appeal, and the "adventure". (Adventure in the sense of the unknown, because no matter what might be planned on a cruise - from the routing to the menu or the movie schedule - it all might change because of Mother Nature.)
I ask because I'm considering a repo cruise, but would want the cruise line to waive the usual fee for traveling solo. Have you any experience with this?
#35
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 394
Yes, I travel solo, and these were technically repositioning cruises, not the standard transatlantic cruises on Cunard. I have always paid the standard single supplement.....it never occurred to me to ask to have it waived. I can't imagine they would, anyway, as the ship was almost entirely booked on both my transoceanic cruises that I've taken in the last 3 years. I think on the transatlantic (spring 2012 Miami to Lisbon) there were less than a half dozen empty cabins, and on the transpacific (fall 2014 San Diego to Auckland) every cabin was booked. Both were on Crystal, and both had a single supplement of 30% or less on a window cabin.
#36
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Yes, I travel solo, and these were technically repositioning cruises, not the standard transatlantic cruises on Cunard. I have always paid the standard single supplement.....it never occurred to me to ask to have it waived. I can't imagine they would, anyway, as the ship was almost entirely booked on both my transoceanic cruises that I've taken in the last 3 years. I think on the transatlantic (spring 2012 Miami to Lisbon) there were less than a half dozen empty cabins, and on the transpacific (fall 2014 San Diego to Auckland) every cabin was booked. Both were on Crystal, and both had a single supplement of 30% or less on a window cabin.
#37
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 394
Right.....that's one of the reasons I looked to Crystal in the first place. Their single supplements are the lowest regular supplements in the industry, as far as I can see.......some lines have sales with lower or even no supplements, but on Crystal they apply to almost every cruise. Supplements for suites and "penthouse" cabins are more, and on very highly-sought-after cruises the supplement even on window cabins will be more too (for instance, their NWPassage cruise), but that's rare. Well, that's been the case in the past, but there are new owners now, so we'll see what the future holds.
#38
Senior Moderator; Moderator, Eco-Conscious Travel, United and Flyertalk Cares
Join Date: Jun 1999
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I was just on a cruise with the woman in the story. Her stateroom was remade for her to basically be a large closet. There are a couple of more women who also live on the Serenity. On Serenity there are always two doctors as part of fulltime crew, but sometimes three if the average passenger age is higher. You can count on about 10% of passengers being physicians as well. I know one passenger who performed emergency surgery on a cruise.
#40
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#41
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Hey! That's ours cruise ships. This is Ms Ryndam. This is where we went on the cruise before. We went to Mexican Riveria. We went to SJD, MZT, and then PVR.
#42
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 25
i read this article too. its a viral article actually. well for me, getting on a cruise is OK for maximum 1 weeks straight. after that it gets really boring. i can go on a cruise probably 3x a year thats maximum. i will feel dizzy if it goes beyond that. i guess i'm a land person.
#44
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: ATL
Posts: 802
click on "singles discounts" under the "more cruise deals" section on the left side of page. There are numerous cruises with a zero supplement.
FYI, do not click on "singles cruises", make sure you click "singles discounts"
#45
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Florida
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Posts: 433
None. Holland America Ryndam.
Apparently, there was a murder-suicide the cruise before too.
http://blawgsearch.justia.com/tag/ryndam
Apparently, there was a murder-suicide the cruise before too.
http://blawgsearch.justia.com/tag/ryndam