Still Out There

Even though there are no passengers aboard Carnival Ecstasy, the ship and a small crew are still standing by while the ship is anchored offshore in the Bahamas awaiting a return to service. That crew came to the rescue Tuesday when they heard a Mayday call from a private yacht about four nautical miles away. A crew member had been injured and needed medical assistance. Carnival Ecstasy sailed to the location in rough seas and took the man aboard with the ship's medical team treating him while they waited for a US Coast Guard helicopter to come and medevac him to a shoreside medical facility. 

The complete story appeared in the November 18 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photos courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

A Middle-of-the-Night Medevac

The US Coast Guard once again demonstrated this morning, that the people aboard a cruise ship don't need to have any connection to the US for the US Coast Guard to step in and help them. As we pointed out a couple weeks ago, you usually think of the US Coast Guard being called on by US-based ships and flying in to help an American who boarded in an American port, but the Coast Guard routinely rescues people aboard ships just passing by US coastlines.

Late last night (Monday at 10:45pm), Coast Guard watchstanders received a call from Marella Explorer 2, which most of us will remember as the former 71,500-ton Celebrity Century, asking for assistance medevacing a 29-year-old Filipino crew member who had suffered a heart attack. Marella is the British-based line which used to be Thomson and is now owned by German travel conglomerate TUI.

What makes the operation even more impressive is that the crew had to fly to the ship 50 miles off the coast of St. Coix from their base in Puerto Rico on the moonless night using night-vision goggles with the only light in the area coming from the ship itself. The video below was shot with the same technology. 

Details appeared in the November 26 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - October 28, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• An additional delay for Costa Smeralda's delivery, pushing the inaugural cruise back to December 21.
• Carnival Sunrise arrived at Ft Lauderdale ready to homeport there for its winter season
• Negligent homicide charges were filed against the grandfather of an 18-month-old girl who fell through an open window to her death on Freedom of the Seas when it was in San Juan in July.
• The Coast Guard ended their search Saturday evening for a 26-year-old man who went overboard from Carnival Dream last Thursday evening.  

Details appeared October 28 issue of Cruise News Daily.

Medevac from Carnival Valor

The US Coast Guard came to the rescue again early Tuesday morning when they hoisted a 23-year-old man and the ship's doctor off the deck of Carnival Valor in the early morning hours (5:45am) when the ship was about 65 nautical miles off the coast of Venice, Louisiana.

The Coast Guard got the call from the ship at 1:14am saying the man had fallen aboard the ship and had what the Coast Guard said were “multiple significant injuries.” The Coast Guard dispatched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and crew from their station in New Orleans.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - May 15, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Norwegian Joy setting a record
• A passenger being medevaced from Carnival Dream when it was 66 miles off the Galveston coast Monday night. (Video below)

Details appeared in the May 15 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - March 20, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• A man going overboard from Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas
• Royal Caribbean is being sued over an accident on Mariner's Sky Pad where a man was seriously injured
• The Coast Guard medevaced a man from MSC Divina on Tuesday as it sailed 100 miles off the New Jersey coast. (video below)

Details appeared in the March 20 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Video courtesy of the US Coast Guard. All rights reserved.

Medevac from Carnival Ecstasy

The US Coast Guard medevaced an 80-year-old woman from Carnival Ecstasy on Sunday (January 27, 2019) when it was 55 miles east of Savannah (Georgia). The MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Charleston met the ship at 10:20pm and transported the patient to a Savannah hospital.

As the rescue diver is being lowered to the deck of the ship at the beginning of the video, note the speed at which the ship and helicopter are moving forward, and how steady the pilot is keeping his position over the ship.

Note: This is b-roll, so there is no sound and these are just edited clips, not the entire operation.

Overboard from Majesty of the Seas

The Coast Guard is searching for a 26-year-old man who went overboard from Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas in the early morning hours today as it was returning to Port Everglades at the end of a five-night cruise to the Bahamas.

The crew member was witnessed going overboard approximately 2:30am when it was approximately 37 miles east of the Hillsboro Inlet.

Details were in the January 24 issue of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - January 23, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Holland America own premium brand of coffee
• The Russians have come to NCL and Celebrity
• The US Coast Guard medevaced a 40-year-old woman from Carnival Pride on Monday when it was 50 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, NC. Video is below.

Other Things You'll Want to Know- December 17, 2018

CND subscribers also read about:

• The Coast Guard ending their search for a man who went overboard from Carnival Victory last Friday
• Arcadia breaking her lines at Bermuda on Monday night (video below)
• Royal Caribbean's return to New Orleans after a three-year-absence. 

Details appeared in the December 17 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Video courtesy of PTZ TV. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - December 14, 2018

CND subscribers also read about:

• A passenger going overboard from Carnival Victory
• Costa extending their contract to manager Savona's cruise terminal until 2044
• A Coast Guard medevac from Norwegian Escape

Details appeared in the December 14 edition of Cruise News Daily

Video courtesy of the US Coast Guard. All rights reserved.

Even an Inside Cabin Would Be Better Than This

Many of us have been aboard a cruise ship when they have stopped to pick up migrants whose boat is disabled at sea, because it happens so often. If we haven't seen it first-hand, we've certainly read about it somewhere, but it usually only gets a couple of sentences, usually saying that the Coast Guard returned several dozen to their home island.

Few of us really get a good look at the dangerous conditions these people accept for the chance to get to a new life. They are literally risking their lives.

Today, the Coast Guard put out a routine press release saying the Cutter Thetis repatriated 84 Haitian migrants who were picked up Sunday on a 42-foot boat that was disabled 30 miles southwest of Turks and Caicos Island.

The Coast Guard said they interdicted the boat “for safety at life at sea concerns.”

The complete story appeared in the October 30 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photos courtesy of the US Coast Guard. 

It Would Have Been a Better Story

A week ago last Monday, a US Coast Guard helicopter medevaced a 61-year-old male crew member off Celebrity Summit when it was some 230 miles off the New Jersey coast. But there was something extra in the press release that caught our attention and made this medevac more noteworthy.

Details appeared in the September 5 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - August 7, 2018

CND subscribers also read about:

• Carnival Australia is looking for the 25 millionth person born in Australia. They have something special for him or her. 
• A Coast Guard officer going out of his way to save a life. 

Details appeared in the August 7 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Way, Way up North

Silversea's Silver Explorer is exploring way up north in Alaska. Actually it's sailing 19-night round trip from Nome, and it's been in the Russian Arctic. But on Friday, when a 35-year-old man aboard the ship began having cardiac problems, the ship moved within range of the US Coast Guard when they requested assistance.

The rendezvous point that was chosen was 150 miles northwest of Kotzebue, Alaska, in order to be within range of the MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter which was based at Kodiak.

Details appeared in the August 6 edition of Cruise News Daily.

All in a Day's Work

Today we have a short video shot high over the bow of Adventure of the Seas Saturday night. The US Coast Guard performed a medevac of a 53-year-old man from the ship when it was 80 miles east of Charleston (SC).

Even though there's an incredible amount of expertise necessary to coordinate the helicopter with the ship, the pros and the Coast Guard always make it look so easy. This video is no exception, but what struck us in this one was the nonchalance of the rescue swimmer (the person who is lowered to the deck on cruise ships) as he hangs there outside the helicopter waiting for it to get into position over the ship, and the same as he comes back up.

It just seems like for most of us, it's a typical day at the office waiting for the page to come out of the printer.

This story appeared in the July 16 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Like a High-Stakes Game of Where's Waldo

This story isn't directly about cruising, but it has a visual that explains why so few people going overboard are found, despite hours and hours of searching by the Coast Guard.

On Wednesday morning a 456-foot Liberian-flagged container ship, Vega Sagittarius, docked at Port Everglades at 6:40am. It advised the Coast Guard of a missing crew member, a 25-year-old male, last seen approximately 5:30am.

The Coast Guard launched a 45-foot response boat from Port Everglades and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Miami.

The helicopter crew located the missing man five miles east of Port Everglades and directed the response boat to his location. The boatcrew transferred the man to EMS.

It's not a very interesting story and has nothing to do with cruises, but the photo taken from the helicopter speaks volumes about the difficulty of the job of the Coast Guard in locating people in the water who have gone overboard. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

How easy would it be to overlook this man in the water, even looking at this photo taken from the perspective of the search helicopter when you know he's there?

This article appeared in the June 8 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

A view from the perspective of the search helicopter showing how difficult it is to see a person in the water

Photo courtesy of the US Coast Guard

Search Suspended

At approximately 9pm this evening, the US Coast Guard suspended their search in the Gulf of Mexico for the 50-year-old man who apparently went overboard from Carnival Paradise yesterday as it was sailing from Tampa to Key West.

Details appeared in the May 23 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Overboard from Paradise

A 50-year-old man from North Carolina went overboard from Carnival Paradise this morning as it was traveling from Tampa to Key West.

Details appeared in the May 22 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - May 18, 2018

CND subscribers also read about:

• A painting party at Port Everglades
• A short-distance medevac

Details appeared in the May 18 edition of Cruise News Daily.