Lifeboats - not a drill?

[calmpets]

Have the lifeboats on the Disney ships ever been used for an actual emergency? I know the crew does drills with them, but I was curious if passengers have ever needed to use them.

 

[MagicMe]

Not that I'm aware of.

 

[I Love Thumper]

Never for real-life emergency. Only for drills.

 

[ScouterJT]

I recall hearing about a real emergency on one of the ships -- claxons sounding in the middle of the night and all that jazz -- but I don't think it ever progressed to passengers actually having to get into the life boats (and maybe not even having to get to the muster stations)

 

[nacho1337]

March 14 2002 Disney Magic Smoke stack fire; extinguished within an hour. Passengers were awakened at 5:00 AM and told to go to their assembly stations with their life jackets. Arrives at next destination 1.5 hours late.

 

[been2marceline]

They've been used for medial evacuations on occasions - but the passengers at large have never needed to use them!

 

[I Love Thumper]

Medical evacuations on the lifeboats? Please share. I've been on the ships when we've had to reroute and do emergency debarks at other ports...never where a lifeboat had to be used. Curious to hear more from you...

 

[tvguy]

If I am understanding your question correctly....do they every use the lifeboats? Every cruise I've been on including Disney I saw crew members lowering and driving lifeboats while the ship was in port. I think the Coast Guard requires that every lifeboat be lowered and operated on a regular basis, could be every two weeks, could be once a month. Any sailors out there?

 

[truck1]

If I am understanding your question correctly....do they every use the lifeboats? Every cruise I've been on including Disney I saw crew members lowering and driving lifeboats while the ship was in port. I think the Coast Guard requires that every lifeboat be lowered and operated on a regular basis, could be every two weeks, could be once a month. Any sailors out there?

I dont know about a law that specifically states that they shall(differnt from should) run every so often, though, I would venture to say that prudence would way that they should be run in the water every so often to find any potential probelms before they become major

 

[truck1]

Medical evacuations on the lifeboats? Please share. I've been on the ships when we've had to reroute and do emergency debarks at other ports...never where a lifeboat had to be used. Curious to hear more from you...

I can share 1 first hand account of one, and a second scenario.
First Hand.While in Nassau one night a guest "fell"from the 8th or 9th deck to the water below. The crew put a lifeboat in the water to retrieve them.

Scenario, and apparently this just happened to another ship coming out of PC.
A guest gets sick or is injured, that requires them to be removed from the ship. The ship in question had left her dock 10 minutes or so before, and was nearing the breakwater jetty at Jetty park. The ship stopped, lowered a lifeboat, the lifeboat went to the closest dock where EMS and Fire was waiting, lifeboat returned, and was retrieved, and the ship continued on her way.Had the ship turned around, redocked, took the passenger off, then sailed again, they would probably lost a few hours, and a few thousand dollars in port costs.As it was, the ship in question, was passed by the WOnder on her way out.

 

[woody73]

Medical evacuations on the lifeboats? Please share. I've been on the ships when we've had to reroute and do emergency debarks at other ports...never where a lifeboat had to be used. Curious to hear more from you...

I've seen this happen (on other cruise lines) at tender ports, such as Cabo San Lucas.

Woody

 

[I Love Thumper]

I was trying to verify from PP if those medical evacuations in lifeboats ever happened on a Disney ship...

 

[TheWog]

On our Enchantment of the Seas cruise they used a few of them as tenders in Grand Cayman, but not for any real emergency.

 

[castaway3]

Yes, it has happened on the Disney Wonder..we were on the 10 day southern caribbean cruise in 05' and a guest became very ill and we had to detour to the island of Santo Domingo and they took down a lifeboat and we pulled as close as we could to shore and they put him in the lifeboat and there was an ambulance waiting on land for him. So in answer to your question YES they have been used.

 

[I Love Thumper]

Wow. And, thanks.

 

[trimix]

I would have been really surprised if the lifeboats had never been used outside drills. I have known several people who were rescued by cruise ships after an incident in waters frequented by cruise ships.

Once in the Alaska panhandle, a relative of mine was canoeing and capsized. He got himself to a beach but was so hypothermic he was unable to take care of himself. A passing cruise ship stopped and sent out a boat to fetch him.

I also know somebody who got the tidal currents wrong while scuba diving in the Puget Sound one Saturday afternoon. He and his buddy were swept away from their boat and were spotted by the crew of a cruise ship, and were also rescued by a lifeboat. The lifeboat crew took them the almost 1/2 mile to their own boat before returning to the cruise ship.

 

[mmouse37]

I can share 1 first hand account of one, and a second scenario.
First Hand.While in Nassau one night a guest "fell"from the 8th or 9th deck to the water below. The crew put a lifeboat in the water to retrieve them.

.

Wow...I have never heard of this in all the years I have been on the Disboards.....I have never heard of anyone falling overboard on DCL, ever.

I was on board back in 2002 when the teen jumped from Deck 4 into St. Thomas harbor on a dare....the Captain was not happy. He climbed out of the water on his own and was snagged when he was dripping wet and his KTTW card indicated that he never left the ship by the gangway!!

MJ

 

[truck1]

Wow...I have never heard of this in all the years I have been on the Disboards.....I have never heard of anyone falling overboard on DCL, ever.

I was on board back in 2002 when the teen jumped from Deck 4 into St. Thomas harbor on a dare....the Captain was not happy. He climbed out of the water on his own and was snagged when he was dripping wet and his KTTW card indicated that he never left the ship by the gangway!!

MJ

This was back around 99 2000ish.I think when both ships were doing 3/4s out of PC. The person actually fell past my grandprents room as we were on our way off the ship. When we were on the pier, the ambulance had just pulled up.When we got back on, my grandparents ran into the people in the room next to them, and they were told what happened. We had actually seen the boat in the water.To answer your next question, it was a recovery as opposed to a rescue.

 

[been2marceline]

Medical evacuations on the lifeboats? Please share. I've been on the ships when we've had to reroute and do emergency debarks at other ports...never where a lifeboat had to be used. Curious to hear more from you...

On our last cruise, November '07 Eastern, the ship did a partial diversion one day to from what I remember what was an island (San Salvador?) in the Bahamas chain, we got within a mile or so from shore and they put someone on a life boat and took him in shore - to where they met up with a local boat and transferred them.

The local boat then took them into town where they could be air-evacuated.

Some of the CM's said that this happened occasionally - this island was the nearest place that they could get someone airlifted out between PC and the first stop on the Eastern itinerary, as they run outside ( East ) of the Bahamas chain from PC on the way to the USVI / St. Maarten.

There are no ports out there so they use what they have available.

 

[mmouse37]

This was back around 99 2000ish.I think when both ships were doing 3/4s out of PC. The person actually fell past my grandprents room as we were on our way off the ship. When we were on the pier, the ambulance had just pulled up.When we got back on, my grandparents ran into the people in the room next to them, and they were told what happened. We had actually seen the boat in the water.To answer your next question, it was a recovery as opposed to a rescue.

Again...wow!!! I thought I heard just about everything that happening on DCL. Been keeping on top of all things DCL since we sailed on the Maiden Voyage of the Magic on July 30, 1998......not doubting at all, just never heard mention of it before. By recovery I assume you mean the person did not survive. I have heard of a few people dying (natural causes) over the years on DCL or at CC but never from falling overboard. We were on a DCL cruise in 2006 and on the kayak excursion in Key West a passenger died due to a heart attack. My father was on that excursion and said it was horrible to see this man die.

MJ