Very Sad Cruise

[cj'smom]

On my first Disney cruise, I was traveling with my mom who was terminally ill. Prior to the cruise, I had a long talk with a nurse who had worked with cruise lines for many years.

She said that deaths while on board cruise ships is a common occurrence for many reasons.

1.) Large # of elderly cruisers esp. on the longer cruises.
2.) People are off their regular schedules and forget to take their meds.
3.) People tend to "overdo it" while on vacation - be more active on excursions and on ship than their body is used to, or they temporarily ignore "doctors orders" because they are on vacation - can lead to heart attacks, etc.
4.) Some people who know they are terminally ill actually schedule cruises for their final days with a hope to die at sea.
5.) Outbreaks of Norwalk virus, etc. that can hit hard those with compromised immune systems.
6.) Sheer # of people on board, statistically increases the chance of a death occurring.

She said each ship has a morgue and procedures to deal with a death onboard. Very sad but it does happen on a regular basis. Most of the time, the other passenger would never know about it.

Glad to hear Disney handled this in a caring and compassionate manner. Prayers to this family in their loss.

 

[cmadara]

My family and I were in WDW waiting to go into our character breakfast at the Beach Club, when paramedics came rushing in. We noticed a man lying on the ground outside the restaurant- we could see from the waiting area. They started performing CPR on him. We all said a prayer and quickly they took him away. Cast members were everywhere, comforting who looked like family members.
It was very sad and it made me think of the family for the rest of our trip.
It made me wonder how often something like that happens. But then I think about how many people go to WDW and statistically, it is like anywhere else. These things happen- though terrible sad for all invloved.

 

[mousecruzer]

@MCO737FO~ I appreciate your professional point of view. I am glad that DCL handled the situation with care and respect for the family. My prayers go out for the family.

 

[smsnorthup]

We were also on this cruise and were in Triton's Friday night (first seating) for dinner. They made an announcement over the intercom about during dinner...I didn't hear it word for word but something about a code, and stateroom 5xxx (don't remember it, but it was on the 5th deck). We finished dinner and went to pick up our daughter at Oceaneer's Lab on deck 5 somewhere around 7:45-8:00 and they had closed off the elevators for an emergency so we took the stairs and there were lots of cm's around. We were waiting in line to pick up my dd and heard comotion behind us and saw the medics performing chest compressions while they were moving him on the stretcher. It was very sad for my husband and I to see and am very glad my dd didn't see it. We both felt so terrible for the families. Prayers go out to them.

 

[snelsonbrown]

thoughts and prayers go out to this family - I agree this is so very sad especially for all the children that watched this - they learn it fast enough in their lifetimes.
Innocence is so precious that we want to hang on to it for as long as we can.
Blessings to all of those that helped, took care of and embraced during this sad time
Always
Shirley

 

[Chloe's mom]

MCO737FO, I appreciate your post.
I just got home today from our cruise (with you on the Wonder). We had fiished dinner Friday evening at AP and had just started up the aft steps from the 4th floor up to our room on the 6th floor, when they announced a code..... something like "bright star" or "light star" (I don't remember exactly what it was but it was two words spoken very clearly) and the specific room number "5xxx". All of a sudden, there were people in white uniforms coming from EVERYWHERE all in a matter of seconds, and I mean seconds. Running to that room. By the time we got to the 5th floor (just up from the 4th floor), there was one cast member looking down the hallway towards the back of the ship and I asked her what that code meant and she said it was "an emergency" and she looked very worried. I assumed it meant something like code blue in the hospitals.
Anyway, we went on up to our room and never heard any more about it, but I've had that incident on my mind wondering what happened so I appreciate you letting us know. God Bless this family....

 

[cmclaura]

It's definitely Bright Star. We heard that code on our Western Caribbean cruise January 9. We were just leaving our cabin to go downstairs and saw crew running.

When we got to the 3rd or 4th floor, I saw that a woman was being worked on; apparently, she had a terrible fall from the top of the stairs and landed on her head at the bottom. A drinks server told us she had been standing right next to her when she tumbled.

This was right as we were pulling out of Port Canaveral and we were headed to the Sailaway Party (inside because of cold and rain). I thought of her and her family the entire cruise and wonder if she was alright or if they had to leave the ship.

 

[atinkerbellmom]

Ebunny is right and we are a MAW family with a Disney cruise. Personally if it happened while on one of the happiest places on earth I would be ecstatic. My family would be too. I want to die happy and my family does too.

We have a friend who's mom died on Splash Mountain at WDW... I thought that it would be very sad for them... They were happy that she died at a place doing something she really wanted to do. They said it was a wonderful last memory as she zip down screaming with her only grandson. Disney sends them tickets every year and I thought they would never want to go back, but they say that it is actually a warm feeling they get knowing they help complete her final not only days and hours, but minutes.

Prayers to the family, I sure hope they are able to look at the good memories and not associated the cruise with bad ones.

 

[DAKfever]

OMG that is what Bright Star means....we were on a previous cruise and at around 2AM we heard a page saying something like, "code bright star cabin or deck something!" Yikes that's erie but then again accidents happen anywhere. Not even the mouse can prevent that!

 

[yndygo]

It's definitely Bright Star. We heard that code on our Western Caribbean cruise January 9. We were just leaving our cabin to go downstairs and saw crew running.

I looked up Bright Star while on another cruise line because there was a 2am in-room speaker announcement about that and a room number... this code is used across the cruise line industry. It's pretty much the equivalent of a Code Blue in a hospital.

We had a med-evac on a 7-day DCL Eastern - the captain explained that we were diverting for an air evac and would be delayed by a couple of hours and no one we talked to had problems with the delay b/c we could all sympathize. The next day, the captain also took the time to inform us that the passenger evac-ed had suffered a heart attack, but that he had gotten help in time and was doing well in the hospital. It really made a difference to hear that.

I think it's much better to know the results than to wonder.

My heart goes out to the family OP mentioned as do my prayers.

We have always stayed in 5-aft, so personally, I'm kind of happy not to know the room. People die outside of hospitals all the time, but I'd rather not know for sure that my cruise ship room, hotel room, or bedroom were someone else's last view. :[

 

[Fivepin]

We were also on this cruise and were in Triton's Friday night (first seating) for dinner. They made an announcement over the intercom about during dinner...I didn't hear it word for word but something about a code, and stateroom 5xxx (don't remember it, but it was on the 5th deck). We finished dinner and went to pick up our daughter at Oceaneer's Lab on deck 5 somewhere around 7:45-8:00 and they had closed off the elevators for an emergency so we took the stairs and there were lots of cm's around. We were waiting in line to pick up my dd and heard comotion behind us and saw the medics performing chest compressions while they were moving him on the stretcher. It was very sad for my husband and I to see and am very glad my dd didn't see it. We both felt so terrible for the families. Prayers go out to them.

We must have been at the lab around the same time. I went to go pickup my son from the lab for the show around 7:50 and I saw them holding the elevator open for the stretcher. The code was Bright Star. We had heard it one other time on a previous cruise and it was in Oceaneer's club. My prayers go out to the family.

 

[Jennifer in MI]

What a scary experience. I'm so sorry that happened on your cruise.

Last year this happened to my nephew on the Magic. We were cruising with my sister and her family. They had been sick and confined to their cabins for a good portion of the cruise. On the last morning, we heard over the intercom, ". . . Star (room number)". I heard the room number and asked our waiter at breakfast what it meant. He said, "Medical emergency." I ran to her room where I saw nurses and doctors. I asked what had happened and they replied, "The baby!!!!" My sis was pregnant, so I assumed she was losing the baby. But, it was her 2 yo. He'd had a seizure. I followed them to the ER on the ship. It really is an ER!!! After they got off the ship, my sis and her dh took my nephew to the local ER to have a CAT scan and other tests done. All was fine. Thank God. But, I'll never forget those nurses and docs on the cruise who were WONDERFUL!!!!! And, seeing the inside of the medical unit made me VERY comfortable. They can handle a LOT on the ship!

 

[CruznLexi]

Very sad but a large number of passangers are over 75. When we went to Hawaii on RCI before our first port 5 people had to be airlifted. This was after almost 5 days at sea.

 

[Purplejewel]

I was on this cruise with my DD. Didn't hear the announcement but was told at dinner (late seating)from two of our tablemates who were Disney employees that someone had a medical emergency. Now I'm concerned because my 79 year old grandmother is going on a 7-day Disney cruise in October and she isn't in the best of health. I will worry until she returns safely.

 

[tvguy]

I was on this cruise with my DD. Didn't hear the announcement but was told at dinner (late seating)from two of our tablemates who were Disney employees that someone had a medical emergency. Now I'm concerned because my 79 year old grandmother is going on a 7-day Disney cruise in October and she isn't in the best of health. I will worry until she returns safely.

My mom is 86 and a frequent cruiser. Her health is fine. While concerns about health issues on a cruise are on my mind, but, she needs to live her life, she likes to cruise, and medical emergencies can happen at home too. At least on the ship, a doctor is never more than a few floors away in case there is an emergency.

 

[croppincolburn]

Purplejewel, my stepfather, who is over 80, cruises all the time. He is on insulin, has had bypass surgery and uses that machine that helps with breathing when sleeping. He cruises all over the world. And I do mean all over the world. I'm not sure there is a destination they have left to visit. He does have my mom keeping an eye on him. She takes the job seriously. LOL Try not to worry too much.

 

[Ebunny]

Interesting enough I just found out my room.. its on the 5th floor! LOL But we're on the Magic

 

[mmouse37]

Interesting enough I just found out my room.. its on the 5th floor! LOL But we're on the Magic

Between the two ships there are literally hundreds of people that sail in cabins on Deck 5 each week....I would not give it another thought about being on Deck 5. It is a great deck!!

MJ

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My mom is 86 and a frequent cruiser. Her health is fine. While concerns about health issues on a cruise are on my mind, but, she needs to live her life, she likes to cruise, and medical emergencies can happen at home too. At least on the ship, a doctor is never more than a few floors away in case there is an emergency.

Purplejewel, my stepfather, who is over 80, cruises all the time. He is on insulin, has had bypass surgery and uses that machine that helps with breathing when sleeping. He cruises all over the world. And I do mean all over the world. I'm not sure there is a destination they have left to visit. He does have my mom keeping an eye on him. She takes the job seriously. LOL Try not to worry too much.

I love hearing stories like these. Life is so short so why sit at home if you're physically and financially able to cruise.
If I die suddenly, I'd rather it be while doing something I love with my family.

 

[sbell111]

Actually, I never noticed before this but the number on deck 5 is crazy. The numbers are in 5000, and 5100, 5500 and 5600's. They could all be in the 5000's because there aren't even 50 cabins on that deck

The first digit of the stateroom number identifies the deck that the stateroom is on (obviously). The second digit of a stateroom number identifies where on that deck the stateroom is located.

0 = port side, forward
1 = port side, aft
5 = starboard side, forward,
6 = starboard side, aft

The last two numbers identify the specific stateroom in that area. They are numbered from fore to aft. Outside cabins are even numbers. Inside cabins are odd.

This is very important in an emergency situation when a crewmember has to get to a specific cabin super fast.