Having enjoyed a pretty dramatic view of the first event, our balcony on deck nine was located directly above the area where a Coast Guard ship arrived.
The Grand came to a complete stop, and we watched as the CG ship pulled aside. Two stretchers were taken aboard, and several other passengers--they appeared to be family members--went aboard the ship as well.
Once the Coast Guard ship undocked and headed back toward Galveston Island, the Grand got underway again.
Dinner was delayed; the announcement indicated that there had been chaos in the galley. Once meal service began, passengers in traditional seating (we're second seating) were simply seated as they showed up.
The dining room was fairly lightly attended; many empty tables, and other tables containing empty seats.
Just emailed my waiter to get his take on what happened and if he's ok. Why I didn't do this last night I don't know. Maybe because I knew he wouldn'd be checking email til this afternoon.
Oh from yet another person onboard:
We had a great night sleeping in our life jackets.
We had just walked into the Horizon court last night when the ship did the quick emergency u-turn to head back to Galveston with the heart attack patient.
We were just about to grab a plate when one of the workers came running out of the galley shouting something about "los platos" then all hell broke loose! All the plates started sliding towards us and started crashing to the ground! All of the china plates and food pans came crashing to the floor. We rapidly reached a very steep angle and thought the ship might be turning over.
I looked at Debbie and I said, "lets get out of here"! We started for the exit and a wall of water came rushing through the door. Debbie yelled "we're taking on water"! That's when the children and people started screaming and crying. I yelled out that it was just the water was from the pool to try and calm everyone down. We managed to waded out and took the stair way down to our cabin to get our life jackets.
Everything in our cabin was thrown about but thankfully nothing was broken. We were still "listing" but not as badly so we went out on our balcony which is open and confered with other passengers in our vacinty and discovered that food, wine, glassware and everything else went flying in the dining rooms and bars.
Finally an announcement was made that there had been a medical emergency. It ws not the captain making the announcement and the guy sounded nervous and scared...his announcement actually scared us a little more. The next announcement a few minutes later explained that the ship had made a quick u-turn which caused the list. We were headed back to Galveston and we watched as the Coast Guard Cutter approached and removed the ill passenger.
Food service was shut down for about 30 minutes and we ventured out to see the damage. Water was everywhere, arcade games had turned over and broken glass was in the bars and dining rooms. What a mess! About 12 people were injured we heard with a broken arm and fractured leg to two crew men.
Everything seems to be back to normal now and the captain made an announcement a few minutes that the ship was never in danger and that the heart attack victim was in critical but stable condition. Thank goodness!
Anybody know what the turning ratio on one of those babies is? Surely somebody on the Bridge went a little to far.........I would like to know if anyone knows just from an education standpoint.
Any ship that size doing a turn tight enough to have things and people flying is enouth to give anyone a heart attack in itself. Have to admit I am slightly confused as to why a helicopter wasn't scrambled, that is the usual course of action in medivacs and in the area where the ship was, is in range of the CG equipment and they are trained to fly in all weathers and in darkness too.
The Captain may get carpeted when he returns on this cruise back to home port, as emergency procedures are not meant to cause damage or injury and any such actions should be avoided at all times. It makes me wonder if the Captain was given the correct information in the first place about the nature of the emergency, in view of recent events in the Red Sea.
I've read on the other board that using a helicoper would have taken more time. Never being on a ship that had to use one I don't know if that's true or not. Since they were so close to Galveston I guess they thought best to just turn around.. Also the family member would not have been able to get off with the ill person if a helicoper was used.
The Captain announced this morning the passenger is stable. He also said we had to turn in a "restricted space." Things are normal this morning. I lost 10 yrs off my life yesterday! I was in the spa on deck 15- and there was no horizon left and I thought we were going down. At the front we had no idea we were turning-jsut falling over! The spa was trashed. the spa pool overflowed into the spa- everything fell of the shelves, seats, lamps, carts rolled at us next to the windows.... I wanted off the boat.... I realized there are no life jackets in the spa and we were going in the water fast--- that was both of our perspectives. We will have an idea if there is a "next time" of this action.... Thankfully we've settled down and I'm no longer searching for Xanax (I don't drink, but wished I did!)
I will be very interested in seeing the Coast Guard incident report on this one.
The turning for medical reasons does not make sense, at least not at that speed.
I suspect that whoever was in command on the bridge may be looking for a new career.
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