Are medical bays on the ships really equipped to handle severe outbreaks?

[Karen Lira]

Hello fellow cruisers.

 

We have sailed 3 times since the start up.  On Princess Majestic in August of 2021 - ship was only about 1/3 full and all went well out of Seattle.  I have no doubt it was due to the decreased about of passengers.  We were on the Ruby twice this year - January to Mexico and March to Hawaii.  Both sails were a complete disappointment.  It was painfully obvious that they were extremely understaffed (confirmed by several crew members) and all sorts of other issues - internet, their Medallion app, out of stock items, etc.  We understand supply chain issues but sailing with an inadequate staff and increasing prices is just unacceptable in our book.  this brings me to my main concern - we are sailing on a 28 sail to Tahiti in November - wondering if anyone has any info on how well ships these days are staffed and ready for serious outbreaks and other medical issues out in the middle of the Pacific.  All the news lately about quarantined folks being treated poorly and ignored on current sailings has us really worried.  Any experiences or advise would be greatly appreciated - thank you!  Happy sailing - I hope!

[DeanneB]

@Karen Lira Ships are required to have a medical personnel, doctors and nurses, with crisis training and experience.  The overall crew are also trained for different scenarios.  When an outbreak occurs and passengers and crews that are quarantined, is expected and required to stay inside their rooms.  Unfortunately, there is no extra room services, except for food and medicine room service.  There will be very little to none, face to face contact since the ship's concern is for the crew to healthy enough to run the ship's vitals.  So basically for outbreak and quarantines, there will be food, medicine on board and supplies but they will not be cleaning the rooms.  For real emergencies, life threatening ones, a chopper can airlift you to the nearest hospital.  So make sure you have a good medical travel insurance that will cover you for the trip to cover different scenarios.