Oasis of the Seas

It's not something that happens all the time but it's not a totally unusual occurrence and more often than not occurs when a passenger dies on board. When the next port of call after St Thomas is a foreign port (usually the case) where those formalities tend to be a little more complicated, bringing the body back to a US port expedites things. That's what it MIGHT have been, anyway! Aren't you glad you asked?

Well, OldTart, thank you for the possible explanation. I was just curious of course as I'd assumed it must be a very rare, and powerful reason for a ship to return to port. I hope this instance is not the case of a death as that would indeed be very sad.

It's not something that happens all the time but it's not a totally unusual occurrence and more often than not occurs when a passenger dies on board. When the next port of call after St Thomas is a foreign port (usually the case) where those formalities tend to be a little more complicated, bringing the body back to a US port expedites things. That's what it MIGHT have been, anyway! Aren't you glad you asked?

OldTart, although a sad possibility, you seem correct on this point as Oasis is at Philipsburg St Maarten - Netherlands Antilles (St. Martin) today. Thank you for the information.
Swan

It could be a passenger or crew with a serious medical condition.

We were on the Adventure Of The Sea. After we left St Maarten for St Thomas the captain announced a passenger had a heart attack and were returning to St Maarten. Shortly after that the captain changed is mind and put the pedal to the metal and we headed to St Thomas at 22 Knots. When we arrived an ambulance was at the dock.

My very first cruise eons ago, I was on a Princess ship that had just left Eleuthera and during dinner service I noticed that there was a u-turn of stirred up algae behind us as we'd turned back. It turned out a crew member had a heart attack and we went back to the Princess beach for him to be taken off the ship and air lifted out. The passengers were very approving that the cruise line would take that step for one of their crew and not only for a paying passenger.

A few other cruises I've seen cabins marked with black ribbons because someone had died during the cruise. With the advanced average age of passengers on most cruises, it's a rare cruise that doesn't have a death or at least a heart attack or two during the week. Cruise ship doctors are sometimes scoffed about, but they are very busy people.

In the "old days" cruises were for the newly wed or the nearly dead. they would loose 1.3 passengers per cruise. The kept transport coffins on hand. Now the demographics have changed and the cruise crowd has gotten much younger.I don't know what the current stats are for death at sea.

Sad as it is, I'd rather die suddenly while having fun on a cruise than after wasting away in a nursing home for years. (That is assuming, of course, that these people are old... they may not be.)

Also, since it's critical to get a heart attack patient to a cath lab within 90 minutes if it's at all possible (and quickly to other types of care if that isn't possible), the cruise ships would be asking for a lawsuit if they didn't bother to turn around, regardless of who the patient is. A heart attack doesn't mean instant death the way it used to; many people do very well for decades after a heart attack if they receive the right care.

Yes, cruise ship docs are very busy! Even though not everyone on a cruise is an octogenarian, anytime there are that many people, something is bound to happen to one of them.

In season, the hospital on St Thomas has plenty of cruise ship passengers and crew as patients. Think: broken legs from motor scooters, broken hips from falls, heart attacks, strokes... Yes, the captain will return to port, off-load them to ambulance boats, or divert the ship from another port. Passenger safety is their first concern, not whether Billy Bob gets to do the zip-line in St Somewhere tomorrow.;)

Could have been as simple as a passenger missed the ship 🙂 - 99.9% of the time they will make them tender out but not always.

I know they have a morgue on board all ships - two cruises ago that we were on, three passengers died on board - the first was a 28 year old girl who died the second day at sea of a brain aneurism as she was walking out of the dining room to go to the pool (so sad) - so the morgue unfortunately was used quite a lot that cruise) and the body will then be transported once back to the USA to the funeral home

We just returned home from a cruise yesterday and a passenger was evacuated via US Coast Guard Helicopter as we were 12 hours from Miami - boy that was a sight to see - amazing skill of that helicopter pilot - but still you had to say a prayer for the passenger and family.

Pia

Very rarely will they turn around for passengers that missed the ship. You can search Youtube for passengers that are missing their cruise ships at different ports. There are a couple for Stt.
When you miss a ship, you usually have to take a flight, at your own expense, to the next port of call.
You might get a compassionate Captain that will allow someone to tender you to the the ship, but at your expense.
They usually won't slow down for passengers that missed the ship. For emergencies only will they turn around. They are on a schedule they don't want to deviate from.

Very rarely will they turn around for passengers that missed the ship. You can search Youtube for passengers that are missing their cruise ships at different ports. There are a couple for Stt.
When you miss a ship, you usually have to take a flight, at your own expense, to the next port of call.
You might get a compassionate Captain that will allow someone to tender you to the the ship, but at your expense.
They usually won't slow down for passengers that missed the ship. For emergencies only will they turn around. They are on a schedule they don't want to deviate from.

True. That's why many of us advise cruise ship passengers who want to do the St John trip by themselves to exercise extreme caution in ensuring that they allow ample time to get back to the ship. While the ship will wait for a sponsored tour taxi which for some reason (road accident, etc.) is delayed, no way will they wait for stragglers under their own steam. While it's not all that common that a death occurs on board and the ship turns around while still close by to drop off the body, it's way more usual that the ship's shore agents put in extra hours finding a hotel room and arranging next day flights to the next port of call for passengers who missed the ship! It's an expensive lesson to learn!

I once helped an old (70+) lady go by dinghy to a RCL ship that was anchored in CA as she had missed the last ships tender (that was fun helping her into a dinghy over the seawall in CA) and a family of 4 find a boat (in the Caymans) to tender them to the departing ship - tendering happens a lot more than you think if the ship is still in sight.

Pia

A lot of cruise ships pass the time overnight by going super slow on the water, since their next port call is not far away, so they're not always on a tight schedule. But there's no incentive for the cruise company to turn the ship around for late passengers just to incur more fees for docking, tug, pilot etc.