Saturday, 10 NOV 2012 at sea between Fremantle and Albany, Western Australia
Ever wonder about the age distribution aboard a cruise ship? I'm sure that it varies depending on the itinerary and length of the cruise. The one we are on is a total of 55 days from late September to late November. Kids in both Northern and Southern Hemispheres are still in school. So I wasn't surprised that it's mostly old people aboard. Not likely that a middle-aged family with or without kids would sign up for such a cruise. Although the cruise was marketed by Holland America in three roughly comparable segments: Vancouver to Sydney, Sydney to Perth, and Perth to Sydney, so it's not inconceivable that a working couple might have three or four weeks of vacation saved up. But, as it turns out, if you see anyone younger than 50 aboard it's a sure bet that they are part of the ship's crew or staff or the itinerant entertainers that join and depart the cruise at various ports along the way. A large proportion of the guests are very elderly with significant disabilities. Paula and I are 64, so we think we are still fairly young, and when I say "very elderly" I mean that they are (or appear to be) pushing 90 years old. Getting from place to place on the ship can be frustrating because of all the arthritic oldsters shuffling along verrrrryyy slooooooowly. There is one fellow on a scooter or whatever it is called; at least two are in wheelchairs; several get around with canes, and several more ought to be using one. Something like 20% walk with the typical gait of bad hips and bad knees, rocking side to side with each step. On the other hand, there are quite a few power walkers, significantly older than me, who keep passing me when I'm walking for exercise around the outdoors perimeter of Deck 3.I asked one of the staff how common it is for someone to die during the cruise. She said it was fairly common, more so than most people are aware. They have procedures to deal with it and a cold-storage morgue just for such eventualities. If the Grim Reaper visits, the ship will not divert from its itinerary to make an unscheduled port call. They use the ship's telecommunications to help the surviving companion (if any) contact relatives and make whatever arrangements they need to transfer the deceased at the next port and get the body flown home. According to my informants they will not bury at sea, nor will they keep the body in the icebox until the ship gets back to the US or wherever it might be more conveniently closer to home. If you expire aboard, you're off the ship at the next port that has an airport.
The rumor mill is very active. Our departure from Lombok was delayed a few hours because two people had to be offloaded for "medical emergencies". One had suffered a stroke and was transferred to an Indonesian hospital for evaluation regarding further transfer back home. I haven't heard what the other person's problem was. Earlier in the trip a lady fell and broke her hip, so she was put in a hospital in Hawai'i. There is a rumor that another elderly lady traveling by herself was found by the crew wandering around late at night utterly confused, not knowing where she was or why she was here. Her family was contacted and told to come get her, and she was put ashore at the next port (presumably with some sort of escort or into the care of a waiting family member). I myself heard someone telling how he had to go to three different doctors before he could find one who was willing to certify that he was well enough to go on this cruise. A couple who last year went on a 135-day around-the-world cruise told me that nine people had died during it.
It may sound like I'm callous about all this, but actually I'm sympathetic and somewhat admiring of those folks who have the grit and spirit of adventure to do this in what could well be the last year of their lives. There are lots of worse ways to go!
Posted from Tyler's iPad
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