A cruise vacation exploring the Hawaiian Islands and the Mexican Riviera came to an abrupt end for one guest onboard Holland America Line’s Zaandam following a medical emergency that required a US Coast Guard evacuation.
The drama unfolded at about 10 am on November 25, 2024, when the senior doctor on Zaandam notified the US Coast Guard’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu that a 32-year-old male guest was showing signs of a stroke and needed more medical attention than the cruise ship could provide.
Zaandam was less than a week into her 28-day Circle Hawaii & Mexican Riviera/Sea Of Cortez cruise, roundtrip from San Diego, when the emergency occurred. The ship had departed the Southern California port on November 19, 2024 and had completed her first port call, at Honolulu, Oahu.
The urgent call to the Coast Guard happened after that port call, as the ship was sailing about 330 miles northeast of Oahu.
After consulting with their duty flight surgeon, Coast Guard watchstanders prepared to medevac the guest. At about 3:15 am on November 26, 2024, the Coast Guard dispatched an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and an HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point.
The crews reached Zaandam as the ship sailed about 50 miles east of Kaneohe, Oahu. The guest was hoisted into the helicopter, along with a nurse from the cruise ship, and both were taken to Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu.
The guest’s identity was not revealed. He was reported to be in stable condition after arriving at the Honolulu hospital. You can watch footage of the airlift below:
Zaandam, a 1,432-guest Rotterdam-class ship, continued on her journey with no apparent changes to her itinerary. The ship is scheduled to call at ports in Maui and the Big Island of Hawaii before sailing to several Mexican Riviera ports, including Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, Loreto, La Paz, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Manzanillo.
The ship, one of Holland America Line’s older ships, entered service in 2000, and will remain homeported in San Diego through early May 2026, when she repositions to Vancouver, British Columbia.
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Zaandam will offer 7-night Alaska Inside Passage cruises through mid-September 2025 before returning to San Diego. The ship will sail a 56-night South Pacific voyage before resuming her winter schedule of Hawaii and Mexico cruises.
Earlier Airlift Also Happened in Hawaiian Waters
The Coast Guard evacuation of the ailing guest from Zaandam was the second incident that happened in the waters off Hawaii in the last month.
In mid-October 2024, a 63-year-old male guest sailing on Princess Cruises’ 2,600-guest Grand Princess became ill with severe abdominal pain, prompting the ship’s medical team to request a medevac from the Coast Guard.
In that case, the ship notified the US Coast Guard District Eleven Command Center on October 12, 2024 as she sailed near the Big Island of Hawaii. The next day, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Guard Air Station Ventura arrived and evacuated the guest.
Another Coast Guard evacuation happened later in October, when a 71-year-old guest sailing on Carnival Cruise Line’s 5,374-guest Carnival Jubilee became ill. The ship had just left her homeport of Galveston, Texas to begin a Western Caribbean cruise.
The ship’s crew alerted Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston on October 26, 2024 that the guest needed advanced medical care. The Coast Guard sent a 45-foot response boat from Station Galveston to airlift the guest.
