Saved by Ship’s Doctors

Chills ran up my spine as I read “Shipboard Medicine Raises Standards” (Healthy Traveler, March 25).

Last Christmas Eve, on a cruise in the South Pacific, my father suffered a massive heart attack in his stateroom on Princess Cruises’ Regal Princess. Medical personnel arrived immediately, and they were able to resuscitate him using onboard defibrillators.

The defibrillators were needed again in the doctor’s quarters during the wait for an ambulance in Auckland, New Zealand. (My father underwent a successful triple bypass operation in Auckland.)

I am forever indebted to the skilled medical staff on the Regal. The superb attention my father received could match, or even surpass, the finest hospitals on land.

LYNETTE BALLAS Burbank