An emergency rescue onboard Voyager of the Seas cruise ship on Sunday saw a woman airlifted to hospital.
RACQ CQ Rescue landed on the deck of the vessel in the Whitsundays just after 10:00 a.m.
A 68-year-old woman from North Carolina, was believed to have fallen down stairs aboard Voyager of the Seas and sustained a broken pelvis.
The Royal Carribean cruise ship, which departed Sydney last Wednesday and was only 4 days into a 14-day voyage to Singapore, was anchored offshore at Port of Airlie.
RACQ, a doctor and a critical care paramedic arrived at the scene and orbited the huge cruise ship before landing on the heli pad around 11:00 a.m.
An RACQ CQ Rescue crewman said the service's Bell 412 helicopter landed on the front of the ship and remained running, rotor blades still turning, while the doctor and paramedic boarded the vessel and went below deck to assess and retrieve the woman.
The rescue chopper flew a total of 110 nautical miles to transfer the tourist to Mackay Base Hospital, which arrived before 1:00 p.m. with the patient in a stable condition.