Wondering about onboard medical services

We recently had an experience onboard a ship that has left me wondering about the variation in adequacy of the medical services onboard a ship. I know that some cruise lines have contracts with top quality medical centers located on land that they can send data to and consult with if need arises. Some ships have some minimal xray equipment onboard and some do not,

Does anyone know how I might obtain this info? We like to take longer cruises to remote locales but I no longer feel quite as confident as previously.

I would appreciate any help or direction I can get. Thanks in advance for any help.

I think Princess has excellent facilities. Here are some examples:

Several years ago, the cruise before ours on the Coral Princess, a woman on a nature walk in Puntarenas (Costa Rica) was bitten by a poisonous snake while wearing flip flops. The ship's doctor arranged for anti-venom to treat her.

On our cruise, a woman was walking down the street in Acapulco, tripped, fell and broke her arm in three places. They X-rayed her arm and set it, and arranged with her orthopedist to operate after being disembarked and flown home.

The last sea day before disembarkation, my brother-in-law experienced a ruptured bowel. The ship's doctor diagnosed and treated him with antibiotics. They also put out a call for blood donors, screened donors, and gave him eight transfusions. When we arrived in FLL, they had pre-arranged his entry into the US and an ambulance raced him to the hospital as soon as the ship was tied up.

I have other examples but to me, I think Princess has excellent facilities.

Thank you Pam for that info. I appreciate it. It doesn't surprise me.We often sail on Princess but went on a smaller ship on a different cruise line recently. From personal experience and stories we heard we believe the ship was lacking in what it had to offer in regards to medical services. If you don't need them you don't think about it.

Our last time on Princess we experienced a diminished quality in food and service. This prompted us to try something different. I hadn't thought to consider a variable such as medical services. I think we will need to reevaluate our choices.

When we were on our cruise through the Panama Canal, one of our friends who sailed with us was tripped in the welcome center while visiting the lock. She fell on her wrist. We needed to tender back to the ship and they whisked her away as soon as we got back. They did X-rays and sent them to Texas to be checked by another medical team - just to make sure! She was given a splint to wear, medication to make her feel more comfortable, and checked up on her at least twice afterward and was also told to come back to be re-evaluated a couple days later, to make sure she was ok!

On our cruise to Hawaii, a cold bug morphed on the ship and my DH picked it up a few days before the end of the trip. He, being the macho man that he is, didn't go have someone look at him till the last night, after hours (of course!) They hooked him up to a couple of IVs and dripped some good juices into him so I was able to get him on the planes home! They also gave hime some meds to help him out until we did get home.

As it turned out, someone else on our two flights was also in the medical area that night getting the same treatment. She was so weak, she had to use a wheelchair to get to her car once we arrived to the final destination!

They do care and they do a great job! Both of our experiences make me feel more comfortable traveling on Princess.

Our last time on Princess we experienced a diminished quality in food and service.

And, if you have a problem with the food, say something. On my Sapphire cruise last month, we were seated in Traditional dining at a table for eight. The second night, several of our entrees were either cold or room temperature. We said something and every night after, our food was piping "don't touch" hot. :)

We just came off a 10 day on the Emerald and did the Ultimate Ship Tour. I was. Very impressed with the Medical center. They had 3 rooms that could serve as ICU units, on board lab and X rays and a number of specialists on land to send tests to. They are able and prepared to stabilize almost any situation, including intiubation if necessary. Of course it all comes at a price. Medical insurance is a wise choice if you have any pre existing conditions as the Med Centers are Cash only, as they told us. This ship had 2 doctors, 3 nurses and 2 paramedics on board.

We've use the medical facilities three times; once for me, twice for husband; all different ships and all excellent. He broke his shoulder on the Diamond and xrays were sent to Texas for confirmation (as mentioned above). We also received a CD to take with us.

Princess insurance has always reimbursed 100%.

Pre existing conditions are not covered by extra insurance. Read the small print on your policy. If you have a heart condition and have a heart attack your extra insurance most likely won't cover it. There is usually a time limit from when your condition was treated and no problems have occurred when they will cover you. It can be up to a year or more.

I personally had to use the medical center services in January on the Golden Princess. I was impressed by the care, service and efficiency. When the bill arrived, DH and I wondered what the ER land cost would have been, because IMHO, the Princess costs were very reasonable. My insurance covered it at 100%.

I also recall someone on our Hawaii cruise in 2007 having very serious medical problems while at sea. She was evacuated in Ensenada where there happened to be a leading specialist in her diagnosis on staff at the hospital. While the event was extremely frightening for her, it ended well. A Princess rep stayed with them in Mexico until she returned to the US.

The larger ships have facilities that rival a hospital ER in terms of equipment and capability if not better. The smaller ones may not have as much capability simply due to space, but should still be able to handle most situations. All ships have access to telemedicine as long as a sat signal isi available.

Pre existing conditions are not covered by extra insurance. Read the small print on your policy. If you have a heart condition and have a heart attack your extra insurance most likely won't cover it. There is usually a time limit from when your condition was treated and no problems have occurred when they will cover you. It can be up to a year or more.

180 days with Princess insurance and only if something has changed.

Several years ago I became ill on the Ruby as a complication from a previous surgery about 3 mos prior to our cruise. The MD and staff were great . They got me treated for pain and monitored me until we arrived at Turks and Caicos the next day. I was then air evaced to Miami for surgery where I stayed for 17 days. Princess travel insurance took care of my husband, calling every day to see if he needed anything. My primary medical insurance paid for the ship's treatment and of course the Miami stay. We were very pleased with all aspects of Princess care on the ship and off.Reimbursed for all expenses minus a few hundred $$'s for the Miami hotel.

My FIL came down with an infection on a recent cruise and needed to be treated. He was impressed with the facilities and the service he received in the medical center. We were impressed when the bill came in. We'd assumed it would be astronomical, but it was actually pretty reasonable. While I wouldn't recommend getting sick or injured on a ship if you can help it, it did put my mind at ease to hear he had such a good experience.

On our last trip to HI, fell over a concrete curb at Honolulu terminal and got a hip contusion.

Medical staff took xrays - no broken hip, but sent me a hospital for a scan, which also came back negative.

Doctors and nurses both on the ship and at the hospital were excellent.

Many thanks for all this very helpful information.

We definitely plan to look into Princess for our next cruise.

Even for minor things on Princess ... DH got sunscreen in his eye and it turned BLOOD RED and hurt. The doctor gave him some drops to use and had him come by every day to make sure it things were going well. He was only charged for the first visit ... not the follow-ups.

Several times we've seen people break a bone in port and be taken back to the ship to have it set.

LuLu

~~~

That is remarkable that the doctor checked his eye several times and did not charge for a visit. This is quite unlike a very recent experience we just had onboard a ship. It was that experience that has prompted my questions. It may have just been the luck of the draw in terms of the doctor onboard but it certainly has had a strong influence on us. We have been fortunate in not needing the medical center during many years of cruising.

Several times we've seen people break a bone in port and be taken back to the ship to have it set.

We've had personal experiences a few times. Once our luggage got "lost". On a 12 day cruise we got it on day 10. Unfortunately my cough medicine was in the packed luggage. My throat gets really dry, then I start coughing and then I start throwing up. We were offered free medical services since we had nothing. My daughter had only the clothes on her back. I was treated at no charge.

Other time, my DD was doing a Princess excursion in Costa Rico. She dove into the water and ended up with a metal thing in her eye. As the excursion progressed her eye got worse. Once back on the ship she had to go the the medical staff and they had to physically remove it. No charge.

My mother really likes to get pneumonia and bronchitis and does so often. Walk into a room and cough. Yup, she's got it. Needs to go to the hospital. We had just started a cruise out of San Juan. Around 11 PM she just couldn't breathe. We call the doctor. She was in the "hospital" for three days. Yes, she paid more for that visit then she did the cruise. She also had 24/7 type coverage. She was really pissed off that she didn't get to have cheese cake. I ordered one for her room. They wanted to send just one piece. I said no, she hasn't eaten anything for the past few days, the least you can do is give her a cheesecake. It arrived shortly after.

Years and years before on the original Island Princess she got the usual. She was confined to her cabin for four days. They wouldn't even let the cabin steward come in. He was upset because he could't clean or change the bedding. Twice a day the medical staff came to her cabin. I was actually surprised they let her fly home. Thought they were going to keep her.

My take - they are qualified and competent. I actually had quite a visit with the one in the Med where we lost our luggage. Even met up with him and crew for drinks.

From all the reports and comments, Princess does offer excellent care in its on board medical facilities, but keep in mind they do have their limitations....

Some of you may recall a well reported incident a few years ago, where a teenage girl aboard a Princess ship was diagnosed as suffering acute appendicitis. The ship was well off the Baja coast, not near any suitable hospitals for medevac evacuation. Fortunately, the USS Ronald Reagan was not too far away, and the Princess ship and the Reagan sailed towards each other at full speed, until they were within helicopter evac range. The girl was transported over to the Reagan, and rushed into their extensive full operating room, where they removed her appendix, just in time to save her life.

Here is a link to that story http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=33932

They did X-rays and sent them to Texas to be checked by another medical team

Some of you may recall a well reported incident a few years ago, where a teenage girl aboard a Princess ship was diagnosed as suffering acute appendicitis. The ship was well off the Baja coast, not near any suitable hospitals for medevac evacuation. Fortunately, the USS Ronald Reagan was not too far away, and the Princess ship and the Reagan sailed towards each other at full speed, until they were within helicopter evac range. The girl was transported over to the Reagan, and rushed into their extensive full operating room, where they removed her appendix, just in time to save her life.

You make it sound as if the girl would likely have died if not for her transfer to the USN ship. If she was not stable enough to wait for the two ships to reach each other, the facilities on the Princess ship would have been more than adequate to operate. On the UST on Star Princess the doctor shared what was his worst emergency case in more than 20 years at sea: a crew member with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, more than 48 hours away from any possible safe evacuation. Of course he performed the life-saving surgery himself. And this doctor was very candid as to how the ability to medically evactuate passengers, whether by air or sea, is most often used improperly: for a critically ill person the stress of a helicopter flight will increase mortality far more than stabilising them as best as can be until the next port; while far to many "vacation rent-a-docs" that some other lines hire order patients who are only moderately sick to be evacuated so as not to "inconvenience" the medical center with a needy patient in the unlikely event that a passenger with nothing more than a case of (paraphrasing the doctor's blunt words here) noisy gastritis turns acute.

So the case cited above is an unusal exception where an elaborate air evacuation arrangement was the best resolution. But to cite it as evidence of "limitations" of onboard medical facilities is grossly unfair.

Pre existing conditions are not covered by extra insurance. Read the small print on your policy. If you have a heart condition and have a heart attack your extra insurance most likely won't cover it. There is usually a time limit from when your condition was treated and no problems have occurred when they will cover you. It can be up to a year or more.

We use travel guard and if you purchase your travel policy within 2 weeks of booking, and get the premium package, pre existing conditions are covered. I have diabetes, asthma, and a wonky hip, so I always make sure I am fully covered. My regular insurance will pay for emergencies as well.

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Pre existing conditions are not covered by extra insurance. Read the small print on your policy. If you have a heart condition and have a heart attack your extra insurance most likely won't cover it. There is usually a time limit from when your condition was treated and no problems have occurred when they will cover you. It can be up to a year or more.

Sorry but not true. Many (not all) policies do cover pre-existing illnesses if the policy is purchased within a two to three week period after the initial cruise deposit. EVERY policy I have ever purchased has the pre-existing illness waiver.

There is no reason for a person with any pre-existing illness to not be able to travel with medical coverage. There are many postings on this subject and websites to help make this happen. Don't be alarmed. Just do your homework.

We recently had an experience onboard a ship that has left me wondering about the variation in adequacy of the medical services onboard a ship. I know that some cruise lines have contracts with top quality medical centers located on land that they can send data to and consult with if need arises. Some ships have some minimal xray equipment onboard and some do not,

 

Does anyone know how I might obtain this info? We like to take longer cruises to remote locales but I no longer feel quite as confident as previously.

 

I would appreciate any help or direction I can get. Thanks in advance for any help.

I have travelled with several physicians on Princess ships. They were always impressed by the medical centers and equipment. Princess uses doctors who are specially trained to serve as ship doctors. I have had travelers over the years in my groups that used the medical centers and with rare exception were impressed.

I would add that the care is specialized and costly and a cruise cancellation trip insurance package with adequate medical coverage is very wise. If you have health issues, don't forget the pre-existing illness waiver!