Trips to Sick Bay - The Good and the Bad

[trout62]

Years ago on the Empress (sniff, such a great ship) my wife slipped on rocks or coral at low tide while snorkeling in Bermuda. She sliced open the palm of her hand and cut the top of her foot badly. In the sick bay, after cleaning and examining both wounds, she was offered the option of a few stitches for her hand, which she declined in favor of a butterfly closure. They also insisted on a tetanus booster, since she couldn't remember her most recent one. Turns out, her arm hurt more for the remainder of the cruise than her foot or hand! We were very pleased at the quality of the care we received and the bill was about $300. She submitted it to health insurance once back home and was reimbursed all but the $50 "urgent care" co-pay. Incidentally, her hand healed perfectly and now she gets to brag about the scar she has from snorkeling in Bermuda!

 

Sorry to monopolize a thread but you guys keep bringing up memories of my own water born injuries.

 

I can tell you from experience, if you break the skin in the ocean, it will scar.

 

I sliced open a finger diving a shipwreck in the keys. Not bad, no stitches. But a med tech that was on the dive boat, while promptly dressing the wound, explained "oh yeah. It'll scar. The ocean has bacteria humans can't process. No matter how quick you clean the wound, it'll scar."

 

Sure enough, even though I always wear a thin wetsuit, I have 1/2 a dozen minor scars from 20 years of nicks and scrapes while diving in the ocean.

 

Trout

[Mark_K]

The woman that checked us in was a little terse, and made it clear I was signing that I was taking financial responsibility for her.

Makes you wonder, if one's daughter were only feeling a little warm and was otherwise OK, why they would be willing to pay to have her temperature taken, etc.

[dixieva]

What happened to that other thread about getting kicked off the ship by the ship doctor? I can't find it now.

[SSPhone]

I've told this story before but here it is again. My nightmare began with a UTI contracted from a Day 2 Hottub error in judgement. Never again in a Hottub on any ship for me. Now a little back story. We had spent 7 days before the cruise traveling from Germany to Rome. I had a few beers and glasses of wine during those days. So I went to see the Dr on ship. A real nice young lady who ran several test took plenty of blood and wouldn't hear it when I told her I know it's a UTI, I have had many in my 50+ years. If she can see fit just to give me a antibiotic it will be over in a day or two with a little rest and cranberry juice.

She decided I had Hepatitis and had to be off the ship the next port, Athens. Now Athens had a fine hosiptal and doctors, just ask them. After paying $500 euros up front they ran so many test and when nothing was found I ask if they can just do a urine test I'm sure they would see it was just a UTI. While we waited on the results there was a nice lady that had move there from the US several years ago and told me if you are ever ill here again just go see a pharmacist tell them you issue and they can give you antibiotics.

Well the Greek Dr finally returned and the news " you have a UTI" here is a prescription for antibiotics.

I returned to the ship just before final boarding, when to the medical office and no one was there. Up to the room we went and waited until the ship was well away from port before returning to see her. When I walked in she was quite surprised to see me and even with the records from the hospital she was sure I had Hepatitis and confined me to the room for the rest of the cruise.

So my hottub error and trip to the medical room cost me half my Mediterranean cruise $500 euros and $500 in medical bills from the ship.

 

On the bright side on the last night I escaped when to the casino and won $500 playing cards. Oh and by the last night all was well and no more UTI fever and no big bar bill.

[lkb125]

The post about the daughter getting kicked off before embarkation by the medical staff got me thinking.

 

On our December Oasis cruise, my adult daughter slipped and fell on the rocks in Labadee. She really hurt her wrist, to the point we were both afraid it was broken. I have heard so many horror stories on this board about the ship’s medical (costs, level of care, etc). I was really afraid to take her for help, but it was day 3 of the cruise, and there was no way I was going to risk putting it off until we returned. I steeled myself to what it was going to cost me, and we headed directly back to the ship to get her wrist checked out.

 

The woman that checked us in was a little terse, and made it clear I was signing that I was taking financial responsibility for her. By this point, I had a knot in my stomach knowing we were probably about to spend our next cruise money in medical.

 

From that point on, the experience was outstanding! The Doctor and staff were very kind to her. They took one set of xrays, and saw something suspicious (skin tag?), so they xrayed the other arm for comparison. The Doctor reviewed the xrays with another Doctor as well. Good news is, her wrist was not broke, but she left medical with a good brace, a sling, and pain pills. The Doctor even discussed pain pill options with her to guide her to a choice that would not restrict her alcohol consumption :rolleyes:.

 

Now comes the part that was completely unexpected. They waived the charges. Now I realize if she had hurt herself in Cozumel rather than on RCCL's private island, I might not have been so lucky, but I still walked away thinking the staff made a difficult situation as good as it could have been. Even if I had to pay for it, I felt she was in good hands.

 

I would like to hear other’s experiences with the ship’s medical staff. Certainly there are other good stories, as well as bad?

 

I have used the medical services on the ships many times. Being a senior citizen with health issues I have always found on cruise ships first rate.Lorelle

[tmcollins]

My DD, 7 yrs old at the time, busted her head on the side of the pool on the LOS. The pool staff quickly ushered us down to the medical center (I think they didn't want anyone to see the blood.) The staff and drs. were very calm with her. She needed 4 stitches. The best part was the dining room staff --- they babied her for the rest of the week. ;) $100 per stitch went on our seapass card. Travel insurance reimbursed us for it w/o any questions. Be sure that your travel insurance has "primary" medical coverage. Otherwise you'll have to file with your personal health coverage first.

[kdpatte]

While on the Allure back in December my husband "fell" during the Quest show trying to get out on the ice. When he sat up he had blood dripping down the side of his head so they quickly took him down to see the doctor. Four stitches and a few hours later they finally released him. Security asked us some questions as far as how it happened. Husband made sure they knew it was his fault....but we never saw a bill for it. He has nothing but great things to say about his experience.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

My sister fell in St Thomas when we were on a cruise on Freedom of the Seas. This may not sound like a big deal, but she had stage four breast cancer, was on a clinical trial for some new chemo and had severe lymphedema in the very arm she fell on.

 

We went to the clinic even though it was closed. The nurse opened the door a crack, but when she saw my sister's arm, she ushered us right in. She was so kind and comforting. She was very thorough in taking my sister's medical history and was careful about what pain pills to give because of my sister's very complicated prescription regimen.

 

I think we all felt so much better because of this excellent and kindly nurse. I wish I could remember her name.

 

My sister is no longer with us unfortunately. But she had wanted so badly to do this one last cruise. We all sort of knew it would be her last. I am glad someone was so good to her on the ship when my sister had that bad fall.

[rubrrick]

Once, while cruising on the Monarch of the Seas, doing a 4 night West Coast and Ensenada run, while in Ensenada, crossing the main street, headed back to the ship, my DW tripped on the pavement, and went flying, landing on the palms of her hands.

 

The result was gravel bits burried in her palms. I suggested that we see the ships doctor, but she insisted that she could just wash off here hands, and bandage it up a bit to stop the bleeding. 5 minutes after returning to our cabin, she knew she had to see the doctor, to have her hands scaped to get out the foreign objects. The greatest pain were the injections to numb her hands.

 

He was very skillful at removing all objects, then bandaging her hands, sort of mummy like and sent us on our way. Captain Hakan Lindegren, who is no longer with the company, had invited us up to the bridge. He was shocked to see my DW bandaged as such, but all we could talk about was the care and kindness of the doctor.

 

As we were leaving the bridge, the captain asked us to join him for dinner in the WJ, and we set a time.

 

There had been a private area set aside for us in an area of the WJ, and after filling our plates, went over to join Hakan. Shortly thereafter, to our surprise, the doctor also joined us. The 4 of us enjoyed dinner, and we found out that the doctor was from South Africa, but was trained in the United States.

 

What really amazed me the following morning, when I received our ships bill, was that the medical bill was X...I don't exactly remember the amount, but there was a courtesy discount, leaving a balance for everything that was done.....for $40.00 medical charge!

 

The next time we cruised on the Monarch, we sought out the doctor, to try to repay his kindness, but he had signed off, and went back to his practice.

 

So, there are many stories of the medical facilities onboard the Royal Caribbean fleet.

 

And there are some that defy description, and Royal Caribbean will not step up to the plate for their own misdeed. It's an ongoing case, so I cannot speak of it.

 

I think if Royal Caribbean had a better set of their own standards, that medical officers and crew alike, could follow, everyone would be better for it!;)

 

Rick

[knittinggirl]

I had one trip to the doctor. Intestinal bug. They gave me a shot, two types of pills and quarantined me for about 36 hours. We'd paid for shore excursions the next two days, they refunded the first, and lifted the quarantine in time for me to go on the other. Cost, free as stated in the Compass.

[oneputt18]

What happened to that other thread about getting kicked off the ship by the ship doctor? I can't find it now.

 

OP admitted to using a pseudo name to post. A CC no no.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Daghis]

We had an experience that was somewhat related, although it was a question of getting checked out before boarding.

 

My friend and I were doing a semi-B2B, sequential cruises on two different ships. On the last day of the first cruise, the waters were a bit rough. I got a little green and had to be careful what I ate, but my friend got truly seasick and did throw up.

 

When we went to board the second ship, we had to fill out the traditional health questionnaire. As most of you know, one of the two questions it asks is "Within the last 2 days, have you or any person listed above developed any symptoms of Diarrhea or Vomiting?" It goes on further to say "If you answer 'Yes', you will be assessed free of charge by a member of our shipboard medical staff. You will be allowed to travel, unless you are suspected to have an illness of international public health concern."

 

So, we answered that question truthfully. The woman checking us in looked at the form, got a very grave look on her face and asked which one of us was sick.

 

She took us to a room to wait for someone from the ship's medical staff to evaluate my friend. The nurse came in, talked to my friend about what happened and took his temperature. She noted on the form that his temperature was normal and that he was feeling fine now, so it was merely seasickness and he was then permitted to board.

 

It would have been easier just to lie on the form, but we both believe in being honest. It only ended up being an impediment of about twenty minutes and we still managed to get a seat in the Windjammer for lunch. :)