Aunt and Uncle Removed from Sapphire Princess

[Colo Cruiser]

was the last day in maui we had 4 plus days at sea and i had gallbladder issues the doc told me he would get off cause 4 days at sea would be to risky had a surgery spent a few days in maui wasnt the best end of a cruise .now i travel with travel insurance one good thing since i was still in the U.S my medical expenses where covered . but hotel and air short notice wasnt great for the creidt card :eek:. my dw did book a return cruise a few months later so i could enjoy the great food i missed :p

 

So you had reg health ins but no cruise ins?

That should have covered your hotel/flights.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Firstly, very sorry to hear about your aunt's health issues...

 

I'm sure there's more to it than the Doc giving the boot to them however and its probably for the better either way. The Doc may not want to take the risk of treating her especially if your next 4 days or so will be at sea back to Los Angeles. Alternatively, if she has some communicable disease that's spread by coughing, wheezing, etc, I'm sure the Doc/Captain have good reason. I'm sure Princess will try to accommodate in some fashion, and if they purchased, travelers' insurance, that's something that will help too. I'm sure they did this for a very good reason, not only for the health and safety of your aunt, but also other travelers on the ship. Also, it must be imperative because princess now risks a PVSA violation (unless Ensenada was the first stop on this cruise)....

 

Just a point of clarification: Ensenada is always the final port on all Princess Hawaiian cruises.

[waltd]

Unless the travel agency has it wrong on their website the April 10th cruise shows Ensenada as first.

[vjmatty]

Just a point of clarification: Ensenada is always the final port on all Princess Hawaiian cruises.

 

Not to mention it is not a "distant" foreign port, so it would not have cured the problem of a non-RT cruise from a US port.

[deadzone1003]

The only scenarios that seemed to make sense are:

 

1) She was highly contagious or

 

2) She had something that was not treatable on the ship if it got worst.

 

Their behavior seem to make more sense if it is 2) and they think she was well enough to make it back to the mainland. Thus, incurring expenses which they believed was unwarranted would make them upset (mad?) at Princess.

But, if she did get worst, Princess could have been liable. Need more info.

[vjmatty]

The only scenarios that seemed to make sense are:

 

1) She was highly contagious or

 

2) She had something that was not treatable on the ship if it got worst.

 

Their behavior seem to make more sense if it is 2) and they think she was well enough to make it back to the mainland. Thus, incurring expenses which they believed was unwarranted would make them upset (mad?) at Princess.

But, if she did get worst, Princess could have been liable. Need more info.

 

Even this would not have warranted them both being asked to leave.... there has to be more to the story.

[cherrybear]

Yes, we were disembarked in Costa Rica for medical reasons. Our mother spent nine days in the hospital in San Jose. Thank goodness for travel insurance. It paid the complete hospital bill, and the food and hotel cost for my sister and I (nine days worth), and the plane ride home for the three of us and the nurse that traveled with Mom.

 

The doctor on the Coral never threatened Mom with disembarkment but strongly recommended it. He did it because he was afraid that her condition would worsen while at sea or in a less desirable port.

 

I hope your Aunt is feeling better and can get home safely.

[highheel girl]

I agree, we are only getting a partial story.

[toberman]

Yes, we were disembarked in Costa Rica for medical reasons.

 

OT - cherrybear.... Where did you get my Avatar??? I've been using it for years and have never seen another the same!! It 'does' have a story!!

[sjmbruce]

Yes, we were disembarked in Costa Rica for medical reasons. Our mother spent nine days in the hospital in San Jose. Thank goodness for travel insurance. It paid the complete hospital bill, and the food and hotel cost for my sister and I (nine days worth), and the plane ride home for the three of us and the nurse that traveled with Mom.

 

The doctor on the Coral never threatened Mom with disembarkment but strongly recommended it. He did it because he was afraid that her condition would worsen while at sea or in a less desirable port.

 

I hope your Aunt is feeling better and can get home safely.

 

 

i hope your mom is better now! it sounds like you had great insurance. may i ask what kind of travel insurance you purchased?

[cherrybear]

OT - cherrybear.... Where did you get my Avatar??? I've been using it for years and have never seen another the same!! It 'does' have a story!!

 

O/T: From a friend on Facebook. It doesn't have any special meaning for me so I changed it to one that does. I just thought it was cute.

[deadzone1003]

Even this would not have warranted them both being asked to leave.... there has to be more to the story.

 

Even if the doctor did say what was said, was he looking at both of them or just her? There's alot more to this story. If he was looking at both of them, then highly contagious disease scenario makes more sense. But, I'm just speculating like everyone else due to only hearing one side of a story.

[toberman]

O/T: From a friend on Facebook. It doesn't have any special meaning for me so I changed it to one that does. I just thought it was cute.

 

Oh.. Thank you so much. It really does have meaning to me... From an actual experience of one of our Inuit hunters in Canada.

You're a doll for doing this!! :D

[awhcruiser]

I totally agree. The OP states her Aunt and Uncle will not sail Princess again but won't give us details.

 

I agree, we are only getting a partial story.

[broberts]

My Aunt and Uncle have been on more than 25 cruises. They do have health insurance, and travel insurance, and they certainly are not unruly people. They have been on 25+ cruises. Needless to say they will no longer cruise with Princess.

 

I'm sorry your aunt and uncle had to leave their cruise early. Fortunately they have insurance and should not suffer financially. Hopefully the doctor was simply acting out of an abundance of caution, but best wishes for a speedy recovery otherwise.

 

In my experience people asked to disembark by a ship's doctor have a highly communicable disease, have a condition the doctor suspects might turn critical at any time, or have a condition the doctor feels might lead them to harm themselves.

[cr8tiv1]

I have been in Honolulu when Cruise Ships run into medical emergencies (read the local newspaper). Coast Guard helicopters have a limited range of flight. I've heard of them air lifting passengers off the coast of Hilo and flying them back to the Big Island. I have also read that, once, the ship was too far away (returning to LA) so they had to send out a Coast Guard plane to make a package drop with medical supplies. Absolutely fascinating video of the drop.

 

I was also on the same Coral Princess voyage with Cherrybear. We had several medical emergencies on the ship during this cruise. From the talk going around the ship, Princess did everything they could to accommodate each family.

 

I would love to hear a follow up from the OP regarding what was the medical emergency that caused her aunt and uncle to be left in Honolulu. Like others have mentioned, I could think of worse places to be stranded. Honolulu has excellent hospitals and doctors and hope your aunt is well on her way to recovery. Please post an update on her health. We are all worried about her well being.

 

Renee (displaced local girl)

[fishywood]

It all boils down to the ship being out of evacuation range for the better part of four days. The senior doctor on another Princess ship spoke of how the medical personnel dread transatlantics; one critical case and most of them will not see the inside of their quarters for the rest of the cruise, surviving on brief catnaps in the medical centre. If a passenger is determined to have a condition that will likely turn critical while at sea I am confounded by their refusal to disembark for treatment ashore. Of course the doctor is going to call in the captain, who will make a firm and absolute decision for the good of all passengers and crew to disembark anyone who would exhaust the resources of the medical facilities when that could have been prevented.

 

(...and add me to those equally confounded by the OP being more concerned by his aunt being spoken to brusquely than the fact that she could be seriously ill. I do hope health and sanity is restored to all).

[Amuse Bouche]

Wow.

 

If I were having a hard time breathing, especially enough so to seek a doctor, I would be begging the doctor to give me an order to get off ship that the insurance company would accept! Who could be calm knowing that you are in the middle of the ocean, thousands of miles from land...and need a full blown hospital???

 

Now the question begs- There are two levels of insurance protection, would both cover this enough for treatment and to get home? Do I need to upgrade? Can I upgrade?

K, so I'm a little concerned now. This trip to Hawaii will be the furthest and longest I've been away from land. Nervous nelly.

[FritzG]

Unless the travel agency has it wrong on their website the April 10th cruise shows Ensenada as first.

 

The April 10th Grand to Hawaii stops in Ensenada at the end.

[cr8tiv1]

There are a couple of cruises that actually stop in Ensenada on the way over. I was really surprised at that (and actually would prefer that). Don't know which ones, but did see it online.

 

Check with your TA for your insurance coverage. I am now a Platinum member and so my basic is automatically upgraded to the next level (one great perk). Otherwise, I have gone through American Express that has covered me from the time I left my home until the time I returned (via plane, boat, train, etc).

 

I traveled once on a short cruise without any insurance. That was not a good thing to do since my cabin mate bailed on me at the last minute. That's when I checked with American Express and they covered me for my air, but it was too late and I had to pay the single supplement.

 

Insurance, Insurance, Insurance.

 

Renee

[Happy2cruise]

I totally agree. The OP states her Aunt and Uncle will not sail Princess again but won't give us details.

 

And I bet if they stayed on the ship and something did happened, they would be filing a lawsuit so fast and in turn would be saying they would not sail Princess again!!

[cormike1]

We were with friends just recently on a Caribbean cruise. They were doing a B2B, 20-day. He developed pneumonia and she started having trouble with one of her legs and could barely walk. They both went to the medical office and he got antibiotics and on oxygen for a short period of time. They thought she had a blood clot in her leg. WE were a couple of days from Ft. Lauderdale. She went down each day to be checked over. In Ft. Lauderdale, they were taken to the hospital as soon as it docked. She had a ultrasound and they said it was okay for her to return to the ship for the 2nd half of their trip. As her husband said...."rather be put off in Ft. Lauderdale where there is excellent facilities than be in the middle of the islands with who knows what kind of medical facilities they have. They told them they had to have the hospitals okay to continue on. They gave rave reviews of the medical service they received and could not fault Princess/the doctor for taking that precaution.

I agree that something just does not sound right with this story....of course the Uncle would get off with the Aunt, I would hope so please tell us what she had that they would not let her back on.

Inquiring minds want to know!!!

[waltd]

The April 10th Grand to Hawaii stops in Ensenada at the end.

 

Take a look at the Golden Princess. Both the on line agency and Princess have the ship stopping in Ensenada first.

[Pam in CA]

Having someone become ill on a cruise and too far from land to medevac him, it spelled the difference between life and death. My brother-in-law probably died because we were too far from land.

 

This is not something to mess around with. If there was a concern that the condition could have worsened or your aunt's health was in jeopardy, the last place you want to be is on a ship and unable to provide adequate care. The Medical Center is excellent but it's not a hospital, an ICU or equipped for every medical emergency.

 

If this was the case, the ship's doctor has the authority to insist that the patient not put themselves in a dire situation. I'm guessing that depending on her condition, they could not legally allow her to continue the cruise.

 

I think any cruise line would have the same response depending on the patients condition and doctor's recommendation. We don't know if it was suggested that your aunt and uncle disembark and they refused. You haven't said whether that's the case or not. If so, then the Captain's response was abrupt but appropriate.

[boone2]

As a health care professional (ER RN) this kind of blanket statement by the OP really gets my goat I have had occasion to use the medical centre at least 5 times and once helped for hours in a medical emergency(Crown tip in 2006) I have found the medical staff to be top notch and extremely caring, and this as an insider. There is no way the staff said get off or else. There was obviously some medical emergency they were not equipped to deal with and suggested that a land based hospital was the best way to deal with it. The family were obviously ticked thay the cruise was ended and wanted someone to blame, the first type of person to sue if something went wrong on the cruise. Probably out of pocket too. The full facts have not been disclosed nor likely to be

Terry