Carnival Insurance and ship Sick Bay charges

[mzloolue]

If you have been on the Sick Bay "Excursion" and had insurance through Carnival, I am interested to know your experience with being reimbursed for the medical fees.

 

Thanks!

[Fla Senior]

I had to use the medical facilities in Oct on Dream. Bill was about $300. First submitted it to my health insurance (as requested by travel insurance) and received reply that it was not covered. Submitted that info along with copy of receipt from ship hospital. Claim was promptly paid. Hope that info helps.

[Steve Dore]

Yes, just like Fla Senior stated, even though it is through Carnival, still have to pay it on S&S card/account, submit (and get denied) to any medical insurance plans you have, and then submit claim.

[klfrodo]

Sometimes, I have heard, so this is unsubstantiated, that if you are injured in a slip and fall or something that can be related to a ship related injury, there will be no bill.

 

However, if sick or whatever and need treatment,,, you pay the bill, then file for reimbursement

[wo5m]

If you have been on the Sick Bay "Excursion" and had insurance through Carnival, I am interested to know your experience with being reimbursed for the medical fees.

 

Thanks!

 

Several times when myself I needed some over counter meds.

 

Then I went another time when my Dad had a severe bronchitis and I got to see more of the Sick Bay that most ever do. We were in Roatan Honduras when I took my dad to the the Sick Bay . For the visit they charged for doctor consultation, a breathing treatment, antibiotics, and steroids. They charged him $175 for everything and that included a followup visit two days later. Keep in mind had I we to a doctor without insurance here it the United States, it would have been many times that.

 

Site note:

During the visit with my dad the ship was doing an emergency drill so while that was going on, they put him in the infirmary so he could do his breathing treatment without being in the way. This infirmary is a room in the sick bay almost nobody sees unless your in really bad shape. It was setup to handle 7 people and was as fully equipped if not more so than any ER trauma or ICU room I've seen. You name it they had it, sonogram machines, ventilators and even dialysis machines.

 

Another woman came in while we were in there with a broken leg. They took her to the x-ray room(that I didn't see) and planned to fit her with a cast.

 

I learned a lot from that visit and I can say I have absolutely no hesitation going there in an emergency.

[wo5m]

I forgot to add that I don't get the insurance through cruise line as it is extremely over priced. There are many travel insurance packages that are a fraction of the price that will cover what you need. We chose not to even bother with the hassle of the $175 bill.

 

Remember the insurance you get when you pay for your cruise is with an insurance company(an outrageously priced one at that) and NOT i repeat NOT with Carnival. Your will have to jump through the same hoops if you buy it from them or from another insurance company at 1/4 the price.

[klfrodo]

from another insurance company at 1/4 the price.

 

to OP

wo5m's intention is good albeit a slight exaggeration.

 

1/4 the price of Carnival's with same coverage? No way

 

Carnival's policy does have lower medical coverage than other policies. It also does not cover pre-existing medical conditions.

However, for the price that you pay, Carnivals policy includes "Cancel For Any Reason" and covers job change issues. All 3rd party policies will cover these items but for additional costs.

 

Having said that, you can get 3rd party policies with higher medical coverage limits, CFAR, pre-existing medical conditions waiver, and ask for job change related issues for 75% to 80% of the Carnival price.

 

Then why would some people go with Carnival's policy over a 3rd party?

Age restrictions placed on 3rd party policies.

Convenience of one stop shopping

[MMastell]

The only time I have visited the sick bay was last month on the Sensation. The gluten free bread was mislabeled and I had a bad reaction. I have Celiac. I had severe nausea, vomiting and the other end too. They gave me an anti-nausea shot and a lomotil type of medicine.

 

I made sure that there was no charge for the visit or the medication and Guest Services made sure there wasn't one. I did receive calls from the Chef D Cuisine, Maitre 'D, and Hotel Director. They apologized for my condition but didn't actually admit to an error. That was fine. I lost one day of the cruise but I was not going to pursue it further, except when I filled out my survey.

 

If you do go it will be charged to your S&S or directly to your credit card. You will then have to submit it to travel insurance who will request that you submit it through your insurance to see if they pay anything and then resubmit it to travel insurance. Make sure you file an initial claim with your travel insurance to make sure it has been logged and probably denied before you submit it to your own insurance. It will save time in the long run.

 

Take care,

Mike

Edited May 10, 2016 by MMastell

[texast518]

I forgot to add that I don't get the insurance through cruise line as it is extremely over priced. There are many travel insurance packages that are a fraction of the price that will cover what you need. We chose not to even bother with the hassle of the $175 bill.

 

Remember the insurance you get when you pay for your cruise is with an insurance company(an outrageously priced one at that) and NOT i repeat NOT with Carnival. Your will have to jump through the same hoops if you buy it from them or from another insurance company at 1/4 the price.

 

And MUCH higher emergency air-vac coverage. Never book thru cruiseline. I use military USA__.

[mbet]

Everyone should investigate insurance policies to see what fits their needs best. Those who flatly state that the cruise line's product is so very expensive are probably young folks. The older you get, the better their price becomes in comparison to others. Of course, if you have health problems or other concerns, that should be taken into account when comparing policies. There is no one-size-fits-all with any kind of insurance. When cruising we usually use Carnival's insurance because we think it's sufficient coverage for us, and it's actually

cheaper than the other company we use for air & land trips.

[skittl1321]

We found the charges in the ship medical clinic to be very reasonable.

 

Our travel insurance was secondary so we had to submit to regular insurance first. Because it is a HDHP, all of the allowable charges went towards the deductible.

 

The travel insurance considers anything that goes to the deductible as "covered" so that wasn't reimbursed. But all the charges that were not considered allowable charges were immediately reimbursed.

[KJENN]

Sometimes, I have heard, so this is unsubstantiated, that if you are injured in a slip and fall or something that can be related to a ship related injury, there will be no bill.

 

However, if sick or whatever and need treatment,,, you pay the bill, then file for reimbursement

 

My 5 yo fell on fantasy in the waterworks area and cut his chin open-- my mom is a nurse and said he needed it stiched/glued...we went down, and they were able to glue it and we weren't charged anything. We did have to fill out an incident report, my only "issue" with it was that the last line asked "what could you have done to avoid the accident" LOL- I wrote nothing.