Anyone get real sick on board the cruise ship and have to go to a hospital?

[Hlitner]

42 minutes ago, CruisingAlong4Now said:

Please please please don't encourage the OP in the ridiculous threads she starts. I'd like you thrown off the ship for your specious threads and annoying topics. 

 

if you look at her activity, you'll see that she starts threads of strange topics, and then never never adds useful comments to anyone else's threads. She just likes to poke the bear.  

In this case we think it is a valid topic, especially for those of us who are "up there in years" and take longer cruises to exotic parts of the world where quality medical care is difficult to find.    In the  case of my DW (which I mentioned in an earlier post) we were lucky to have gotten to a port in Japan which has excellent health facilities and professionals.  Appropriate medical intervention in that Osaka hospital likely saved DW's leg (according to her US surgeon).

 

Hank

[jlp20]

7 hours ago, Underwatr said:

 

The passengers could have arranged to meet the ship at the next available port of call,..

Trip interruption/cancellation insurance would have repaid their extra travel expense in either case.

I can only go by what was posted, as I recall It was 2-3 days for them to get transportation back to the states. The cruise was over. 

Like a lot of people, they had no insurance. 

[jlp20]

2 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

 

That's why all cruise ships have a morgue; you didn't think they put the dearly departed in with the meat and veggies, did you?

About 14 years ago we were on 10 day Mexican trip. Verified three deaths and rumors of a fourth. We were told our ship had a morgue locker for two and that older ships did use space in the frozen foods lockers for that purpose.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, jocap said:

We had an incident when someone had a severe problem, and we had 6 days to go from Madeira to Barbados. The captain took the ship up to 23 knots; the passenger was placed into a coma. An ambulance was waiting at Barbados, which we reached about 16 hours early. Everything was arranged on board, including messages to their children who flew out to the island.

Have experienced this a couple of times, where the Medical staff had a hospitalised patient and we increased to best possible speed on an ocean passage. By the time the patient was discharged, the medical staff required some well earned rest. 

[MicCanberra]

Have visited the sick bay /medical department several times for various issues (not sea sickness) and they have always been very proficient and professional, albeit expensive (luckily my insurance can cover it). While there, I have seen many people treated for a wide range of ailments, both illnesses and injuries as well as some with chronic conditions.  Sea sickness is treated regularly and fairly easily with bed rest being the main component after the injection, I have full faith in the medical team aboard any ship, anything too serious, an evacuation team will be called.

[Underwatr]

1 hour ago, jlp20 said:

Like a lot of people, they had no insurance. 

 

That there is the real issue.

[MicCanberra]

1 minute ago, Underwatr said:

 

That there is the real issue.

I can see a time when having insurance will be mandatory along with your e-ticket and passport (ID) before you can board.

[Underwatr]

Don't UK residents have to provide details of their travel (health) insurance plan as part of online check-in?

[navybankerteacher]

18 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I can see a time when having insurance will be mandatory along with your e-ticket and passport (ID) before you can board.

While requiring insurance might be a good idea, I doubt cruise lines would want to support it.  After all, it was the lines who campaigned in Congress to waive passport requirements for closed loop sailings. They do not want to do anything which might discourage their extreme budget minded customers —- and the real costs of getting medical treatment out-of-country falls on the passenger, not the line.  Sure, they might bear the cost of a diversion to an evacuation rendezvous, but’s they would prefer that small cost to the loss of many thousands of penny-pinching customers who cruise on a shoestring — and would not want to pay for insurance.

[MicCanberra]

46 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

Don't UK residents have to provide details of their travel (health) insurance plan as part of online check-in?

I don't know, but if they do it wouldn't surprise me.

[MicCanberra]

28 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

While requiring insurance might be a good idea, I doubt cruise lines would want to support it.  After all, it was the lines who campaigned in Congress to waive passport requirements for closed loop sailings. They do not want to do anything which might discourage their extreme budget minded customers —- and the real costs of getting medical treatment out-of-country falls on the passenger, not the line.  Sure, they might bear the cost of a diversion to an evacuation rendezvous, but’s they would prefer that small cost to the loss of many thousands of penny-pinching customers who cruise on a shoestring — and would not want to pay for insurance.

I understand the argument but it may come down to the cruise lines insurance company making the line do as it wants.

[soozles]

My dad had a massive heart attack several years ago on the Carnival Breeze. They actually had to shock him back to a normal rhythm, stabilized him quickly, and gave him a clot busting medication on board. He was also lucky in that the doctor working that night was a cardiologist before going on ships. They were supposed to be 2 days at sea, and the ship decided t go towards I think Turks and Caicos where they had a us coast guard base (maybe a different island), got medivaced, taken to a hospital in the island for a few hours before going on an air ambulance to Florida where he went for a heart cath and then quadruple bypass a couple days later. Carnival actually made all the Rarrangements and really took care of them and my in laws who were traveling with them. That said, they had to pay up front for the ER and air ambulance and later get reimbursed from the travel insurance. We actually talk about how if he wasn’t on the cruise, he may have actually died. My dad walked himself down to the infirmary, and went into cardiac arrest once he got into the infirmary. If he was at home, there’s no way he’d have gotten to a hospital in time. Even though now he’s ok, my parents are still afraid to travel out of the US/Canada just in case. 

[MicCanberra]

Glad it worked out for your dad.

[babs135]

7 hours ago, Underwatr said:

Don't UK residents have to provide details of their travel (health) insurance plan as part of online check-in?

 

Yes, When we fill in the online form there is a space for the name of the Insurance Company, the policy number, the name of the firm that will provide medical assistance should it arise and, of course, the emergency telephone number.

Not sure what would happen if this was left blank.   

[sanger727]

Can’t speak to the ship’s facilities but I’m sure there are many conditions where immediate hospitalization is required as a life saving measure (the appendicitis mentioned is a good example); so can’t see why the ship would take on the liability of leaving you onboard to die.

 

its been well reported that in the Caribbean payment is required upfront for treatment and that they won’t deal with a lot of insurance the way an American hospital would. This is a risk you take when you travel to many parts of the world, whether on a cruise or not. Choices are:

1. Have access to a lot of cash/credit and be willing to spend it

2. Have a primary medical insurance plan that covers outside the country. Will still need to have access to a lot of cash/credit but would hopefully get reimbursed for most of it by your insurance.

3. You can purchase medical only travel insurance policies for a few dollars a day. We use geoblue when we go that route.

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, babs135 said:

 

Yes, When we fill in the online form there is a space for the name of the Insurance Company, the policy number, the name of the firm that will provide medical assistance should it arise and, of course, the emergency telephone number.

Not sure what would happen if this was left blank.   

I imagine they would enquire as to the details and take it from there.

[Texas Tillie]

I don't insure my trips except for medical plus I have the evacuation insurance (Medjet Assist). I'm willing to take a chance on the trip - after all, I've already spent the money, but not medical. Medical evacuation can be as much as $50,000 or more. As others have said here, there are those who can't really afford for anything to happen and then set up a Go Fund Me page after it does. Sorry, I was brought up to take responsibility for myself.

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, Texas Tillie said:

I don't insure my trips except for medical plus I have the evacuation insurance (Medjet Assist). I'm willing to take a chance on the trip - after all, I've already spent the money, but not medical. Medical evacuation can be as much as $50,000 or more. As others have said here, there are those who can't really afford for anything to happen and then set up a Go Fund Me page after it does. Sorry, I was brought up to take responsibility for myself.

We follow a similar formula except we now put our cruise/air charges on a Chase Sapphire Reserve card that includes a $10,000 (it can be $20,000 if you split it on two cards) in trip cancellation insurance.  This is not a cancel for any reason thing but an included benefit that covers cancellations/interruptions for specific reasons such as medical.   We once calculated that we are ahead by more then $100,000 because of all the money we have saved by NOT purchasing cancellation insurance....over forty+ years of travel.

 

Hank

[wwcruisers]

17 hours ago, CruisingAlong4Now said:

Please please please don't encourage the OP in the ridiculous threads she starts. I'd like you thrown off the ship for your specious threads and annoying topics. 

 

if you look at her activity, you'll see that she starts threads of strange topics, and then never never adds useful comments to anyone else's threads. She just likes to poke the bear.  

 

Sad to say, but all of the threads seem to have 'someone' like this. Several months ago, we had one on the X boards. He specialized in controversial threads about food -- burgers and other forms of junk-food, in particular -- just anything to get folks going. He started out by claiming to have sailed on Carnival -- praising their specialty burger joint. But it was eventually revealed that he's never set foot on a ship -- any ship!

 

What worked on that board was a combination of 'reporting' his 'over the top' posts, and simply ignoring him. He still pops up over there, from time to time. But now everyone knows who he is, and his occasional posts get nothing but 'crickets'. Bottom line: the pot-stirrers and trolls get bored and go away, if they don't get any responses!

[MicCanberra]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We follow a similar formula except we now put our cruise/air charges on a Chase Sapphire Reserve card that includes a $10,000 (it can be $20,000 if you split it on two cards) in trip cancellation insurance.  This is not a cancel for any reason thing but an included benefit that covers cancellations/interruptions for specific reasons such as medical.   We once calculated that we are ahead by more then $100,000 because of all the money we have saved by NOT purchasing cancellation insurance....over forty+ years of travel.

 

Hank

Likewise, we always have travel insurance that includes medical and medi evac.

[jocap]

20 hours ago, Underwatr said:

Don't UK residents have to provide details of their travel (health) insurance plan as part of online check-in?

Yes, this goes into your cruise personaliser, and is used in cases of illness abroad. I know people who have been ill in far away places, and their details have been passed to an agent ( not the port agent) who has then helped chase the insurers ( who have often mislaid, lost, can't find the email etc).

[gooch47]

Anyone else think this OP is writing some kind of book, class assignment, or the like, and using us to do the work for her?

[Heidi13]

On 3/9/2019 at 6:13 PM, Underwatr said:

Don't UK residents have to provide details of their travel (health) insurance plan as part of online check-in?

On our last cruise with a UK cruise line, we had to provide the name of our travel insurance company online, but were never asked to provide details or proof at check-in.

[MicCanberra]

6 hours ago, gooch47 said:

Anyone else think this OP is writing some kind of book, class assignment, or the like, and using us to do the work for her?

Perhaps, but then maybe they are just curious .

[DirtyDawg]

4 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Perhaps, but then maybe they are just curious .

 

And perhaps they saw a thread called: "Ask a Cruise Question" and...., well, .....  asked a cruise question.................

 

...............or 2 ..................

....................or 3 .................

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2019 by DirtyDawg