Passport-less Family with Sick Child Stuck Aboard Norwegian Ship

[Laszlo]

Its a no brainer, for $15 a year you can have a passport. I got my first one at 16 and I'm now 57. If your doing any traveling out of the country its just foolish not to have one

[SeaShark]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

This should be an open invitation for Child Protective Services (Florida and home state) to investigate the parents for denying their child urgent medical care. Which the parents willing admitted in their post. And potentially Federal involvement because it was done across international borders. 

 

Don't forget to add that during the time her child was in need of urgent medical care, the mother thought a good use of her time would be sitting at a computer posting on Facebook.

[buckeyefrank]

2 hours ago, Laszlo said:

Its a no brainer, for $15 a year you can have a passport. I got my first one at 16 and I'm now 57. If your doing any traveling out of the country its just foolish not to have one

It's not $15 a year, it's a one time $150.  there's a HUGE difference to some people, especially when you have 3 or 4 to buy.

[Laszlo]

2 minutes ago, buckeyefrank said:

It's not $15 a year, it's a one time $150.  there's a HUGE difference to some people, especially when you have 3 or 4 to buy.

Do the math......Its $150 and its good for 10 years. If you can afford a few thousand for a cruise and can't afford $150 for a passport your doing something really really wrong

Edited February 13, 2020 by Laszlo

[buckeyefrank]

The article is VERY poorly written.  The mother said she wasn't leaving the ship because she didn't want to be stranded then turns around and says they went to the US embassy.  She made the decision to not go to a hospital.  The lack of a passport had nothing to do with it.  The US embassy would have gotten her and her child clearance to travel when he was better.  It would have only take a day or two.

 

I agree that a passport is the best way to establish your identity, but it's not the end of the world if you don't have it.  There will be an inconvenience but it's not like you can never get back into the US without it.

[buckeyefrank]

1 minute ago, Laszlo said:

Do the math......Its $150 and its good for 10 years. If you can afford a few thousand for a cruise and can't afford $150 for a passport your doing something really really wrong

You can't pay $15 this year, $15 the next.... etc.  It's $150 up front for each person.  It's a little ridiculous for a family of 4 going on a quick 4 day cruise to the Bahamas costing $800 to put out $600 for passports for one trip.  Everybody has a different situation.  A passport is not a one size fits all thing.

[Laszlo]

6 minutes ago, buckeyefrank said:

You can't pay $15 this year, $15 the next.... etc.  It's $150 up front for each person.  It's a little ridiculous for a family of 4 going on a quick 4 day cruise to the Bahamas costing $800 to put out $600 for passports for one trip.  Everybody has a different situation.  A passport is not a one size fits all thing.

 

I guess its even more ridiculous if you have a problem and really need the passport. 

You end up paying one way or another Lol

Edited February 13, 2020 by Laszlo

[misguy]

8 hours ago, esm54687 said:

They weren't "stuck" they chose to stay on board instead of seeking medical attention in Cozumel. 

 

Some people travel without a passport and roll the dice with healthy family members but when when a member has a serious medical condition / development disorder such as autism then it is pure stupidity to travel without one.   Poor kid if parents are making these types of decisions to save a couple bucks.. 

 

And it looks like the reporter just copied details off Facebook and didn't contact the US Embassy the passenger referenced..... they were probably told it would take a couple days plus lodging and transportation and the passengers chose again to stay on the ship. If it was a true emergency the little person would've been airlifted without issue

Only if they had travel insurance that would pay for the medevac.  Problem is most people that don't have passports don't have insurance either, saw a news report that they were trying to raise 6K for the medical bills on board.

[esm54687]

2 minutes ago, misguy said:

Only if they had travel insurance that would pay for the medevac.  Problem is most people that don't have passports don't have insurance either, saw a news report that they were trying to raise 6K for the medical bills on board.

My point being is that the ship's doctors aren't going to allow a passenger, who has a critical medical emergency, to not get immediate help solely because they couldn't afford it.....  insurance or not

[A&L_Ont]

My wife is playing her live video right now as I type this, from her this lady’s FB page, and I am disgusting to listen to her. She is so confrontational it is hilarious.  She is not accepting that this is her fault.  It is all NCL’s fault in her opinion. 

 

Edit: from listening to her I think Children’s Aide should be checking in on them. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by A&L_Ont

[esm54687]

6 hours ago, Lem_On_Ade said:

I've been following this on FB and the amount of people blaming the cruise line was astounding. 

 

and RCCL is still being blamed for....  never mind 

[A&L_Ont]

3 minutes ago, esm54687 said:

and RCCL is still being blamed for....  never mind 

NCL.

[smplybcause]

2 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

NCL.

 

Pretty sure they were referring to the toddler that fell from the window on RCL. 

[esm54687]

5 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

NCL.

I'm aware..... 

 

 

I quoted a post that the cruise line was being blamed for someone's personal decisions and choices similiar to the RCCL incident with poor Chloe Wiegand. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by esm54687

[A&L_Ont]

3 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

Pretty sure they were referring to the toddler that fell from the window on RCL. 

Wrong event. That thread is on the RC boards. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by A&L_Ont

[smplybcause]

Just now, A&L_Ont said:

Wrong event. That thread is on the NCL boards. 

 

See post #39

[A&L_Ont]

2 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

See post #39

I edited my post to state RC boards. You quoted before I corrected mine.

Edited February 13, 2020 by A&L_Ont

[smplybcause]

1 minute ago, A&L_Ont said:

I edited my post to state RC boards. You quoted before I corrected mine. Now called post 27.

 

And the edit still is ignoring that the poster was drawing a parallel to another instance where the cruise line shouldn't be blamed for what happened. 

[A&L_Ont]

6 hours ago, Lem_On_Ade said:

I've been following this on FB and the amount of people blaming the cruise line was astounding. 

 

This post is not pointing out RC, as far as I can tell. 

 

35 minutes ago, esm54687 said:

and RCCL is still being blamed for....  never mind 

I now see what they were intending to say. 

 

28 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

Pretty sure they were referring to the toddler that fell from the window on RCL. 

 

On FB both NCL and RC have been blasted.

 

26 minutes ago, esm54687 said:

I'm aware..... 

 

I quoted a post that the cruise line was being blamed for someone's personal decisions and choices similiar to the RCCL incident with poor Chloe Wiegand. 

I see that now, but didn’t get the reference at first. 

 

20 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

And the edit still is ignoring that the poster was drawing a parallel to another instance where the cruise line shouldn't be blamed for what happened. 

Please see my comments above.
 

Most definitely neither cruise line should not be at held at fault. I have supported RC in their unfortunate incident and I’m doing the same for NCL.  
 

It was this families progressively worse decision making that led their son to suffer like this.  From not having passports, to not getting their son medical care on land, after he fell out of bed at home and before they boarded the ship.  This is all on them.  
 

For some reason NCL will be paying for this in the end, while they are seemingly enjoy their 15 minutes of fame. As it stands the mother has said that her family is dealing with the lawyers.  The mother also said Disney should show them a good cruise. I can’t believe what she was saying, left us shaking our heads. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by A&L_Ont

[JamieLogical]

44 minutes ago, misguy said:

Only if they had travel insurance that would pay for the medevac.  Problem is most people that don't have passports don't have insurance either, saw a news report that they were trying to raise 6K for the medical bills on board.

 

That's it! No more trip insurance for me! I am just going to cry on FB and get strangers to fund my medical bills if anything goes down while I'm traveling from now on!

[Dar & Bob]

9 hours ago, Tapi said:

Has anybody posted about this story? A family traveling without passports claim that they were stuck aboard a Cruise ship with their sick child. They chose not to seek medical attention ashore in Cozumel fearing not being able to get back home.

 

 The story mentions that they returned on Wednesday to Port Canaveral so it seems like they may have been sailing aboard Norwegian Sun. 
 

https://www.wtsp.com/mobile/article/news/regional/florida/nicole-roman-mejias-florida-cruise-ship-passport/67-5bbe7d14-829e-4b84-8208-90053161bd20

Actually they are fortunate that NCL let them stay on the ship.  We had a friend who had injured himself on an NCL excursion, and was treated on the ship but they were strongly trying to get him to a hospital rather than be treated on the ship.  On another trip on another cruiseline we knew a person actually put off the ship.   For those reasons I would never ever travel without a passport. 

 

[SeaShark]

1 hour ago, buckeyefrank said:

You can't pay $15 this year, $15 the next.... etc.  It's $150 up front for each person.  It's a little ridiculous for a family of 4 going on a quick 4 day cruise to the Bahamas costing $800 to put out $600 for passports for one trip.  Everybody has a different situation.  A passport is not a one size fits all thing.

 

Seriously?

 

So you won't let the other poster take the cost of the 10-year passport and express it as a per year cost. However, you then turn around and have no problem taking the $150 cost and multiplying it by the number of people in a family so that you can have a HUGE number for your side of the argument??

 

Isn't that a little bit disingenuous??

 

No matter how many people are in the family, the per person and/or per year passport cost does not change.

[SeaShark]

30 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Wrong event. That thread is on the RC boards. 

 

Actually, you are still wrong. Threads (plural) discussing that topic are on, and have been on, the NCL board....THIS board.

 

Links for reference:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2678017-familys-statement-on-toddlers-cruise-death

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2725904-remember-tragic-accident-with-toddler-new-revelations/

 

[RedwingHockeyFan]

What am I missing, what did this person want NCL to do about her problem?

 

I have to be completely honest, I did not read the article.

 

EDIT: Just read the article, I still don't know what they want from NCL.  Sounds like most of their complaint was toward the embassy that wouldn't help them, which I think is some horse-poo.

Edited February 13, 2020 by RedwingHockeyFan

[Vyhanek]

Totally agree with the comments that this is very suspicious.    First NCL ships have medical doctors and I find it hard to believe if a child needs urgent medical attention, a doctor wouldn't get that child into a Mexican hospital as needed.    People get air lifted off flights all the time, I find it hard to believe an urgent situation wouldn't be accommodated for a child.