JackieJ

I was finally able to file the insurance claim today! You can't submit to the travel insurance until you try your primary medical first. My primary insurance kept messing up the denial. Fortunately for me, they must have messed it up so bad that they couldn't fix it and ended up reimbursing me :D

Now that I've added everything up (hotels, taxis, flight, etc), our out of pocket for that little detour was a little over $4,000 (not including medical). We were only covered for $100/day, so hoping insurance will also reimburse cell, my flight home (they paid for my husband's), cancelled flights and pro-rate the cost of the cruise (we missed 4 days).

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This thread is freaking me out. We are healthy and in our 50's but last March while visiting Vegas my husband ended up in the hosp with and emergency appendectomy. That was an eye opener and made me say out loud, "never again will I go without travel insurance" Now, I'm not so sure even with insurance I feel comfortable. :eek:

Just check coverage and choose wisely. No reason to stay home :D

JackieJ, thank you for sharing your story. I am so glad your husband is OK, but appalled by how you were treated. I'm thinking your taxi driver should have been the port agent and the port agent, well I haven't thought of an appropriate job for him/her yet....

 

Kudos to you for handling the whole situation so well.

Thank you Nancy. I'm with you on that taxi driver thing ;) I'm pretty sure that particular port agent may be doing something else these days.

And this post is in no way meant to demean the OP but rather a generalization about many folks who expect constant "hand holding."

Hank

Really? Doesn't seem that way. I can assure you, I did take care of everything myself. I had insurance, international calling on my phone, cash, credit cards, etc., never thought I'd need any of it. As an able-bodied, self-reliant person I wanted to be sure others that might not be are more aware. The pilot told us they pick up elderly, less mobile people all day long. Sheesh!!!

Still no excuse for the way the ship staff/port agents handled things on their end.

JackieJ, thank you for posting this.

 

Although we do have insurance we never think "it could happen to me". Silly, of course.

 

So sad the way Celebrity handled the situation. Not like the cruise line that I have come to love. Makes me wonder why Azamara can take care of thier passengers but Celebrity not in this situation. Sounds to me like it may have been the personnel on this ship. The other poster had a different outcome.

 

Thanks for opening our eyes to traveling that some of us would rather not think about.

We always get insurance too, mainly because we live in a cold climate and you just never know if you're getting out during the winter/spring.

The inconsistencies in everyone's different experience does make you wonder! Better treatment should be equal for all.

They are not just dumping the passengers off without thought going into the decisions.

Oh yes they do, happened to me on Celebrity. Thought I would link since it's the same company.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2217655

Thank you OP for sharing your experience and to all the posters for your thoughtful input. This is important information. We don't really want to think of things like this when we're excitingly preparing for our vacations, but we really must be mindful of the potential challenges should we be faced with an adverse situation.

True . . . be prepared for the unexpected.

Thank you for sharing this with us and I'm so glad your DH is ok. This scenario is something I've often thought about and wondered what would happen as DH and I travel alone. I'm just horrified at how you were treated. I naively thought Celebrity would be more sympathetic and helpful. It must have been terrifying for you, that taxi driver was an angel in disguise. I hope any future cruises will be ok.

 

Thank you for all the tips and I will certainly have extra cash with us on our next cruise in August.

You are so right about the taxi driver, I don't know how I would have gotten thru it without him!

I never could have imagined being treated the way I was by Celebrity :(

My wife, daughter, and I were on the Zenith (1990) and in Cozumel, I sustained a dislocated shoulder while snorkeling off a boat. I was taken to the ER and was given some mighty fine Mexican painkillers and the shoulder was treated. The hospital gave my wife the bill to get me out. She had no credit card on her and only $46 cash. The hospital said "OK, that is enough".

 

The ship agent had been called by the hospital and he called the ship. He drove us to the pier, got a tender to take us to the ship and would not take anything but Gracias! The ship held sailing for about 30 minutes for us. The ship doctor came to our cabin to give more painkillers - although the Mexican ones were better!

 

Not an experience I want to repeat ever but Celebrity, the Cozumel hospital, the port agent, and the Mexican painkillers all did a remarkable job.

That sounds like it's how it's supposed to go. The documentation officer told me that we would be getting back on the ship and that they would not leave us there even if they had to leave late. She also said that the port agent is supposed to take care of all the arrangements and make sure I got to/from the hospital/hotel. The doctors and nurses kept asking where he was because they normally stay at the hospital with the patient/family and said I wasn't supposed to be running around Dominca alone.

What happens if one does not have the ability to pay the medical expenses up front? I will throw out an example: One of us is really ill and the ship doctor sends us to the hospital at the next port... we will say Mexico since that is our next cruise. The hospital costs are $5000 and we only have access to $2000. We have to arrange travel back to the USA after the hospital visit. In this example we would be over insured with travel insurance. In the example I am making up dollar amounts.

 

I am asking because some of the experiences listed here would be way out of our financial ability to pay up front.

The hospital bill was very low, but I did have to pay it the day before we left. I don't think they were taking any chances waiting for the weekend ;) I was able to use a credit card, but had to pay cash to the doctor and the lab. A nurse we had in Miami said we were lucky Dominica hasn't become wise to what we pay in the U.S. She told us other countries have and she's had patients who had to guarantee $5,000 up front before treatment in Mexico and St. Martin. Not sure if it's true as it's second had, but she said one of them was a relative.

I'm not saying I needed any hand-holding, but at the same time, Celebrity's lack of communication among their own staff made this whole situation far more difficult than it needed to be.

:) There. You did it again. Spent a line on your $1,000 cell phone problem, then a paragraph about the kindness of the taxi driver.

 

I suspect you'll underplay this compliment, but you're exactly the kind of person one loves to meet on vacation.

 

May all your future vacations be filled good surprises.

Oh you're so sweet to say that!

Trust me, I am extremely disappointed with the way this was handled by Celebrity. While they may not have had control over what happened off the ship (although the port agency is paid by Celebrity per the documentation officer), they certainly had control over how I was treated on the ship.

Jackie, thanks so much for your post. And thank you for the factual, clear way you laid the situation out. You don't sound like a complainer at all, although your situation is certainly one where you're entitled!

 

I can't imagine how terrified you must have been, not knowing if your husband was alive, in unfamiliar territory.

 

Thanks again for the post. You sound so calm about it ... pretty sure I would still be freaking out, even months later. :)

Not much I could do, but keep going. My husband said if it was the other way around he would have lost it! It seemed like there was a new problem every 2 hours! My cell phone bill was over $1,000.

If it wasn't for the taxi driver, I would have lost it for sure! He was with me or a phone call away the entire time and made sure I was safe. I think the whole town knew there was an incident and that I was alone. Everywhere I went people were whispering "that's the lady." :eek: He had me stay with my husband and would come in and escort me out to the car and to the hotel lobby. The day we were supposed to leave, the plane couldn't land in the dark, but they didn't tell us til after 11pm so I had to call him back. He even brought water, which we were out of.

As frightening as your experience must have been, I would think the lack of communication made things much worse.

You are absolutely right! It could have been made far less traumatic!!! Just the fact that they didn't have the person who took the call give me the news as she knew my husband was ok. After getting the whole story I still can't believe they would tell me that they didn't even know if he was alive or not.

I also don't understand why the ship's doctor making this type of decision based information from the port agent and not communicating with the doctor.

Rather than forcing me to sit in the elevator lobby more than two hours, I could have been packing my own things and not been tossed off at the last minute. The way it happened was extremely stressful. When I was being rushed off, I asked the documentation officer why, she said something must have changed with my husband's condition. Unbelievable!

On a recent Azamara cruise, a lady fell, broke her shoulder and had to go to hospital in Oman. Azamara sent a junior Officer with her and her husband who accompanied them all the way back to the UK. The captain kept us passengers informed about her progress

Sounds like that situation was handled appropriately.

Unfortunately this is not uncommon. My parents were on princess cruises and my dad had pneumonia. While on board they were really good. the doctor rang me to let me know what was happening and kept my dad on the ship until they got to trinidad as there was a better hospital there. My mum and dad both in their 70s. The ambulance came to the port and took them both and their luggage to the hospital and that's where their help stopped. I couldn't believe it. Luckily, as I had notice, I had called the consulate in Trinidad and although that weekend was carnival - I know, can you believe it, they organised a place for my mum to stay. She was there for nearly 2 weeks with no help from princess. It was a nightmare - we had to give our credit card as there one ran out and communication between doctors and insurance had to be done from this end as my mum was just not capable without help of being with my dad and sorting it out. On return, we wrote to princess and got a very standard 'we;re sorry our service fell short of your expectations….' made me even crosser. Insurance paid for phone calls, flights back medical treatment, everything in the end but the experience will never leave my mind.

 

Two main lessons - make sure you buy proper insurance - don't skimp and secondly, always have access to loads of money!

 

I almost feel better for typing. I know you weren't asking for other people to put their experiences but that's what you get sometimes:D

I received a similar call & email and had the same reaction. The person I spoked with seemed sympathetic, and truly horrified about the way the entire situation was handled onboard and off. She said she hopes I won't cancel a future cruise I had booked, but then also said there are lots of other cruise lines out there. I thought it was odd. Not the "Modern Luxury" I was expecting.

JackieJ, thank you so much for posting this, and I hope your husband is better.

 

I'm going to take your advice seriously about bringing more cash. We've cruised for 35 years together and never had an incident, so I think we've become a bit too complacent. (We do always have good insurance and carry several credit cards.)

 

I also appreciated the input about cell phones, as I'm planning on a newer one soon.

 

When packing and discussing how much cash to bring, my husband in recent years has suggested less and less, since we always end up bringing 95% of it home. Your story is an example of the unexpected that can and does happen.

We have also been taking less and less cash every year. The only reason I had enough was because we were celebrating my 50th birthday on this cruise and I received a substantial cash gift before we left. I brought it with me in case I saw anything sparkly I didn't want to leave behind ;)

Thank you for the advice and for sharing your story with us. It must have been terrible and very frightning for you! Is your husband okay now?

He is, thank you for asking :)

Thank you for sharing your story. There must be a better way for these situations to be handled. I can't begin to imagine what this must have been like for you. What port was this?

Dominica

I've been thinking about whether or not to post for two months. We are private people and not complainers...I know everyone says that lol! After speaking with my travel buddies, we think it's important to remind others that any crazy thing can happen and we should all be prepared, especially when traveling outside the U.S.

1. Always get insurance and bring all of the contact information with you.

2. Bring more cash and credit cards than you think you'll need.

3. If there's a port you are positive you don't want to be stuck in, don't get off the ship.

4. Make sure you are able to make international calls on your own cell phone.

5. Last, but not least...don't expect any help from the port agent hired by Celebrity.

There was a communication breakdown from the start and it continued to go from bad to worse, these a the highlights:

My husband got sick on a shore excursion (I was on the ship). I was paged to guest relations and told that something went wrong but they had no idea what happened and they didn't even know if he was alive. Seriously, they didn't know. I found out later, the person he was with on his excursion called the ship to get in touch with me and asked that they let her speak to me so she could put him on the phone so I would know he was ok.

I was told to get our passports and the documentation officer would escort me to the hospital. The port agent boarded the ship and told her that she wasn't going and he would take me (she seemed surprised). At this point he said my husband was fine and would be getting back on the ship later that day. He walked me to the end of the pier and sent me to the hospital in a taxi alone.

The doctor said everything was fine and we could go back to the ship, but often, the ship's doctor will deny boarding so it would be best to stay overnight for observation and fly to the next port in the morning. I had asked the taxi to wait, so was able to return to the ship right away and get what we needed for one night. When I got there I was told that the port agent would make our travel arrangements for the next day to rejoin the cruise.

I packed the bag and went to the gangway. They wouldn't let me leave and said I had to wait for the port agent. Well, I waited . . . For over two hours! I tried to ask security if they knew what was going and was told to get back in my seat and wait. I was really getting nervous, all aboard was at 4:45 and it was almost 4:30, so I asked again. The officer called the port agent and handed me the phone. He told me to go back to my cabin, pack all of our bags and we were not getting back on, I had 15 minutes to get off. When I arrived at our cabin, there were 3 housekeeping people that tossed all our things in our bags and escorted me along with security to the gangway like a criminal. One of the housekeeping people argued with security to help me get the bags to the end of the pier. They wanted to just dump me there with 2 weeks worth of luggage.

The port agent dropped me off at a hotel and that was the last I saw of him until the day we left. The only help I had the entire time was the owner of the excursion company and a taxi driver.

I went back to the hospital and the doctors said that we could travel in the morning and they didn't understand why we were denied boarding. I received a call later that night from the Celebrity care team asking if I looked into flights to the next port of call. I told her what happened, she had no idea we were removed from the ship. She called me back and read the email from the port agent (not a doctor) that my husband was not fit to travel. I find it hard to believe the doctors told him something different than they told us

My next call was to the insurance company, because now we needed to figure out how to get home. In order for them to book our flights, there was a form that had to be filled out by a doctor. This is where I needed cash, I had to pay the doctor and the lab tech cash to come in on Good Friday.

Many other things went wrong, but trying to keep this as short as possible. Bottom line is our personal physicians feel that my husband was misdiagnosed due to lab values that are calculated differently in other countries but filled out on a U.S. form which led to a series of events including evacuation by air ambulance and unnecessary medical procedures in Miami.

I needed extra cash for doctors, labs, taxi, food and water.

I needed credit cards for hotels, taxis, food and a plane ticket home for me.

Our insurance will cover the evacuation and medical expenses. For my trip interruption it only covers $100/day. The first hotel was over $200/night. Hotel in Miami was $199/night (plus tax), taxi $25/each way to hospital, which worked out to about $300/day.

A note about hospitals in underdeveloped countries: while I wouldn't expect it to be like what we are used to in the US, I was surprised that there were no gloves used, no hand washing, you have to provide all of your own necessities including sheets/pillows, water, toilet paper, etc.

I am hoping that my experience was a rare misstep by Celebrity and not business as usual. Fortunately, I'm a go with the flow type and able to figure things out. I hate to think what could happen to elderly or people with limited mobility if they are abandoned the way we were.

Has anyone done at least two of these to compare? They all look so good I can't decide!

Thanks!

Well, you could always do the Allure again Sept. 14th with me. You would have at least until July to get it paid for! ;)

Ahhh, I wish!! We were supposed to do west coast on Celebrity in September. There is a HUGE update at work October 1st, so all hands on deck before it starts for testing :eek:

Hey there!!! Nice to hear from you! I think you will survive somehow on that old regular balcony!!! :D

I hope you had a great New Year's and holiday season in general. Lucky that you get to go on a cruise sooner than I do. I'm counting the days down again for my 3rd trip on the Allure. This time I'm in a Boardwalk Balcony and I'm sticking to it!! Unless of course I am offered an upgrade to a Sky or Crown Loft Suite for free :rolleyes:! Enjoy the Equinox, the Solstice Class ships look really nice.

We thought about Allure again because it was so much fun last time. This cruise was too good to pass up, 10 days, included tips and beverage pkg for less than Allure!! Hey, if you're offered the upgrade, you know you are taking it LOL!! When we got it, I figured once in a lifetime chance for that CL!

Hi folks!!!! It has been a while since I checked in on my review. I know we are now into 2014 and I hope everyone is doing fine and continuing to cruise....:)

Happy New Year Harold! We are headed out on the Equinox on Friday. No upgrade this time. Not sure how we'll suffer thru a regular balcony after the crown loft lol!