kimcheeboy

For those wondering what it was like to cruise during the peak of the Omicron wave, here's our trip video from the Jan 3, 2022 sailing of Apex. 

And if you're wondering why it's titled "Great while it lasted", here's what happened.

17 minutes ago, Islandhop9 said:

Did you pay and get reimbursed by the insurance company later? 

 

Curious what the Dominican Republic medical costs were? (if you want to share) 

 

Glad everything went pretty smoothly for you. 

So the services on the ship were paid out of pocket and need to be reimbursed later. The ship's medical bill was about $3000 USD which included triage, 1 night in their ICU, hydration/antibiotic/pain killer IVs, catheter, blood tests and urine tests.

I don't know the DR medical costs as that was directly billed to the insurance company. 

32 minutes ago, kathynorth said:

So, based on your experiences, if the OP had been med-evacuated from the ship directly to the airport for medical transport to a US or Canada hospital, would Medjet cover the transport? Does Medjet consider the ship medical facility a hospital?

While I can't speak for Medjet specifically, I got the sense from the Apex medical staff that the typical arrangement is a direct ship to airport transfer when they need to disembark some for medical emergencies. That was the plan for me if the Dominican Republic hospital didn't have the required CT scanner I needed.

11 hours ago, Gracelyn said:

Valuable information! Thank you. Did your insurance cover Covid related sickness. I’ve been confused with the travel advisory level 4 for cruising coverage. 
thanks

Gracelyn

Can't speak for covid-related sickness as it didn't apply in my case. Kind of surprised we actually didn't get it during our the hours spent in a packed Dominican Republic ER shoulder to shoulder with people coughing and hacking. We did bring our own true N95 masks which we wore diligently at the airport, on the plane, on the ship and while in DR.

On 1/17/2022 at 2:43 PM, lots-of-km2 said:

 

Yikes!  How were you able to let your insurer know what's going on if you couldn't reach them by phone?  Do they have an emergency email address, or a phone number that you could send texts to?  (I rely on Allianz for travel health insurance so reading about your experience is really informative). 

 

Glad that you ended up with good medical care in the DR and arrived back home safe and sound and Covid-free. 

So Allianz does have a 24/7 emergency help line you're supposed to call when you need their services. Unfortunately it was this call centre was unreachable for hours during my crisis.

They also have an email address which thankfully replied before we could get a hold of anyone on the phone so the hospital and transport was coordinated all via email. Eventually a case manager will call you and I highly recommend you answer the call because there's no way to directly reach them otherwise (likely intentional).

I suspect this call centre issue was just an isolated COVID staffing related issue and likely won't be a problem in the future. 

24 minutes ago, boone2 said:

Thank goodness you had adequate insurance. Until I retired  I worked as a nurse on a cruise line in between my ER job here and we, as staff,  couldn’t believe the number of people who came onboard with no insurance -at all. They soon found out what a mistake that was, even one night in the ICU could run Intothe thousands depending on the treatment.  And it has to be paid upfront and if they had insurance it could be claimed back. .  I do have a little bit of trouble with the phrase “kicked off” the ship.  Obviously the treatment you needed could not be done onboard and they facilitated what you needed. The cruise line I worked for had onshore care coordinators who remain in contact with the guest and the port agents are usually extremely helpful.  The hospitals at each port have been previously checked out to make sure they are of adequate standard. Obviously they may not be up to the standard of US or Canadian hospitals but as I say when you need more care than the onboard facilities can offer it is the wisest choice to make   Glad you’re feeling better 

Sorry for the click-baitish title. It's to appease the Youtube gods.

I wouldn't say so much that I was kicked off the ship, but I wasn't given the option to stay. I understand it was the best thing for me but there were a lot of considerations in my mind at the time. 

To stay on the ship, yes there was a considerable risk of septic shock without a full trauma center resource onboard. After the IV, I did feel stable and wasn't in much pain (although probably from the drugs). We were well outside the range of a helo from the US mainland and the next day was a sea day enroute to Nassau.

To be disembarked in the DR, a lot more unknowns at play. How good was the hospital? How safe is the area? Does anybody speak English? Where is my wife going to stay? Where is my wife going to eat? How safe was it for my wife to be alone transiting around? If this goes bad, how long would I have to stay there?

Given the choice, I still would've rolled the dice to stay onboard at my own risk. At least I would know and trust in my wife's safety and well-being. It came down to a bad choice versus a worse choice.

Just now, canadianbear said:

Thanks for the answer about insurance.  We live in Western Canada and usually use Pacific Blue Cross.  We have a long (50 day) South Pacific cruise later this year so will also look into the Medjet as well.  (Retired seniors). 

Oh yes, good choice on the Medjet. The senior doctor on Apex even personally recommended Medjet as the evac service he's enrolled in.

He made clear that most travel insurances will only air evac you to the nearest medical facility. Medjet is one of the few that will transport you to any medical facility in any country of your choice. A massive distinction in an emergency abroad.

4 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

Wow, what a lot of firsts for you.  Handled very well considering what stress you were going through.   Very informative video, thank you for sharing.  What insurance coverage company did you have?   We are Canadian but have not cruised yet.  We aren’t booked until later this year.  
 

Thank you for sharing your video.  Hope your flight home was uneventful and you are fully recovered.  (And insurance covered everything). 

Thanks for the kind words.

Luckily we had multiple layers of travel insurance provided by our employer and credit card. The insurance company was Allianz Global Assistance. They were the largest issue during this situation as their call centre was utterly unreachable. Our nurse was on hold with the 24/7 emergency line for 4 hours and eventually gave up only when they emailed back.

I suppose it could just be an isolated case with Allianz or their call centre in Kitchener is understaffed due to covid, but it really didn't help the situation.

I already posted this in the Celebrity forum, but I figured my fellow Canadians might benefit.

Spoiler alert, it wasn't COVID-related. Here's what it's like to be medically evacuated off the ship. First time ever having any major medical emergency, shame it had to happen on Day 2 onboard this eagerly awaited cruise.

Ask me anything...

42 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

My friend, you would have been in agony without the medical intervention given to you at a true surgical center.  Your wife/partner would have been beside herself in worry and second guessing herself watching you in withering pain.

Actually saying post surgery that you felt that you were "being kicked off against my ideal wishes" shows me that you have a bit of Peter Pan in you.  I have no doubt that you are a delightful individual, and lots of fun to be around.  But sometimes adult decisions need to be made and dealt with.  Thankfully the medical staff did that for you.  Wishing you all the best.

So about my ideal wishes, there were more factors at play there. 

To stay on the ship, yes there was a considerable risk of septic shock without a full trauma center resource onboard. After the IV, I did feel stable and wasn't in much pain (although probably from the drugs). We were well outside the range of a helo from the US mainland and the next day was a sea day enroute to Nassau.

To be disembarked in the DR, a lot more unknowns at play. How good was the hospital? How safe is the area? Does anybody speak English? Where is my wife going to stay? Where is my wife going to eat? How safe was it for my wife to be alone transiting around? If this goes bad, how long would I have to stay there?

Given the choice, I still would've rolled the dice to stay onboard at my own risk. At least I would know and trust in my wife's safety and well-being. I wouldn't say it was Peter Pan idealism but it came down to a bad choice versus a worse choice.

2 minutes ago, Shipswap said:

Thank you for sharing your experience. We are so happy that it worked out so well.  As a fellow Canadian, I am very interested in reviewing my travel health coverage in these challenging times. You had mentioned that your current Medical Travel Provider was slow in responding. Would you be willing to share any hints to who they were?  

So we relied on Allianz Global Assistance which is provided by my wife's exceptional employer plan. In terms of air ambulance, it covers up to $1M in transport. 

However, the Allianz 24/7 emergency phone line was absolutely unreachable during our emergency. Could be coincidence or call centre staffing shortage due to covid, but our nurse was on hold for over 4 hours with their call centre, until someone replied via email. 

In a perfect world, if Allianz was immediately reachable the ideal plan by the ship doc would've been to have a direct transfer from ship straight to airport for an air ambulance to Florida. We ran out of time, hence disembarked in DR.

As mentioned, I highly recommend getting additional medical transport coverage as most default coverage only takes you to the nearest medical facility. Check out MedJet. Only $300 per year and they'll take you home.

2 minutes ago, MamaFej said:

I, also, am happy and grateful that you got good treatment and are recovering.

 

I would never say the following "out loud". . . except that your post and video made it clear that you have an excellent sense of humor and are able to laugh at yourself and tough situations.

 

My mom had kidney stone surgery Monday to remove a 7cm by 11 cm stone stuck at the top of the ureter. She was in and out of the hospital in October (once in septic shock) and has had a stent all the way up to the stone since November 10. The pain and multiple infections  have been awful! Believe me, women don't enjoy cystoscopies either. The surgery kept getting delayed, not because the hospital was short surgical staff, but because many staff that do the various pre-op tests and procedures have been reassigned to Covid wards.

 

Anyway, I'm going to tell her that she should have gotten on a cruise ship headed for the Domican Republic. She could have had that thing out three months ago!

 

Thanks for sharing, and I hope you and your lovely lady are back on a ship soon.

Thank you for your kind words.

Under normal circumstances, I would say I'm a planner and a worrier. I like to plan for all contingencies, but didn't see this one coming. It was a good lesson to just surrender to fate, laugh at the situation, and hope for the best.

Cliche as it sounds, this all could've gone wrong in a million ways, and only one way to make it back home (covid, flight cancellations, medical stability). I experienced tremendous kindness from strangers which really does show me the general goodness in humanity. It's not all doom and gloom out there, as the news would make you think. 

3 minutes ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

So you were not "kicked off" a cruise ship for a medical evacuation (your YouTube title).  The ship doctor made a sound medical decision and had you transferred to a local hospital in the Dominican Republic as he/she was worried about your condition (later determined to be kidney stones), and he/she also worried that you may succumb to septic shock while you were on the ship (as stated in your YouTube video).

 

Sounds like they did everything right.  

It really isn't a true representation that you were "kicked off" the cruise ship (title of your YouTube).  You did the cruise line and the medical team a disservice in your quest for YouTube clicks.

That being said, I am thankful that you recovered.

You're absolutely right about the Youtube title.

The Apex medical crew was fantastic throughout. In terms of being kicked off, the senior doctor consulted with the Staff Captain and RCL HQ and determined I was too high risk to keep onboard due to lack of a CT scanner onboard and potential septic shock.

Quite frankly, I really would've preferred to stay onboard even if it was confined to the medical bay until it's return to Port Everglades. Naturally, I had major concerns regarding the quality of medical facilities in Dominican Republic, language barriers, and how to eventually make it back to Canada. So in a way I did feel like I was being kicked off against my ideal wishes.

Thankfully we had multiple layers of travel insurance thru our employer and our credit card.

The sticky part about air ambulance is in the wording. Most policies will state that they will ambulance you to the "nearest medical facility". Ideally, we would've liked to have an air ambulance back to Canada or at least the US, instead of Dominican Republic. 

The Apex Senior Doctor did recommend a third party air ambulance insurance company called MedJet which will evacuate you to any medical facility in any country of your choice. It's the evac company he enrolled in so that's a strong endorsement.

Spoiler alert, it wasn't COVID-related. Here's what it's like to be medically evacuated off the ship. First time ever having any major medical emergency, shame it had to happen on Day 2 onboard this eagerly awaited cruise.

Ask me anything...

Because someone always asks every week 😃

Hi Princess CC's,

As we're all eagerly awaiting for cruising to restart, thought you might enjoy and oldie but a goodie. Here's our trip video onboard the Regal Princess on the Canada / New England route.

It was our second time in the special extended balcony cabins right above the bridge. Balcony gets a windy but is absolutely massive.

THUMBS UP video if you enjoyed it, SUBSCRIBE to our channel if you loved it. We have lots of other cruise videos from just about all the major cruise lines.

Greetings CC's,

Finally got around to editing and posting our trip experience onboard the Regal.

We also have a lot of other cruise video reviews other lines like Oceania, Viking, Cunard and Celebrity just to name a few. SUBSCRIBE to our channel if you enjoy as it encourages us to document more of our vacations. Thanks in advance!

THUMBS UP if you liked it, SUBSCRIBE if you loved it.

Greetings CC's,

Finally got around to editing and posting our trip experience onboard the Breakaway. We brought along a pair of first time cruiser friends, and needless to say, they got hooked quick. Come along and check out the great time we had. 

We also have a lot of other cruise video reviews other lines like Oceania, Viking, Cunard and Celebrity just to name a few. Subscribe to our channel if you enjoy as it encourages us to document more of our vacations. Thanks in advance!

23 minutes ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

7 years ago?

 

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

Yea that's what happens when you try to shoot and edit your own wedding video. I didn't want to inconvenience my friends to help shoot, nor did I want to bring my own videographer. 

On a sidenote, the Celebrity wedding package did have a photo session with the onboard photographer around the ship. Your mileage will vary, but their results were pretty awful. Photography/videography-wise, we're avid enthusiasts and our results were magnitudes better than the "pros". Think Canon Rebel with a kit lens then a vasoline beauty filter applied in post.

Greeting's CCs,

Finally got around to working on the video for our wedding onboard the Celebrity Summit back in 2013. If you've ever wondered what a wedding on a cruise ship is like, this is the video for you. Enjoy and subscribe to our Youtube channel for more videos. We have other videos from sailings with Viking, Oceania, Cunard and of course Celebrity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrululmP_wI

Greetings CC's,

With the lockdown, we've had time to finally go through all the footage from our second Celebrity cruise onboard the Constellation. We also have a lot of other cruise video reviews other lines like Oceania, Viking, Princess and Cunard just to name a few. Subscribe to our channel if you enjoy as it encourages us to document more of our vacations. Thanks in advance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dFKcxxwIic

Greetings CC's,

With the lockdown, we've had time to finally go through all the footage from our first Cunard cruise onboard the Queen Mary 2. We also have a lot of other cruise video reviews other lines like Oceania, Viking, Princess and Celebrity just to name a few. Subscribe to our channel if you enjoy as it encourages us to document more of our vacations. Thanks in advance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGaaL-12A-A

2 minutes ago, Don Kehote said:

I could swear I just watched a video of Carnival Glory 😉

Whoops, thanks for catching the typo. After all these cruises, the names are getting mixed up in my head. Luckily they are sister ships so I was close 😃