Heart Conditions Banned from Cruising

[ace2542]

4 hours ago, chrysalis said:

On what basis do you define a cruise ship doctor as a "quack"?

Why are they working on cruise ships if they can get jobs in a regular GP practice full time where the money is better and it is. They are properly qualified but they are not the best in their class and perhaps not good enough to go into the specialities.

Edited April 25, 2020 by ace2542

[Bgwest]

19 hours ago, kruisey said:

OK I did not know I had a heart condition......i had been getting flutterings during the nite which always cooled down.Thought it natural.

While actually in hospital with a Gastro Enteritis where I had actually passed out at home taken to hospital i woke up one morning with a fluttering in my chest which didnot go away and rang for nurse.....They immediately gave me oxygen I V's, Electrocardiogram  ,portable X rays.

I told nurse I did not want to die,she answered we are trying our best......Is that proof enough for you?

 

Why do you feel it necessary to offer “proof” to a whole bunch of strangers?

[Daniel A]

7 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

Why are they working on cruise ships if they can get jobs in a regular GP practice as what they call a general practitioner or a in america/canada a family doctor who works in a private practice not hospital setting and see patients who have booked appointments? earning 100k plus a year U.S money. They are not earning the same as GP's on land they are probably on less money.

I know of a seaside resort community that is somewhat isolated.  During the summer months the local population explodes, the community hospital there could face being overwhelmed by the volume of patients.  The hospital owns several waterfront condos that they offer to certain specialists for their families to use for the summer.  The doctors who work during the week at a few nationally recognized hospitals meet up with their families on the week-end and only come in if paged.  The doctor's family gets a great summer vacation and the community gets the services of specialists they wouldn't have access to off season.  I know this to be true as the doctor who saved my life there worked at a very, very renowned hospital and I was amazed he was practicing on weekends at that small community hospital.  It might be a similar setup for cruise ships.

[Ombud]

On 4/24/2020 at 11:35 AM, kruisey said:

Princess refunding my future cruise credits.

Did you initially select Option 1: FCC + Bonus FCC and now it's going to be Option 2: $$s? Where did the FCC come from? Could that be a factor in trading the FCC in for $$s? 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Ombud

[ace2542]

2 minutes ago, whitecap said:

Not going to debate the point with you any further except to say that it is obvious that you have not read your travel documents because if you had, the Cruise Line has the right to deny boarding to any passenger for any reason.  Have a great day.

Which one there is about 5 of these updated documents on these threads. It would much better if the current one was posted at the top of the board.

[whitecap]

20 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

Which one there is about 5 of these updated documents on these threads. It would much better if the current one was posted at the top of the board.

I'm referring to the cruise documents that are attached as part of your booking.

[suzyed]

9 hours ago, ghstudio said:

 

Atrial fibrillation is not life threatening...many have it occasionally, some have it permanently and some even with permanent Afib have no restrictions and only know they have it because of an irregular pulse.   It's risk is an increased risk of stroke, although with blood thinners and control of any high blood pressure, the risk is still quite low.  It certainly is not transmittable to others and there is no difference treating a person with Afib or no Afib for stroke.

 

Ablation involves poking a hole through parts of the heart....and may have more risk than just living with Afib. There are similar decisions about prostate cancer...sometimes the treatment carries more risk.....and even untreated, it isn't going to cause a significant problem on a cruise. The risks from severe obesity and diabetes causing problems on a cruise may well be higher than someone with Afib.

 

I doubt that Princess will actually stop someone with Afib from travel....and many other conditions will also not be a problem.

 

OP....since cruising is still in limbo...I'd wait for the dust to settle before making any decisions, even if you are getting what I'd call guesses from folks at Princess.  They will figure out that they don't need a doctor's note for those over 70, etc.....and they won't have sweeping medical restrictions.

 

Hang in there....    

I agree...plenty of time to work these things out.  And as far as I can tell there have not been any new provisions/restrictions put in place.  There is no way I would let a potentially misinformed rep "decide" that my situation precludes me from cruising ever again!

[40yearcruiser]

6 hours ago, whitecap said:

This situation that kuruisey is facing is just another example of the issues/problems that are being caused by the COVID and the attempts by "everyone", cruiselines, restaurants, retail stores, are facing.  And if everyone would just sit back and relax for a few, you will see that requirements, suggestions, recommendations change daily.  And sometimes more than once a day.  Everyone is trying to get it right and in their attempts they sometimes go overboard (a little pun) as they try to right the ship (another one).  The phone rep for Princess was stating what she/he had been told to say and now that Princess has changed their procedure, Princess should rectify kuruisey's situation.

 

 

I agree that we all need to calm down and give it some time for Princess, and the other cruise lines, to get through this crisis. Once restrictions on people's activities have been relaxed and we have the go-ahead to travel again, I think Princess will ease up on who is refused the opportunity to cruise with them. Right now they want to avoid at all costs having the illness on their ships and the quarantines that they had to put in place repeated so are being overly cautious. I'm not saying that all precautions will be lifted, but hopefully we won't all need a doctor's release to be able to cruise--and I strongly believe that whatever precautions are put in place they should apply to all passengers, not just those over a certain age. 

[Daniel A]

59 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

Which one there is about 5 of these updated documents on these threads. It would much better if the current one was posted at the top of the board.

Your cruise booking has your contract.  Check that.

[gmjc2]

9 hours ago, Cash123 said:

Hi, my wife was diagnosed with AF in Dec 18 after she was taken to hospital suffering from chest pains, after a spell in hospital she was discharged and was prescribed a betablocker  bisoporol and blood thinners, after various tests in the following months she was told she would have to have a cardioversion. On the day she went on to have it they did a ecg first and said because her heart wasn't in AF they couldn't do the procedure so was sent home,.

 

We saw her consultant a few weeks later and he said she to the  medication she no longer had AF , we told him we had applied for travel insurance a d told them about the AF and the premium was way to high to we didn't bother booking a holiday however the consultant told us to tell the insurance company she is no longer in AF which we did and got a much better quote.

 

We were on the last cruise of the Crown in March and when we booked it last year there was no reason to mention the AF , so I wonder if it's worth speaking to your consultant to see if you could go down the same route.

We are lucky that our insurance companies ( those that I have checked) do not ask medical questions. Just age and cost/length of trip.  My sister and brother-in-law in UK have to answer questions and are having a lot of problems getting travel insurance because of recent surgery and some injection therapy.

[gmjc2]

2 hours ago, Daniel A said:

I know of a seaside resort community that is somewhat isolated.  During the summer months the local population explodes, the community hospital there could face being overwhelmed by the volume of patients.  The hospital owns several waterfront condos that they offer to certain specialists for their families to use for the summer.  The doctors who work during the week at a few nationally recognized hospitals meet up with their families on the week-end and only come in if paged.  The doctor's family gets a great summer vacation and the community gets the services of specialists they wouldn't have access to off season.  I know this to be true as the doctor who saved my life there worked at a very, very renowned hospital and I was amazed he was practicing on weekends at that small community hospital.  It might be a similar setup for cruise ships.

Great story! nice to now that people work together to achieve good things. 

[whitecap]

10 minutes ago, gmjc2 said:

Had nothing to do with feelings. My husband had symptoms of a chronic condition and she ignored my extensive knowledge of his ailments after 30+ years, when she had seen him for 5 mins! As i corrected, maybe not a quack but definitely not a caring, willing to listen kinda professional!

And based on that statement I can agree, not caring toward you or willing to listen.

[kruisey]

Wow I am sorry if folks are feeling upset........That's not good for my heart you know.😉

Anyway due to mixed reaction I did phone Princess again.This gal was extremely honest and told me just earlier this week the 'Under chronic conditions' was taken off the list.There again she said she did not have an answer for me and to contact when our wonderful Covid 19 has decided to push off to another planet and leave ours alone I made this last bit up by the way😏. So they really don't have the answer yet. At least there is hope in the future I can again sit on deck reading my Patterson mystery ,watch the waves and folks pass  by.

[dog]

2 hours ago, kruisey said:

Wow I am sorry if folks are feeling upset........That's not good for my heart you know.😉

Anyway due to mixed reaction I did phone Princess again.This gal was extremely honest and told me just earlier this week the 'Under chronic conditions' was taken off the list.There again she said she did not have an answer for me and to contact when our wonderful Covid 19 has decided to push off to another planet and leave ours alone I made this last bit up by the way😏. So they really don't have the answer yet. At least there is hope in the future I can again sit on deck reading my Patterson mystery ,watch the waves and folks pass  by.

i don’t understand this post. You made up what?

[kruisey]

1 hour ago, dog said:

i don’t understand this post. You made up what?

In these very sad times I try to keep my chin up by turning to humor.EVerything I have spoken about is true.I added the bit about our dreadful virus that is bringing so much heartache to our world taking itself to another planet

 

.

 

 

 

 

[rdsqrl]

1 hour ago, dog said:

i don’t understand this post. You made up what?

 Kruisey made up the part about the rep saying to call them back when the Coronavirus "has decided to push off to another planet."  

[caribill]

10 hours ago, ace2542 said:

Why are they working on cruise ships if they can get jobs in a regular GP practice full time where the money is better and it is. They are properly qualified but they are not the best in their class and perhaps not good enough to go into the specialities.

 

In a Q&A session with a Princess ship's doctor one time, he was asked why he works on a cruise ship. He was from Great Britain and said that at the time he graduated, that was the only job available.

[voljeep]

10 hours ago, dog said:

i don’t understand this post. You made up what?

I tried to warn you ...

[dog]

Just now, voljeep said:

I tried to warn you ...

I know I can always rely on you. Thanks again. 

[whitecap]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

In a Q&A session with a Princess ship's doctor one time, he was asked why he works on a cruise ship. He was from Great Britain and said that at the time he graduated, that was the only job available.

DW and I did the ultimate ships tour several years ago and one of the last stops on the tour was the medical center.  Learned a lot...did you know that the medical center has the ability to take and X-ray and immediately transmit it to a major state side hospital to have another medical doctor and radiologist review, diagnose and recommend treatment and with major medical issue the ship's medical staff communicate directly with "specialist".  The medical staff each explained where they had received their education and how long they had been with Princess.  I left there very impressed.  

[Roberto256]

17 hours ago, ace2542 said:

Why are they working on cruise ships if they can get jobs in a regular GP practice full time where the money is better and it is. They are properly qualified but they are not the best in their class and perhaps not good enough to go into the specialities.

 

Most of the doctors I have encountered on Princess are from South Africa.

I have no idea what the salary is for doctors in South Africa, but I would expect that it is significantly less than in the USA.

 

I think nearly all (maybe all) of the reports on emergency services received on board, that I have read here,

were very positive.

 

There are many times when a ship is far from port, and out of range of any emergency evacuation.

Everyone on board is putting their life in the hands of the doctors on board.

 

If the doctors on board do not meet your personal standards, it seems rather foolish to embark

on a cruise...

 

 

 

[Ride-The-Waves]

18 hours ago, ace2542 said:

Why are they working on cruise ships if they can get jobs in a regular GP practice full time where the money is better and it is. They are properly qualified but they are not the best in their class and perhaps not good enough to go into the specialities.

Medical staffs are contracted.  Not Process/Carnival employees.  Great flight surgeon I knew on a US Navy ship was there for several reasons: worked regular hours, didn't have a local practice were he was on-call 24/7, expensive liability insurance not required, as a flight surgeon loved flying in high performance aircraft 4-hours/month, enjoyed the camaraderie of his mates, etc.  Questioning why others do things is always wrong.

[AF-1]

Sometimes people do a job they love;  and it may not be about the money.  Have a great Sunday.  

[Ride-The-Waves]

15 hours ago, gmjc2 said:

Had nothing to do with feelings. My husband had symptoms of a chronic condition and she ignored my extensive knowledge of his ailments after 30+ years, when she had seen him for 5 mins! As i corrected, maybe not a quack but definitely not a caring, willing to listen kinda professional!

Medical professionals are not automatons.  Individual doctors can and do have differences of opinions/diagnoses.  Medicine also advances: what was accepted procedures 30 years ago may not longer be the best option.  To claim a doctor is "definitely not a caring, willing to listen kinda professional!" is defamation at worst, slander at best.

Edited April 26, 2020 by Ride-The-Waves

[voljeep]

45 minutes ago, whitecap said:

The medical staff each explained where they had received their education and how long they had been with Princess.

and the answers were ??