APPALLING EXPERIENCE ABOARD CARIBBEAN PRINCESS

[DCThunder]

Just now, Ombud said:

Doesn't Paxlovid require script?? Can you imagine the medical malpractice lawsuit if the steward or another non medical person gave someone paxlovid and there was an adverse reaction? (Practicing medicine w/o livense)

It would also require the pharmacy in the Medical Center to actually stock Paxlovid.  Perhaps they do, but perhaps not.  From what I've read, it isn't prescribed routinely for passengers who test positive.  They are just put into solitary and said, we'll talk to you in 5 days...

[PacnGoNow]

3 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Doesn't Paxlovid require script?? Can you imagine the medical malpractice lawsuit if the steward or another non medical person gave someone paxlovid and there was an adverse reaction? (Practicing medicine w/o livense)

Yes. Not everyone can take it. They also should do a blood test for your liver. So you would need to be seen by medical.

 

 

[HBCcruiser]

2 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Yes. Not everyone can take it. They also should do a blood test for your liver. So you would need to be seen by medical.

 

 

Right. My DD had an encounter with a Man-o-War on our summer cruise (not fun). The doctor had to run a series of tests, including blood work,  before he could administer a simple steroid treatment. They will not take any chances with any prescribed meds. Thank goodness we had insurance! 

[PescadoAmarillo]

2 hours ago, --mollyb-- said:

Why would we continue to sail with Princess Cruises?

You won’t. Nor will most of the people who have been subjected to the same treatment. That affected passengers have been reporting the same LACK OF COMMUNICATION, CARE AND FOLLOW UP for most of 2022 and nothing has been changed to improve the process indicates to anyone paying attention that Princess simply doesn’t care. 

[suekel]

55 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

This makes sense because they do not have your medical records and do not know how you might react to various medications. 

Kidney function is an issue with Paxlovid.  There are essentially 2 different types and your kidney function dictates which one you should take.  I had asked my doctor about getting some to take on a cruise and that is what I was told.  

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, suekel said:

Kidney function is an issue with Paxlovid.  There are essentially 2 different types and your kidney function dictates which one you should take.  I had asked my doctor about getting some to take on a cruise and that is what I was told.  

Your right. It’s kidney and liver they have to test before giving Paxlovid.

[Guest ldtr]

41 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Wow!  Even if the passenger is ill?

Sure it would be a violation of PVSA, if going from one US port to another, why would one not expect it to be with the Canadian version.  Even in the case of a medevac the cruise lines must report it as a violation, though the Coast /guard often waives the fee in such cases.

 

There might have also been issues (red tape to go through) with a positive case departing ship in Canada since Canada has has more extensive protocols than the US, even with them being Canadian citizens.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, Princessfan20 said:

That would be a very easy, helpful and practical thing for Princess to do.  However, they really provide very little information.  They suggested taking a Tylenol or DayQuil.

 

When we inquired about Paxlovid they said you had to be seen by ship's doctor and that the visit and prescription could easily cost $1,000 and that some insurances do not cover the costs at that time.  Also, our Doctor will not prescribe it unless you are sick, tested and seen in person by him at his office.

 

As other have mentioned food ordering and delivery took a long time and options were limited.

 

You basically learn fairly fast that you are on your own and alone and it is not easy for family members to know what is happening either.  Disembarkation is a whole other issue with Covid.

Which indicates that they are doing what is medically correct.  Paxlovid is a medicine that requires prescription.  It is also a drug with a list of known negative side effects that also negatively interacts with a number of other drugs (including heart medications).  Any place that hands out Paxlovid without a thorough understanding of a patients medical condition and medical history would be negligent.

 

The normal price for a Paxlovid script is in excess of $600 itself. The US government has provided funding to pay for the drug under most circumstances when it is medically necessary inside of the US.  A cruise ship is not inside the US, it is under the rules of the country in which it is registered.  As such the US government does not provide the drug for free as it does in the US and what you are seeing is the real cost of the drug.

[Shippy]

PAXLOVID

 My husband & I were both given that last month. We were NOT given any blood tests.

We had to get it at a pharmacy we do not usually use because they do not all carry it....so I do not think ships would.

THINK TWICE before taking that on a cruise ship. It definitely will give you diarrhea !

[Guest ldtr]

Just now, Shippy said:

PAXLOVID

 My husband & I were both given that last month. We were NOT given any blood tests.

We had to get it at a pharmacy we do not usually use because they do not all carry it....so I do not think ships would.

THINK TWICE before taking that on a cruise ship. It definitely will give you diarrhea !

I expect though that you were given it by your physician who had access to your medical history and knew any drugs you may be taking.  The blood tests are usual only given in cases where someones medical history is unknown or have some reason that close monitoring is needed.  Potential interactions with other drugs is probably the most important concern.

[Wishing on a star]

There are three take-aways for me....    

 

One, the idea that disembarking because of COVID would have to be considered a medi-vac.  I suppose that most people do not know that.  I too might have hoped that I could disembark, in my own country....  Why would a cruise ship be considered a temporary prison.  What if one wanted to leave the voyage early because of a major family situation at home?  ending a voyage early should be at a travelers discretion.  We are not talking about cruise refunds, etc...  A cruise ship should never be a prison.  Unless you are in a foreign country that has specific laws and requirements about cruise disembarkation, a person should have the option to disembark..

 

Two, many others have reported feeling abandoned, as they are isolated without basic information, basic needs, food, clean towels, medical care, etc.. and are just totally ignored by an ill prepared and inadequate staff.   We all know about staffing issues.  They are everywhere.  But, when it comes to getting basic needs and care,  "sorry, it's a cruise ship, we can't/won't/don't care" is a very unacceptable excuse.   

 

Three.  Whether you have travel insurance, or the Princess insurance, or are hoping for coverage from your existing health insurance and coverages...  You need documentation.  Period.  When I leave a doctor's office, I usually have the opportunity to leave wth the info in hand.  Or I know that it is always available.  Every passenger should have immediate documentation and information about any diagnosis like COVID, that affects their health, their travels, their success with insurance coverage.   Shouldn't even have to ask.

 

The so called Covid CRUISE WITH CONFIDENCE slogans should not mean,  if you need medical care, you will pay a min. of $1,000.00 up front, and good luck getting any reimbursement.

 

Edited October 21, 2022 by Wishing on a star

[Shippy]

1 minute ago, Shippy said:

PAXLOVID

 My husband & I were both given that last month. We were NOT given any blood tests.

We had to get it at a pharmacy we do not usually use because they do not all carry it....so I do not think ships would.

THINK TWICE before taking that on a cruise ship. It definitely will give you diarrhea !

I forgot to add...although we did not have to pay, it is over $500. per prescription ( google it)

so you can imagine what a ship would charge you !

[PacnGoNow]

1 minute ago, Shippy said:

PAXLOVID

 My husband & I were both given that last month. We were NOT given any blood tests.

We had to get it at a pharmacy we do not usually use because they do not all carry it....so I do not think ships would.

THINK TWICE before taking that on a cruise ship. It definitely will give you diarrhea !

They say pharmacies can give it now if you are positive for covid, without a Dr’s script.  Didn’t know that was approved.

They must have asked you about your medical history?

[Ombud]

3 hours ago, --mollyb-- said:

I am writing this to express my utter dismay with the sheer incompetence, impersonal treatment, and lack of useful information provided by personnel of Caribbean Princess during the entire ordeal of being tested positive for COVID-19, being placed in isolation, and in securing confirmation for disembarking the ship.

 

 

[ADDED: A pre-printed document regarding:

1. Isolation / quarantine length of time

2. Medical assistance available onboard

3. Disembarking 

Would be helpful. At the very least, reprinting Sec 14 of Passenger Contract would be helpful as it is difficult to access onboard]

Rewritten to get a response other than "We regret ... " which is a kiss-off. 

 

I hope you're on the mend. 

28 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

You won’t. Nor will most of the people who have been subjected to the same treatment. That affected passengers have been reporting the same LACK OF COMMUNICATION, CARE AND FOLLOW UP for most of 2022 and nothing has been changed to improve the process indicates to anyone paying attention that Princess simply doesn’t care. 

So is this why they are trying to lower the pax average age as those who are older are more likely to have co-morbilities (age, weight, other health concerns)?

[Shippy]

2 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

They say pharmacies can give it now if you are positive for covid, without a Dr’s script.  Didn’t know that was approved.

They must have asked you about your medical history?

no pharmacy around where i live will do that.

We did a home test. Positive. Called the hospital advice nurse. She because we were old we should take Paxlovid & go to the emergency room to get the prescription.

Our symptoms were that of a very mild cold. No fever. Oxygen level fine. The only reason I took the test was because we had just taken a cruise.

Side effects of Paxlovid were worse than our Covid symptoms !

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, Shippy said:

no pharmacy around where i live will do that.

We did a home test. Positive. Called the hospital advice nurse. She because we were old we should take Paxlovid & go to the emergency room to get the prescription.

Our symptoms were that of a very mild cold. No fever. Oxygen level fine. The only reason I took the test was because we had just taken a cruise.

Side effects of Paxlovid were worse than our Covid symptoms !

So you had to go to the hospital to get it?

You are in the US?

[PacnGoNow]

7 minutes ago, Shippy said:

no pharmacy around where i live will do that.

We did a home test. Positive. Called the hospital advice nurse. She because we were old we should take Paxlovid & go to the emergency room to get the prescription.

Our symptoms were that of a very mild cold. No fever. Oxygen level fine. The only reason I took the test was because we had just taken a cruise.

Side effects of Paxlovid were worse than our Covid symptoms !

Some are allowed to prescribe it. Effective July 6, 22.  
 

https://www.foley.com/en/insights/publications/2022/08/fda-pharmacists-prescribe-covid-antiviral-paxlovid
 

[Princessfan20]

1 hour ago, Shippy said:

Last month, we got off a different cruiseline & 2 days later discovered we had covid

We are vacc'd & booster and OLD. We will be on a Princess ship next month.

THIS FAR INTO THE PANDEMIC, EVERYONE SHOULD ASSUME THEY MIGHT GET IT IF YOU TRAVEL.

 THAT IS A RISK YOU TAKE & SHOULD NOT BLAME OTHERS.

ALL SHIPS HANDLE IT DIFFERENTLY & i DOUBT MANY ARE SATISFIED WITH THEIR EXPERIENCE.

THAT IS ANOTHER RISK YOU TAKE.

   I DOUBT THINGS WILL CHANGE IN THE NEAR FUTURE. COVID OR SOME OTHER VIRUS WILL BE AROUND FOR A LONG TIME.

     WE ARE OLD & CHOOSE TO ACCEPT THESE RISK AS WE WANT TO FINISH OUT OUR LIVES DOING WHAT WE WANT & NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT IT !

 

 

Really.  Remember this crock that Princess used to push bookings:

 

"Cruise with Confidence

We love connecting our guests to unique destinations but understand concerns about booking a cruise right now. That’s where Cruise with Confidence comes in. It’s our way of reassuring guests that when they’re ready to sail again, we’ll make sure it’s as safe as possible. And guests can book now with even greater flexibility and travel protection."

[Guest ldtr]

11 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

There are three take-aways for me....    

 

One, the idea that disembarking because of COVID would have to be considered a medi-vac.  I suppose that most people do not know that.  I too might have hoped that I could disembark, in my own country....  Why would a cruise ship be considered a temporary prison.  What if one wanted to leave the voyage early because of a major family situation at home?  ending a voyage early should be at a travelers discretion.  We are not talking about cruise refunds, etc...  A cruise ship should never be a prison.  Unless you are in a foreign country that has specific laws and requirements about cruise disembarkation, a person should have the option to disembark..

 

Two, many others have reported feeling abandoned, as they are isolated without basic information, basic needs, food, clean towels, medical care, etc.. and are just totally ignored by an ill prepared and inadequate staff.   We all know about staffing issues.  They are everywhere.  But, when it comes to getting basic needs and care,  "sorry, it's a cruise ship, we can't/won't/don't care" is a very unacceptable excuse.   

 

Three.  Whether you have travel insurance, or the Princess insurance, or are hoping for coverage from your existing health insurance and coverages...  You need documentation.  Period.  When I leave a doctor's office, I usually have the opportunity to leave wth the info in hand.  Or I know that it is always available.  Every passenger should have immediate documentation and information about any diagnosis like COVID, that affects their health, their travels, their success with insurance coverage.   Shouldn't even have to ask.

 

The so called Covid CRUISE WITH CONFIDENCE slogans should not mean,  if you need medical care, you will pay a min. of $1,000.00 up front, and good luck getting any reimbursement.

 

Keep in mind that when you chose to board cruise ship you are placing a considerable degree of control in the hands of the cruise line.  Even when you are calling on ports in your home country, you are considered to be outside of that home country and are limited by rules determined by the government and the cruise line.  You are limited by decisions made by both.   Even in the US if you depart the ship at a different port it must be approved by the cruise line, and immigration.  It also means that you will be subject to paying a fine due to PVSA, though that might be waived with government approval in some cases.

 

So it is not prison, but you do not have unlimited freedom of action either.

 

When you leave the ships medical center you can also get copies of medical information including a copy of charges including medical codes and billing information.  My understanding is that they did not go to medical and that their services from medical was limited to the test.  Not clear if they explicitly asked the medical center for documentation related to the exact date of test that could be provided to their insurance company or other authority.

 

However, cruise with confidence does not mean that you can get any medical treatment that you might choose, as if the medical department was a candy store.  It means medically necessary treatment.  Though even then cruise with confidence was to allow people to cancel their cruise due to contracting Covid or even fear of Covid and be made whole with an FCC.  It did not necessarily provide free medical treatment in all versions, since that would be covered by purchase of the recommendation travel insurance.

[startedwithamouse]

23 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

They say pharmacies can give it now if you are positive for covid, without a Dr’s script.  Didn’t know that was approved.

They must have asked you about your medical history?

Who is "they"?  Which pharmacies?  Paxlovid needs to be prescribed due to interactions with other medicines.

[Kay S]

2 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

 Please don’t bother to threaten Princess with  “never cruising with Princess again!”

Maybe it's not a threat.  They may not all be here on CC, but there are people who will not cruise with Princess again because of this treatment and other shortcomings.  I know some cheerleaders vigorously defend anything Princess does, but it is not the same cruise line it was in 2019.  I don't blame the OP one bit for feeling Princess did not care about him or his wife.  I was sick on a Princess ship some years before covid, and the medical staff, along with the crew, treated me with concern and care during my isolation.  That was the old Princess.  

 

Disclaimer for those who seem to think they need to know:  Yes, I have two Princes cruises booked.  Like several others, I am burning off the FCC.  I let Princess keep my money (on a not-cheap cruise) during the pause, and I accepted the "good will" FCC they offered.  Now we are down to the good will money and for my future Princess cruises I am going to spend their money.

[NownZen]

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

There are three take-aways for me....    

 

One, the idea that disembarking because of COVID would have to be considered a medi-vac.  I suppose that most people do not know that.  I too might have hoped that I could disembark, in my own country....  Why would a cruise ship be considered a temporary prison.  What if one wanted to leave the voyage early because of a major family situation at home?  ending a voyage early should be at a travelers discretion.  We are not talking about cruise refunds, etc...  A cruise ship should never be a prison.  Unless you are in a foreign country that has specific laws and requirements about cruise disembarkation, a person should have the option to disembark..

 

 

 

The point here is that both the US and Canada do have specific laws and requirements. The PVSA is why so many ships stop in Ensenada, for example. Canada seems to have a similar law. Those laws are from a bygone era and originally involved ferry traffic on the great lakes but they are still in force. That is why we cannot get LNG shipped from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast. It is why the power issues in Puerto Rico lasted longer than necessary, etc.

[bbburks]

I must chime in here. I think it is inexcusable not to receive common courtesy from ship personnel when a passenger becomes ill while cruising. I don’t think I need to reiterate the basics that would entail. And yes, you would think, after all this time, that Princess would have a standard protocol they follow for people who come down with Covid while on the ship. That being said, my husband and I came down with Covid while traveling in May on the Regal to Alaska. For the most part we received more than a satisfactory response and care. Sometime ago PescadoAmarillo  mentioned a person that was a superior Princess Hotel General Manager and we were fortunate to have him as said manager on our ship. I think his name might have been Dirk Brand. I believe how we were responded to was reflective of his commitment to excellence and his organizational and leadership skills. Naturally we were disappointed that we got sick with Covid. We tried to be as responsible for ourselves as possible ( short of not cruising) being fully up to date on our vaccinations & by wearing our KN95 masks when inside except when eating or drinking and always sat in the furthest back row during shows. We even had our physicians prescribe Paxlovid to take along with us “just in case”. We felt being prepared would mean we wouldn’t need to use it. Wrong. But we were given a very fair FCC and happily applied it to a future Hawaiian cruise in May. 

[PacnGoNow]

7 minutes ago, bbburks said:

I must chime in here. I think it is inexcusable not to receive common courtesy from ship personnel when a passenger becomes ill while cruising. I don’t think I need to reiterate the basics that would entail. And yes, you would think, after all this time, that Princess would have a standard protocol they follow for people who come down with Covid while on the ship. That being said, my husband and I came down with Covid while traveling in May on the Regal to Alaska. For the most part we received more than a satisfactory response and care. Sometime ago PescadoAmarillo  mentioned a person that was a superior Princess Hotel General Manager and we were fortunate to have him as said manager on our ship. I think his name might have been Dirk Brand. I believe how we were responded to was reflective of his commitment to excellence and his organizational and leadership skills. Naturally we were disappointed that we got sick with Covid. We tried to be as responsible for ourselves as possible ( short of not cruising) being fully up to date on our vaccinations & by wearing our KN95 masks when inside except when eating or drinking and always sat in the furthest back row during shows. We even had our physicians prescribe Paxlovid to take along with us “just in case”. We felt being prepared would mean we wouldn’t need to use it. Wrong. But we were given a very fair FCC and happily applied it to a future Hawaiian cruise in May. 

Bingo!  That’s exactly what needs to happen on EVERY Princess ship. 

Standard protocols, caring for the guest.

[voljeep]

2 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

You won’t. Nor will most of the people who have been subjected to the same treatment. That affected passengers have been reporting the same LACK OF COMMUNICATION, CARE AND FOLLOW UP for most of 2022 and nothing has been changed to improve the process indicates to anyone paying attention that Princess simply doesn’t care. 

but your DH ... deleted