Emergency medical transfer from ship to shore

[kevboy]

We once saw someone being helicoptered off the ship to hospital. We`ve also seen quayside ambulances waiting for ship to dock.  Once we saw a coffin being removed from the ship. My wife and I ( both elderly) got to thinking about what if it happened to us. What happens to the traumatised spouse now with his/her suitcases at her side on the quayside? What if any help does P&O provIde?

 

Hotel accommodation would be required in the vicinity of the hospital as well as transportation etc. Does the Port Agent help in any way. The more we think about the possible implications, it is quite frightening, especially if we were outside of Europe. There does not appear to be much - if any postings on this subject.

 

Has anyone had this kind of experience that they wouldn`t mind sharing with us. I would be very grateful for any information. kind regards, kev

[david63]

In the unlikely event then yes P&O/Carnival will, and do, provide help. They have a team available 24/7 who once informed will be in contact with you until you are back home and in extreme cases will fly somebody out to assist.

 

26 minutes ago, kevboy said:

Does the Port Agent help in any way.

Yes - this is part of the port agent's job and will do whatever is required in the immediate period until the P&O team take over.

 

We had an incident a few years back where my wife was medically disembarked and we needed an hotel for the night and the port agent spent a couple hours trying to find one for us.

 

One point to remember if anyone should find themselves in this situation is to get and keep receipts for everything as you will need them for your insurance claim.

[Winifred 22]

Carnival U K have an excellent Care Team on call 24/7 that swings into action in the event of a serious emergency. Along with the port agent everything is taken care of. I would say make sure your insurance is up to date and covers all eventualities. 

[molecrochip]

1 hour ago, Winifred 22 said:

Carnival U K have an excellent Care Team on call 24/7 that swings into action in the event of a serious emergency. Along with the port agent everything is taken care of. I would say make sure your insurance is up to date and covers all eventualities. 

The Carnival U.K. team are one of the best in the business. They fulfil a variety of day to day roles across the business but have all had specialist training to perform the care team role.

 

I know someone who was sat in Southampton doing their job, saw the request for support for a couple on a world cruise. Dropped everything, went home grabbed a case and was at Heathrow within 2.5hrs waiting for a flight to the other side of the world.

 

The care team are there to look after the person not-directly affected, liaise with authorities, hospitals, insurance companies. Exact duties depend upon exact scenario.

[Thejuggler]

On our first cruise we were unfortunate to have a cat 1 medical - death on board.  The call went out during dinner.  It wasn't until we went back to our cabin we found out it was someone two cabins down from us.

Even though we didn't know the person we were treat well as we couldn't access the corridor.  Next day the cabin steward said he had been up all night as he had additional duties to undertake when such an event takes place.

 

[Harters]

Your travel insurer will also have an emergency contact number in operation 24/7. They should be your first contact so you don't run the risk, as happened to my father in law on a P & O cruise, where his claim was denied because the insurer had not given prior approval to the treatment. We appealed to the company, which was rejected. We then took it to the Insurance Ombudsman who, after several months,, found in the FiL's favour. But it meant, the whole process was a complete pain, not least as he was out of pocket for all those months, with no indication that he would win his appeal. 

Edited August 5, 2023 by Harters

[Megabear2]

Well interesting reading this!  My experience in a major emergency is well documented on pages of CC so I won't go into the details here.  I will however say that Princess who I had the misfortune to be dealing with, so assumedly the Carnival team, were unhelpful, uninterested and uncaring.  They most certainly did not find a hotel for me, refused assistance at the port so I was locked in with no access to telephone charging and money and left me alone shore side with a telephone number in the UK that I could not call as my phone was depleted of charte.

 

They failed to send anyone to the hospital in Civitavecchia where my aunt was taken and she was left alone there with no assistance or any English speaking person.

 

Having to rely on the assistance of two fellow passengers to get out of the port and fly home because neither insurance company were prepared to provide help, my aunt was finally located by the "care" team 36 hours after her removal from the ship. I received a call whilst driving home on the motorway to inform me she had "been located"!

 

I'm afraid I cannot provide any positives at all, I had thought I'd just been unlucky but ABTA and the insurance ombudsman informed us this was not the case.  Although I did get my personal money back from Princess - I'd been forced to pay an onboard medical bill before being allowed to leave the ship - it took months of arguments and an investigation lasting months before any acknowledgement of poor service was obtained. 

 

My 82 year old aunt even suffered the indignity of a letter informing her bailiffs were instructed by Princess over the "outstanding" onboard medical bill, this despite them being aware the matter was with her insurers.

 

The only advice I would offer on this is to ensure you have a substantial amount of foreign currency with you to pay things like taxis, food etc and keep an emergency credit card with a very large credit limit - Princess stated at least five figures would be required.   Be aware your insurer will not automatically pick up the tab, you will have to start payment yourself.  In Italy before medical care would commence, even with a valid GHIC, we were required to pay €2,000. That paid for a "bed" in the corridor in an over full hospital.

 

Cover from your insurer is dependent on them checking your policy is valid, ie all your medical declarations were made and the insurer has seen your medical records.  Even then you may well find yourself having to continue to pay out yourself for some time.

 

I say this not to scare people but to warn them to be prepared.

 

 

[Megabear2]

15 minutes ago, Harters said:

Your travel insurer will also have an emergency contact number in operation 24/7. They should be your first contact so you don't run the risk, as happened to my father in law on a P & O cruise, where his claim was denied because the insurer had not given prior approval to the treatment. We appealed to the company, which was rejected. We then took it to the Insurance Ombudsman who, after several months,, found in the FiL's favour. But it meant, the whole process was a complete pain, not least as he was out of pocket for all those months, with no indication that he would win his appeal. 

I sympathise totally. In our case the insurance emergency number was called by the doctor on the ship before my aunt was taken ashore by the ambulance personnel.  Although notified we had to continue to pay expenses ourselves until the insurers had taken a full medical history from the doctor. As it was a weekend they did not even contact the GP until late on the Monday, I had by then flown back out to Italy, and as a result my aunt was still lying on a trolley in the corridor.  

 

We ended up with £27,000 of bills as I moved my aunt to a hospital in Rome as no treatment was available at the hospital she was taken to.  Some of that money has been recovered but the argument continues about the remainder with the insurance Ombudsman still investigating.

 

It is stressful and very worrying and most people have no idea how it works believing the insurer just picks up the tab immediately.

 

[Harters]

What a simply awful story, Megabear.

 

On the other side of the coin, my MiL became ill during a holiday in Florida which required her admittance to hospital. Being America, the hospital deals with insurance every day and, within an hour of admittance, one of their admin people made contact and took on all the dealings with her insurer. As far as I remember, we never heard another word about it. 

[sleepingcat]

We had a good experience when misfortune struck but it was several years ago now (2014). MY OH had to undergo an emergency operation which was performed at a hospital in Singapore.  It was unusual because instead of being repatriated after the operation, we flew to catch the ship up and reboarded to complete our cruise back to the UK.  This was down to the ship's medical team being willing to accept my husband back on board - in fact not just willing, the doctor on board suggested it would be better than flying home.

 

Between our insurer and P and O everything was arranged as well as one might hope. Not to say that I didn't find it pretty stressful though. The ship's doctor advised with the port agent which hospital.  A hotel was  booked for me. 

 

We were in Singapore for 3 or 4 days.  Every day someone from P and O support phoned me to find out if I was okay and processes were happening. She was in direct contact with our insurer.  When my husband left the hospital they took the £100 excess off my card and the rest of the bill went direct to our insurer (phew).  With appropriate medical approval, we flew on to Colombo, staying in a hotel booked and paid for by our insurer. We then reboarded Arcadia when she arrived. And someone from the Ship's reception team phoned me several times to find out how we were and give instructions for meeting up with the port agent. The port agent in Colombo was amazing, as the  bureaucratic procedure for reboarding was complex. When we got back on board there were flowers in the cabin for us.  and ongoing care from the ship's medical team for my husband. 

[FangedRose]

On 8/5/2023 at 5:00 PM, Thejuggler said:

On our first cruise we were unfortunate to have a cat 1 medical - death on board.  The call went out during dinner.  It wasn't until we went back to our cabin we found out it was someone two cabins down from us.

Even though we didn't know the person we were treat well as we couldn't access the corridor.  Next day the cabin steward said he had been up all night as he had additional duties to undertake when such an event takes place.

 

That happens more often than passengers realise. All cruise ships have a morgue. One incident sticks in my mind is of a passenger who died before the ship had even set sail.

 

I once had a cabin directly above the "crew gangway", and at nearly every port there was an ambulance waiting. Passenger gangways were not opened until after the ambulance had left. Not surprising really when looking at the age demographic of passengers (especially on longer cruises), the stress of travelling is a cause; and the change of routine often means medication is missed or mistimed. It always amazes me how many people's diabetes suddenly disappears when on board a ship!