Pregnant Women--Be Sure You Have Insurance

[kitty9]

Ladies, if you're planning on cruising when pregnant, first of all, make sure you're not too near your due date and most importantly, make sure you have insurance. Celebrity Century had to do a helicopter rescue of a pregnant woman when she began having problems. Cruise ships are not equipped to handle pregnancy emergencies, and luckily the Century was near to Key West when the problem happened. Also, make sure the insurance you get covers pregnancy---not all do. I know for a fact that emergency evac is terribly expensive. When my mom had to be evac'd, the cost was $9000 for a half hour flight. So please, be aware.

[xcarebearxoxo]

thanks for the heads up but all cruise lines wont let u cruise past second trimester and if a woman is smart enough she would get medical clearance from her dr. i went on a cruise at 24 months and had no problems.you are right about the insurance, i actually went through my reg insurance and pruchased one it was only a few hundread but i was covered on the flights, and during hotel stay

[rebeccalouise]

Many women miscarry in their first trimester. The risk is really higher for miscarriage at this time.

 

I did buy insurance because I discovered (one week before the cruise) through my brother-in-law who read the small print, that I was too far along in my pregnancy to travel on NCL. I called the cruise line and they were willing to refund my cruise but I explained that I was traveling with a group and that I had permission from my doctor. They reluctantly agreed to let me travel, if I purchased insurance to cover the cost of being airlifted off the ship.

 

I was obviously pregnant in July of 2000 (looked like I swallowed a beach ball) when we sailed out of Seattle to Alaska. On the first day at sea- there was a pregnant women airlifted off. That afternoon everyone spotted me and thought I was the culprit. I was fine the whole trip and the staff got a big kick out of me. I think they enjoyed seeing a pregnant woman- since there aren't usually any obviously pregnant passengers.

 

The women in question was flown by helicopter to a Vancouver hospital where she miscarried. She was completely alone- no family members were allowed to join her on the helicopter.

 

So- yes, insurance is probably a good move.

[crusinmama06]

i went on a cruise at 24 months and had no problems.

 

24 months pregnant???? You poor poor woman :eek: ;) :p

 

kitty9 - It's sad to say but they generally don't allow women to cruise past the point of "viability" which means if a woman is going to misscarriage then there is nothing to do to save the baby at that point anyway. BUT, the problem with that thought is that more and more babies are being saved at 23 weeks.

[kitty9]

The woman airlifted off was well past her first trimester. She was showing, so I wonder what the emergency could be. One would think that the physicians on board could deliver an infant at term, but if this was a premie, then there's problems. No incubators or equipment like that on board ships. Unfortunately, for some people, Murphy's Law seems to hit at the wrong time.

[xcarebearxoxo]

LOL i ment 24 weeks although sometimes it feels like 24 months! also the woman could have been flown for reason other then the pregnancy. there is differnt medical prodicals for pregnant patients with treatment obvisously, and the ships do not have access to it. so even if she fell and broke her leg, they would have to check her leg and do an ultrasound to check the fluids in the sac. although maybe the cruiselines should invest in the 3d and 4d ultrasounds and you can use your sail card to get one lol

[iamtrustworthy]

Ladies, if you're planning on cruising when pregnant, first of all, make sure you're not too near your due date and most importantly, make sure you have insurance. Celebrity Century had to do a helicopter rescue of a pregnant woman when she began having problems. Cruise ships are not equipped to handle pregnancy emergencies, and luckily the Century was near to Key West when the problem happened. Also, make sure the insurance you get covers pregnancy---not all do. I know for a fact that emergency evac is terribly expensive. When my mom had to be evac'd, the cost was $9000 for a half hour flight. So please, be aware.

 

Hi Darcie,

 

We get the Pregnancy coverage question at least a few times a month. As far as I know, the only way a Travel Insurance plan will cover Pregnancy is if there are "Complications of Pregnancy threatening the life of the mother or child".

 

Normally travel insurance excludes Complications of Pregnancy that don't threaten the life of the mother or child.

 

Every once in a while I hear about travel insurance plans that do cover any Complications of Pregnancy, but if I read the fine print, I don't see it. If you know of any that do cover pregnancy, please post it here.

 

I hope this helps.

[ELECIA]

Hi Darcie,

 

We get the Pregnancy coverage question at least a few times a month. As far as I know, the only way a Travel Insurance plan will cover Pregnancy is if there are "Complications of Pregnancy threatening the life of the mother or child".

 

Normally travel insurance excludes Complications of Pregnancy that don't threaten the life of the mother or child.

 

Every once in a while I hear about travel insurance plans that do cover any Complications of Pregnancy, but if I read the fine print, I don't see it. If you know of any that do cover pregnancy, please post it here.

 

I hope this helps.

 

I am sure I am missing something, but I don't think you would need the insurance unless you had conditions that were considered to be "complications of Pregnancy threatnening the life of mother or child." Right??? I can't think of another reason you would need pregnancy related reason why you would need to "cash in" on your insurance? If you were medivac'd I would think that would be life threatening...

[kitty9]

From what I've been hearing, the mom went into labor two months early---and reports are that both the mom and baby are doing as well as can be expected. I would surmise that an 8 week premie would fall under the health of the child.

[Karysa]

The insurance that we get from the Auto Club states that medical conditions that have been treated within the last 3 months are not covered. One of our daughters had a severely broken upper arm and the last check with the Orthopedic specialist was December 21 and our trip was the beginning to the middle of March and we were told that if anything happened to her arm she would not be covered for that particular body part. I am not sure about pregnancy but if someone knows the answer to that I would be interested in knowing it. Insurance coverage is so grey to me. Do they consider pregnancy a medical condition?

Karysa

[iamtrustworthy]

I am sure I am missing something, but I don't think you would need the insurance unless you had conditions that were considered to be "complications of Pregnancy threatening the life of mother or child." Right??? I can't think of another reason you would need pregnancy related reason why you would need to "cash in" on your insurance? If you were medivac'd I would think that would be life threatening...

 

Hi ELECIA,

 

The way the question is typically asked by a person considering travel insurance is "if I am confined to light duties or bedrest is this covered by travel insurance?". It's not covered unless "the complication threatens the life of the mother or child".

 

It comes down to having the doctor say in writing that "the complication threatens the life of the mother or child".

 

This is actually different from the "complication threatening the health of the mother or child". Therefore the burden of proof of what's life-threatening is put, in my opinion, on the doctor.

 

I know that if the woman has a good relationship with their doctor, it's easier to get this in writing.

[ELECIA]

Hi ELECIA,

 

The way the question is typically asked by a person considering travel insurance is "if I am confined to light duties or bedrest is this covered by travel insurance?". It's not covered unless "the complication threatens the life of the mother or child".

 

It comes down to having the doctor say in writing that "the complication threatens the life of the mother or child".

 

This is actually different from the "complication threatening the health of the mother or child". Therefore the burden of proof of what's life-threatening is put, in my opinion, on the doctor.

 

I know that if the woman has a good relationship with their doctor, it's easier to get this in writing.

 

Thanks so much for clearing that up for me! But what better way to be on "light duties" than on a cruise!!! "Another virgin pina colada please!...."

[iamtrustworthy]

The insurance that we get from the Auto Club states that medical conditions that have been treated within the last 3 months are not covered. One of our daughters had a severely broken upper arm and the last check with the Orthopedic specialist was December 21 and our trip was the beginning to the middle of March and we were told that if anything happened to her arm she would not be covered for that particular body part. I am not sure about pregnancy but if someone knows the answer to that I would be interested in knowing it. Insurance coverage is so grey to me. Do they consider pregnancy a medical condition?

Karysa

 

Hi Karysa,

 

Some plans consider pregnancy pre-existing & others don't, but since a complication requires it to be life-threatening, that pretty much makes it be treated similar to a pre-existing condition.

 

I hope this makes sense.

[Julienatul]

I agree that trip insurance is a good idea if you are pregnant. We had to cancel a cruise back in 2003 because I miscarried (11 weeks) two days before we were to set sail. The doctor wouldnt let me travel because the risk of hemmorage is too high right after miscarrying. I am just thankful we were not on board when it happened. We booked the cruise long before we found out I was pregnant and didnt have travel insurance. We learned our lesson, now we dont travel with out it!

 

Julie

[Karysa]

Hi Karysa,

 

Some plans consider pregnancy pre-existing & others don't, but since a complication requires it to be life-threatening, that pretty much makes it be treated similar to a pre-existing condition.

 

I hope this makes sense.

 

Thanks Steve, insurance can be a tricky thing. If the woman is healthy and has her Dr's ok to travel and is within the weeks of pregnancy that the ships and airlines specify personally I think that they should be covered. It is a business though I guess and having twin 29 weeker's I realize that not every pregnancy is a smooth one. That being said I was 16 weeks pregnant when DH and I spent a wonderful week in St. Martin before baby #1.

Karysa

[calikak]

I'm surprised the cruise line let her sail if she was only 2 months shy of her due date--most cruise lines have a policy that says you can't be past around 24 weeks. Although, a lot of women report that nobody asks them how far along they are when they check in.

[kitty9]

If you read these boards regularly, you'll see quite a few women saying they'll ask their doctor for a letter saying they're not beyond the date for cruising. But I guess this goes to show why cruise lines have that rule. Even if you've had great previous pregnancies, you just never know what can happen, and you could go into labor much earlier than expected.

[Bad_Seed]

It obviously varies by cruise line too. I cruised 7 years ago on the QE2 at around 32 weeks and didn't have to have a medical certificate or anything and I was very obviously pregnant! It was a great holiday for a pregnant lady - very relaxing. Of course, the rules may have changed since then.

[wrp96]

Of course, the rules may have changed since then.

 

Almost all of the major cruiselines will no longer take anyone entering their 27th week, some it's their 24th week.