Bad Show Royal Caribbean International

[crusinmama06]

Geez, $717 was less than we paid when my youngest was medevacced off the Magic. ;)

 

I think there is more to the story. You are responsible for the bill (linked to the credit card) but I do remember having to sign for the additional charges. Before we left the ship, I did have to sign because I had the charges in hand when we arrived in Port Canaveral.

 

Of course, I didn't take it as them being rude (it was Disney). I was so darn happy that they saved my daughter. I would have handed them all of my cards. :)

 

Which is why I always say to make sure you have a high limit credit card with you as well as cruise insurance when you cruise. They do expect payment before you get off the ship. The cruise insurance will reimburse it AFTER the cruise. ;)

 

Once again, WHY do these people go to the media with stuff like this?

[Barbee524]

OK

 

What an idiotic statement. At what point did the cruise line say,

$717 for your childs life ? If that is cheap what do you think the proper

price is ?

 

I guess you misunderstood my post. You cannot place a dollar amount value on any person's life.

[xpcdoojk]

I guess you misunderstood my post. You cannot place a dollar amount value on any person's life.

 

Don't worry, most people understood your post and the reasoning behind it. Some people just like to tear others down to build themselves up. It never works.:D

 

jc

[G'ma]

Any physcian, anywhere in the world, on land or sea, expects to be paid for services rendered. Why would anyone think differently.

 

Besides, that's what trip insurance is for....to cover those unexpected emergencies that can and do come up.

 

Sorry, while it's a good thing someone saved that child, I have no sympathy for the parents who have to pay the onboard doctor for his treatment.

 

Might as well expect the land-based doctors and the hospital to treat for free too.

[Lushpuppy]

Firstly I am a scot and can tell you the daily record is a piece of tat! Secondly - one cannot travel from uk without insurance so any pay out would have been settled. Does it really matter? Small price to pay for one healtly alive child! The record obviously struggling today for a story! Own up who bought the record anyway? Shame on you! :)

[Ocean Boy]

Any physcian' date=' anywhere in the world, on land or sea, expects to be paid for services rendered. Why would anyone think differently.

 

Besides, that's what trip insurance is for....to cover those unexpected emergencies that can and do come up.

 

Sorry, while it's a good thing someone saved that child, I have no sympathy for the parents who have to pay the onboard doctor for his treatment.

 

Might as well expect the land-based doctors and the hospital to treat for free too.

 

There seem to be plenty of people that expect exactly that.:rolleyes:

[crusinmama06]

Firstly I am a scot and can tell you the daily record is a piece of tat! Secondly - one cannot travel from uk without insurance so any pay out would have been settled. Does it really matter? Small price to pay for one healtly alive child! The record obviously struggling today for a story! Own up who bought the record anyway? Shame on you! :)

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA I like your description, a "piece of tat". :D

 

Well I guess that explains it. :D

[MrsFixitCT]

I agree wholeheartedly with those who say "where were her parents"...

 

We were on the Rhapsody, and enjoying the hot tub all to ourselves...along comes a girl about the same age as the one in this situation, and steps in onto the "seating area"...takes another step to go across the other side, and goes under...?didn't realize it was deeper in the middle?...DH grabs her by the back straps on her swim suit and pulls her up/out...choking and sputtering...and she started crying...I think she was stunned/suprised/scared...and plants her on the side to "catch her breath"....she stood up, and went tearing off to "Mom" who was ASLEEP in one of the chairs...Mom then is glaring at us, and proceeds to pack up child and stuff, and march by us, still in the tub, with girl in tow...telling the girl they "can't" stay by the pool with people like HIM around...glaring all the way...

 

I cannot express how PISSED I was...there she is, SLEEPING in the lounge chair...who did she think was going to watch her kid?

 

And people wonder why I'm not so keen on cruising with kids? It really has NOTHING to do with the KIDS....it has to do with the ADULTS that carry that "I'm on vacation too" attitude...and decide to take a vacation from the kids they brought along. :mad:

[angelina46]

we brits get FREE medical treatment in hospitals in europe(including canary isles) thanks to our health service and reciprocal agreements! of course on the ships we have to be covered by private holiday insurance which is quite cheap but you often see unsupervised children on holiday. the parents asleep, kids in the pools. are there not pool attendants on cruise ships? thats illegal in many holiday resorts round europe

angelina46

[NorbertsNiece]

we brits get FREE medical treatment in hospitals in europe(including canary isles) thanks to our health service and reciprocal agreements! of course on the ships we have to be covered by private holiday insurance which is quite cheap but you often see unsupervised children on holiday. the parents asleep, kids in the pools. are there not pool attendants on cruise ships? thats illegal in many holiday resorts round europe

angelina46

 

No there are no pool attendants and there more than adequate signs on board to that effect.

[Ocean Boy]

we brits get FREE medical treatment in hospitals in europe(including canary isles) thanks to our health service and reciprocal agreements! of course on the ships we have to be covered by private holiday insurance which is quite cheap but you often see unsupervised children on holiday. the parents asleep, kids in the pools. are there not pool attendants on cruise ships? thats illegal in many holiday resorts round europe

angelina46

 

No there are not lifeguards at the pools on the ships. It is the parents responsibility to watch their kids. And no adults should be swimming alone. And it is absolutely NOT the responsibility of others to watch your (and I don't mean you) kids while you take a nap.

[Hlitner]

. are there not pool attendants on cruise ships? thats illegal in many holiday resorts round europe

angelina46

 

We have cruised on 11 cruise lines (more than 50 different ships) and have never seen a pool attendent (lifeguard) on any ship. Most do have a sign near the pool saying that you swim at your own risk. In the USA its pretty typical for smaller hotels and motels to have unattended swimming pools. I will not add my own thoughts to those who have discussed parents letting a 7 year old unwatched in a pool, but the situation does seem to speak for itself.

 

Hank

[iheartbda]

Sort of reminds me of the story about the family, who reported to the media, after they said they were thrown off the ship with their sick child without a moment's notice to pack, had to get passports to fly home, weren't getting any refund, etc., etc., etc. Turned out there was much more to the story that the parents didn't happen to mention.:rolleyes:

[sandancer]

There seem to be plenty of people that expect exactly that.:rolleyes:

Well actually in the UK all emergency care is free. That applies to UK nationals and overseas visitors. I do stress however EMERGENCY CARE. Any follow up treatment has to be paid for if the patient is not resident in the UK. We would not leave these shores without travel insurance and we have to submit our insurance details to the travel agent when we make a reservation.

[shaggyofwv]

BAD SHOW ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL

THE FOLLOWING APPEARED IN THE SCOTTISH DAILY RECORD TODAY

 

Dad saves Scots girl saved from cruise ship pool horror - then gets hit with bill

 

 

OK we have heard the families side, let's now hear RCI's story and see if we can ascertain how the situation really went down in regards to the bill.

 

Glad to hear that the child was ok.. but where were the parents while she was swimming?

[Emi's Mom]

I agree wholeheartedly with those who say "where were her parents"...

 

We were on the Rhapsody, and enjoying the hot tub all to ourselves...along comes a girl about the same age as the one in this situation, and steps in onto the "seating area"...takes another step to go across the other side, and goes under...?didn't realize it was deeper in the middle?...DH grabs her by the back straps on her swim suit and pulls her up/out...choking and sputtering...and she started crying...I think she was stunned/suprised/scared...and plants her on the side to "catch her breath"....she stood up, and went tearing off to "Mom" who was ASLEEP in one of the chairs...Mom then is glaring at us, and proceeds to pack up child and stuff, and march by us, still in the tub, with girl in tow...telling the girl they "can't" stay by the pool with people like HIM around...glaring all the way...

 

I cannot express how PISSED I was...there she is, SLEEPING in the lounge chair...who did she think was going to watch her kid?

 

And people wonder why I'm not so keen on cruising with kids? It really has NOTHING to do with the KIDS....it has to do with the ADULTS that carry that "I'm on vacation too" attitude...and decide to take a vacation from the kids they brought along. :mad:

 

Did you let the mother know that your husband had just saved her child???

[Mark_K]

Firstly I am a scot and can tell you the daily record is a piece of tat! Secondly - one cannot travel from uk without insurance so any pay out would have been settled. Does it really matter? Small price to pay for one healtly alive child! The record obviously struggling today for a story! Own up who bought the record anyway? Shame on you! :)

Does that mean something else in the UK? The tatting done by by MIL is quite lovely.

[AllieInMD]

not saying this is what happened - who knows - but some people don't back them with credit cards - they back them with cash.

 

I am not sure I really understand why he would have to pay right away. Isn't that why alot of us use a credit card to back up our SeaPass card? Seems to me that that would all he would have had to do to get off the ship. When we went to the ship infirmary, they got that information immediately just like any doctor's office or emergency room.

Poor treatment is a subjective thing as well. What he thinks is poor treatment may not be what I think is poor treatment.

I agree with several other posters, we don't have all of the information.

[AllieInMD]

Uh, we do treat for free. When some folks can't get their PCP to take care of them because they can't pay - or they don't have insurance - they go to to hospital - who must treat them. One of the reasons that our healthcare system is groaning under the weight of 'charity care'. I work for one company - ONE - we own 8 hospitals - owned 7 in FY06 - in FY06 we gave away and had to take a beating on $232 million - yes - MILLION - dollars of charity care. Multiply that by all the hospitals in this country.

 

Might as well expect the land-based doctors and the hospital to treat for free too.

[sea-cruise]

My mom sold her house to pay off $142,000 she owed the doctors and hospital (she had medicare but not the 20% supplemental insurance, and Dad was tube-fed, etc. for 4 years plus other operations).

After she did that we added an apartment to our home, so they could live here free. Dad died and she lived with us for 16 years. She died of cancer, with no money, but she was proud that she paid her doctor bills off. Even though she's gone, I still feel badly that she felt ashamed to have lost everything.

[FL_Cruiser64]

Don't worry, most people understood your post and the reasoning behind it. Some people just like to tear others down to build themselves up. It never works.:D

 

jc

 

Mr 290 has that tendency. We all understood what the poster meant with $717 is rather cheap for a child's life.

 

While the story is incomplete I have to say

 

a) the parents should be arrested for child neglect

b) If my child's life was just saved and someone gives me a $717 bill I whip my credit card out faster than any of you can blink.

[FLASHINGLIGHTS83]

ok....heres the medical side of things from someone who works on the streets. she was found lifeless at the bottom of the pool, and CPR and rescue breathing was started. she would be intubated to secure the airway after breathing was back. there is NO WAY SHE WAS IN THE HOSPITAL FOR 2 DAYS THEN REJOINED THE SHIP. NO WAY. especially a little girl that is 7 years old. there are sooo many secondary complications that can come from near drowning.

 

not to discredit the story about the bill presentation and all that, but from the medical side of things, this sounds fishy....

 

greg

[AllieInMD]

I know you work in this - and I don't - medical, but not clinical for me...

 

I frequently read reports in the news of kids found lifeless with no pulse/respiration in a pool, neighbor or parent does CPR and RB and the kid is revived before EMTs arrive or shortly after by EMTs - no intubation needed - and home in less than 24 hrs.

 

The last one was a boy who had near drowning, because bystander brought him right back, they didn't take him to the hospital, and he suffered from 'secondary drowning' and died later in his sleep. What I read said effects of secondary drowning appear rather quickly - like within 12 hrs. And that if given proper treatment recovery rate is high - especially if drowning is in freshwater not saltwater - and I believe the ship this child was on has freshwater pools.

 

Just curious...

 

ok....heres the medical side of things from someone who works on the streets. she was found lifeless at the bottom of the pool, and CPR and rescue breathing was started. she would be intubated to secure the airway after breathing was back. there is NO WAY SHE WAS IN THE HOSPITAL FOR 2 DAYS THEN REJOINED THE SHIP. NO WAY. especially a little girl that is 7 years old. there are sooo many secondary complications that can come from near drowning.

 

not to discredit the story about the bill presentation and all that, but from the medical side of things, this sounds fishy....

 

greg

[flczr]

As one who has worked both the streets and in a clinical stetting as an EMT and RT it very rare that after being found at the bottom of a pool a person is going to catch up with a cruise ship. I would think that the correct thing to do would have been to fly back home. I have taken care of many brits that have come to see the"Mouse" and have the big one. I have told by patients that there is a three year wait for open heart surgery in GB. And all these patients have told me they have seperate insurance to travel. I had one patient in hospital for six months while he waited for a repo cruise to europe because he couldn't fly.

[Ocean Spirit]

The family is so fortunate that all ended well. My son became ill on our last cruise and ended up in the infirmary. Our bill was placed on our account and was paid for by our credit card that we set up for our sign and sail card. I would have thought that would have been done for these people but perhaps they had made a cash deposit... don't know.

 

I've taught swimming and lifeguarded for years. Not knowing the situation well, I can tell you that if a pool is over crowded it increases the chances of not seeing distressed swimmers. It just takes a small distractions such as someone asking you to move your things or order a drink that a person can loose site of a swimmer. It just takes a second for someone to drift into water over their head.

 

We had a friend on a RCI cruise that experienced a terrible fall while ice skating. He lost all freedom of choice. The crew marched into his room and insisted to take him to the hospital on the island they were at. He wasn't allowed to try to reach his wife but taken off the ship. He was fortunate that his wife saw him being taken off and did join him. He was put on the back of a pick up truck and taken to a medical facility some distance away. The so called hospital wanted to cut off his leg. He refused and had to pay $20,000 to the hospital before they would make the arrangements to be medvac back to the states. (The medical facility wouldn't accept a credit card, and he had to have the money wired to him.) He was able to keep his leg. Insurance did help after the event.

 

The thought of loosing the ability to make a choice is a scary one for me. If I was told I couldn't leave with my child for whatever reason, it would be terrifying.