Cruise Passengers Left Behind Struggle to Get Home
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- Cruise ships will leave you behind. Sometime you miss the ship and sometimes it is determined you are not healthy enough to sail. I have two stories of nightmare cruise experiences. One is of a cruise passenger struggling to get home from Curaçao and the second is a man left by P&O Cruises in the Philippines.
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Tony we've had Med Jet for 20 yrs now. Recently someone in our family had a stroke in Germany while on a river cruise. Med Jet took over instantly and send a medic to escort our family member from Germany back to the USA to his local hospital ER. -- These people at med jet were worth a million I can't say enough about them.
I just filed my first claim with Allianz. Last fall I missed the first day of a cruise because of an airline worker's strike in Italy. I was in Copenhagen when I got word. Between 2 nights in a hotel, unplanned food expense and a much more expensive flight to Italy my trip delay cost me almost $900. I finally got the claim filed last Sunday night. On Tuesday I received word that the claim had been processed, and by Thursday the full amount I claimed was in my bank account.
I have Allianz annual. I broke my knee and ankle on the ship and was put off in Hilo. It took 6 days to arrange transport back to Washington state because I needed lay down first class due to a cast from my thigh to my toes. We were put up in a hotel and Allianz paid all bills. It does take time because there are steps they are required to follow.
How long did it take before was actually home?
How did you get injured so badly on a ship?
😮
It took 6 nights in Hilo and then we flew home. I slipped and fell down stairs coming out of the theater. I had a fobia about touching handrails or I could have caught myself. I hold them now!
@@offrocker10 bless your heart. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I'm a bit of a germaphobe myself. I don't like handrails, elevator buttons, door handles, things of that nature so I totally understand that. Again, I'm sorry that happened to you and I hope that you're all healed up now!
Hi update for you Tony: we spent 8 grueling days in Curacao. To say the medical care was in adequate is an understatement. Nurse dropped IV needles on the floor after attempting to start an IV only to pick it up hand it to another nurse to attempt to start in the other arm. He was not given oxygen following being on a ventilator when his oxygen sats were in the 80s. I had to go buy a pulse ox to monitor his oxygen. We were originally told that we would be med evac out within 24 hrs since my husband was critical but we were then told by the insurance company he was getting adequate care in Curaçao so we could stay there. Hmm, every time we called them we were told something different. At one point the hospital tried to take our passport and stated if we didn’t pay the $10,000 cost we could not leave the country. I guess my biggest lesson is to make sure you read the fine print.
Glad you guys made it home.
Sharon, this is an insane story! Obviously, not many people are going to be able to pay $10,000 so it seems like this hospital could be charged with kidnapping. What happens to people with no insurance? Hope your husband has recovered.
May I ask what fine print you missed? Currently shopping for travel insurance and we want to avoid this issue! Thanks!
@@ceciliapetrowsky2572 different country different laws.
I am so sorry this happened to you. But I have heard of this happening to others. When we purchase travel insurance, I chose the plan that allows you to be sent to the hospital of your choice. But who knows if that will still not cause an issue like you had? And honestly because you are a nurse, you know what quality of care means. After 8 grueling days dealing with anything but quality of care, I hope your husband has, or is, recovered at this time! God Bless!
You make a good point about the contact information. I travel solo so there wouldn't be someone else there to handle things. I suppose I should carry something with me that has my emergency contact person, travel insurance, and list of medications, and also keep a copy in my stateroom/hotel room.
This is part of why you're one of my favorite CruiseTubers!
If you have an I-phone (Apple product), look in your apps for the white box with a pink heart. In that app, you can enter your health data and emergency contact information. When your phone is locked, there is the word "emergency" on the screen where a medical professional can access that information. I am sure Android has something similar, but I am not familiar with that. I do not know if the staff of a cruise ship would go through your stateroom looking for that information if you were in a hospital on land.
Why I won’t cruise solo. And therefore stopped cruising. You can have all the insurance money can buy, but being critically ill (think ventilator etc) means you can’t be in charge. Most likely you are unconscious.
@@caroleanne8529 when you fill out the cruise check in paperwork you give emergency contact info. Now I see how important that is!!
@@caroleanne8529 thank you!!!
I'm doing my first solo in a couple weeks. I can't wait. Definitely putting my contacts in order and making sure they're on speed dial.
Tony, do you think Allianz and some other travel insurance companies would do an interview with you? THAT would be helpful. They could discuss scenarios and how to handle them.-
Tony, I've been injured twice while cruising. Once on an excursion and once on the ship. We have the travel insurance offered by Carnival and never paid anything up front for treatment at clinic onshore nor on the ship. Very pleased with their timely processing of all claims albeit I was never stranded in a foreign country.
I was taken off a cruise in Canada to be admitted to ICU for blood poisoning. While in the hospital I contacted covid. Canada at that time had a10 day quarantine for covid but the hospital discharged me are only 5 days. I had AON insurance and they did nothing. They said I had to pay out and make s claim for reimbursement. I had to find a hotel, pay out of pocket, pay out of pocket for new flights home food transport e etc. Bottom line is I'm out 6 thousand dollars and it's now 7 months later and AON still has not reimbursed me. Get travel insurance but don't get it from AON
I had a medical emergency on Rlcc and they wanted me to go to the hospital in the Bahamas and they wanted 2000.00 up front to cover tests. We decided after spending two days in the infirmary we would
get off the ship and fly home . Went directly to the hospital in the US and had emergency surgery . It was crazy but I did survive and learned many lessons.
When I travel solo, I leave my husband a copy of ALL of my documents, including passport, credit cards that I am traveling with, insurance documents, emergency ship info, cruise line info, and a list of all meds I have with me. It is better to be prepared in case something happens.
Thank you for this extremely important 'cautionary tale'. Last year, I started buying the Allianz Annual plan(partly at your suggestion) and feel much better having it. Although I have been in the travel industry for many years, I didn't always get the insurance. Going forward, will always get it. But the suggestion to properly prep our emergency contacts, in my opinion, cannot be emphasized too much. We usually have printed emergency contact information in several places, on our person and in the safe. However, your video showed that may not be enough. Great that in case of an emergency, they contact my baby brother. Will he know what to do at that point? Probably not. It seems like a kindness to give him the information he needs to really help us. Thanks again...great video!!
Dang Tony! You taught me something new yet again lol It's so simple but wow never thought about "preparing" my emergency contacts in such a way. Excellent idea! This is a fantastic video to serve as a cautionary tale to all to prepare for the worst but hope for the best. Nothing in this life is guaranteed.
Used NCL insurance about 10 years ago. My daughter got very very sick a few weeks before the cruise and spent 6 weeks in the hospital. Insurance made us jump through hoops to prove we didn't know she was sick when we booked the cruise. Like I would have booked a cruise for an extremely sick child. 🙄. Insurance eventually refunded our cruise costs but it took 4 months and doctor statements etc.
Hi Tony. Yes it's VERY important to have insurance. I actually have a list in my home with all kinds of contact numbers. Health care proxy, etc. I do leave ship information when I travel for my family. I also carry a copy of my wishes and information for the ship/hospital to get in touch with family in case I'm not able. As always thank you for all you do!
I make a detailed itinerary for each vacation, keep several copies with me and my husband, give to my daughter and best friends with emergency contact names and numbers, the cruise line, airline, hotel numbers and even reservation numbers. I also give my emergency contacts copies of our passports. Although I have my annual travel insurance with Allianz loaded in my phone, I will include that information for my emergency contacts as well. It’s fun to look back on old itineraries and remember the fun we had on our vacations.
Would you please share a list of information needed. Thank you
You never know how bad (or good) the insurance is until you need the services you have paid for
As my business insurance agent says: "insurance stinks until you need it!"
So, last year because of COVID and traveling with one of my daughters friends, we bought insurance for our cruise. It was fine and not needed but didn’t want to be responsible for someone else’s kid if it came to medical stuff.
This year in Feb we were planning a cruise at the end of the month. In Early Feb my husband had a “routine” surgery that was supposed to be enough time to recover before our vacation. Instead, there were complications and the surgeon advised us not to travel. Well, the insurance came in clutch. We filled out forms, had the doc sign. Provided some proofs of the hospital stay and they refunded us what Carnival did not.
Our insurance was through Berkshire Travel. Very pleased. No back and forth.
When we rebooked another cruise to replace this one for April, and had to pay the whole amount since we were close to cruise date we bought the insurance that RC offers. Hopefully we don’t have to find out if it’s good or not.
Next year we have two cruises and I wonder if it s better to just do the annual plan.
Sounds like Allianz is now doing the right thing but time is of the essence sometimes for medical stuff. How scary!
Been there. Don’t get off the ship if possible. Do not go to hospital if avoidable. Arrange your own transportation using your own insurance. I was able to stay on the ship until med evacuation came to get me. Unfortunately, the ship was not able to pull off on time. About 1 hr behind schedule. Med evac was through my private insurance and was flown directly to the states. I was in respiratory distress and required ventilation.
Who was your insurance carrier that seems to have done a stellar job?
My private insurance offered through my job which has that policy as supplementary
Last year in South Africa my husband passed out on a tour. Medical insisted he be cleared by a hospital which was done. The cruise line worked hard to get him back in time for sailing - there was a member of shore excursions with him. He made it back and I was kept in the loop. I just needed to know whether I needed to start packing!
As for contacts in a emergency my Dad always sent the itinerary and the numbers to contact the cruise lines. So it was second nature for us to do similarly. And, my SIL used the contact info to tell us my mil had had emergency surgery as her aneurysm was rupturing. It never occurred to us to leave insurance info although it could be found in our room I guess. We do leave the Travel Agent’s contact who has all the insurance info.
Wow, Tony! This is a BIG one!! Worst fears for sure. And to know that it's not an "easy-peesy" smooth and/or necessarily quick process is really something to think about AND PLAN FOR. Your teaching to us to give SPRCIFIC information to our emergency contact person re name & contact info of insurance company and cruise line (including ship name & date of sailing) is vital. I suggest cruisers also provide their significant medical history information so this can be relayed to any treating facility. Take it from this RN, having current medical history information can be life-saving.
Thanks again, Tony. This is one of your most informative and important videos ever.
Good information Tony. I do get the travel insurance but l have NEVER prepared my emergency contact person with what to do in an emergency. The take away is I will do this from now on.
I definitely need to prepare my emergency contact better in the future!
My husband tested positive for C-19 prior to the lift of the restrictions in Canada. We were denied boarding to our NCL ship. And although they were not rude, our luggage was wrap with biohazard tape and set on the side of street with no monitoring, We HAD travel insurance with AON. My travel agent and I fought for EIGHT months to get the dollars back that were paid for the cruise we were unable to take. They gave back half $$ to my husband and then closed the claim. All correspondence and $$ were paid by me - his name was only listed as the second traveler. It’s a pain all the way around. And the constant reply was we will call you back. What the actual F! I will never travel without insurance but you still need to be your own advocate and have a great travel agent.
We had to use our travel insurance Allianz recently (Nov. 2022). It took till Feb. 2023 to be reimbursed. That's right, Reimbursed.
This is an important conversation. I need to update my insurance “In case of emergency” to someone I’m not traveling with. Never thought of that. Great points made.
We had insurance with Princess and wife caught covid in Alaska they sent us to a hotel in anchorage for 5 day once done tried to contact Princess to fly out of anchorage but when to deft ears with Princess. We had to call and find a way out ourselves. Thanks to Princess with no help. Will never cruise with them again totally irresponsible cruise line. We have wrote them a letter and still no comment. We are still fighting the insurance company for our money.
This scenario was my experience as well when I needed to take advantage of my insurance coverage - only it was a different cruise line.
I had a heart attack on the Bliss 4 years ago, we were 6hours from Puerto Vallarta, the ship medical staff was amazing they saved my life. Then to the medical center in Puerto Vallarta a great place. I always purchase travel insurance, pluse I buy Geo Blue travel medical and insurance. I was able to fly home on commercial airlines, the bill on the ship was 15000.00, the hospital was 65000.00 the insurance paid it all . Pluse lose of cruise, and the hotel for the bill BUY THE INSURANCE.
We always get insurance and it paid off big time in 2014 when my husband had a medical emergency and the cruise line made us get off in Aruba. It was very scary, but it turns out Aruba is one of THE BEST places to get medical treatment. The hospital was wonderful and the cost was probably 1/10th of what it would have cost in the US. Our insurance covered first class tickets home and they even offered to pay to have a nurse fly with us if we wanted.
What insurance company do you have if you don't mind stating?
Yes please which insurance company?
Which insurance company, please?
@@simplywanda1065 probably the one that she sells lol
What about the gentle man last year in Mexico that the local health care and government would only except cash and that it had to be their transport to get the gentleman back home.That’s why the cruise company needs to be there on behalf of the passenger.
In 2015 we were on Freedom of the Seas. When we arrived in Grand Cayman, my wife was sick throwing up. She went to medical where we were advised to go to the hospital. We declined since in port such a short time. I signed a waiver for the next stop which was 8 hours in Cozmel. She was taken by ambulance to Costa Med Medical Center. Ended up needing emergency surgery for a hernia mesh incursion. We stayed there for a week. Found out that my travel agent had not added travel insurance. So had to use my health insurance and since I was out of network it was over $6000.00 for our part. Then we had to fly to cancun and then Miami before Tallahassee. I now use HTH travel insurance because I never have to worry about anything. From payment up front to filing for reimbursement to emergency evacuation.
Great topic Tony, and one I’ve ever really thought through. From now on, I’m going to provide my children with the ship and insurance information when I cruise, in case I ever need their assistance
WE always get travel insurance. Always wondered how the process would work, now we know! Totally agree with you know Tony, makes a lot of sense. We leave June 1,2023 for Europe and now I will make sure we have some kind of plan if anything should ever happen. Great news Tony, you always make sure we are in the know!
A couple of Tips- 1. Make contract with the travel insurance agency on the day of departure and just update them. 2. Ensure there is no language that claims payments will occur post incident. Engage with them on the how and what happens when an incident happens. So many people get a travel policy and never read it or read possible exclusions.
We also have Allianz annual policy and had to use it last year in Barcelona. Once our call was elevated to Medical Consierge we were led thru the process of getting home and all of our expenses were paid within a few months. Very happy we spent the money for insurance!
This was great info!!! I really never thought about giving my emergency contact all that info, but it is a great idea & will be doing this going forward, Thank you Tony! Have a great day!
Very good information, Tony. Thank you. I realize that I need to add some of this information to my travel portfolio.
Tony this happened to me in London.I had travel insurance but had to pay everything upfront.Then when I got home everything has to go through my health insurance than the travel insurance 😢
So glad you brought this to my attention. As I have health issues. Getting sick and put off a ship in another country is terrifying! Going find out what my travel insurance actually does in the event something happens. Love your channel and information!
Definitely a rational fear 😨, a fear that we both share because I totally agree.
There is a lot of extra stress on the elderly while on a cruise. All the extra alcohol, changes in temperature (depending on where you are sailing) and way too much available food that is not part of their regular diet. It’s a disaster waiting to happen for those who already live a sedentary lifestyle on land. On the cruises I’ve been on, we have averaged 1-2 deaths of elderly passengers aboard ship as well at one death on a plane coming back from Cuba. A full medical is a must before leaving home if you are an older adult. Retired nurse here.
My wife and I actually travel with a medical directive and leave a copy with our closest relatives in case of an emergency. Of course, there's no guarantee the first responders will think to look for our medical directive, but it gives us some peace of mind. I'm a cancer survivor and have to exercise some caution when traveling.
Absolutely rational! Our first family cruise in 2013 my 18 yr old son broke his collarbone in Belize @ one of the Mayan ruins. We were transported to a private hospitals ER (screen doors with holes large enough for a family of flies to get through) & at first the doctor thought his shoulder was also dislocated. If that had been the case we would not have been allowed back on our ship. Thankfully after sending x-rays to a surgeon in Belize city is was deemed no dislocated shoulder. My husband had already told the doctor that it was the way the x-ray was taken, after that the doctor no longer spoke to us. He would speak to his nurse & she would translate. At one point my son was lying there & says "Mom, did you see that gecko? "
Our tour guide was the absolute best! He treated us so well & the poor man had to deal with a mom that almost fainted twice...everytime they mentioned us not getting back on the ship, there I'd go!
I still to this day (10 yrs later) feel so bad for our tour guide & my son. Carnival also picked up the ER visit & we saw the ship doctor once we got back on board so he could deem if my son was OK to travel on.
Now how did all this happen...son into parkour BIG TIME since age of 14. Does a jump & shoulder roll off a 10 foot wall & lands it perfectly but camera doesn't work so he hurriedly does it again, lands incorrectly and the "snap" is caught on camera! Broke in 2 places, plate & 9 screws. Such a scary experience, I was about 50 yards away taking pics of the howler monkeys when I hear my name called, I turn around & he's holding his arm & says "I'm sorry mom". Broke my heart! We took another cruise the next year to prove that we could do it without any injuries! Lol Been cruising ever since! Going back in a couple of weeks to finish that same Myan ruins tour but without any parkour moves!
@Nicky L He could speak English very well, he just chose not to after him & my husband had a disagreement on the x-rays. He started off speaking to us in English, I think he was offended when my husband didn't agree with his diagnosis of the shoulder being dislocated, which in the end my husband was correct.
There is 3 stages of retirement, go-go…. Cruise constantly lol, slow-go, cruise occasionally, and no-go, stop cruising. The second stage comes slowly and the 3rd stage comes suddenly. We are currently in the go-go but have had parents and older not as healthy friends 😢abruptly have to stop cruising altogether. It is best to know what stage you are in and adjust accordingly. 😅 this is why we are planning our most exotic experiences NOW. 😊 but recently, since Covid have started getting insurance for all our cruises.
We cruise...a lot. As a retired nurse, I can tell you the most frequent information I have gotten from ships staff when asking questions about medical concerns is DIABETICS TRYING TO ADJUST THEIR INSULIN DOSING WHILE ENJOYING ALL THE FOOD/DRINK ONBOARD. PLEASE, if you ARE diabetic and require insulin, PLEASE realize that you need to monitor your glucose level VERY closely while making these kinds of huge changes to your normal diet. They said that 7-8 of 10 "required" medical removal from ships are due to pre-existing medical conditions. KNOW your limits, and please take care to ensure you are not one that is off loaded somewhere you dont want to be.
I’ll go another step further and say that you should read your insurance policy carefully and make sure you know what is covered and what isn’t. I read through mine to make sure medical evacuation/trip back home was covered.
Okay, so WOW I totally have to let the emergency contact know all that good stuff. I can't believe I never even thought about doing that. Thanks!
This was a very interesting and helpful episode.
Hi Tony. I have a poll idea for you. You should ask the LLL community if they ever filed an insurance claim and if so if they ever got reimbursed to their satisfaction. I’m skeptical on how trustworthy they are. 🤔
My wife broke her leg on a cruise, our insurance got her off in Fiji and medical evac jet back to Brisbane. Everything went great with insurance. Prompt, efficient, no hassles at all.
@@prussiaaero1802 That's great to hear. I've heard of some bad experiences with insurance companies refusing to pay so, while I have travel insurance, I'm worried about whether I've been wasting my money or not. I just wish I had a broader data set.
@@JonKaye Having gone through it, insurance was worth every cent. The evac flight was about $70,000 OZ dollars we think, plane, pilot (just one I think) a doctor and another evac specialist on board. Insurance also covered my flight interstate to be with her, expenses, flights home.
I always have emergency contact info in my purse, that includes a list of family members and doctors. It also has a list of medications and any important medical info. And when I go on a cruise, I leave detailed information about our cruise with a family member back at home. It has every destination, dates and times, the excursions or places we plan to go. That way if anything happens, they know where to start looking. However, I have never thought to leave information about local news and such. My family all live in the same county that I do. All within 10 minutes of me. So they would already know that stuff, if they chose to do that.
Wow, talk about Lessons Learned stories!! Great coverage and recommendations, Tony - you soooo rock!!!
Outstanding report, and something I’ve wondered about!
So much good information Tony! My Mom got ill on a cruise with friends thru the Med and they had her go to hospital in Italy. Go forward a few days and this one Dr who spoke little english came to Mom and told her check yourself out, your plane home with friends leaves today and you need to get out of here before they keep you any longer. Fortunately she made it to the airport just in time and tho she had pneumonia she made it home. (The person pushing her wheel chair stole all her cash) we were just grateful to get her home. I wasn't too thrilled that the friends were going to leave her there alone. She had insurance yes indeed!
@nickyl8980 luckily they did and this was 2009 so way before everything we've been thru. Today would have probably been a different story. We really were grateful to get her home.
That’s why I always get insurance to cover these concerns to receive care and get back home. Well done, per your usual, Tony! 🙌
These folks had insurance.
If you find an insurance company that provides these “perks” I would really like to know what company it is.
Try Medjet,especially Medjet Horizon
@@jacquimg2469 when I've cruised, I have always made sure the cruise line insurance covers onshore medical and transportation home. I've booked this directly through RCCL in the past and thankfully, no medical issues to contend with. :). If I cruised, traveled, as much as Tony does, I'd look into coverage with Allianz and get an annual policy to cover all my cruising and extended EU travels!
@@GloriaNelsonCSEP Thank you!
Thank you, this definitely made me think...I need to let my daughter know what to do in case of an emergency!
Thanks for covering this. It helps to understand the process. We get travel insurance for our cruises now that we are getting older. I pray we never have to use it!
Thank you Tony for this video. Very informative & much needed by cruisers. The beauty is that most people get off their cruises in better shape than when they started out but unfortunately occasionally things go wrong. Of course it probably costs them too much money (they think) but the cruise companies should have someone from the line get in touch with the unfortunate cruiser and help them out. It really is unacceptable when their medical facility is not able to help to leave a good money paying passenger in the lurch.
So, what does say about the medical qualifications of the ship personnel to diagnosis a condition - or is it a situation where the ships is in port so unload my responsibility to someone else?
Tony: I work for a major health insurance company and am quite familiar with air ambulance services. Not always a cut and dry service. Thank you your consistent emphasis on travel insurance. You can reach out to me if you want to chat.
Glad you shared this information. I travel solo to other countries and typically give my siblings information about my flights and hotel contact information. I don't generally do that with curies because they have been Carribean cruises from Florida. Anything can happen anywhere, so I'm going to start sharing pertinent information with my siblings about my curies as well. Thanks again for sharing.
Hey Tony. I appreciate the info. Great points on the emergency contacts.
What I have learned is never go to the ships doctor. All these stories have one thing in common, the doctors on ships definitely want you off the ship if you are unwell. That poor guy, missed his entire vacation because a ships doctor couldn't, or wouldn't diagnose heat stroke! Oye!
I always have cruise insurance with alliance. Had to get back home on my 3rd day of the cruise.😢 I had to pay for my airline ticket home. Had alot of paperwork to fill out but worth it. Royal credited me for the days I wasn't on board. The insurance company reimbursed me for the flight home.😊 . Never leave home without it
Insurance companies number one objective is to collect premiums and play the long game when it comes to claims.
I'm not clear if the process was modified because of the news getting involved. This will not happen to every claim.
Oh my God, Tony this is one of the scariest episodes I have seen given from you!! We are sailing Saturday on a two week California coastal cruise and I am very leery about what could happen since we are in our middle 70s now. We definitely do not fly, and we definitely keep our cruising in the USA 🇺🇸 on the west coast ! Being in another country and getting sick it seems like such a nightmare!!!😢
RELAX: you are in the USA (ports) and will have access to ALL California news channels (CNN, ABC, etc.). With so many cruise ships/companies and travel Ins., comps., the last thing they want is bad publicity. Nightly News covers USA . . .
I'm probably be with you for the first week...Discovery?
I'm only sailing in the states too and I don't wish to fly.
Solstice celebrity
For the Schreibner’s case, that is why we have special evac insurance through MedJet. One call. That’s all. No process. It just gets done.
Personally, I’m not waiting for Allianz to wait to decide what to do.
Did you look into Global Rescue - seems like a similar service.
And medjet horizon is better than the medjet
Quite expensive but I have paid for 2 years of MJH starting in a couple of months
Thank you for this VERY valuable video! Many lessons learned.
I usually give my emergency contact the basics of my travel information but now I think I'll be a bit more diligent and give more specific information.
Good idea. I never thought about telling my daughter who to call. Thanks for that heads up. I was hurt on my last cruise but had my brother with me who took care of everything. It was our last stop so I just cruised home. It was just an ankle sprain where I fell down the steps in the theater. No biggie, I’m fine. Lol
Oh Sandra. I feel ya. I twisted my ankle on an excursion,thank goodness it wasn't severe. It swelled up and bruised. I was able to finish the cruise Glad you made it home.
I work in insurance. My advice ask questions when getting the insurance. You may think something is covered and it’s not or not to the amount you think. Insurance claims take time they just do unfortunately.
Thanks for the stories. I will definitely be making my emergency contact aware of what to do just in case they have to step in and handle things.
Interesting points raised Tony. I will give my emergency contact all my insurance details. I always take them with me but they are of no use to my contact if I am unable to contact him.
thanks for the insurance information i will be taking better care of that from now on I would be devastated if i had to go through that
Great advice. I guess I should prep my emergency contact ahead of my upcoming cruise. This needs to be added to the list of things you do 30 days before a cruise.🙏🏽
Maybe the cruise lines could make up a general document,that we could fill out.
Never thought about how to handle with my ER contact, but that will be part of my process in the future. Thanks for that thought.
Does anyone else find it strange that any time we hear of a story about someone getting left behind for whatever reason, the monetary amount starts at $10,000.00 to get back home? Seems to me that there has been some kind of collective agreement amongst all these various ports and/or countries that this is a standard number to start with when exporting us tourists in distress.🤔🤔🤔
Not at all strange. My research showed me that at least $50,000 worth of medical evacuation coverage was needed. That was 5 years ago. I now have a policy that covers $100,000 for medical evacuation coverage. This is today's reality. And I always bring 2 high-limit cedit cards with me, too.
Great points Tony - I guess I never really thought thru what steps might need to be taken in a situation like that. I did have a dental issue (and was in a lot of pain) in Europe after we took a cruise there, and contacted the insurance company and they were really helpful. In the end I elected not to go to a dentist in Switzerland (where we were) because the pain had gone way down and we were due to go home shortly. We do give my youngest sister info on where we will be but probably never discussed what to do if we needed her to act on our behalf as happened in these 2 cases. I think we'll do a better job of putting together a packet with needed info for her and just be sure she knows what to do if necessary.
No not irrational. It’s why we always always buy trip insurance and have passports. Great reality story. Allianz is a top notch insurer. I was in the insurance industry and know them well.
wow. Puts a face to it. Thank you for the lesson
I like the question of what to prepare for your emergency contact rather than assuming they will figure it out.
Great info as usual Tony! We are on a Virgin Voyages, Valiant Lady cruise right now and we hope all continues go well.
This was a great informative video. Thank you for sharing and reminding me to provide additional information to my ER contact!
Great show today, Tony! Yes, I'm sure we all think when we take out travel insurance from a reputable company they will be there if/when we need them. I guess we should add the word "eventually". And prepping the emergency contact is a good tip! Cheers! Let's all be safe out there!
Thank you for this post. I will NEVER set foot on a cruise ship.
Good PSA, a lot to learn from there stories. At 72, I will need to briefing my son the next time we go cruising .
Oh, I didn’t know all that the emergency contact would need. Thanks!
That's a great suggestion about preparing my emergency contact. Thanks
Thank you so much for covering insurance topic. It made us do more research about how to handle these kind of events should they occur. I just read their instructions abouting how to handle every event starting from going to onboard medical.
sure gives you a lot to think about with giving the info to your emergency contact for sure.
Every day I watch the cruise news
Very informative video!! So much that we all need to learn in case of emergency. Thank you!!!
Good info. Will make sure emergency contact has necessary information.
Insurance and a passport. MUST haves. Thanks for the reminder, Tony...it's all fun and games, until it's not.
Great vid and best advice I have seen for awhile about letting your Emergency Contacts know all about the insurance, cruise and the other info. We have done some cruising to Europe and you also have to take into consideration the time differences for all of this also. It can add days to get things done if there are 6-12 hour time differences even in todays world.
Tony,, listening to those two situations definitely makes it real!!! This year I purchased the premium package through Allianz. Need the peace of mind. That being said,, looks like I need to be sure to have phone numbers, contacts, etc to be well prepared. Realized after watching the video just having the insurance is not enough. Need a solid plan,, just in case. Thanks for your video's. Both entertaining and informative.
Buy private travel insc…… Trawick is what we use.
Insurance 100%. Good idea about emergency contacts. Not sure our adult kids would know what to do if we were on a cruise and had an issue. I guess I will be working on this list this weekend 😊
Thank you, Tony. We not only procure travel insurance, but medical evacuation insurance (through Med Jet).
On the advice of you and Don, I purchased traveler’s insurance. Hopefully there are no problems. Thanks for the information and videos
In Europe, you need to prove to the cruise line that you have travel insurance before they will let you board. This is usually done on their website before you sail.
We boarded the NCL in NYC & my husband experienced a seizure in the buffet area. They took him to the medical facility & the dr told him that he couldn’t sail. They took him to the hospital. I got off with him, while his niece & his sister stood on the ship. When he went home & he said that he was ok, he told me to fly to FL to catch the cruise ship to be with his family. I knew that he was hurt by not going. I flew to FL & met up with his family. I remember like it was yesterday.
Thank you for the information about Allianz. I will wait to see if they honor the insurance before buying it for my trip to Australia.