bobby47

My friend takes 2 other members of the family with her and hubby (dementia). They share the minding so its not onerous and the person is never alone.. They have to place a chair in front of the cabin door at night (not really allowed). they leave bathroom light on so correct door is used. Its hard work.

And yes they told us a lady was taken off the ship in Europe because she thought she was on a local ferry. Must have medical insurance to cover dementia.

Yes it's unfortunate that the cruise line caused you to feel humiliated. If you haven't done so already, it seems that a letter to the CEO of Cruise and Maritime Voyages would be warranted at that time.

Thank you for your support. We were so frustrated, annoyed at the handling of this issue ,We will be writing to the CEO. Also to a national support charity who were concerned this was discrimination . Our MP shares one condition with me so we will be writing to him. I have contact with the You and Yours BBC programme. I am willing to contact them too. It seems that each company has its own rules around long standing , controlled conditions. Our thoughts were that we would be barred from cruising with C&M. In contrast we cruised with Fred Olsen from St Kitts to UK (mostly at sea 1000s miles from land) There was no problem with my non intrusive conditions with Fred.

Is this what you are referring to? If so, it is only for those that have been hospitalized in the past 3 months, or have an ongoing pre existing medical condition...most cruise lines require a fit to travel clause.

 

 

(From their general info tab):

Medical - Fitness to Travel by Sea

 

Any passengers who have been hospitalised within three months prior to travelling, have any psychological disorder, any sensory impairment or contagious medical condition will need to make these details known to us and also have a ‘Fitness to Travel by Sea’ certificate provided by their doctor or psychiatrist. Please note that Cruise & Maritime Voyages must be advised of any pre-existing medical condition or ongoing treatment and of any change to the passengers’ condition, including surgery or hospital visits as an in-patient or an out-patient, which occurs between the date of booking and the sailing date. Failure to advise or update any such changes to a passenger’s state of health could invalidate any subsequent insurance claim and you will be liable for any costs.

Yes, this is the para. My conditions are 40yrs old & 25yrs old . They were not handled well .

1. My husband mentioned travel insurance in 3 different calls . And was listed anyway. Staff still insisted on a certificate.
   
2. The UK GP practice said my notes back to 1996 were fine but said there is no such certificate . Doctors, I was told in friendly telephone manner. are beginning not to write letters of fitness to travel (for reasons of litigation?).
   
3. The full comprehension by a member of C&M staff with personal knowledge, who conveyed to her manager my situation and the existence of insurance.
   
4. We never knew whether the info I supplied to C&M reached the lasses desk. It wasn't acknowledged.
   

Our travels in those ''dangerous'' 25yrs were to Russia, Europe, Africa, Egypt, Congo,Zimbawae Carribean x 2, Scottish waters ;thru Africa by train and inc the Khalahari .Iceland. Norway/Ruussian seas and borders This C& M short cruise was in British waters !!

P& O have a much more gentler approach with a questionnaire, This highlights the real cases of concern which of course is very necessary.

Perhaps a review of the approach to this area of cruising be looked at and staff trained to be less aggressive and more informed

So what did we do wrong ? And made to feel humiliated?

Someone asked me to move my post to this ''disabled forum''.

My company Cruise and Maritime wanted certain conditions revealed with certificate of fitness travel.

I have been partial hearing for 40 yrs (sensory is a condition to declare) and I had a psychiatric illness 25yrs ago only 4 bouts.( needs to be declared) For 17yrs on meds Ive had no episodes.

My GP says that NO letters of fitness are going to be issued for anyone.

It took 4 calls to the cruise company before they realised that we had travel insurance for all my conditions. They agreed no certificate was needed.

I found this humiliating and has taken the edge off the UK cruise and the company. I understand all safety issues and see cruise passenger s who are perhaps a liability but genuine people like me find this an unhelpful attittude

In the UK there can be a basic package policy. This covers a very wide variety of items , The operator discusses this with you, I believe the cost of your vacation in total is covered for examplel. My medical expenses allowed on my present policy within UK and Danish waters is 1,000,000 GDP.

If travelling within the US I guess you would be covered (I don't know how private healthcare works within US) But if travelling anywhere else in the world medical bills Hospital bills, hotel bills/and for companion, medical fees , medication, x rays ,scans, operations, nursing bills, repatriation (with equipment / nurse), etc can be extremely high.

As I say I do not know how US policies work. But I always discuss my needs with insurance company. Being severely ill or dying overseas can be crippling if not covered correctly.UK Insurance companies can fail to insure if your needs are seen to inadequate.

pretty standard once you list a condition. ultimately it may be that should anything go catastrophically wrong, the ship must know in advance what your needs would be and to determine whether or not they can meet them until such times you can be medevac'd off.

See my story if time and see what you think. Thanks for replying.

what cruise line is asking?

Just curious

cruiseandmaritime uk

Thank you for this. Our story. Note the cruise is from UK to Scotland and Scottish Islands plus one Danish Island , no flights, only one stop outside UK, lasting one week.

I have 2 conditions of the 5 condition types listed in CRUISE AND MARITIME booklet.

But there are some oddities about this

1 We have cruised and travelled from Russia in North to South Africa, south . Turkey N East to Barbados SW. War zone , troublesome regimes, been 12 days at sea far from land, But had never come across or had this clause brought to our attention before.

The other is 25yrs old with no occurrence for 17yrs so stable with medication

3 I rang my NHS GP (UK). She rang back. We talked for 15 mins. She'd not heard of a CERTIFICATE of fitness to travel by sea. My notes ( back to 1996) showed everything was fine.Blood tests in order. She said ''no doctor would ever declare anyone fit to travel ''these days. As we talked I gathered she meant in regard to litigation.

4 On my 4th phone call to C and M the customer services lass I'd suggested a private GP or consultant . As we talked I mentioned, as in all 4 phone calls. that I had full travel insurance for every condition. This lass had a friend with my 2nd condition. When I said I'd had no bother for 17 YEARS. She asked if she could speak to her manager. The response on her return was that a letter was NOT required but could the Co have a copy of the insurance cover.!!!

lots of incidents and dramas happen aboard ship, heart attacks , strokes , broken femurs, aneurysms, air lifts, desperate sea sickness needing injections/treatment. All these things can & have happened to people who were seemingly quite well before traveling. The logic would be for every passenger to have fitness to travel. Doctors wouldn't give these and discovering this would clog up the NHS to bursting point.

Thanks for your reply I 'd intended to boycott C and M but instead we will look more carefully at a cruise lines conditions and send a copy of insurance doc. early on.

This was humiliating, time consuming , probably wasting about 60.00 of my GPs budget for calls , notes , reception duties.The call from the GP came at 19.00 when she could have been at home

Has anyone come across a cruise line asking for A FITNESS TO TRAVEL BY SEA CERTIFICATE for a pre-existing condition ?

I had 2 of the conditions on the list provided.

One 'condition' is 40years old and requires 2 small, identical pieces of equipment

, The other 17years since hospitalisation (meds taken)

.

I will share my story regarding this issue with a Cruise line but would like to know if other cruise companies are asking for such or similar ''certificates''