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Norwegian travel insurance and not being quarantined


redhd95
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Hi all I'm new to this but thought I would reach out to the group on possible best way to handle this situation. I cruised on Norwegian Spirit in October, 2017. About midway through the cruise I became very ill. I have end stage heart and kidney failure and have had 2 bone marrow transplants which I communicated to ship Dr. I had body aches, cough. Fever, low blood pressure, difficulty breathing, thrush and severely dehydrated. They ran many tests and gave me s breathing treatment, did not quarantine me and diagnosed me with a cough. They told me to come back if i needed a breathing treatment, which i didn't. Needless to say I quarantined myself since I wasn' even able to stand. I was taken out by wheelchair on final day. We flew home and within 8 hours we were in the hospital. I was diagnosed with influenza type a, pneumonia and I was septic due to being at advanced stages . With the simple fact of me already being end stage heart and kidney failure it is truly a miracle I'm alive.

 

I submitted a complaint to Norwegian and was compltely blown off. Looking at cdc recommendations and talking to several travel agents I should have been quarantined and possibly medivaced off ship. I had purchased travel Insurance through Norwegian and if they had followed the correct procedures I would have been reimbursed for the time I was quarantined. I almost feel that they didn't follow the guidelines to not have to pay these benefits.

 

I am terminal and this was a trip to Greece on my bucket list. We spent over $5000 and was only able to experience half of it.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed

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On the plus side you survived! My mom passed just before Thanksgiving within 2 days of being diagnosed with pneumonia and sepsis.

So sorry to hear. And trust me I count my blessings daily

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You’re blessed to be alive.

Get over the negative and enjoy what time you have left.

The cruise line nor the insurance owe you nothing.

 

(Even if they did, with your health complications, they would probably deny based on pre-exsisting conditions and/or changes in health status)

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You’re blessed to be alive.

Get over the negative and enjoy what time you have left.

The cruise line nor the insurance owe you nothing.

 

(Even if they did, with your health complications, they would probably deny based on pre-exsisting conditions and/or changes in health status)[/quote

It's amazing how people ASSume the worst in everyone. I would like to prevent them from killing someone and would like to see Greece. I purchased a service, travel insurance so that if I needed to be medivaced I could be and my conditions do not cause me to get the flu, all my conditions were listed.

 

As to enjoying my life got that covered. But excuse me if I feel people should be held accountable for not following Government guidelines and put people lives in jeopardy. At bare minimum the Dr should be written up.

 

This is my first post in this forum and if I wanted trolls I would have stuck to Facebook. I was trying to get advice on how to hold them accountable.

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You’re blessed to be alive.

Get over the negative and enjoy what time you have left.

The cruise line nor the insurance owe you nothing.

 

(Even if they did, with your health complications, they would probably deny based on pre-exsisting conditions and/or changes in health status)[/quote

 

 

This is my first post in this forum and if I wanted trolls I would have stuck to Facebook. I was trying to get advice on how to hold them accountable.

 

Thanks for your kind courteous language.

 

To answer your question about how to hold them accountable.

 

It’s not happening in any language you try to speak. Doesn’t matter whether you call us trolls, or asses or anything else.

 

 

Hopefully I got back and deleted some of this post in time.

 

I get it. You’re terminal. Your angry. You’ve been dealt a bad hand.

I just lost both my parents within 36 hours of each other. I get it.

 

Feel free to vent

Edited by klfrodo
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You’re blessed to be alive.

Get over the negative and enjoy what time you have left.

The cruise line nor the insurance owe you nothing.

 

(Even if they did, with your health complications, they would probably deny based on pre-exsisting conditions and/or changes in health status)[/quote

It's amazing how people ASSume the worst in everyone. I would like to prevent them from killing someone and would like to see Greece. I purchased a service, travel insurance so that if I needed to be medivaced I could be and my conditions do not cause me to get the flu, all my conditions were listed.

 

As to enjoying my life got that covered. But excuse me if I feel people should be held accountable for not following Government guidelines and put people lives in jeopardy. At bare minimum the Dr should be written up.

 

This is my first post in this forum and if I wanted trolls I would have stuck to Facebook. I was trying to get advice on how to hold them accountable.

 

It's really too late to do much about your recent unfortunate trip.

It does sound like it could have been handled better, but that's in the past.

(Yes, that sounds trite, but it's probably true. And we are as likely or more to "go after someone/something" if it seems warranted as anyone.)

 

However, for the future (for you or others reading), this might be a textbook case of why NOT to purchase the travel insurance through the cruise line. They have mixed priorities, vs. a *THIRD PARTY* travel insurance, with no link (or possible loyalty/business arrangement) with the cruise line.

 

Also, as to one of the comments above, we ALWAYS (*ALWAYS*) get a waiver of the [nasty] exclusion of pre-existing conditions. That way, it doesn't matter if something is new or old, or is exacerbating something old, or whatever.

And one could then contact the insurer directly, to have them help out with appropriate care or medevac.

 

We also get MedJetAssist, which would probably *not* have helped here, as one must be admitted in a hospital as an inpatient (not ER not observation), and then one can make one's own decision to be "taken home".

NOTE: There are a few other details, like being at least 150 miles from home to kick in.

 

I'm so sorry that you didn't enjoy the second half of your trip.

 

One other thing... it often pays to be VERY pro-active in terms of medical care... and discuss things with the medical team, and ask for other tests or such. Now, that doesn't help much if one is critically ill, and perhaps someone else (family/traveling companions) don't know quite enough to do it in your place, etc.

 

Best wishes...

 

GC

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Thanks so much for your feedback, it was helpful. Yes it was definitely a lesson learned!

 

I met with my entire medical team which is huge, before and traveled with a zpack and some other medications. Which were useless for influenza. They also ran over $2000 in tests and most were at my request. Being one of the first patients of this influenza epidemic didn't help. I think that if had happened now it would have been treated appropriately.

 

But yes in future I will not purchase travel insurance through cruise line. Thanks for your insight.

 

 

It's really too late to do much about your recent unfortunate trip.

It does sound like it could have been handled better, but that's in the past.

(Yes, that sounds trite, but it's probably true. And we are as likely or more to "go after someone/something" if it seems warranted as anyone.)

 

However, for the future (for you or others reading), this might be a textbook case of why NOT to purchase the travel insurance through the cruise line. They have mixed priorities, vs. a *THIRD PARTY* travel insurance, with no link (or possible loyalty/business arrangement) with the cruise line.

 

Also, as to one of the comments above, we ALWAYS (*ALWAYS*) get a waiver of the [nasty] exclusion of pre-existing conditions. That way, it doesn't matter if something is new or old, or is exacerbating something old, or whatever.

And one could then contact the insurer directly, to have them help out with appropriate care or medevac.

 

We also get MedJetAssist, which would probably *not* have helped here, as one must be admitted in a hospital as an inpatient (not ER not observation), and then one can make one's own decision to be "taken home".

NOTE: There are a few other details, like being at least 150 miles from home to kick in.

 

I'm so sorry that you didn't enjoy the second half of your trip.

 

One other thing... it often pays to be VERY pro-active in terms of medical care... and discuss things with the medical team, and ask for other tests or such. Now, that doesn't help much if one is critically ill, and perhaps someone else (family/traveling companions) don't know quite enough to do it in your place, etc.

 

Best wishes...

 

GC

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It's amazing how people ASSume the worst in everyone. I would like to prevent them from killing someone and would like to see Greece. I purchased a service, travel insurance so that if I needed to be medivaced I could be and my conditions do not cause me to get the flu, all my conditions were listed.

 

As to enjoying my life got that covered. But excuse me if I feel people should be held accountable for not following Government guidelines and put people lives in jeopardy. At bare minimum the Dr should be written up.

 

This is my first post in this forum and if I wanted trolls I would have stuck to Facebook. I was trying to get advice on how to hold them accountable.

There are two different issues here. One, you would have liked to see Greece. Well, if they had taken you off on a helicopter you would have seen the inside of a Greek hospital, but you wouldn't have really seen Greece. So any complaints you have at not seeing Greece shouldn't be directed at the cruise line unless you blame them for you catching flu.

 

The other one is the $2,500 (less insurance excess) that you would like to have back. There, I think you'll be unlucky. You can check with your legal people under whose law you were travelling, but whatever it was, I suspect you'll find that their verdict is that you had put yourself in a bad place. The ship's doctor can only do his best according to his ability and specialisms, and he or she would be a general practitioner, not a specialist in people with severe heart, kidney, and bone marrow conditions. You said yourself that you have a huge medical team and needed $2,000 of tests on your return; can you really expect the ship's doctor to have the same skills and knowledge as your huge team? Especially as (if I read your post correctly) you didn't even go back to him a second time?

 

There are two possible outcomes to sueing the cruise line.

 

1 - you lose, in which case nothing much happens.

 

2 - you win, in which case you get back the $2,500 you missed out on cruise value, and the cruise line does its level best to ensure that people in your position do not travel with them in future. If you put the medical team into a position where they are expected to have medical knowledge way above what a small team can possibly have, then the line will not want to risk any further terminally or seriously ill people to travel with them.

 

If you sue, you risk spoiling things for other people in your position.

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Sounds as if you were in very shaky medical condition when you left on this cruise. Cruise ships aren’t equipped to handle complicated medical situations. It’s good you got home safely.

 

Without meaning to sound trite, I think I would proceed by letting this go and enjoying the time I had left. Move on to your next bucket list item.

 

You are wasting energy on something in the past that you can’t change.

 

Klfrodo - my condolences for your loss.

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I am so sorry this happened to you . You were in seriously bad shape when you want on this cruise so maybe it was not a great idea to board a cruise ship with thousands of people when your immune system was compromised..I hope Norwegian does offer you something for your missed days .

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As far as using the plan marketed by the cruise line vs a third-party plan, it wouldn't have made a difference. No insurer in their right mind is going to (after the fact) second guess the actions of a ship's doctor if those actions did not cause a worsening of the condition . If the doctor did not that you need to be confined to your cabin and that you are not free to move about the ship, use the restaurants, etc that's the only opinion that will matter. The choice to remain in your cabin was yours. The choice to remain on the ship was yours. Since the doctor's opinion did not cause a worsening in your condition (which was already terminal) I don't see any insurable loss resulting from that decision based on a quarantine benefit. People become ill on ships all the time. I've spent a few days in my cabin because I felt lousy too but that's not a "quarantine" in any insurable sense of the word. So there's no insurable loss under any quarantine coverage. Even if you are in the ship's hospital that's not a quarantine. "Quarantine" has a specific meaning and what you experienced isn't it. Feeling too crappy to enjoy the cruise and staying in your cabin as a result isn't insurable other than covering whatever was charged to your shipboard account for actual medical services received.

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  • 3 weeks later...
As far as using the plan marketed by the cruise line vs a third-party plan, it wouldn't have made a difference. No insurer in their right mind is going to (after the fact) second guess the actions of a ship's doctor if those actions did not cause a worsening of the condition . If the doctor did not that you need to be confined to your cabin and that you are not free to move about the ship, use the restaurants, etc that's the only opinion that will matter. The choice to remain in your cabin was yours. The choice to remain on the ship was yours. Since the doctor's opinion did not cause a worsening in your condition (which was already terminal) I don't see any insurable loss resulting from that decision based on a quarantine benefit. People become ill on ships all the time. I've spent a few days in my cabin because I felt lousy too but that's not a "quarantine" in any insurable sense of the word. So there's no insurable loss under any quarantine coverage. Even if you are in the ship's hospital that's not a quarantine. "Quarantine" has a specific meaning and what you experienced isn't it. Feeling too crappy to enjoy the cruise and staying in your cabin as a result isn't insurable other than covering whatever was charged to your shipboard account for actual medical services received.

Your reply was informative, polite and respectful which is not always the case on cruise critics. I had no advice to add for the OP. I just wanted to comment that it was nice to see someone, treating others the way they want to be treated.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Looking at cdc recommendations and talking to several travel agents I should have been quarantined and possibly medivaced off ship. I had purchased travel Insurance through Norwegian and if they had followed the correct procedures I would have been reimbursed for the time I was quarantined. I almost feel that they didn't follow the guidelines to not have to pay these benefits.

Quarantine is required when there is a communicable disease which they don't want spread around the ship. The classic example of this is Norovirus, since it spreads rapidly.

 

It sounds like, although you were eventually diagnosed with the flu, the staff on the ship either did not make that diagnosis, or they did not feel like it warranted a quarantine. Certainly, it is a huge stretch to claim they did not quarantine you to avoid paying benefits. Doctors do not consider travel insurance when making medical decisions.

 

The reimbursement for being involuntarily quarantined, in my view, is to compensate you for loss of vacation due to being confined to the cabin when you otherwise would be out and about, enjoying yourself. That was not the case... you were not being held in the cabin involuntarily and were too ill to be out and about in any case. So you did not miss out on part of the cruise due to quarantine, you missed it due to illness, and that is different.

 

As far as the cost of the medical tests and other medical expenses, medical insurance (either the travel insurance or your normal insurance) should have covered that. But there should have been no compensation due for the time you missed due to illness.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dear Redhead, I do hope you find a way to experience the amazing hospitality of the Greek people, their wonderful food, and the beautiful and varied countryside. Maybe on a smaller cruise ship than NCL? Or maybe just do a land trip?

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