serious medical issues on TA's

Am I reading this correctly that the hospital would not help you due to a missing payment. That’s so disgusting to hear.

No it was worse than that. They took the money and did nothing. It was three months later that we were finally reimbursed by VISA.

It is always the case that ambulances are at the dock when we touch the first land from the TA. Sometimes 2, sometimes 3, sometimes more!

As mentioned above, the treatment on the ship is always advancing and only the most serious cases create the need for course changes and evacuations. When you consider the number of passengers that are in the middle of nowhere for a week or so, it is a wonder that there are not more issues (just statistics in terms of events).

I must admit that we do think about current physical condition before embarking on a long cruise (would not want to negatively impact others).

As many others have indicated on these boards an annual subscription to an evacuation airline service is a great comfort and should be considered by frequent travelers.

Regardless of whether a medical evacuation was even possible or not, make sure you read the fine print on your evac policy. Some, like MedJet Assist, will only arrange and pay for your evacuation once you've been admitted to a hospital. Being in the's infirmary doesn't count as being admitted to a hospital so you'd be out of luck.

Good to know, but I'm sure the ship's medical crew would not be calling for a medevac on a patient that didn't need to be admitted to an ICU level of care or emergency surgery (appendicitis for example).

Just wondering, how would a serious (unexpected) medical issue be handled on a TA once we had set off on the days at sea. On our last cruise, one companion had a heart attack (he is OK now:)) but he had to leave the ship early, it was not a TA. We buy medical insurance, including evacuation, but I'm thinking that would not happen in the middle of the Atlantic. I know from reading these boards, issues happen, but never have read of one on a TA.

The medical crew on board is also equipped to deal with life threatening emergencies. Ships' RN's have to have experience in Emergency, ICU, and/or Trauma to be considered for a position on a ship. The physicians usually have a background in Pulmonary or Cardiology. While theme park medical crews are required to stabilize and transport. A cruise ship medical crew needs to stabilize and maintain often for many hours or days until a transfer or evacuation can be made.

Good to know, but I'm sure the ship's medical crew would not be calling for a medevac on a patient that didn't need to be admitted to an ICU level of care or emergency surgery (appendicitis for example).

I was always under the impression you could get an emergency appendectomy on a ship. Guess I was wrong. Good thing mine happened 5 mos. before my last TA.

Regardless of whether a medical evacuation was even possible or not, make sure you read the fine print on your evac policy. Some, like MedJet Assist, will only arrange and pay for your evacuation once you've been admitted to a hospital. Being in the's infirmary doesn't count as being admitted to a hospital so you'd be out of luck.

This is true, and that's why MedJet Assist is a good second tier type of insurance. We always have a comprehensive policy, sometimes through the cruise line, sometimes not, that covers trip cancellation, medical, and evacuation from the incident. That gets you to the closest hospital and pays those bills. The MedJet assist comes in after that to get you from the hospital in, say, the Azores, or Hawaii, or wherever to your home hospital. It doesn't work if you've been released from the hospital, but the thought there is that you could just fly home commercially on your own if that's the case.

On a April, 2016 Silhouette TA we had several unscheduled medical evacs. We made a quick Porto Delgada, Azores stop. The ship tendered in a medical evacuee with the ship's doctor. That took about 2 hours.Then leaving Vigo, Spain, we had to return after 45 minutes at sea with another medical evacuee.

TA's do get a older crowd, so it something that happens.

Would they bury you at sea? :halo:

No, they have a mortuary on board (frozen at sea) sorry !

I was always under the impression you could get an emergency appendectomy on a ship. Guess I was wrong. Good thing mine happened 5 mos. before my last TA.

No idea. But considering they don't list OR experience for nurses or list surgical experience for physicians, I doubt it. I know I would not want a medical doctor performing an appy on me. And I am an ICU/Burn/Trauma nurse but you don't want me scrubbing in or circulating in an operating room setting. The medical field is highly specialized and you can't just jump into another specialty like they do on TV.

Would they bury you at sea? :halo:

No. Your body would be held at the onboard morgue (yes, they have them on most ships) and send the body off at the next port. We once had a below deck tour of a smaller cruise ship (about 800 passengers) where they mentioned that their small refrigerated morgue could only hold up to 3 bodies. If they needed more space, the overflow would be stored in the Florist shop...which was also refrigerated.

Hank

I had a life threatening health issue on the Equinox last year but in Panama. Taken back to the ship and an abundance called after 10 hours when the Panama City group had charged us $15,000.00 on VISA as a guantee of payment stilll had not transferred me to hospital The doctor and captain kept me in the infermerary until the next day and port in Costa Rica where I was taken to hospital

 

Six months later and a major surgery later I am feeling fine

 

Celebrity did a great job helping myself and my wife even paying the hotel bill, cab fare and caretaker crew while in SAN Jose for Joni while I was in hospital

 

I am externally grateful

 

Ps I did not have any Celebrity insurance.

This situation sounds familiar. We were on Equinox Jan 2017. We were on a private excursion in Panama with two women from Canada and another couple also from Canada when he started getting very sick so we turned back to bring him and his wife back to the ship. We later heard they disembarked the ship in Costa Rica and he spent some time in the hospital there. Not sure if this is the same situation but glad to hear everything worked out ok for you and your wife and that you are now ok.

Mary

Would they bury you at sea? :halo:

Back in the 1980's we were on a South Pacific cruise on the P&O ship Canberra - we were quite young at the time and it was a disaster from go to woe (we didn't step foot on another ship for about 20 years). Anyway we met an elderly couple who happened to live near us when we were on the shuttle from the airport to the cruise terminal. We didn't see them again until about a week later when we ran into the wife who was very upset and told us that her husband had died that day and was being buried at sea. This apparently was his wish. She didn't know many others on the cruise so asked us, another couple and the Cruise Director to attend the ceremony. It was the coldest, most impersonal burial I have ever attended. They stopped the ship, the Captain arrived, read a small piece from a Bible, there was an opening in the side of the ship through which the body slid into the ocean and that was that. It was just awful. I don't know if any ships do this now but apparently back then, although not common, it did happen.

Good to know, but I'm sure the ship's medical crew would not be calling for a medevac on a patient that didn't need to be admitted to an ICU level of care or emergency surgery (appendicitis for example).

You're missing the point. For MedJet, your policy wouldn't cover the cost of the evac from a ship, only from a hospital on land back to the hospital of your choosing in the states. Not saying the ship wouldn't call for an evac if it was necessary, just that a MedJet policy won't cover that. Other policies might, just a warning to check the fine print of your policy.

Would they bury you at sea? :halo:

We were on a round the Horn cruise a couple of years ago and a passenger died on the Falklands - heart attack. They have a morgue onboard.

The same cruise a passenger fell in a penguin burrow and broke her arm in several places. The next day they put her off having arranged a car and surgery and she made it back before we left the port.

Another passenger had a major medical emergency a day or two later and we diverted to drop him and his wife off, the sea was too rough for a helicopter according to the Captain. They were left in the middle of Chile.

(I think blood clots are a possibility considering the long flights to get the cruise and the average age of the passengers on this cruise.)

You're missing the point. For MedJet, your policy wouldn't cover the cost of the evac from a ship, only from a hospital on land back to the hospital of your choosing in the states. Not saying the ship wouldn't call for an evac if it was necessary, just that a MedJet policy won't cover that. Other policies might, just a warning to check the fine print of your policy.

I didn't realize that Medjet is a whole different animal. I thought you were referring to a brand of insurance.

Regardless of whether a medical evacuation was even possible or not, make sure you read the fine print on your evac policy. Some, like MedJet Assist, will only arrange and pay for your evacuation once you've been admitted to a hospital. Being in the's infirmary doesn't count as being admitted to a hospital so you'd be out of luck.

And most people believe that any medical evacuation insurnace entitles them to get home. That is not so. Most policies will evacuate you to the nearest qualified medical facility, no matter where that is. You will be responsible for getting to where you want to be treated (MedJet Assist will do that.)

If a passenger dies at sea, can his funeral be celebrated also at sea?

I mean that his body is thrown into the sea. Of course with the consent of your husband / wife.

Another point about MedJet that many people may not know is that if you are in a hospital and need transport back to your home hospital, you only need to be 150 miles or more from home for MedJet to provide transportation. A good reason to buy their annual policy instead of their single trip product, not much difference in costs, but can provide substantial benefit if you are just a few miles (150+) from home and endup in a hospital.

You're missing the point. For MedJet, your policy wouldn't cover the cost of the evac from a ship, only from a hospital on land back to the hospital of your choosing in the states. Not saying the ship wouldn't call for an evac if it was necessary, just that a MedJet policy won't cover that. Other policies might, just a warning to check the fine print of your policy.

Does anyone know if there really is a charge for a Medical evacuation from a ship? To the best of my knowledge those evacuations are usually done by the a nation's Coast Guard or Navy. I didn't think the Coast Guard charged anyone for these operations.

Does anyone know if there really is a charge for a Medical evacuation from a ship? To the best of my knowledge those evacuations are usually done by the a nation's Coast Guard or Navy. I didn't think the Coast Guard charged anyone for these operations.

There is NO charge for at-sea evacuations provided by various Coast Guards or military (we have seen both on our cruises). However, that free service is only from the ship to where you land on land. Once on land, any ambulance service (be it vehicle or air) will be billed to the user. If you are evacuated off a ship while docked (or tendered) then the transport from the pier to the hospital will be billed to the user.

One interesting discussion that came up on a recent cruise was what if there was a private air evacuation from a ship. Our little discussion group which had folks totally hundreds of years of extensive cruise experience could not recall ever seeing (or even hearing about) a private evacuation at sea. One Senior Officer told us the liability issues would likely prevent that from ever happening.

For us, the most interesting (and likely the most costly/complex) evacuation happened a few years ago during a Pacific crossing on a HAL cruise. We were 1 day out of San Diego (our final port) a few hundred miles off the coast of Mexico...when a passenger needed emergency evacuation (he was so sick they did not think it wise to wait until we docked the following day). Weather conditions were perfect, but we were out of range of available helicopters from both the US and Mexico. The US Nave came to the rescue taking advantage of the Navy SEAL group based at El Coronado. The Navy sent out a special ops helicopter along with a KC-130 (assigned to the SEALs) aerial tanker. The chopper made it to our ship on their fuel supply and winched down their paramedic onto our deck. The chopper then flew off a few miles (still within sight of the ship) and did a mid-air refueling from the KC-130. The chopper finally returned to our ship and winched-up the paramedic and ill passenger...and flew back to San Diego. Later that evening the Captain told us the passenger made it safely to the hospital and we doing fine.

Hank

This thread includes lots of very helpful information, but now I'm very confused and a bit worried about taking all those TA's I see in my future retirement years. We've done a bit of cruising, but never felt the need to buy trip insurance, or any supplemental health or evacuation insurance. I'm thinking that we might want to be more cautious moving forward. Can anyone suggest a place for me to start researching this need? Is trip insurance separate from evac insurance? Do they ever come packaged together? I know that some posters report purchasing insurance by the trip, but others mention an annual subscription. Do you know of any pros/cons to either?

Can anyone suggest a place for me to start researching this need? Is trip insurance separate from evac insurance? Do they ever come packaged together? I know that some posters report purchasing insurance by the trip, but others mention an annual subscription. Do you know of any pros/cons to either?

It looks like you need to do a lot of researching. Trip insurance is a blanket term that may or may not include trip cancellation, trip interruption, baggage loss, medical coverage and medical evacuation among others. You can find policies that cover any number of combinations. Or only one.

Start by looking at insuremytrip or squaremouth websites to find insurance options. And be sure to read the fine print about exclusions and preexisting conditions.

Whether to insure by the trip or annually is an individual decision. We have an annual comprehensive policy (that includes evacuation and repatriation), but we typically travel outside the country 2-3 times a year for a total of 3 months or so. Someone who travels less frequently or for shorter periods may be better off with individual policies. We wouldn't dream of leaving the country without a good travel insurance policy.

I was told on a six day leg from Hawaii to Ensenada, that if the 3 morgue spaces were filled, then it was free ice cream so they could clear out freezer space because we were at the point of no return, ad to go on.

Annual travel insurance (one can buy an annual Medical policy or an annual trip policy that includes some cancellation protection) is an option for those of us who do a lot of international trips...during the period of the policy year. For example, we purchase an annual travel medical policy (with $250,000 of medical coverage and $500,000 of evacuation coverage) because we travel outside the US for 6-7 months a year. Buying individual policies for each trip would cost us an awful lot of money when compared to the $450 (total cost for a couple) that we pay for our annual med policy. But for those that are only taking 1 or 2 cruises a year, individual trip-specific policies will usually be the best option.

There is a trip insurance blog here on CC under "Cruise Discussion Topics" where you can ask more questions and generally get some good advice. But in the final analysis you will need to consider your own circumstances, risk tolerance and budget...and then make a decision that is your own best interests. What works for one traveler may not be what works for another.

Hank

Very interesting thread; thanks Op for posting and those of you who made comments...helpful!

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