Did you visit the Ship Doctor?

[JP4GA]

My husband suffered an injury while on an excursion- snuba- somehow the equipment malfunctioned and it hurt his ears.  The doctor on ship said he would need surgery and a bunch of other stuff.  My husband was miserable the rest of the cruise, and upon arriving home went to his ENT and they said nothing time and a medication could not fix.  

 

We were not billed. But the these ship people need to be careful, some people speak more than one language.  The doctor and his assistant took time during the exam to talk poorly about my husband, not realizing that our son speaks fluent french. He was not happy when my son confronted him after the exam. 

[BalconyGal]

On 3/13/2013 at 11:04 PM, sdmike said:

 

Yeah, feels like I've been living too far on the edge based on these posts 🙂

Same here.  18 cruises with no insurance.  We started purchasing the insurance when our infant son started sailing with us.  

[quercus alba]

I'm a doc myself, and had the good fortune to meet both of Pearl's docs back in 2013 when I dislocated my shoulder (ultimately because I fractured the socket!) on a shore excursion in Jamaica. They were both board certified emergency med docs, one from Norway and one for South Africa. They patched me up, immobilized it, and made sure I stayed on good behavior until I could get definitively fixed at home.

 

Visits and treatment were billed to my account, and I submitted to my home health insurance for out of network reimbursement. No problems. (And agree with the poster above who pointed out that the true function of the travel insurance is covering you if, God forbid, you end up needing med evac or trip interruption due to the medical issue.) 

[quercus alba]

On 3/13/2013 at 5:46 PM, retiring soon said:

Hi all!

 

I damaged my meniscus on my Epic Med cruise so went to the ship's doctor who was from S Africa. He prescribed painkillers, sold me a tensor bandage, rented me a crutch ($50 deposit) & charged me approx $140 which was reimbursed in full by my out of country medical insurance from work.

It was reassuring to know that help is available onboard.

 

~ Jo ~ 🙂

I remember that little misadventure, too!

Edited February 2, 2019 by quercus alba

[tumblew467]

2 years ago  3 days before our trip I started to feel like I was getting a stye in my eye. I have had that feeling before and it always resolved itself. We boarded Sat and my eye was fine. Sunday I woke up with a swollen eye shut and a very  yellow discharge. Went to the ship Dr.  I was charged 150 for the exam and $90 for the eye drops he prescribed.  Monday we are in Port  Canaveral. I wake up that day with it being worse.  Went back to the ship Dr. and spoke with him. He did not charge me for that 2nd  visit. He said I had  3 options at that point.  Go to the ER in Fla, or urgent care or wait till we get to the Bahamas and see  a Dr there or go to the ER. I had the free internet plan- so I  researched Ophthalmologists in the area. I called and explained the situation and they agreed to see me. We rented a car and drove 30 minutes to see the MD. THat visit was 150 plus meds.  My total out of pocket was around $600. I had purchased trip insurance and sent in the claim and was reimbursed all $600.  I never travel without it for you never know what may happen. And even although I was put on oral antibiotics on trip- the eye issue went from a stye to cellulitis to an abscess and ended up having to go to will eye in Phili and needed treatment there. I do have to say the ship Dr. was amazing and did what he could for me. And yes he was board certified ER Dr.

[newmexicoNita]

I can say we have needed to go to the ship doctor about 1/2 dozen times in 30 plus years of cruising. Not only NCL but a few other lines, and no, the doctors are not always the greatest but they have always been caring and concerned. We have been satisfied with the service. As for insurance, we always take it. Yes, if we are billed we submit it when we return and what our own insurance does not cover the travel insurance helps. But as someone mentioned, travel insurance is for major expenses, not the little $75 visit to the ship doctor or something like that. 

[Buford T Justiice]

In addition to the posted dr.'s office hours for passengers the dr.'s also have regular sick call hours for the 1,000 or more of crew.

[TrumpyNor]

My husband who is normally in "good health" had to visit the doctors office on board two days in a row on a cruise a couple of years ago (during office hours both times), as he was not feeling well. The "diagnosis" ended up being "dehydration and with some unidentified infection" (that turned out to be a totally wrong diagnosis as when we came home his local doctor found out there was something much more serious going on, but that is another story), and he was given IV-fluids and a few tablets against feeling sick by the nurse on board. Each of the visits took about one hour in total, and the total medical bill for two hours was just over $2200 US dollars!!! And even though I had my travel insurance card with me (we have an all-year travel insurance that covers the entire world), I still had to pay the $2200 on board (it was autmatically charged to our ship account). Luckily I had for the first time with me an extra credit card with high credit that I normally don't use - just as a precaution for unexpected expenses, as I had read here on cruisecritic's before the cruise that several people were advising it. After-the-fact I was very happy I had that extra credit card with me, otherwise we would have had absolutely no money for the last third of our cruise. So a visit to the doctors office on board CAN be much more expensive than the $110-$150 that others have referred to earlier in this thread.

PS: 100% refund from our travel insurance company within 4-5 days after we came home.

Edited February 2, 2019 by TrumpyNor

[gooch47]

I've been to the ship's medical facility more times than I'd like to remember, most often for bronchitis but one episode of bacterial diarrhea which I don't like to think about.

 

The doctors were always great, their staff was too.  With the diarrhea they came to our cabin to treat me, thinking, I guess that it was Norovirus.  The only problem, if you could call it that, was that the names of the drugs they gave me for various things were unfamiliar to me.

 

I had what was possibly food poisoning on the Celebrity Xpedition ship that cruises the Galapagos.  The ship's doctor seemed to be stalking me, LOL.  I'd go to dinner and she'd show up either approving or criticizing what I had on my plate.

 

In all cases except the Celebrity one, charges were put on our cabin account and we'd then submit the bill to our insurance.  I can't say it was always easy to get reimbursed.  They didn't charge me for the Celebrity incident. 

Edited February 2, 2019 by gooch47

[K_e_short]

On 3/13/2013 at 10:14 AM, sjbdtz said:

 

 

I'm in Canada, so it may be different but my Paramedical insurance (employer-provided (dental, RMT, etc.)) covers out-of-country BUT not for any pre-existing, and I believe there's a very low cap on the coverage.... if I needed an evac, I'd be SOL.

 

.

I'm sure it's different in Canada.

 

My health insurance covers almost anything as long as it's not a pre existing condition, including a medivac.

 

 

[TrumpyNor]

5 minutes ago, TrumpyNor said:

Deleted - posted by mistake the same reply twice...

 

Edited February 2, 2019 by TrumpyNor

[calex]

In May 2018, aboard the Jewel on a 20 day Trans-Pacific cruise I experienced a diverticulitis flare up causing me to be admitted to the Jewel's Medical Center Clinic  five times for IV antibiotic treatment. I really got to know the two doctors from Columbia and the three nurses from the Philippines. My onboard account was charged over $10,000 for my treatment. I was responsible for paying this debt prior to leaving the ship.

 

Once I was home, I submitted all my medical bills to my primary insurance who reimbursed me for the treatment less my standard co-pay for a visit to the ER in the USA. Once my primary insurance was completed, I submitted copies of the processed claim from my insurance company plus the medical records to my TRAVEL INSURANCE company and they reimbursed me the balance of my out of pocket expenses.

 

In Japan, I was sent by ambulance from the ship to the hospital for a CT scan. In the ER, I was swarmed by flock of non-English speaking medical folks who poked and prodded me everywhere. Communication was done using a translation app on a phone. My visit included the ER visit, x-ray, CT scan, and meds resulting a total bill of $570 paid on my credit card. My primary insurance picked up this bill at 100%.

 

I am lucky I purchased travel insurance for this adventure. I booked a Hawaii cruise for this Fall and I purchased travel insurance shortly thereafter (not from a travel agent). BTW, we signed up for the NCL Mastercard onboard and used it to pay the medical bill. We were able to acquire more than the 30,000 points needed to get a cabin upgrade from an OV to a Balcony on the Hawaii cruise. 

 

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

Funny to see this old thread resurrected but very interesting.

 

Quercus & Stephen  ~ nice to see you both here. Hope you've been well & have cruises planned.

 

I'm in Canada too & have out of country insurance as a retiree through my former company. Before I retired I went to a tips for retirees discussion where the speaker said we should never go out of the country without at least 1 million in coverage so since then I've always purchased a yearly plan too just to be safe.

An acquaintance fell at her AZ property & had to be airlifted home which cost about $25K!!

I buy insurance with the hope of never having to use it but feel safer having it.

 

~ Jo ~ 😊

[quercus alba]

6 hours ago, retiring soon said:

Hi all!

 

Funny to see this old thread resurrected but very interesting.

 

Quercus & Stephen  ~ nice to see you both here. Hope you've been well & have cruises planned.

...

 

That's what brought me back--planning for March 2020. 🙂

Was happy to see you're still sailing along!

[HokiePoq]

On 3/14/2013 at 8:10 AM, dwjoe said:

 

Deleted...had not realized this was an old thread.

Edited February 3, 2019 by HokiePoq
old thread