Boy and Mother stuck in Mexico

[Shak]

This type of emergency could happen to anyone of us.

 

Shak

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/boy-mother-stuck-in-mexico-after-cruise-sickness/nmWJY/

[sirwired]

This is EXACTLY why you should have insurance (and a passport!) This would have been a no-brainer of a travel insurance claim. (And most companies will front payment for on-shore hospitalization.)

 

Cruise lines are as clear as they can be about the consequences of not having insurance; I wonder why so many people don't purchase it.

 

I suppose they could be more blunt. (i.e. "If you don't have insurance and need evacuation home you can't afford, you will die. If you get horribly sick and the developing-nation hospital wants payment prior to surgery and you can't scrape up the cash, you will die. Neither the cruise line, State Dept., or airline is going to help you other than providing sympathetic words and referrals (not payment) for services you need.") But such bluntness isn't going to sell many cruise tickets.

[msmayor]

As I once heard someone say, 'the cheap can be expensive'.

 

I've often read of people who balk at paying over $100 for passports and passing on insurance...and that's fine as long as one is prepared to absorb the high cost of saving that money.

 

I know there are those who say 'after XX cruises the money I saved on insurance pays for a cruise' but for me, the $200 or so I tag on to each trip is just a normal vacation cost.

[cherylandtk]

One thing to note, MANY insurance companies do not front the money for emergency surgery, although some do. If you found yourself in this situation, you would also want to have made certain you would be able prepay the expenses OR be certain your policy is one of the ones that WILL pay the upfront fees for hospitalization.

[donaldsc]

The emergency could happen. However, if they had passports and the proper insurance, it would be a more controllable emergency. What gets me ticked is that they are now trying to collect money from some fund raising site to help them out. There are actually a good number of suckers who are contributing.

 

Note the latest update - "A spokesman with Carnival Cruise Lines, Vance Gulliksen, tells us the Johnson family has been refunded their full cruise fare and a Carnival CareTeam is working towards funding the family’s return home."

 

So why should the rest of us buy insurance?

 

DON

Edited June 8, 2015 by donaldsc

[dsrdsrdsr]

The emergency could happen. However, if they had passports and the proper insurance, it would be a more controllable emergency. What gets me ticked is that they are now trying to collect money from some fund raising site to help them out. There are actually a good number of suckers who are contributing.

 

Note the latest update - "A spokesman with Carnival Cruise Lines, Vance Gulliksen, tells us the Johnson family has been refunded their full cruise fare and a Carnival CareTeam is working towards funding the family’s return home."

 

So why should the rest of us buy insurance?

 

DON

 

Someone's got themselves into a mess, and various kind people are helping them get out of it. Can't you find better things to get cross about? I'm not one of the ones helping, but I'm not going to get wound up about those that do.

 

Look at it this way. It's not the boy's fault that his mother didn't get insurance. These generous people giving them money are helping the sick boy, who is in a mess through no fault of his own.

[BullDawg91]

Why would Carnival refund their fare? I understand why they did, but why open the door to being expected to refund every cruise fare where a medical emergency cuts a cruise short or keeps a person off a ship in the first place?

[dsrdsrdsr]

Why would Carnival refund their fare? I understand why they did, but why open the door to being expected to refund every cruise fare where a medical emergency cuts a cruise short or keeps a person off a ship in the first place?

 

Presumably they decided the good publicity, or perhaps the avoidance of bad publicity, was worth that risk. In these days of twitter etc., it doesn't take very long and it doesn't take much of a reason for the whole world to decide it hates you.

[Karysa]

Nice that folks helped by giving monetary donations BUT there have been studies done that if people give money to a disaster other charities suffer at that time. Earthquakes can not be predicted or prevented but this situation could have been and this family should know that due to their ignorance/stupidity/cheapness or laziness other people are likely to suffer.