Couple on RCCL cruise put of the ship and stranded in Bahamas.

[Big_G]

How unfortunate. Sometimes life comes at you fast.

[xpcdoojk]

16 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

We had a woman airlifted off of Mariner just off coast of Oman.  A couple days later she requested to rejoin the ship in Jordan.  

 

Royal said no way.  

 

Hmm... that is interesting.  If she is medically cleared,  I am not sure the logic of denying her to reboard.  Although, if she was sick enough or crazy enough to require a airlift off the ship...  

 

jc

[John&LaLa]

2 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

 

Hmm... that is interesting.  If she is medically cleared,  I am not sure the logic of denying her to reboard.  Although, if she was sick enough or crazy enough to require a airlift off the ship...  

 

jc

 

She was in her 90's

And a Pinnacle 😉

 

Probably didn't want to risk anything.

I heard what the issue was, but I forget.

 

No HIPPA on the high seas.

 

The evac was exciting, it was at night.  We were stopped for at least 4 hours

[momofmab]

1 hour ago, Ashland said:

Being transferred off a ship due to a medical situation is not just being "put off the ship". Would it be better to keep that person onboard? I doubt it.

 

No, he was put off the ship.  Maybe you've never been to Samana?  He would have rather taken his chances on board any day than in a bug-infested 4th world medical clinic.  Luckily he recovered and could laugh about it years later and luckily he had the Cadillac travel insurance!

[Galveston Cruiser]

12 hours ago, mugtech said:

Medicare covers me in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.  I don't pay anything extra for said coverage.

Hawaii is a State!  The others are U.S. possessions.  Medicare still only covers 80%.  Supplemental may or may not cover outside of U.S. (AND ITS POSSESSIONS).

 

Travel  Insurance is inexpensive and well worth no matter ones age

[cruisinfanatic]

4 hours ago, Joseph2017China said:

Go to Travel.state.gov for a price list.  The passport card for first time applicants is $30.00.  My error is that the execution fee is $35.00 and not $20.00.  Renewals is $30.00.   If you get both at the same time, you only pay the execution fee once so you save $35.00.

 

Since I just renewed my card, I had the prices already.  Yes, I have both, but renewal times are different. 

What good is having the card if it's no good to fly internationally?

[cruisinfanatic]

16 hours ago, shippmates said:

What would make a person think just because a person is on Medicare they are unhealthy.  I am on Medicare and am very healthy.  With speaking with passengers on ships, I am amazed at the number of passengers do not know that Medicare does not cover you out of the continental United States.  Why do people not do some research or ask there travel agent questions.

 

What does continental United States have to do with it?

[Biker19]

25 minutes ago, cruisinfanatic said:

What good is having the card if it's no good to fly internationally?

Gets you into Canada by land.

[Clarea]

28 minutes ago, cruisinfanatic said:

What good is having the card if it's no good to fly internationally?

 

Good for land entry into Canada and Mexico.

 

Good for closed loop cruises based out of the US.

 

[HollandA]

18 hours ago, matj2000 said:

I wouldn't exactly call a 3 day cruise a "dream vacation"......

 

Oh for Pete's sake. For a lot of people, it is. Seeing as how these ladies were fixed income, it's likely they've never traveled far and may not have even ventured much farther than a couple of states away before. So yes, this could very well have been an absolute dream vacation for them.

 

I think the crux of this issue unfortunately is that you've got two inexperienced travelers who had a one in a million emergency happen while out of the country for the first time. They likely had no clue about trip insurance and even if they did know about it, probably couldn't have afforded it anyway since this trip was a gift. I feel really badly for them and am hoping they're able to make it home with a minimal amount of additional hassle. 

[Kingofcool1947]

18 hours ago, fyree39 said:

I read this article this morning.  I don't really have much sympathy for them nor am I contributing to their Go Fund Me account.

For heavens sake.  Do you blame the PAX for getting ill and having a medical emergency?  A little compassion would make the world a better place.  Jeeze.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Kingofcool1947

[2wheelin]

7 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

I'd like to know where you got that price.  The Passport card cost us that much and we had the book previously.  Unfortunately, they had raised the price for a passport book to $120 per adult.  So we got the cards.  We usually cruise the Western Gulf itins.  Next Sept. we have Symphony so we purchased the cruise coverage.  But I'd sure like the price you got for the book, it hasn't been that cheap in a couple decades........the last book we got back in 2007 cost us $99 a piece.  

 

I just checked the gov, site, $110 for renewal plus $35 for first time passports.  You were way off!  Cards are still $30

 

5 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

And how do you  find my comment in any way nasty?  He didn't  You don't know that

 

Sorry, sometimes the printed word comes across differently than a conversation would. But ! still means emphasis.

[mugtech]

2 hours ago, Galveston Cruiser said:

Hawaii is a State!  The others are U.S. possessions.  Medicare still only covers 80%.  Supplemental may or may not cover outside of U.S. (AND ITS POSSESSIONS).

 

Travel  Insurance is inexpensive and well worth no matter ones age

Was just correcting poster who said Medicare is no good outside of continental USA.

[mugtech]

2 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

She was in her 90's

And a Pinnacle 😉

 

Probably didn't want to risk anything.

I heard what the issue was, but I forget.

 

No HIPPA on the high seas.

 

The evac was exciting, it was at night.  We were stopped for at least 4 hours

She was in front of me at the Loyalty desk on Anthem in June, was getting her 4 loyalty points for 2 days on the cruise in a suite.  Did not know she was a pin, guess she needed the points.  I thought she got the med Evacs and then wanted to get back on in Jordan to avoid the 3 pirate nights at sea.  The woman I saw did not appear to be 90 years old, I later drilled her in bump cars but then avoided her, did not want to cause another med evac.

[Iamcruzin]

4 hours ago, orville99 said:

That sounds more like the Medicare carve out for companies with fewer than 20 employees, than a state mandate.

I work for a very large company with hundreds of employees 

[Bookish Angel]

2 hours ago, Kingofcool1947 said:

For heavens sake.  Do you blame the PAX for getting ill and having a medical emergency?  A little compassion would make the world a better place.  Jeeze.

This!  Thank you for making such a salient point. 

Edited December 19, 2018 by Bookish Angel

[neverbeenhere]

Tough situation for these folks. 

 

 

 

As long as someone is setting up a go fund me account, I can always use one to supplement our cruise fund. Thank you in advance. 

 

 

 

[cruznwithmom]

Even if you are not on medicare,  your US insurance may not cover you internationally. Where I work the EPO plans do not cover you at all outside the US. The PPO plans do.  I have a PPO but still buy the cruise insurance - from a 3rd party through my agent, not from the cruise line. Worth it for the peace of mind.

[Kingofcool1947]

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

Tough situation for these folks. 

 

 

 

As long as someone is setting up a go fund me account, I can always use one to supplement our cruise fund. Thank you in advance. 

 

LOL.   You have no heart.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Kingofcool1947

[gaylemh]

10 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

When it comes to health insurance regulations vary from State to State.  When I reach the age of 65 medicare becomes my primary insurance and my employer plan becomes the secondary. Someone that I work with didn't know this and when he filed a claim through the company health plan it was denied because he didn't sign up for medicare when he turned 65.

It also depends on the employer.  I know people that continued working past 65 and they didn't get Medicare until they retired at 67.  Their employers insurance was still primary.  They did have to prove that they had coverage between 65 and 67 so they didn't get a Medicare penalty.

 

[gaylemh]

4 hours ago, Kingofcool1947 said:

For heavens sake.  Do you blame the PAX for getting ill and having a medical emergency?  A little compassion would make the world a better place.  Jeeze.

Yes, I feel sorry for them, but someone who is already on disability, should know better than travel without insurance.  You need to be pretty sick/disabled to get Medicare insurance before 65.

[Etta1213]

Maybe intellectually handicapped. Would explain some of the helplessness.

[brillohead]

On 12/18/2018 at 8:29 PM, emdia43 said:

Both are reported as being on Medicare, so not  healthy. The report says they are on disability, so it's foolhardy to travel outside the US without travel insurance, IMO.

 

14 hours ago, emdia43 said:

Neither of them is over 65, they are both on Medicare because of chronic illness - on disability. All the more reason to have coverage while traveling.  

 

4 hours ago, gaylemh said:

Yes, I feel sorry for them, but someone who is already on disability, should know better than travel without insurance.  You need to be pretty sick/disabled to get Medicare insurance before 65.

All of these, just wanted to point them out again for emphasis.

It was very nice of someone to gift these people a cruise for a present.  HOWEVER it was very foolhardy for two CHRONICALLY ILL AND DISABLED people to not consider their potential for medical care while on the trip.  

They are obviously not experienced travelers, but this is OBVIOUSLY not the fault of the cruise line.  

And this is why inexperienced travelers should always talk with an experienced travel advisor/agent ... make sure they're on the right ship and the right itinerary and have the right documentation and coverages to encourage the best experience possible.  

 

 

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Basically, the couple didn't do their research.  They were gifted the cruise, have probably never been outside the country, and didn't know what they didn't know.   I can't totally fault them for not thinking about insurance.  I absolutely place zero blame on RCI.  I think whoever gifted them the cruise, while trying to do something good, did them a disservice in not explaining about insurance and the risk of not obtaining passports.  

 

I'm assuming their benefactor has cruised before.  Why would you gift someone a cruise unless you were somewhat familiar with it?  

[shippmates]

I understand that Medicare supplemental plan F and medicare advantage plans give you limited foreign coverage but for the persons that only have original medicare are not covered.  Here is the explanation of coverage from the medicare website.    coverage under Original Medicare. Medicare coverage outside the United States is limited. In most situations, Medicare won’t pay for health care or supplies you get . outside the U.S. The term “outside the U.S.” means . anywhere other than. the 50.