I just bought trip insurance!

[JackB60]

wow. great info. 

[bEwAbG]

4 hours ago, rattanchair said:

Dear bE, Please edify us to the host of factors that could prevent medevac that we should be aware of.  Thank you.

 

I don't know the specific circumstances any more than you do.  That's the point.  Was he even stable enough to travel?  That's the first determination they make.

[rattanchair]

8 hours ago, sippican said:

especially if you say

Dear Sip.  I do not say anything. Just for us to look into everything. I am buying all this insurance and hope never to use it, but in the event I need it, then what? Excuses? Why the lawsuit? I have the same questions you have. What happens at sea or in foreign ports, stay at sea and foreign ports. A crew member fell, jumped, or was thrown overboard last month on Carnival Liberty. Nothing has been reported since the incident. Bon voyage mon cher ami !

[sippican]

9 minutes ago, rattanchair said:

Dear Sip.  I do not say anything. Just for us to look into everything. I am buying all this insurance and hope never to use it, but in the event I need it, then what? Excuses? Why the lawsuit? I have the same questions you have. What happens at sea or in foreign ports, stay at sea and foreign ports. A crew member fell, jumped, or was thrown overboard last month on Carnival Liberty. Nothing has been reported since the incident. Bon voyage mon cher ami !

 

Please, if you are going to quote someone, it helps to include the relevant portion to which you are responding. In your post, you DID say the ship was docked. Other than that, I have no idea how your response above answers my quesions about the inability for the person you referenced to be evacuated by helicopter. 

[rattanchair]

6 hours ago, bEwAbG said:

 

I don't know the specific circumstances any more than you do.  That's the point.  Was he even stable enough to travel?  That's the first determination they make.

Obviously he was not stable enough to last the 21 hour trip to San Juan. Would not the family sign a waiver to get him off the ship and medevac him as fast as possible? You would, your wife would, I certainly would sign a waiver to get myself and loved one to rapid evacuation to a proper medical facility.

  I am reminded of a time on board a cruise ship plying the Caribbean and we had the pleasure of having the ship's doctor at our table. It was vacation time and  this doctor was the relief doctor from Norway.  I nonchalantly asked the kind doctor what he was called upon to perform the most on board this luxury line, his answer would shock you !

[rattanchair]

20 minutes ago, sippican said:

 

Please, if you are going to quote someone, it helps to include the relevant portion to which you are responding. In your post, you DID say the ship was docked. Other than that, I have no idea how your response above answers my quesions about the inability for the person you referenced to be evacuated by helicopter. 

Dear Sip, Again , I have the same question...We are both asking the same question. Why was he not able to be evacuated by helicopter to a medevac plane ?

[FlamingJune1967]

1 hour ago, rattanchair said:

Obviously he was not stable enough to last the 21 hour trip to San Juan. Would not the family sign a waiver to get him off the ship and medevac him as fast as possible? You would, your wife would, I certainly would sign a waiver to get myself and loved one to rapid evacuation to a proper medical facility.

  I am reminded of a time on board a cruise ship plying the Caribbean and we had the pleasure of having the ship's doctor at our table. It was vacation time and  this doctor was the relief doctor from Norway.  I nonchalantly asked the kind doctor what he was called upon to perform the most on board this luxury line, his answer would shock you !

 

Well???  don't leave us in suspense like that...

[rattanchair]

11 hours ago, FlamingJune1967 said:

 

Well???  don't leave us in suspense like that...

Dear Flame,  We all expected something like sea sickness, nausea, even vomiting. But no. Our jaws dropped and we  were left speechless waiting for another tablemate to break the ice. I hesitate to repeat it. I just looked up another less pejorative word ,which still I hesitate to use in polite company .... induced miscarriages.

[travellovers2]

We had a cruise booked for Japan and the day we were supposed to fly to Dallas to catch the flight to Tokyo the next morning, we received an email from Princess that they were expecting two typhoons to hit Japan during the next two weeks, so a lot of ports had been canceled. We don't mind staying two weeks on a cruise in the caribbean, but we will definitely not fly to Japan to spend two weeks on a ship.  We canceled the cruise and got 100% refund. So we always buy insurance from the cruise line.  When we travel without cruising, we get it from Generali travel insurance that we found on insuremytrip . com

[rattanchair]

My point is that these cruise lines are not hiring cardiologists; And I am not saying they should or should not. I am saying the public has a need to know. So we can make informed decisions. There is too much cover-up. Jeffrey Eisenman death on board the Carnival Sunshine has no real information as to what happened. His family claims they were told he wasn't able to get off because somebody else had to be medically evacuated first. Yes, Yes, according to Rosseau "there are always four sides to a story: your side, their side, the truth and what really happened." It is just so difficult get anything concrete to base a choice on which cruise lines have a better culture in regard to the welfare of its passengers. Everything is settled out of court and is 'swept under the carpet'. Could the number of third world crew members falling or jumping off (reported) or just leaving before their contracts are up (not reported) be an indication of cruise line culture that carries over to passenger indifference? Whether we live or die appears inconsequential to cruise line officers on board and officials stateside. The captain left Grand Turk at 4 pm, could he not wait for another helicopter to return (if there was one to begin with). Always more questions than answers, to all our detriment.

[Shaco]

Buyer beware! So true. I’ve been buying travel insurance for cruises for over thirty years. Never had a claim. I believe overconfidence was my downfall. I thought I knew what I was buying, but apparently not well enough. On the way home from our last cruise, I became seriously ill and hospitalized before we could make it home. Here’s the mistake I made. Although I was covered by Nationwide through insuremytrip.com for medical, THERE WAS NO COVERAGE FOR MY HUSBAND’S

EXPENSES. Not for his hotel. Nothing. Indeed, my 1k usd travel policy didn’t even cover his expenses for his trip interruption. Even now, I don’t know if what I think is full coverage for our upcoming cruise actually is full coverage. The devil is in the details. Ugh.

Hope this helps someone,

Sharon

[rattanchair]

I am not talking about those of us with 'conditions', that tempt fate. I am talking about people over 65 that are looking forward to enjoy the finer things in life without having to jump hoops. We want suites, we want service and we want the assurance, which we are willing to pay extra for, that we will be treated with respect and dignity and not have to worry that we will be left to die in the event of an unforeseen occurrence. The gentleman in the Utube video had three points I want to reiterate. One, do you want to get medical treatment in this country? Two, can I get medevac out of here? Three, what kind of treatment will I get in the meantime? I am having second thoughts about these mega ships that are trying to entice those of us with their 'ship within a ship' concept that leaves  us with the 'short end of the stick'.

Edited September 17, 2019 by rattanchair

[rattanchair]

It would appear that these ships with helipads are merely for show, leaving us with a false sense of security. All the medevac insurance is not going to help us is we are not allowed access to the ship helipads. Was the helipad used for a prior emergency? Has anyone ever seen a helicopter medevac evacuation and filmed it as proof? Just saying so does not make it so...

[sippican]

3 hours ago, rattanchair said:

It would appear that these ships with helipads are merely for show, leaving us with a false sense of security. All the medevac insurance is not going to help us is we are not allowed access to the ship helipads. Was the helipad used for a prior emergency? Has anyone ever seen a helicopter medevac evacuation and filmed it as proof? Just saying so does not make it so...

 

 

I had a close friend who was medi-vaced off a ship and brought to Belize -  I was not there to video it (and probably would not have done so if I had been present) but I do trust that it did indeed happen. There have been videos posted here on CC of helipad evacuations.

We never travel with a "false sense of security".

We make conscious choices to travel to remote areas (ocean and land) knowing full well that, should we experience a medical emergency, we will most likely not receive the same care that we would in the US.  Having accessed the medical services onboard,  I know that we are getting a basic urgent care walk-in clinic,  but I  do think they do their best. If one is uncomfortable with the possibile deficits in medical care on ships or by land tours, I would think they would rule out travel by such means. We'd rather take our chances and see the world instead of spending our time sitting in our cozy homes near world class medical centers.

 

That being said - back to insurance. We do insure annually for evacuation back to the US, but that assumes we can get to a hospital at the original destination. We're okay with that.

Edited September 18, 2019 by sippican

[bEwAbG]

There are stories on here all the time about the helipads being used for evacuations (with pictures).  The worst thing about conspiracy theorists is their need to lie in order to prove a "point." 

[rattanchair]

I found a good link: http://cruisesafely.com/medical-evacuation-from a-cruise-ship/

[phoenix_dream]

We only buy health/evacuation insurance now that we are older and on Medicare.  I highly recommend that. 

 

When you consider whether to buy general travel insurance,  like any insurance you need to evaluate the risk and decide if it is worth it to you.  So many people automatically buy it, when it is really not advisable for some, cost-wise.  Many people, myself included, get some amount of trip cancellation insurance with the credit cards we use.  It pays to look into that.  Most pre-cruise hotels can be cancelled up to 2 or 3 days before arrival.  Flight bookings can be cancelled and the credit re-used (usually within one year), allowing that you will pay a cancellation fee.  The cruise itself can be cancelled up to a certain time period, with some penalty depending how near sailing, up to a full forfeiture of course.  We have been on 60+ cruises.  We have been very fortunate that we have never had to cancel.  Even if we had cancelled one or two of them, we still would have paid WAY more over the years cumulatively had we bought insurance for each one.  At some point when we get a bit older and perhaps have medical conditions, we will re-evaluate general travel insurance.

 

I am not anti-insurance.  In fact I worked for insurance companies for 30 years.  Insurance is definitely the right answer for some.  For others not so much.  I just encourage people to do an honest cost/benefit analysis before they go into the insurance realm.  Insurance company profits are built on people buying insurance they don't need.  Some do not care about cost so much - for them it is more peace of mind.  Their money; their choice.  But if you are buying insurance to mitigate out of pocket costs, it pays to do the analysis.

Edited September 18, 2019 by phoenix_dream

[phoenix_dream]

3 hours ago, rattanchair said:

It would appear that these ships with helipads are merely for show, leaving us with a false sense of security. All the medevac insurance is not going to help us is we are not allowed access to the ship helipads. Was the helipad used for a prior emergency? Has anyone ever seen a helicopter medevac evacuation and filmed it as proof? Just saying so does not make it so...

I have personally witnessed two helipad evacuations while on cruises.  As in - literally went outside and saw the helicopter arrive, pick up a passenger, and leave.  I have also been on a couple other cruises where the Captain announced they were evacuating and I did not go out on deck to see it, but the ship stopped and I heard the helicopter.   My husband did in fact record one of the evacuations on his cell phone, but I see no need to post it here to prove I am not a liar.  If you choose not to believe me that is your choice, but it is 100% the truth.

[rattanchair]

25 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

I have personally witnessed two helipad evacuations while on cruises.  As in - literally went outside and saw the helicopter arrive, pick up a passenger, and leave.  I have also been on a couple other cruises where the Captain announced they were evacuating and I did not go out on deck to see it, but the ship stopped and I heard the helicopter.   My husband did in fact record one of the evacuations on his cell phone, but I see no need to post it here to prove I am not a liar.  If you choose not to believe me that is your choice, but it is 100% the truth.

I believe you all... I want to know what happened to Jeffrey  Eisenman, to avoid the same problem.. I just read an article of a double evacuation. It is good to know you have witnessed such events in that they do occur and the helipads are just not used for sail away  and arrival parties.

[Babr]

I have not seen anybody mention that helicopter evacuations are done by coast guard/military operations. You can't buy insurance that will provide that service. When a policy says it provides evacuation to the nearest hospital, it usually means an ambulance. When you get there and are stabilized, then doctors and the insurance company decide how to proceed. They may keep you until you are well enough to travel home by commercial air or you may require medivac, but understand that the insurance company doctors will be involved in the decision of when and where. They will probably take you to the nearest  hospital they deem capable of handling your case.

 

If you want to avoid that, you can get something like MedJet that will fly you to the hospital of your choice, but once again you have to be stabilized first. A private company is not going to rescue you from a ship at sea. 

[rattanchair]

33 minutes ago, Babr said:

I have not seen anybody mention that helicopter evacuations are done by coast guard/military operations. You can't buy insurance that will provide that service. When a policy says it provides evacuation to the nearest hospital, it usually means an ambulance. When you get there and are stabilized, then doctors and the insurance company decide how to proceed. They may keep you until you are well enough to travel home by commercial air or you may require medivac, but understand that the insurance company doctors will be involved in the decision of when and where. They will probably take you to the nearest  hospital they deem capable of handling your case.

 

If you want to avoid that, you can get something like MedJet that will fly you to the hospital of your choice, but once again you have to be stabilized first. A private company is not going to rescue you from a ship at sea. 

Dear Babr,  Excellent post. Thank you ! Looking into a ' self care clause'. In these policies, you and not the doctor, has the primary authority to determine if you need treatment only available if evacuated to another location. "The best laid plans of mice and men gain aft agley".

[Ravbo]

For MedJet Assist, remember their services are for Hospital to Hospital of your choice transfer.

You MUST be admitted to a hospital BEFORE they will transfer you to a hospital of your choice.

[sippican]

1 hour ago, Ravbo said:

For MedJet Assist, remember their services are for Hospital to Hospital of your choice transfer.

You MUST be admitted to a hospital BEFORE they will transfer you to a hospital of your choice.

 

Yes, but I believe its to any type of medical treatment facility. Some of the testimonials cite transfer to rehab, etc. But the key is that from the point of admission to the hospital - You get to decide where you want to recieve further treatment. As long as you are stable enought to be moved, you are in control.The other great thing about the policy is that it is annual and covers you anytime you are more than 150 miles from home.

Edited September 18, 2019 by sippican

[rattanchair]

7 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

Some do not care about cost so much - for them it is more peace of mind.  Their money; their choice. 

Hit the nail on the head. I am spending $10 to 15 thousand on a cruise  for 1 week , in good health (Knock wood) I want a policy that will 'get me out of Dodge". I am going to take the recommendations you all have posted and get two policies that over lap. I have Travelex and  will get Medjet annual. Hoping that if one won't the other will. Of course, "the best laid schemes of mice and men, often go wrong". But then again you all might never find out. "What happens at sea, stays at sea". And those of us that it happens to never live to tell.....

[stevenmary]

Being UK based I can only comment for what I believe to be normal here. I would be very surprised if anyone travelled anywhere without some insurance in place. There are plenty of horrific tales about people who need medical treatment/evacuation and the costs they face if not insured. It only needs to happen once in your lifetime to make it worth paying a lifetimes premiums. It is not only medical issues that can be costly, and even lower level losses can be distressing. I had my wallet taken from a buttoned down pocket in Venice losing luckily only 270 Euros cash and credit & cash cards. Well worth the cost of the insurance policy at £115 (we have to cover existing medical conditions, so it is a bit pricey). They covered everything.

 

Just be aware that if you need to claim, make sure you READ THE POLICY and get all necessary documentation to support your claim e.g. police/doctors report.