OCEANIA HELL: A reason to use another cruise line.

[mnocket]

21 minutes ago, Bongomauka said:

We in fact received the invoice from NCL shortly after getting home.  We spent endless hours negotiating with our medical insurance company, Kaiser, who finally agreed to reimburse whoever paid the initial invoice. NCL claims to have paid the invoice but has so far failed to provide documentation that they paid it. Without that documentation, our medical insurance will not honor their financial obligation, leaving us with the final bill in spite of having medical coverage, travel insurance coverage, and credit card insurance coverage. It all hinges on Oceania/NCL holding company following through with their promises to provide documentation which at this point has not been honored. We have talked to three different attorneys all of which declined taking our case as there is no malpractice and no injury caused by the cruise line and therefore no financial incentive to take on our case. 

Let me get this straight....  NCL invoiced you.  You submitted that invoice to Kaiser.  Kaiser says they will pay NCL, but only once they document that they have in fact incurred the cost. NCL has been unable to provide that documentation.

 

Have you asked Kaiser if they will reimburse you directly if you pay the NCL invoice and provide documentation that you paid? 

 

As for getting a lawyer involved...  I'm not talking about getting a lawyer to sue someone.  I can understand why they won't take that on.  I'm talking about getting a lawyer to assist you. You will have to pay an hourly rate.  A lawyer can confirm the insurance company's claim that there is a time window to COMPLETE the claim.  A lawyer can write to NCL and demand that they either provide documentation to support their invoice in a timely manner or relieve you of responsibility.  Sure NCL can ignore his "demand", but a letter from your lawyer to NCL's legal dept. will likely get more action than your talking with customer service reps.

Edited January 13 by mnocket

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 hours ago, Bongomauka said:

Thank you for your response and we appreciate your sympathy. I will attempt to answer your questions:

My partner was medivaced off the Marina in April by Portuguese Air Force helicopter to Ponta Delgada in the Portugese Azores to a hospital there.

We received a copy of the invoice from NCL for which we are ultimately responsible financially

We were told by the third party insurance processors for NCL (The Claims Center) and the third party insurance processor for Kaiser (our primary health insurance carrier) (Relation Insurance Company) that we were not to pay until they because in the event that we did, NCL would not provide documentation that we did pay.

You are correct. NCL was billed directly and they have not produced any documentation that the bill was paid to the Portuguese Air Force, which is exactly what our health insurance (Kaiser's third party processor) has requested. We have not been directly billed but the fear is the billing will come after our one year window in which to file a claim for both our primary health insurance AND our trip insurance company AND our credit card company (which also has insurance for such situations).

Totally agree that if NCL was billed, and if NCL paid, they must provide copies of both the bill and the proof of payment. The issue is by the time they send us a bill for reimbursement, we will have passed our one year window to make a claim to our various insurance carriers and therefore will not be reimbursed.

We have indeed talked to all parties and our primary health care provider's third party representative has told us that all we need is NCL to document payment or declare that it was not paid. NCL has not been forthcoming on documentation on either of these.

We have in our possession a bill from Portuguese Air Force identifying us as the recipients of the service and ultimately responsible for the bill.

We have contacted all the insurance companies involved as referenced in the original post and finally have come to the point that NCL can resolve this issue. They have been consistently misleading and not forthcoming regarding how they have handled this process. They have demonstrated a total lack of cooperation and initiative and our previously positive experience with Oceania has been poisoned.  

 

From your reply: 

We have in our possession a bill from Portuguese Air Force identifying us as the recipients of the service and ultimately responsible for the bill.

So:

I’m still unsure what any of this has to do with NCL unless you mean NCL Holding. Even then it appears that your concern is that Oceania has not provided you proof of their being billed nor their paying that bill in a timely fashion.
 In any case, you are fortunate to have the California Dept. of Insurance available to you. I suggest you talk with them about for guidance.

 

In particular, ask them about this possible strategy:

Inform Oceania by certified mail (the CEO if you can’t get a correct contact person (check with Elliott.org regarding who that might be)) that you have been informed in writing (add copy to your certified letter) by the Portuguese Air Force that you are ultimately responsible to pay the bill and (not having received any proof of payment by, or even a bill from Oceania) you are submitting the Portuguese Air Force bill to your travel insurance company within the required claim time limit. Then, your insurer can pay the bill and, if O also did pay the bill without responding to your request for proof, O will need to seek a refund of overpayment from the Portuguese Air Force.

 

That call to the CA Department of Insurance and any contact with Elliott.org needs to happen ASAP. In short you need to make your problem O’s problem and get out of the middle of the mess. 

 

 

[GeezerCouple]

2 hours ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

From your reply: 

We have in our possession a bill from Portuguese Air Force identifying us as the recipients of the service and ultimately responsible for the bill.

So:

I’m still unsure what any of this has to do with NCL unless you mean NCL Holding. Even then it appears that your concern is that Oceania has not provided you proof of their being billed nor their paying that bill in a timely fashion.
 In any case, you are fortunate to have the California Dept. of Insurance available to you. I suggest you talk with them about for guidance.

 

In particular, ask them about this possible strategy:

Inform Oceania by certified mail (the CEO if you can’t get a correct contact person (check with Elliott.org regarding who that might be)) that you have been informed in writing (add copy to your certified letter) by the Portuguese Air Force that you are ultimately responsible to pay the bill and (not having received any proof of payment by, or even a bill from Oceania) you are submitting the Portuguese Air Force bill to your travel insurance company within the required claim time limit. Then, your insurer can pay the bill and, if O also did pay the bill without responding to your request for proof, O will need to seek a refund of overpayment from the Portuguese Air Force.

 

That call to the CA Department of Insurance and any contact with Elliott.org needs to happen ASAP. In short you need to make your problem O’s problem and get out of the middle of the mess. 

 

I agree with FlatbushFlyer:  You aren't trying to sue anyone with a big liability claim such that an attorney would spend lots of time hoping for something like 1/3 of a large payout.  That's when 'someone takes your case'.

You need an attorney to 'go after' someone who owes you money (or a letter that satisfies the debt/etc., in this odd case).  That's done at an hourly rate; there's no claim of injury or malpractice claimed here.  Either you aren't phrasing it right for the attorneys or you are somehow finding attorneys who specialize in something like "personal injury" litigation.

 

In many cases, a "real letter" (not phone calls) from a "real attorney" (not from you or some other individual, etc.) can get the ball moving.

 

Also, I agree about the "deadline" usually being to FILE a claim.  If it's a deadline to complete the claim and receive the money or you *never* get the money, then many, many insurers would be *veeeery* slow to pay... leaving many of their insured without timely payments and no further way to continue the claim. 😡

 

Good luck, and it's time to have a professional (e.g., attorney) get involved in pursuing this.  But you pay them; they don't need "a big case" to work hourly.

If the money at stake is minimal, then perhaps it's less costly to just pay the bill, but "medevac off a ship" sounds "expensive".

 

GC

[babysteps]

Kaiser and NPR do a monthly or so medical bill problem solving article, maybe reach out to that reporting team? 

 

Has you TA already reached out to their Oceania or NCL contacts? 

 

Doesn't help but does make sense that Kafka's day job was in insurance... 

[Psoque]

10 hours ago, Bongomauka said:

Firstly, so sorry you also had bad experiences with travel insurance in ode to get your due compensation.  In our case, the hard part to believe is that it is the cruise line NOT the insurance company that has been the roadblock.  Our insurance company  is willing to pay, it's  the Oceania that had been unwilling or unable to produce the documentation necessary to close our claim.

Did you take out an insurance offered by Oceania/NCL?  If you did so, something like that is bound to happen.  Cruise lines are not offering these insurance plans just because they are nice to you.  They want to make money and to spend as little as possible in managing the claims.  I routinely give the same advice about cruise add-ons.  Don't let the cruise line book your flights.  Book direct with the airline, not even online travel agency.  Don't go through the cruise line's "preferred" visa middle-man company...just go to that contry's visa application website.  Don't take out insurance offered by the cruise line.  Go get one from one of the travel insurance agencies online, or just as your local insurance agent that you use for your other insurance needs.

[shepherd really]

34 minutes ago, Psoque said:

Did you take out an insurance offered by Oceania/NCL? 

It is often helpful to read an entire thread before commenting, radical as that might sound.

[Psoque]

2 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

It is often helpful to read an entire thread before commenting, radical as that might sound.

I am not sure if this snarky comment deserves a response, but it is somewhat unclear to me if the OP took out the travel insurance from NCL or not.  I'm assuming the OP did, but the original post and the comments are not making it clear.

[Psoque]

Just to add, I am not sure if the OP took out any travel insurance on top of the "Kaiser" health insurance (I assume) that the OP/his/her partner has.  And if there was additional travel insurance coverage, was the medical care/evacuation coverage primary or secondary to your primary insurance.  These details, unfortunately to the OP and everybody else, are crucial to know even before you board the cruise ship.  And without knowing these snarky details, it would be very hard to advocate for yourself when dealing with insurance companies.

[shepherd really]

3 minutes ago, Psoque said:

I am not sure if this snarky comment deserves a response, but it is somewhat unclear to me if the OP took out the travel insurance from NCL or not.  I'm assuming the OP did, but the original post and the comments are not making it clear.

It was absolutely clear in several of the posts, so no, not snark, just an observation.  

[Psoque]

3 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

It was absolutely clear in several of the posts, so no, not snark, just an observation.  

No.  It is still not clear.  It is completely unclear what this "Kaiser" insurance is.  Is it a travel insurance they took out on their own?  Was that through the cruise line?  Of, is this their "regular" primary health insurance?  Most primary health insurance do not (completely) cover something like this. Is this an annual/incidental travel insurance plan?  If so, is that prmary/secondary?  They all are very important details that are clearly missing in this post.

[broberts]

8 hours ago, mnocket said:

Let me get this straight....  NCL invoiced you.  You submitted that invoice to Kaiser.  Kaiser says they will pay NCL, but only once they document that they have in fact incurred the cost. NCL has been unable to provide that documentation.

 

Have you asked Kaiser if they will reimburse you directly if you pay the NCL invoice and provide documentation that you paid? 

 

As for getting a lawyer involved...  I'm not talking about getting a lawyer to sue someone.  I can understand why they won't take that on.  I'm talking about getting a lawyer to assist you. You will have to pay an hourly rate.  A lawyer can confirm the insurance company's claim that there is a time window to COMPLETE the claim.  A lawyer can write to NCL and demand that they either provide documentation to support their invoice in a timely manner or relieve you of responsibility.  Sure NCL can ignore his "demand", but a letter from your lawyer to NCL's legal dept. will likely get more action than your talking with customer service reps.

 

46 minutes ago, Psoque said:

Did you take out an insurance offered by Oceania/NCL?  If you did so, something like that is bound to happen.  Cruise lines are not offering these insurance plans just because they are nice to you.  They want to make money and to spend as little as possible in managing the claims.  I routinely give the same advice about cruise add-ons.  Don't let the cruise line book your flights.  Book direct with the airline, not even online travel agency.  Don't go through the cruise line's "preferred" visa middle-man company...just go to that contry's visa application website.  Don't take out insurance offered by the cruise line.  Go get one from one of the travel insurance agencies online, or just as your local insurance agent that you use for your other insurance needs.

 

3 minutes ago, Psoque said:

Just to add, I am not sure if the OP took out any travel insurance on top of the "Kaiser" health insurance (I assume) that the OP/his/her partner has.  And if there was additional travel insurance coverage, was the medical care/evacuation coverage primary or secondary to your primary insurance.  These details, unfortunately to the OP and everybody else, are crucial to know even before you board the cruise ship.  And without knowing these snarky details, it would be very hard to advocate for yourself when dealing with insurance companies.

 

 

Apparently people are unable to understand clearly written descriptions. Asking pointless irrelevant questions only suggests a propensity to cheer lead for the cruise line. Understand, the issue HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE INSURANCE POLICIES IN PLACE. The issue is that NCL / Oceania is unwilling or unable to produce proof of paying a charge for which it billed the passenger.

 

OP, I wish I could offer some useful suggestion. I can't, but it does seem that you are quickly approaching a point at which legal guidance may be necessary.

 

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, broberts said:

Apparently people are unable to understand clearly written descriptions. Asking pointless irrelevant questions only suggests a propensity to cheer lead for the cruise line. Understand, the issue HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE INSURANCE POLICIES IN PLACE. The issue is that NCL / Oceania is unwilling or unable to produce proof of paying a charge for which it billed the passenger.

 

I'm having trouble understanding just what this means.

Since when does a bill from a major existing business not constitute proof that payment must be made?

 

I'm thinking about, say, a blll for insurance reimbursement.

Suppose we have a company come out to replace the fence and landscaping from when a driver skidded off the road and plowed through some of our front yard.

 

We had the fence replaced, for example.

We used a bill from the fence installation company, and our insurance reimbursed us.

Did our insurer ask for proof from the FenceCo that they had, say, paid their lumber supplier and paid their workers, etc.?

If they did, we never heard about it, and have never heard of anything like this before.

 

I could perhaps understand a bit more, er, "proof of payments" if, say, the bill was from Mr/Ms Rumplestiltskin down the street, who had no existing business entity for such work.

 

Is this really a "thing", or is someone just trying to delay - or avoid? - payment?

 

GC

[Bongomauka]

1 hour ago, Psoque said:

No.  It is still not clear.  It is completely unclear what this "Kaiser" insurance is.  Is it a travel insurance they took out on their own?  Was that through the cruise line?  Of, is this their "regular" primary health insurance?  Most primary health insurance do not (completely) cover something like this. Is this an annual/incidental travel insurance plan?  If so, is that prmary/secondary?  They all are very important details that are clearly missing in this post.

Thank you for your interest. To clarify, Kaiser is our primary healthcare insurance. Our secondary insurance is travel insurance with Generali Global Assistance which we purchased independently of Oceania and through the travel agency. We also have credit card insurance which would also apply. Our primary healthcare insurance has indicated they will pay for the Portuguese Air Force Bill in total after a deductible of $200. We are more than adequately insured if not over insured. All the other coverage is moot since our primary healthcare insurance, Kaiser, has agreed to pay. All the other insurance providers will pay only after Kaiser rejects the claim which they have not.The basic fact is that Oceania and their parent corporation, NCL Holdings, have been uncooperative at best and disingenuous at worst in dealing with us. This has caused us to lose time and ultimately put us in the difficult situation where we have less than 2 months to resolve the claim as all the insurance entities mentioned have the same deadline of one year. 

[broberts]

11 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

Since when does a bill from a major existing business not constitute proof that payment must be made?

 

When it's a passthrough. The holy corporation is claiming it has made a payment and is seeking reimbursement. The billed party is simply asking the holy cruise line to prove it made the payment.

 

[Bongomauka]

1 hour ago, broberts said:

 

 

 

 

Apparently people are unable to understand clearly written descriptions. Asking pointless irrelevant questions only suggests a propensity to cheer lead for the cruise line. Understand, the issue HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE INSURANCE POLICIES IN PLACE. The issue is that NCL / Oceania is unwilling or unable to produce proof of paying a charge for which it billed the passenger.

 

OP, I wish I could offer some useful suggestion. I can't, but it does seem that you are quickly approaching a point at which legal guidance may be necessary.

 

Thank you Broberts for your grasp of our situation. As mentioned elsewhere, we have seeked legal recourse but apparently will only be able to engage them when we can show financial damages which we could avoid should Oceania/NCL do the right thing. 

[broberts]

Just now, Bongomauka said:

Thank you Broberts for your grasp of our situation. As mentioned elsewhere, we have seeked legal recourse but apparently will only be able to engage them when we can show financial damages which we could avoid should Oceania/NCL do the right thing. 

 

I was wondering if a lawyer's letter to NCL clarifying the situation might produce results or help indemnify you in the worse case.

 

[Bongomauka]

17 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

I'm having trouble understanding just what this means.

Since when does a bill from a major existing business not constitute proof that payment must be made?

 

I'm thinking about, say, a blll for insurance reimbursement.

Suppose we have a company come out to replace the fence and landscaping from when a driver skidded off the road and plowed through some of our front yard.

 

We had the fence replaced, for example.

We used a bill from the fence installation company, and our insurance reimbursed us.

Did our insurer ask for proof from the FenceCo that they had, say, paid their lumber supplier and paid their workers, etc.?

If they did, we never heard about it, and have never heard of anything like this before.

 

I could perhaps understand a bit more, er, "proof of payments" if, say, the bill was from Mr/Ms Rumplestiltskin down the street, who had no existing business entity for such work.

 

Is this really a "thing", or is someone just trying to delay - or avoid? - payment?

 

GC

I apologize for any confusion but I’m now confused about your question. NCL has claimed to have paid the Portuguese Air Force but since we are ultimately responsible for this bill, and our insurance will cover that bill, all we need is proof of this payment from NCL for our primary insurance to pay. Without this proof they will not and since the deadline for claims for all of our insurance coverage (including our travel insurance) is one year (yes we have been dealing with this for almost one year) we would ultimately end up paying the bill ourselves in spite of our extensive insurance coverage. I assure you that this bill is quite a bit more than a new fence. 

[babysteps]

6 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

I was wondering if a lawyer's letter to NCL clarifying the situation might produce results or help indemnify you in the worse case.

 

I'm guessing the law doesn't work this way, but it's tempting to imagine a lawyer letter to the effect of "supply x documents by y date or we will consider our obligation, if any, fulfilled"

 

@Bongomaukahave you tried Elliott yet? They can be very effective at getting responses from corporations. Including at least one high profile example with O recently

[Bongomauka]

10 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

I was wondering if a lawyer's letter to NCL clarifying the situation might produce results or help indemnify you in the worse case.

 

Thank you for your suggestion. We are indeed looking to find an attorney to craft such a letter. We are also exploring the Elliott.com website for help that was also mentioned by other posters. 

[TRLD]

7 minutes ago, Bongomauka said:

Thank you for your suggestion. We are indeed looking to find an attorney to craft such a letter. We are also exploring the Elliott.com website for help that was also mentioned by other posters. 

As I understand the situation normally the person being evacuated would be directly charged and would either have to pay the bill directly and be reimbursed by the insurance company or in some cases, such as yours, the insurance company would pay the bill directly.

 

In this case it appears that the cruise line paid the bill (atleast they say that they paid the bill) and then asking for you or your insurance company to reimburse them. Not surprising since I expect many travel insurance policies require the traveler to pay bills and then file for reimbursement amounts for out of pocket payments. As such most passengers would not be easily able to pay that amount themselves. As such the cruise line paying it would be a good thing.

 

You are, unfortunately stuck, in a pocket between normal practices. You have a health insurance that would pay directly. In most cases the traveler would be dealing with a travel insurance policy and things would probably proceed fairly smoothly. In this case your health insurance is primary and has their own documentation requirements. Since they are primary your travel insurance will not cover it, until they deny it. They  will not deny it, because they will cover it with appropriate documentation.

 

Leaving you stuck in the middle with an unusual situation. If I was in your situation I would:

 

I would see if I could obtain the incident number and other related information from the provider of the service. In this case the Portugese Air Force. Then would contact the department that handles evacuation billing and find out if it in fact is showing paid or not. If they show it is paid I would get them to send me confirmation and send that to Kaiser to show that it was paid and by whom.

 

If it was not paid I would have them send you a invoice that you could send to Kaiser and have them pay directly.

 

I would then send the unpaid invoice to NCL and inform them that you are handling it directly.

 

It is not a case of a company being good or bad, it is unfortunately a situation where your exact circumstances fall outside of normal practices. I suspect that if you did not have Kaiser and was able to go directly to the travel insurance company it would be more in line with normal practice.

[TRLD]

One additional note. If you cannot find out how to contact the appropriate contact for the portugese emergency billing, you might try sending an email to the US embassy in Portugal and see if they might be able to provide the contact information.

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 hour ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

I'm having trouble understanding just what this means.

Since when does a bill from a major existing business not constitute proof that payment must be made?

 

I'm thinking about, say, a blll for insurance reimbursement.

Suppose we have a company come out to replace the fence and landscaping from when a driver skidded off the road and plowed through some of our front yard.

 

We had the fence replaced, for example.

We used a bill from the fence installation company, and our insurance reimbursed us.

Did our insurer ask for proof from the FenceCo that they had, say, paid their lumber supplier and paid their workers, etc.?

If they did, we never heard about it, and have never heard of anything like this before.

 

I could perhaps understand a bit more, er, "proof of payments" if, say, the bill was from Mr/Ms Rumplestiltskin down the street, who had no existing business entity for such work.

 

Is this really a "thing", or is someone just trying to delay - or avoid? - payment?

 

GC

In this case, it’s “really a thing” since the reimbursement is for payment made to the Air Force (whether O pays it or the OP pays it). Someone needs to produce the bill from and payment to the service provider - the Air Force.

 

 

[Flatbush Flyer]

2 minutes ago, TRLD said:

One additional note. If you cannot find out how to contact the appropriate contact for the portugese emergency billing, you might try sending an email to the US embassy in Portugal and see if they might be able to provide the contact information.

Good idea. Of course, OP might need to formally give HIPAA permission to the consulate to have access to medical records. And local congressman could certainly “grease the wheels.”

[Psoque]

40 minutes ago, TRLD said:

As I understand the situation normally the person being evacuated would be directly charged and would either have to pay the bill directly and be reimbursed by the insurance company or in some cases, such as yours, the insurance company would pay the bill directly.

 

In this case it appears that the cruise line paid the bill (atleast they say that they paid the bill) and then asking for you or your insurance company to reimburse them. Not surprising since I expect many travel insurance policies require the traveler to pay bills and then file for reimbursement amounts for out of pocket payments. As such most passengers would not be easily able to pay that amount themselves. As such the cruise line paying it would be a good thing.

 

You are, unfortunately stuck, in a pocket between normal practices. You have a health insurance that would pay directly. In most cases the traveler would be dealing with a travel insurance policy and things would probably proceed fairly smoothly. In this case your health insurance is primary and has their own documentation requirements. Since they are primary your travel insurance will not cover it, until they deny it. They  will not deny it, because they will cover it with appropriate documentation.

 

Leaving you stuck in the middle with an unusual situation. If I was in your situation I would:

 

I would see if I could obtain the incident number and other related information from the provider of the service. In this case the Portugese Air Force. Then would contact the department that handles evacuation billing and find out if it in fact is showing paid or not. If they show it is paid I would get them to send me confirmation and send that to Kaiser to show that it was paid and by whom.

 

If it was not paid I would have them send you a invoice that you could send to Kaiser and have them pay directly.

 

I would then send the unpaid invoice to NCL and inform them that you are handling it directly.

 

It is not a case of a company being good or bad, it is unfortunately a situation where your exact circumstances fall outside of normal practices. I suspect that if you did not have Kaiser and was able to go directly to the travel insurance company it would be more in line with normal practice.

I agree with this suggestion.

 

Now that the OPs situation was clarified, I can agree that the best course of action is the following:

1.  Contact the actual service provider that did the evacuation.  See if there is a bill or something that indicates what service was provided to whom and the amount charged.  Send that information to your primary insurer.

2.  Send the invoice from Oceania for the same service, and any supporting information (notes from the ships' medical center, describing the reasons for evacuation, etc.  I'm assuming that you already have the documentation from the medical center that was available to you before you disembarked.

 

Then contact your primary insurer to see if they need anything else.

 

I'm in healthcare, and most "normal" health insurance do not cover something like this.  The chances are, your primary health insurance will only cover part of it, it at all.  Whether they deny coverage (and they have every right to do this even after you submitted everything), you need that plus what I outlined above to your next insurance carrier (probably the policy with your credit card, if that's covered).  Then if that does not cover everything completely, you go to the next insurer, which is most likely your travel insurance company.  Yes, it is tedious, but as long as you know what to do, the rules are not too difficult to follow.

 

Finally, it is my understand as well that most policies do not reimburse you until you actually pay the bill yourself first.  If your primary (or secondary or tertiary) carrier agrees to do this (which, from my understanding, is very rare), you need a letter from them doing so, for your records, just in case the people you owe money starts asking you for payment.

 

I would not contact Oceania/NCL for anything unless you exactly know what your insurer needs, and for that matter, you might be able to get this accomplished without anything more from Oceania/NCL, which might be a better option.  The trick is to get this done with least number of parties involved.

[Bongomauka]

To the recent posts:

It is indeed an issue of a company being bad. 
We have the original invoice from the Portuguese Air Force. There is a customer number and an invoice number but no incident number. We have contacted and made an appointment at the Portuguese embassy and 20 minutes before our appointment, they cancelled the appointment telling us that they do not handle these types of cases. 
NCL has claimed that they did pay but has not provided any details, proof or documentation. As Kaiser is aware of this, they will not pay the Portuguese Air Force directly until NCL provides an unpaid invoice or they will reimburse NCL if the cruise line company can provide a proof of payment. NCL has told us they will this documentation but it has been almost 3 months and we are still waiting, with the deadline fast approaching. 
To say that if we had no primary health coverage and instead used our travelers insurance would only mean the travelers insurance would be waiting for the same documentation from NCL and we would still be in the same predicament. Surprisingly to us, our health insurance (Kaiser) finally took financial responsibility but it’s NCL which has been a total disappointment. 
 So it is very much an issue of a company being bad. Unless you believe it is good to misdirect, mislead, stall and not fulfill obligations and promises which characterizes our almost year long struggle with NCL to get this resolved.