Health Advisory for Guests Traveling to Remote Destinations

[Budski54]

I just booked a South America and Antarctica cruise on HAL. They immediately sent me a letter advising passengers about the limited medical facilities in remote destinations.

The 22 day itinerary will spend 4 days near Antarctica, so I assume that's the remote destination. Does anyone know if the rest of the itinerary (Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina) have limited medical facilities?

 

[Mary229]

You will find medical facilities on the South American continent.  Regardless you should purchase excellent travel insurance with a good evacuation component.  That same email should give some advisable limits.  

[Ferry_Watcher]

You should also look for a travel clinic in your area that can advise you regarding what additional vaccines / meds that you should have for your travels in South America.  We actually had our appointment at our local travel clinic this morning and came away with our live oral Typhoid vaccine (4 capsules total  - 1capsule taken every other day over 8 days)  We have to complete the oral vaccine series a full week before we sail.

[TiogaCruiser]

Yes, you are going to be in a remote location, even in while sailing around Chile and the southern part of Argentina. It IS really remote. We saw the occasional navy vessel or vessel. 
 

The towns or cities where you stop will have medical facilities, but while sailing you will likely be several hours away.

Edited September 5 by TiogaCruiser

[JimDee363636]

@Budski54

I have twice (in thirty cruises) used a ship's medical center (once on HAL, once on Cunard), and I can tell you that they are a lot better-equipped than you might think. I got excellent care both times. However, they can't do surgery. If you are truly worried about all the worst-case scenarios, you should cancel, because no cruise is risk-free, and if you need an immediate disembarkation and you're a thousand miles from civilization...well, good luck.

 

For what it's worth, I would roll the dice and do it. Enjoy life while you can.

 

Jim

[Emme1233]

We were on a SA cruise and had a passenger that had to be evacuated in Ushuaia, Argentina. All I thought was I hoped they had insurance. That is truly “El Fin Del Mundo”

[Mary229]

2 hours ago, Emme1233 said:

We were on a SA cruise and had a passenger that had to be evacuated in Ushuaia, Argentina. All I thought was I hoped they had insurance. That is truly “El Fin Del Mundo”

If that was 2023 I know that person and yes he had insurance and rejoined the cruise. He was quite pleased with how everything went

[Budski54]

On 9/4/2024 at 10:18 PM, Ferry_Watcher said:

You should also look for a travel clinic in your area that can advise you regarding what additional vaccines / meds that you should have for your travels in South America.  We actually had our appointment at our local travel clinic this morning and came away with our live oral Typhoid vaccine (4 capsules total  - 1capsule taken every other day over 8 days)  We have to complete the oral vaccine series a full week before we sail.

Prior to reading your comment, I never heard of travel clinics.  I just Googled travel clinics, and there's a couple in my area. One of them lists recommended vaccines for many countries and Antarctica. Now I find myself wondering if I need ALL of the vaccines, or just a select few.

Thanks for the info.

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, Budski54 said:

Prior to reading your comment, I never heard of travel clinics.  I just Googled travel clinics, and there's a couple in my area. One of them lists recommended vaccines for many countries and Antarctica. Now I find myself wondering if I need ALL of the vaccines, or just a select few.

Thanks for the info.

Take the list to your personal physician.  Those clinics sell vaccines so they will tell you that you need them all. 

[Mary229]

Also if you are not going into the jungle in northern South America many that show on the list don’t  pertain

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Always get insurance.

[Taters]

On 9/4/2024 at 4:41 PM, Budski54 said:

I just booked a South America and Antarctica cruise on HAL. They immediately sent me a letter advising passengers about the limited medical facilities in remote destinations.

The 22 day itinerary will spend 4 days near Antarctica, so I assume that's the remote destination. Does anyone know if the rest of the itinerary (Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina) have limited medical facilities?

 

Which Antarctic cruise did you book?  We booked the January 31, 2024 cruise on Tuesday and received the same notice with our cruise confirmation.  I find it a bit odd as we've done 6 transatlantic cruises and one transpacific cruise (among others) and we've never received a notice like this one.  I mean - You're out in the middle of nowhere on these cruises.  I wonder if it's new.

 

Cheers!

[durangoscots]

I was on a cruise (not HAL) where I woman broke her hip.... to treat her locally and then fly her home from Punta Arenas was about $90,000!!!! She was flown to Boston area, I believe. Fortunately she had very good travel insurance. And this was close to 20 years ago. That knowledge has not stopped me cruising but has made me very careful about insurance.

 

Susan

[Tampa Girl]

12 minutes ago, Taters said:

Which Antarctic cruise did you book?  We booked the January 31, 2024 cruise on Tuesday and received the same notice with our cruise confirmation.  I find it a bit odd as we've done 6 transatlantic cruises and one transpacific cruise (among others) and we've never received a notice like this one.  I mean - You're out in the middle of nowhere on these cruises.  I wonder if it's new.

 

Cheers!

 

The only time that you are out in the "middle of nowhere" are the few days that you will be enroute to and from Antarctica.  The rest of the the time you will be following the SA coastline, much closer to land than being on a trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific.  

 

Re the shots, I don't believe that we got any shots for that cruise a few years ago, but perhaps we did get a typhoid.

[gizmodog]

We travelled to Antartica 2 years ago, never got any shots, actually the thought never even crossed my mind.

[Budski54]

On 9/4/2024 at 11:23 PM, JimDee363636 said:

@Budski54

I have twice (in thirty cruises) used a ship's medical center (once on HAL, once on Cunard), and I can tell you that they are a lot better-equipped than you might think. I got excellent care both times. However, they can't do surgery. If you are truly worried about all the worst-case scenarios, you should cancel, because no cruise is risk-free, and if you need an immediate disembarkation and you're a thousand miles from civilization...well, good luck.

 

For what it's worth, I would roll the dice and do it. Enjoy life while you can.

 

Jim

I have until October 8 to cancel, so I will give it a lot of thought.  More than likely, I will go on the cruise. 

[Budski54]

I have until October 8 to cancel, so I will give it a lot of thought.  More than likely, I will go on the cruise. 

[Budski54]

47 minutes ago, Taters said:

Which Antarctic cruise did you book?  We booked the January 31, 2024 cruise on Tuesday and received the same notice with our cruise confirmation.  I find it a bit odd as we've done 6 transatlantic cruises and one transpacific cruise (among others) and we've never received a notice like this one.  I mean - You're out in the middle of nowhere on these cruises.  I wonder if it's new.

 

Cheers!

I booked the 22 day January 6, 2025 cruise.

[TiogaCruiser]

2 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

The only time that you are out in the "middle of nowhere" are the few days that you will be enroute to and from Antarctica.  The rest of the the time you will be following the SA coastline, much closer to land than being on a trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific.  

 

Re the shots, I don't believe that we got any shots for that cruise a few years ago, but perhaps we did get a typhoid.

Actually quite a bit of the south end of Chile and Argentina are pretty remote. 

[cccole]

@Budski54  You will love the cruise.  The scenery is amazing!!!  Instead of contacting a travel clinic I would contact your doctor.  Once you get to the east coast of SA ports there have plenty of hospitals.  We always get health insurance for the duration of our trips that include evacs.  Have some good insurance, just in case, but unless you have serious health problems and your doctor recommends that you do not go, why not?  I think that travel clinics tend to over vaccinate.  JMO. Cherie

[Budski54]

24 minutes ago, cccole said:

@Budski54  You will love the cruise.  The scenery is amazing!!!  Instead of contacting a travel clinic I would contact your doctor.  Once you get to the east coast of SA ports there have plenty of hospitals.  We always get health insurance for the duration of our trips that include evacs.  Have some good insurance, just in case, but unless you have serious health problems and your doctor recommends that you do not go, why not?  I think that travel clinics tend to over vaccinate.  JMO. Cherie

I have GeoBlue Trekker Essential for insurance. 

[cccole]

@Budski54  We have used Geo Blue but not sure what Trekker Essential is.  We make sure evacs are in our insurance.  Trip interruption and cancellation is not something we like to insure for, but sometimes it is hard not to include these.  I hope you take this cruise.  Cherie

[Torquer]

2 hours ago, Budski54 said:

I have until October 8 to cancel, so I will give it a lot of thought.  More than likely, I will go on the cruise. 

Unless you have a serious health condition, I think you should definitely go.  But if you are in poor health, you really shouldn't go on any cruise.  You will be far away from land-based health care for the 4 days in Antarctica, the day cruising from the Falklands to Argentina, and the couple days in the Chilean fjords where there is no town within 100 miles.  So it is really only the four solid days in Antarctica that it is unique here, but that is no different than a trans Atlantic/Pacific cruise where you are far away from land for an extended period of time.

[BermudaBound2014]

Ask your dr their advise on vaccines. I’m on this Jan 6th SA cruise and my Dr recommended against getting any vaccines.

 

[pmjnh]

I am on the Jan 28 sailing and never received a letter from HAL as the OP stated. Travel insurance with good evacuation coverage is essential for sure. No vaccines required for the Antarctic sailing.