Were You Or Someone You Knew Ever Injured Onboard An X Ship?

[tuggers]

I was just curious to know if anyone has personal knowledge of how X reacts when someone is injured while on a cruise.

My experience was not good. I never rec'd any compensation even for the clothes that were ruined. I was basically ignored by the Millie staff and crew and when I made my third trip to the dr (I was covered in bruises from a fall and had injured my shoulder) I was pretty much told to 'buck up'.

After I left the ship even talking to anyone was all but impossible.

Usually when onboard you are treated great and it's the land based services that are so poor. In this case, I was ignored onboard also.

I was just curious as to how well they do in others opinions.

[lvtotrvl1]

It would be up to your insurance company to settle any claims. Have you contacted them?

[tuggers]

This was a long time ago. I was just wondering about others experience.:)

[Andy]

Hi Gail !

 

As you know, a Family member was seriously injured onboard Century 2 months ago. I have been extremely disappointed in Celebrity, that during this time, nobody from Celebrity's office ever called or communicated to see how Mom was doing post injury.

 

Maybe I am being unrealistic to expect Celebrity to show some concern, but I feel that after such a serious injury, someone should have called to see how she was doing. IMHO, from a Public relations standpoint, they should care (at least a little) about a very loyal and frequent passenger. Furthermore, they should care about ANY passenger that has been hurt, or had a very bad experience. Clearly, it was too much of a bother for them to show any level of concern, and that's very disappointing to us.

[mahdnc]

Gail, perhaps this is not on point, but just in case it is:

 

When we did our 10 nt W Carib sailing aboard Horizon in 2004, my wife was seriously injured her leg from a ziplining tour in Costa Rica. Even though it was not a Celebrity sponsored tour, the ship's medical staff took excellent care of her as she had to visit the infirmary every day there after for antibiotics, stitches, xrays, etc. Much of their work was not charged to us. Oh, and our butler took good care of her, too!

[AFriendlyCruiser]

Gail,

 

Unfortunately, in today's litigious society. Celebrity employees are probably told not to show much compassion for fear of it being considered responsibility.

[SoCalGal]

On our 2005 cruise to Alaska with my parents my 85 year old mother was injured when she was reboarding the Summit in Skagway. She fell because the entrance to the gangplank was rough and very uneven. The crew immediately assisted her and brought a wheelchair and whisked her to sick bay. She had scrapes and bruises on her face and hand and also broke a finger. Since we were not there at the time of the incident my husband and I were called down to sickbay upon our return to the ship. The doctor missed the diagnosis of her broken finger, but they were very concerned and made sure she was well cared for the rest of our cruise. I can also speak for myself when on our Med. cruise in 2001 I was in the sickbay on the Mille for atrial fib. When I returned home I took all my medical records from the ship to show my cardiologist and he said the doctors were very good and they gave me all the correct meds and treatment for my condition. The only issue I had was that the doctor that they consulted with in the U. S. insisted I leave the ship for more treatment, so they evacuated me to an unshceduled stop in Sicily where there were no cardiologists available...but that is a long story that I won't go into. (We eventually returned to the ship on our own to finish the cruise by signing a waiver).

[sirgonealot]

Several years ago I slipped and fell (possibly because of water near the aft pool on Mercury). All Mercury employees nearby scattered!! My BF and several passengers who witnessed the fall helped me up and to a nearby table. At the time I was embarrassed and did nothing but return to my cabin. My elbow and arm hurt quite a bit and the next day I filed a report with the front desk. I was told that if I wanted to see the dr. it would be at my expense. Since I was sure it was not broken, I decided to wait and see what happened. My cabin attendant was the only one who was the least bit concerned. He brought me additional pillows so I could prop up my arm and plenty of ice to keep it from swelling. He also offered lots of sympathy. It did eventually heal, but Celebrity and no one onboard Mercury ever inquired about it. I was a little surprized that they did not offer to have me see their dr. Oh well!

[SoCalGal]

It pays to buy medical insurance for your cruise if your primary insurance doesn't cover it. My Blue Cross policy covered the Summit's sickbay charge of over $5000.00 on the Med. cruise. The "cruise insurance" paid for our hotel and train expenses to get us back to the ship.

[mahdnc]

Gail, maybe just to tie in one of your other active threads, Celebrity ought to offer discount infirmary coupons in the Select/Elite coupon book......

[Petert]

I think that the primary concern of the cruise passenger should be that the cruise line and crew do their best to anticipate hazardess conditions, and take reasonable precautions to minimize risks to their passengers. Over the past 15 years or so I have observed that most ships will go out of their way to point potential hazards, and remove or restrict activities that might result in injury. I recall cautions about using railings in rough waters, caution signs above freshly swabbed decks, no running or diving restriction near the pools, cautions against smoking or disposing of lighted cigarets and I could go on.

 

Maintainance goes on constantly, with potential hazards taken care of promptly. Plenty of signage to warn of areas not safe for passengers. Extreme measures taken to assure a healthy environment for crew and passengers. While there are bound to be some accidents that cannot be anticipated, my feeling is that the cruise lines do an excellent job of minimizing these conditions.

 

My background has inclined me to take responsibility for my actions, and take care of myself, and my family, to the best of my ability. If I have an accident I am not looking for someone to blame, or to have someone to reimburse me for my inconveniance, but how best to recover. My limited experience in this area has indicated that most crew members are inclined to be helpful when problems occur, but that they may be limited as to what they can do. They work long hours, and have a new batch of passengers each week, that all have expectations as to the services the crew provides.

 

Petert

[HappyCruiser]

Excellent post Petert.

I would agree wholeheartedly that as a company you have to be very careful in how you respond to accidents. We are often cautioned in how to express concern without admitting liabliity. It's a fine line but there is no doubt it's always best to show concern. Representing the company I would point out things like - anytime you are on deck, especially by a pool you have to expect water as a possible slippery surface. And the gangway may be uneven or steep, but how many passengers were able to navigate it without incident? BUT - PLEASE understand I am not throwing judgement down on any of you! (please, please, please) I'm just commenting on things I've heard in almost 30 years of being on the management side of responding to these kinds of incidents. It's the people who we see who come in and throw a splash of water on the floor, then lay down and cry hurt. I've seen it happen (surveillance cameras). Those people make it so hard to respond to accidents - but I will say we are always encouraged to show compassion. Just not say or do anything that admits liability.

[ClaireP]

Last year, I slipped on the Summit on route to Hawaii, due to a combination of rough seas, wet deck area and me rushing. A kind gentleman picked me up and when I had recovered (mainly my dignity!) I was told that I had to go to sick bay for an assessment.

 

So I went down to sick bay (I was not the only one to be down there, having fallen over but I was by far the youngest at 34!!!! - dignity did not last for long!)

 

But i was well treated, checked over, skinned knees assessed and cleaned up and sent on my way - without charge with advice to return if required.

 

So my expereince was very good.

 

Although I am very disappointed to hear that following a serious accident, there was no on shore follow up - it does not take much to do this but does create a great deal of good customer impression!

[Andym]

On another line this year, a lady slipped and fell on the wet promenade deck right in front of us.

Both my wife and myself are registered first aiders and it was obvious to us that she had actually broken her leg. We got a member of staff nearby to phone for medical help whilst we got the lady comfortable. The member of staff didn't stay but walked away after calling for help.

We had to ask her if she wanted us to help her (litigation and all that). We stayed with her until help came 35 minutes later, yes 35 minutes. It wasn't even medical staff but some woman dressed to the nines with a wheelchair. Clueless!

I berated her and got her to summon proper help. We were in port and the poor lady was taken off the ship in an ambulance to hospital.

[Shirley and Les]

There was a regular on the Celebrity board who had a foot injury (broken or badly bruised toe) when the gangway shifted and bounced on her foot while reboarding at a port. If I remember correctly, the Celebrity staff wasn't very friendly or talkative about the injury. If you do a search for posts by MACOP, you can probably find the thread about her injury.

Les

[Spender Nui]

A few years ago I was standing at the entrance of my cabin when the door which was locked in an open position came loose and the lower corner of the door hit the heal of my foot. It was cut and bleeding so I went to the medical facility. They cleaned it up very well and gave me antibiotics and told me to come back the next day or anytime if it was bothering me. They also brought me a variety of things for me to self apply. They were excellent and made it a point to tell me several times I would not be charged. They probably were afraid of a law suit ... but they did treat me well.

[magmagee]

I was just curious to know if anyone has personal knowledge of how X reacts when someone is injured while on a cruise.

 

My experience was not good. I never rec'd any compensation even for the clothes that were ruined. I was basically ignored by the Millie staff and crew and when I made my third trip to the dr (I was covered in bruises from a fall and had injured my shoulder) I was pretty much told to 'buck up'.

 

After I left the ship even talking to anyone was all but impossible.

 

Usually when onboard you are treated great and it's the land based services that are so poor. In this case, I was ignored onboard also.

 

I was just curious as to how well they do in others opinions.

I have a feeling that they just wanted you to go back to your room and make you think you would be all better so you would not make any waves. I had the best care on Infinity when I became very ill so I know they are capable of giving great service. We did have an incident like yours but it did not involve an injury. It was the theft of a pair of binaculars when we came on ship after an excursion. I took them off of my neck and handed them to officer and they we do not know what happend to them from there. I went quickly to the exit side of the belt where my purse and binaculars were to have come out and the binaculars were just gone. The person that was ahead of me was long gone before my stuff came through. They would not listen to me and it was very frustrating. We felt that they did not want us to cause a scene. We ended up going to customer service because no one was paying attention to us and they did not want to talk to us. Customer service said they would contact us if anyone turned them in. I called the main office when we got home but we did not get any satifaction and I did not pursue the matter. I was disappointed that they did not even try to help. I think in these cases they feel it is better to try to keep these incidents quiet if they can.

[chumley]

My husband was injured the first full day of our Hawaii cruise 12/05 on the Summit. He was playing basketball with my kids and while going for the ball, slammed into a pole and needed several stiches on his face in a couple of places. It was very rough seas, plus my husband is not a Laker by profession! :rolleyes: The medical staff was wonderful and gave him very good care. He doesn't even have scars. Since the cruise was 15 days and this happened on day 1, by the time we got off the ship, you never knew anything happened to him. Kudos to Celebrity from us.

Leslie

[kitty9]

Tuggers, as I wrote on this board in January, my mom fell and broke the ball of her femur in the PH on Millennium. Her care was not at all good, although many of the crew, who know us from our many X cruises, were wonderful and very concerned, the higher ups left something to be desired, including the doctor. Mom needed to stay overnight in the medical center before being air evacuated off the ship, and while they tried to make us comfortable, and the Captain's Club hostess was very nice, the doctor was really incompetent---the admitting doctor at the hospital in Ft Lauderdale was astounded by how incompetent the staff on the ship was. In addition to the broken hip, mom had a large cut on her scalp, which the doctor treated using surgical glue---the problem was that she didn't shave the area and glued all of mom's hair to her wound, causing additional pain and many problems with getting the wound to heal. The admitting hospital also said they were amazed the doctor on board didn't do any xray of mom's head, to eliminate brain injury, since she hit her head quite hard when she fell. So, I guess I would have to say that the medical treatment we experienced left much to be desired.

[jhetanna]

Our experience was positive although the injury turned out to be minor. My son fell on the escalator just before boarding the ship gashing his knee in 2 places. Knee's apparently bleed pretty bad, so his foot was immediately covered in blood. We were immediately wisked onto the ship and sent to the infirmary where a nurse and doctor waited. (As we passed the main desk, we heard them calling for the doctor). They thoroughly cleaned the puncture wounds, bandaged the knee, gave a tetinus shot (spelling? I'm world's worst). They insisted on seeing him the next few days to watch for infection and made sure he did not have to wait. All throughout the trip several staff members asked him how his knee was. I realize this is minor, but the staff did a great job.

 

PS. this was just recently on the 3/16 sailing of the Galaxy.

[bububr]

My experience if anyone remembers was during the March 17th 'Bleach Cruise' on Mercury to the Mexican Riviera.

 

While on a ship sponsored beach excursion in Mazatlan, I did a non ship sponsored event. I opted to go horseback riding with a local guy for $5.00. Skipping to the point, the horse threw me at the end of the ride and I ended up fracturing my pelvis in three places, fracturing my sacrum on the left side and compressing a vertebre........

 

Scared to go to the infirmary because of the NORO out break I continued the cruise very painfully and moving very slowly...I actually thought I just got really bruised up.

 

Anyway returning home I had an MRI which showed the damage and ended up doing four months of rehab. Since I had purchased the cruise insurance through X I wanted to submit my co-pays and deductables to them to see if I could get reimbursed.

 

In speaking with X after being on hold and transferred to different departments I simply asked for thr name of the company that ran the tour so they could verify the incident. X stated it wasn't a sponsored event so they were NOT responsible. I told them I understood that, but needed documentation from the sponsored tour...for a week it was like banging my head against a brick wall, then I started searching online, found the tour company in Mexico, called them directly ( they had an 800 # ) explained my situation, asked for the young lady who acted as our guide, etc, etc, etc......

 

I was able to gather the info, fill out the forms, and get reimbursed 100% for all my out of pocket expenses NOT covered by my primary insurance. The agent handling my case told me it was the most organized and efficiant claim he had seen in a long time. two weeks after I recieved my check, X called me to assist with my claim. When I called back to speak to the agent I found out his last day was the day he called me and they had not replaced him yet.......

 

Lesson learned. Always purchase cruise insurance.....do the ground work and documentation yourself if you have a claim, and X will always claim NOT RESPONSIBLE unless it happens in front of witnesses on their watch.

 

Dave:eek: