Cruise Ship Medical Nightmares

While cruise ships bring together many people in a compact space, they offer extensive health and safety measures to help keep passengers well. Like any form of travel where people gather, occasional illnesses or accidents can occur, and travel protection can help provide useful protection if you need medical care or assistance while at sea. Many travelers who purchase coverage find it reassuring; those who skip it may be less prepared for unexpected situations.

Below are a few notable incidents from recent years that illustrate why it’s wise to understand your coverage and take sensible precautions when cruising.

life preserver with land in the background

Pandemics

HEADLINE: “Hell is a Cruise Ship at the Beginning of the Pandemic”

Actually, the headline is for a review of the book Cabin Fever, which describes “the panic and despair aboard Holland America’s MS Zaandam as COVID ripped through passengers and crew.”

That’s right: being on a cruise ship during COVID was so bad that they couldn’t just write an article about it. They had to write an entire book.

You never know when COVID or another pandemic may reappear, and a cruise ship might be the perfect place for it to pop up again.

Cruise ships bring together thousands of people from around the world in close quarters and shared dining areas, which can increase the chance of contagious illnesses spreading. There’s no specific horror story about COVID on a cruise ship. They’re all horror stories.

What can you do? Buy travel protection, ideally from Generali Global Assistance. It can help if your cruise is cancelled due to adverse weather or has to be interrupted because you get sick, it can help pay for emergency medical treatment.

In the case of COVID, that’s about all you could ask for.

Everyday illness

Take it away, USA Today …

“More than 175 people fall ill in Celebrity Cruises norovirus outbreak”

See, it’s not just COVID! People can get other infectious diseases on cruise ships, too.

Instead of the coughing and headache of COVID, you could be stuck on a ship with the nausea and cramping of norovirus.

In 2023, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control had documented 14 cases of gastrointestinal illness outbreaks on cruise ships.

Norovirus or COVID, travel protection may help. That’s why so many cruise travelers choose to help protect their cruises with Generali Global Assistance.

Learn more: Does Travel Insurance Cover the Flu or Other Illness?

Excursion Gone Bad

Cue the headline, from KWTX-TV in Waco, Texas: “CRUISE NIGHTMARE: Freestone County family recovering physically and financially from onshore accident in Mexico.”

This particular story is about a couple on a family cruise that had a scooter accident during an onshore excursion in Cozumel.

The couple was taken to an emergency room where doctors demanded thousands of dollars in cash before performing any tests, and almost $30,000 to charter a plane to fly them back home for treatment.

That wasn’t all. Because their adult children left their passports on the cruise ship, they had to spend several hundred dollars in additional fees.

This fits the description of a nightmare all right. But the thing is, buying travel insurance with assistance services that helps cover medical emergencies also buys support in dealing with foreign medical providers.

Also, Generali Global Assistance travel protection comes with the Emergency Assistance and Transportation coverage that can help transport you to appropriate medical care when medically necessary.

Nightmares don’t have to have a horrible ending. Not when there’s travel protection.

Learn more: Why Medical Coverage Is Essential on a Cruise Vacation

The Medical Emergency That Wasn’t

It’s bad enough to be airlifted from a cruise ship when you’re sick. How about when you’re not?

A British traveler on a luxury cruise he had booked as a joint birthday celebration with his wife got an unpleasant surprise when the ship’s doctor told him he was suffering from a serious infection and needed to be evacuated from the ship.

After being helicoptered off the ship to receive medical treatment, the traveler was told he didn’t have an infection at all. In fact, the worst thing he had was a strained muscle.

Wow. Not only does it cost thousands of dollars to get you off of your bucket-list cruise, but then it turns out to be the medical equivalent of a false fire alarm.

And the traveler missed his wife’s birthday because he had been evacuated to Shetland.

As horror stories go, this checks about all the boxes. Dream cruise? Check. Expensive medical evacuation? Check. Missing wife’s birthday? Check. Missing out on your main port of call? Check, set, and match.

Travel protection in this case could help pay for the medical evacuation and treatment, but it could also help the traveler catch up with their cruise and continue the trip.

There are some things travel protection can’t fix. Still, you should get a quote today.