RSSDon’t Get Sick Aboard a Crusie Ship … Just ask Yvonne Boike & Nick Panos (Travel Insurance, what Travel Insurance?)
The incredible stories of what can occur on cruise ships continue. If a cruise ship vacation is 
without incident, one needs to consider themselves luck. Such was not the case for Yvonne Boike and her fianci, Nick Panos.
It all started when Nick Panos woke up six days into his cruise sick to his stomach and coughing up blood. Little did he realize that it would get worse, much worse. Vacation planning can no longer be taken for granted.
Panos asked if they could delay until the cruise reached Greece, where he had friends.
No, said the doctor.
They asked whether Boike could remain aboard since she wasn’t sick.
She couldn’t.
A ship’s nurse called their travel insurer, Travelex, and the couple was whisked off the ship into a Turkish ambulance in Kusadasi, a resort village in the Aegean Sea.
“I was in shock,” says Boike. “But I assumed they would call our emergency contacts or the U.S. Embassy for us.”
She assumed wrong. (Detroit Free Press)
If you think booking a trip is a simple task these days aboard a cruise ship, think again. In order to protect yourself it almost seems that one has to dot the “i’s” and cross the “t’s” as if one was doing a closing on a home. (Read the rest of this eye opening story at The Detroit Free Press)
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15 Responses to “Don’t Get Sick Aboard a Crusie Ship … Just ask Yvonne Boike & Nick Panos (Travel Insurance, what Travel Insurance?)”
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Wow the comment boxes becomes a ghost town without aruba talk
Houston News this morning said another person “fell off” a curise ship just before it got to Galveston, 110 miles off the Sabine Pass.
I am not suprised,at all.The people who cruises are better and safer than aruba are deluding themselves.Joe
lol, joe, that’s like saying rattlesnakes are safer than copperheads or cottonmouths.
dennisintn
meee, maybe lieruba got hit by a tsunami and there is nothing left to speak of, now wouldnt that be nice.
The moral of the story is stated clearly by the “victim”,
“I learned that unless you are on death’s door or break a leg, never go to the ship’s doctor.”
I would carry that sentiment a step further and say consider the cruise ship a third world country and do not expect assistance of any kind from an employee on board.
With our local medical system, in the case of emergency, one is wise to never go to local ER if one has hopes for survival. Instead, pay to be transported to where real doctors practice- – ~ 60 mi away, if you want standard medical care.
I think the cruise industry has the same attitude as Aruba and some other places whose economy is dependent on tourism. They want to deny that anything bad ever happens and they want to cover up crimes and accidents, anything that might make a future tourist think there is any risk involved. It’s certainly understandable, but unfortunately, when criminals are allowed to go free in order to cover up crimes, and safety issues are ignored, these places run into real problems. It’s just short term planning, eventually the problems catch up to them and then their tourist economy suffers much more then if they had fully and openly addressed the problem to begin with.
MBS, you are so correct. I will never take another
cruise. Altho I had no problems in the past, it is
a disaster waiting to happen. Once you leave a US
port, kiss yo booty bye bye. The cruise line cares
not what happens to you after they get your money.
and the republicans self-appointed state department doesn’t give a damn about americans abroad; they turned their back on beth holloway when she was asking for help to find her daughter and told her to look in the trash dump. hopefully after the next elections thats where the repubs will be, in the trash dump
#10; real b.s.: You really need to get a new line. You wore that one out a LONG TIME AGO……
it is always wise to get yourself checkt out by your own doc before you go anywhere,espessialy when you’re older!and if you think something is wrong with you get it checked out!somebody is not coughing up blood in six days unless he’s been eating something very bad or has been that way before he boarded!it’s mabey smart for older people to check the healthcare on board before they book a cruise!these boats cost millions!they can afford a good physician!
I believe that in the last ten months, a total of 16 people, including passengers and crew, are known to have gone missing from cruise ships. I’d have to check the data again to be sure, but those are the figures that stick in my mind.
Under present law, cruise ships are required to report felonies on board ship to law enforcement authorities.
Believe it or not, the disappearance of a person from on board is NOT classified as a felony. There is NO legal obligation at present for the cruise ships to report these cases. And it is clear that cover-up is the rule.
There are organizations trying to bring about changes in the law. Meanwhile, once you enter international waters the benefits of U.S. law are not guaranteed to you. You might go on a cruise thinking that you are starting a pleasant vacation … all the while (especially if you are an attractive young woman) you may have been targeted.
This is NOT rumor, NOT a joke and NOT paranoia.
Ooooooooooh Nooooooooo!?!?!?!?!?!
You mean they were just faking the illness to get Ms. Boike
off the ship???? Oh, MY GOD!!!!!
Honey, you remember those brass candlesticks that Grand-
mother gave you? You’d better pack them.
There’s Stalkers on the Ship!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMAO
Good point, Richard! (smile)
i have been on many cruises with my wife and before i worked for carnival cruise line i have found that ast a paying guest and as a worker that they treet you with respect and have your security comes fierst at all times if you act right on board you have nothing to worry about jim embleton