Medical Disembarkation

[poole boy]

thank you very much for both your replies we have now been home for a week and I am feeling a lot better

[Mervyn and Trish]

I'm glad to hear that. I've had Noro twice, neither time on a cruise, and I know how dreadful I felt for a few days. It sounds like you've had a far worse time.

[oldbluefox]

So pleased to hear that pb. Certainly not something you want again. It's a horrible bug.

[Cheshire Cruiser]

I guess this long standing thread is the place to explore a recently emerged point relating to Insurance and Medical Evacuations.

For our first Fred Olsen cruise - last year – we noted they required cover for a medical evacuation by helicopter, there is a box to tick when you complete your insurance details online. We checked with our insurers and they said yes, if pre-authorised, which on exploration proved to mean if authorised prior to the airlift rather than prior to embarking on the cruise.

This year however my sister-in-law found an issue with that insurer regarding a new medical condition and had to look elsewhere. We thought she had found good cover but then found no, they don’t cover helicopter evacuation, they just say they will cover repatriation from the point of disembarkation from the cruise. Strange, many millions of pounds of medical cover but without covering a key requirement.

She kept looking and then found an insurer who do cover this – as well as her new medical issues which some don’t. And as a bonus the annual policy came in around £200 less than the one without helicopter cover.

Does this open an interesting can of worms, whilst most cruise lines now require ‘cruise cover’ there appears to be no mention of a requirement for cover for helicopter evacuation, although maybe it is hidden somewhere in the small print.

Whilst we would all hope never to need an evacuation by helicopter it is an every day fact of cruising life even if much less common the frequent sightings of an ambulance waiting on the quayside. We have been on board at least three time when helicopter evacuations have taken place, one off the Portuguese coast and one off Italy in the Adriatic and plus another, can’t remember where – a long time ago. We have also had two occasions when a passenger was taken ashore by tender or small local boat – a tender into the harbour at Cascais one morning (Lisbon was not a port of call on that trip), and a small local boat into a small town in Greece around 2a.m. with many passengers roused from their slumbers by the sound of the ships thrusters holding the ship in place during the evacuation. We fully expected an announcement next morning explaining why our sleep had been disturbed, there was none - although a crew member did confirm this activity to us - but the lack of official information lead to rumours of passengers being removed into Police custody!

Accepting none of us would ever wish to leave the ship by helicopter but we can never say 'it won’t happen to me', but how many of us actually know our insurance does cover this eventuality? This is something we are now alert to and it would be interesting to get members feedback on this.

[Onelife]

Hi Cheshire Cruiser, thanks for posting this…I think it is such a rare occurrence that not many of us will have checked the small print to see if this is covered by one's insurance. I’m sure we are all aware that cruise ships make diversions to the nearest port for emergencies but in life limiting emergencies we’d all be thinking “where’s the bl**dy helicopter”? We haven’t as yet arranged our 2027 cover but it is something I will now be asking about.

[Ray B]

Every time we ask for confirmation that we are covered for an emergency evacuation by helicopter when renewing our insurance.
As you get older, these are the things you must check are in place, otherwise you can rack up an eye watering bill in no time if you have a medical emergency.

[david63]

I may be wrong about this but it all depends on who is doing the evacuation by helicopter and in the majority of cases this is done by the local coastguard for which there is no cost involved.

I will agree though that should the unforeseen happen then you do need to be covered.

The point about it being authorised is the same as any potential medical claim.

[poole boy]

as we always used to fly to holidays and have now done 31 cruises not all with p&o but are Caribbean members I thought it might be useful to post of our experiences I had a heart attack on the beach in Kefalonia when I was sixty as we had hired a car I had to drive 5 miles back to the hotel the hotel were great and got me a doctor and ambulance and went to hospital the attention I received there was very good I had to stay in bed for a week then in in the hospital for three weeks but my wife was sent to a very good hotel but it cost 70 euros each way to come and see me at the end of the 3 weeks I was allowed to join my wife in the hotel for another 4 weeks paid for by the insurance company who at the end of the 4 weeks flew a heart specialist out to see if I was fit to fly home he said the airline would only fly me home if I signed a form saying if I died on the flight home it was not there fault and we could not sue them.
any way the after getting home we had a call from our mobile phone company saying we owed them £920 and it had to be paid in 7 days we did not know that when our friends phoned up the wife to see how I was we were paying for the call but the insurance said no that was not covered
tbc

[poole boy]

any way after a couple of rough years with plenty of doctors and hospital visits I was told could only fly up to 10,000 feet any higher would kill me so we thought lets try cruising so that's what we did any way on about our 10 cruise I became violently sick with bad attacks from my anus I was taken of the ship by ambulance and taken to a Belfast hospital were they said I had isemic colitis as we were in uk waters the national health paid for everything when released from hospital after 10 days when had too to a travel agents to book a flight home to Southampton airport costing £350 each phone p&o to arrange for some body to open the gates so we could get our car out luckily Southampton only had very old planes that did not fly as high as 10,000 feet and we claimed back the cost of the flights from the insurance company.
tbc

[Onelife]

Hi poole boy, you sound like an insurance companies worst nightmare, but thankfully you’re here to tell the story….keep up the good work mate

[poole boy]

I probably am but there is another to come yet and they have accepted me for this year again as well so lets hope no problems then

[towny44]

I may be wrong about this but it all depends on who is doing the evacuation by helicopter and in the majority of cases this is done by the local coastguard for which there is no cost involved.

I will agree though that should the unforeseen happen then you do need to be covered.

The point about it being authorised is the same as any potential medical claim.

According to SOLAS international maritime law, search and rescue is normally provided by national agencies (Coastguard) and is free. So I dont understand why FO are asking for this to be covered by passengers insurance.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I don't think Medivac would be classed as search and rescue.

[Ray B]

The helicopter may be free, but as soon as it lands ashore the costs start to kick in. So only a fool would go on a cruise not fully lcovered.

[towny44]

The helicopter may be free, but as soon as it lands ashore the costs start to kick in. So only a fool would go on a cruise not fully lcovered.

That's why P&O require you to have medical cover of £10m, but helicopter evacuation by coastguard or equivalent is free.

[david63]

According to SOLAS international maritime law, search and rescue is normally provided by national agencies (Coastguard) and is free. So I dont understand why FO are asking for this to be covered by passengers insurance.

I'm sure that I have read somewhere that not all helicopter evacuations in some countries are done by the national agencies, but I cannot remember where I read it.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Mr Google confirms that some evacuations are free, but others cost a house worth of money, depending exactly where you are. So I'm not going to gamble, given that all reputable policies include the requisite cover.