A bit of caution to all you cruisers… I have a friend who, on Thursday left New Orleans on a cruise liner Carnival Cruise lines to Cozumel Mexico. All was fine until Friday afternoon. He suffered a major stroke while far out of range of a helicopter. The ship had medical facilities that were not much more than a nice doctor’s office. Most medical problems are sea-sickness and over eating. The medical facility was not equipped to handle a heart attack or stroke. The best they could do was advanced first-aid and a likely diagnosis (stroke). The patients wife would not leave his side and the medical personnel spoke very little English insisted she go back to the room until they docked (after much argument, they gave in and let her stay).

She had to make arrangements for medical treatment, the ship’s crew did very little. She was told once the ship docked she and her husband would be first off. It is Friday afternoon and businesses and banks are closing for a long weekend (president’s day). In order to have a life flight take him from Cozumel to Houston the flight had to be paid- CASH or MasterCard ONLY. It was too late for a check to clear, or a wire transfer to be made (I tried). The insurance office was unavailable at 4:45PM for any help. His wife is alone and panicking over the situation. They have money but do not have a MasterCard or $14,000 cash readily available. I got involved and tried my best to wire/transfer money but the cut-off was past. Luckily I have a high limit MasterCard which they used to have a company called JET-ICU that flew a Lear Jet from Tampa Florida and was on the runway at 7:40AM when the ship docked. The man and his wife were detained (and not first off as promised) until all charges were paid. They had put up an American Express credit card to cover all related expenses they incurred during the cruise. There was an additional $700 in medical charges they wanted paid before they could leave the ship. Carnival cruise lines would hold their luggage (ONLY 1 SMALL bag was allowed on the life flight). Carnival said they had 24 hours to claim their baggage once the ship docked in New Orleans or it would be shipped to Miami to unclaimed baggage.

Because clot busting drugs were not used within 3 hours of the stroke brain damage had occurred. I do not blame the ship for not administering the drug- because it can only be used on a clot, if it was a ‘bleeder’ it would kill him. That can only be determined by using a CAT scan which is a bit more than would be expected on a cruise ship.

I am rather disappointed in the way Carnival conducted their business, the difficulty of language Spanish/English in the medical department and the demand for payment of final charges prior to releasing a critical patient. The delay was 1 hour and 45 minutes- the flight back to Houston was only 1 hour and 52 minutes so the patient COULD have been landing in Houston by the time Carnival settled the bill (wasting more critical time).

If you go on a cruise………

1. Be sure to know what medical facilities are available.
2. Know if you ‘might’ need an interpreter in a crisis (Translation was only a problem IN the medical facility onboard).
3. Spend a few dollars on a CHECK-UP before going on a cruise (he discovered he had some warning signs prior).
4. Make sure you have a way to access large amounts of cash in OFF-Hours. (The cost was $14,000 on my MasterCard) Remember: In that situation it was CASH or MasterCard- During the event is NOT the time to squabble over the costs. We both had plenty of money- the KEY is READILY AVAILABLE MONEY. (Just think about it before you go)
5. Probably not use Carnival Cruise Lines
6. BUY the medical coverage insurance offered when booking (They did and I think it is going to cover a lot of this- we’ll see).

This is the plane that got him back......