Trish Berry, December 2024
No one wants to hear Alpha, Alpha, Alpha, on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. That means medical emergency.
You’re going to Main Dining to enjoy a fabulous meal. A snapped napkin in your lap, stemware in front of you, along with all the forks and knives you need for a pleasurable meal. You do not want to choke on your food, stop breathing from a heart attack, or have a stroke. No one wants that.
You have to be prepared, though, when you travel to have medical coverage. Medicare is not accepted on a cruise ship, or
on foreign soil. Blue Cross Blue Shield will not cover you.
YOU MUST HAVE TRAVEL MEDICAL INSURANCE when you travel. YOU MUST!!!! I cannot stress this
enough.
There are many travel medical insurance programs available. The ones most often used by cruisers are Allianz or GeoBlue. We, personally, have GeoBlue.
We have not had to use it, hope we never have to, but we are at an age (76 and 79) where there is the possibility that we would need medical coverage at one time or another because we are old. Our bones are not as strong as they were (osteopenia sneaks in on the best of us). We are more likely to fall because our balance isn’t as good as it once was. Our vision isn’t as good as it once was, even with eyeglasses. Our immune systems are not as strong as they were, making us more susceptible to illness.
A medical emergency is expensive when you are away from your home country.
- One story: Heart attack in his room. Three jolts with the defibrillator, and his heart started again, but he was flown by helicopter to Nassau for additional treatment. Each step along the way, he had to pay with his charge card, to be reimbursed when he got back to his home country after filing his insurance claims when he was home. But, he had to pay with that charge card, so make sure you have a good line of credit on your charge card. His sister was traveling with him and his wife. The sister was staying in another room, but she had a charge card. Between
the three of them, they were able to come up with the $65,000.00 cost that he had to pay before he was reimbursed when he got home. He never told me the travel medical plan he had, but he was reimbursed. He did not stop cruising because I met him on a cruise that came after his medical emergency cruise. He had five stents placed
in his heart. - Another story: Gentleman contracted a severe illness. He became seriously ill, could not breathe. In a foreign country, two hospitals turned him away because of his contagious diagnosis. Once finally admitted to another hospital, he paid day-to-day on his charge card until he was well enough to travel. Because of his diagnosis, he had to take a private jet home. No airline would accept him as a passenger. He went into debt for $40,000.00 for that flight. A friend loaned him the $40,000.00 with their charge card. We met him on a cruise after his medical emergency, so he continued to cruise after that. We cruisers are stubborn!!
I read online there that the older you are, the less coverage you are given. Check the policies to see what kind of cap there might be on the coverage provided for your age.
A GeoBlue agent told me that they worked with their policyholders on the phone while they are in a foreign country, helping them as much as they can. We carry our GeoBlue card with us at all times. There is a phone number on that card. We would call them immediately if we got into trouble.
Do you take your passport with you when you are in port or leave it in the safe in your room? If you are going on a beach excursion, I would recommend leaving your passport in the safe in your room. We take our passport with us each time we get off the ship, along with our photo IDs. We keep them in a secure place.
If there is a medical emergency, we could be able to get back to our home country from the foreign country because we have our passports with us. I know the cruise lines do everything they can to get your passport to you if you are injured while at a port. They just pop the safe and get the passport and make every effort to get it to you, but there could be a delay in you receiving it. We just decided a long time ago that we would feel safer if we had took our government-issued passport us, on our bodies. But we are very protective of those passports. We protect them. We never want to lose them. If you are going to the beach where you belongings might be unattended, leave your passport on the ship.
Also, Royal Caribbean has a phone number that allows you to contact them if you have a medical emergency while in port. That phone number is located in the daily Compass. With your Royal Caribbean app on your phone, you can find that phone number and call them from shore.
My husband injured his back when he fell back on the giant Belize chair. We did not need medical help, but it was difficult getting him on and off the tender to get back on the ship.
Always be prepared for medical emergencies. Get that insurance. If you travel a lot, as we do, get the annual plan. If you only go on one cruise, get the insurance for that one cruise. If you fly to Spain for one of the Mediterranean cruises, make sure you have travel insurance. Get the coverage for all members of your party.
Women, just because you have a charge card with your name on it, does not mean you have a large credit line unless that charge card is in your name only. My husband and I have a charge card that has a large credit line. That credit line applies to both of us because we are co-borrowers on that credit card. We have the same account number. If one of us dies, the other can continue using the card and keep that large credit line. Many many years ago, the husband was looked upon as the primary moneymaker. As a result, credit cards were put in their names, with the wives being given a card with the same number but it was like handing the credit card to a 16-year-old. The woman didn’t have equal rights as the husband. Make sure that you are a co-borrower. Make sure you have your own charge cards in your own name. Charge cards at department stores are great, as they establish a credit history for you. But, a department store does not give you a line of credit You can only use that card at that store. Keep your department store credit cards. Keep building your own credit history.
Only a major credit card will give you a line of credit that will allow you to charge a large sum of money such as you would need in a medical emergency in a foreign country. Also, you can always call a relative or close friend to help you come up with the funds using their credit card if you get into a medical emergency.
Be safe. Enjoy your cruise and trip abroad. But be safe and have that medical insurance
to cover you.
Thanks for reading.
Trish
Leave a Reply