Family Kicked Off Cruise Because Child Was Sick

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wickedwitch wrote:

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yes actually i have 3-i do know the difference between a stomach virus and a cold. according to the more accurate report of this story on wftv.com , the child's symptoms were very similar to the norwalk virus, and that is what caused the concern on the part of the cruise line. i see both sides of this, and i think there could well have been a much better ending to the Cortez family trip. if we were to consider all angles from both a business perspective and personal one, responsibility should not be placed solely on either party. the cruise line should not have left them stranded, but they should have purchased travel insurance-anyone with children knows that there are no guarantees that they will stay healthy 100% of the time all the time.

100% agree! It's very clear that most of the people disagreeing here are totally unfamiliar with the danger of a 7 month old infant with Norwalk Virus. It could KILL the child.

Cruise ships are NOT set up to handle a critically ill child, and should have removed them from the ship so they would have access to a hospital if needed. It's a little difficult to change your mind and decide you do in fact need a hospital out in the middle of the ocean, at which time your kid would possibly have to be airlifted by helicopter to a hospital, and without insurance that covers medical evacuation outside of the U.S., many times you will be required to front the bill which can run as much as $25,000. I've known of cases where the family had to take cash advances on their credit cards to pay the bill before they left the ship. This is NOT something to be taken lightly.

It's also amazing how many families will put their own vacation ahead of a sick child. They are bound and determined NOT to lose their vacation money and will stay on, justifying it by downplaying just how ill their child is. Oh, it's just a cold. Oh, it's just an ear infection - she'll be all right in a day or two. I'm not going to let it ruin my vacation.

Oh, and are you aware that if their precious little darling did in fact have Norwalk, it could easily have infected the entire ship? It's very difficult to get rid of the virus, too, and it can resurface on subsequent sailings and reinfect a number of passengers on those sailings as well.

The family in question should just be glad that the cruise line erred on the side of safety rather than jeopardizing their baby.

And as far as their not having passports, passengers are strictly advised prior to making their reservations that passports are strongly urged for those sailings on which they are not yet required. If they had followed that suggestion and spent just a little extra $$ to get those passports, they would have saved themselves a lot of trouble and expense. But no....they don't think beyond the end of their nose and think nothing will happen, then they want to blame everyone else when their poor decision comes back to bite them in the a$$.

Selfish people like this family are what have caused nearly all the cruise lines to recently change their minimum passenger cruising age to 6 months for shorter cruises and 12 months for longer sailings. The ship facilities are not what you would see in a land-based hospital. Would you want to trust the well being of your child in a critical situation to what amounts to no more than an urgent care clinic? I didn't think so.

C'mon people - stop having a knee jerk reaction to every story you read and stop to consider the logic behind the decisions made by others. If this child had died, then you'd be on this blog bitchin' about how the cruiseline should have made them leave the ship to get medical care at a hospital. Some of you are simply impossible to please!!!!

No at least 9,000 people to worry about every week... you are forgetting about the overlap and incubation period.

Julian Bray wrote:

No at least 9,000 people to worry about every week... you are forgetting about the overlap and incubation period.

Yep - you're correct- and we both know that it's been a continual problem across all the cruiselines, and even happened on one line's newest ship. Took two or three subsequent cruises before the crew stopped spraying bleach.

If the cruise line knew of the child’s flu and left him on board and the whole ship came down with the flu - the press would have murdered the cruise line for not having done something to prevent it. Waaaaaa Waaaaa Waaaaa,, Me Me Me.. With 3,000 others to consider the family should have volunteered to get off. BUT Royal should have assisted them with medical care on shore and flights home.
It is easy to see only one side- the poor little victim stranded in a foreign country by the big bad ship people. But could you imagine what would have happened if the kid stayed on board and 3 little old ladies died after picking up the flu from this kid???? A 7 month old should have stayed with grandma in the first place.

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I mean can you believe such a concieted cruise line?!No one, and I mean no one should do that, I
mean a child who was sick has to had his/her family kicked out, and didn't get a refund back!
Can you believe this?

I think the doctor made the right call for the child's safety and all and i think the cruise line should have refunded their flight and passports as well as their cruise costs.

hell no...the kid could have been host for an outbreak. they should have left the little crumb cruncher at home.no refund.

They should get a refund and/or voucher for another cruise, but otherwise.....if the kid was really sick and I was another passenger....I would want him off of that ship. Too many illnesses can spread too quickly in such confines.

We had a similar instance with Royal Caribbean last year.
My wife was feeling unwell and was told she was ill and needed hospital treatment by the ships doctor. They offloaded us mid atlantic in the Azores.
The hospital could find nothing wrong with her and neither could the UK doctor when we returned to London.
Not only were we offloaded, we were charged 3600 usd for 8 hours care in the ships hospital and also had stuff stolen from the cabin!
Stay away from Royal Caribbean, horrid people !

There actually treating most mex worst then dogs caribian cruis line is leaving 25mex in singapor eventho there not sic...... Not kool

Thay should sue, not many familys get time to vacation anymore that cruise line should have to pay for the lose of a family vaca, even if that child had that new flu they still should of not been treated that way.Thats just BS AND I FEEL BAD FOR THE FAMILY.