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11.06.2007 - An Uninsured Cruise – A True Story (Back
to News)
Reprinted with the permission of the author, Kristin Webb-Walker
I've never participated in responding to the emails that we travel agents get, but
I wanted to share a true story with travel agents - my own. I have tried to abbreviate.
I've left a lot out - some things I can't remember and a lot of it I wish I could
forget. Parts of it are fuzzy, and some things they said I'll most likely never
remember. And, part of it just hurts too much to talk about right now.
Last March, I boarded Royal Caribbean's Splendor of the Seas with my two teens,
17 and 15. My sister was with me along with her daughter, her son and daughter-in-law.
We didn't take the same shore excursion when we got to Cozumel, but met up later
at Palancar Beach to spend the remainder of the day. I remember specifically telling
my oldest son, Justin, that I forgot our travel insurance. I NEVER go without it,
but when we got to the ship, just as we started to sail, I remembered that I'd forgotten
it. In all my years of traveling, it had always been something I'd done fairly soon
after booking a trip, but with the Spring Break season I had so many clients traveling
that I forgot to take care of MYSELF.
My son reminded me that we'd traveled on "a zillion" (well, not that many) cruises
and never had any problems. I dismissed it and didn't worry about it anymore.
That day in Cozumel, around lunchtime, we decided to zip down to the beach to meet
my sister and her family. The boys have grown up on motorcycles and I even rode
a motorcycle as a teen in the country. The idea to rent a scooter was appealing
as it would provide us with more freedom to do what we wanted and get back to the
ship in plenty of time before sailing. The first mistake was getting a scooter rental.
We arrived at the beach just fine but when we got ready to return around 4:00 p.m.,
my son discovered his scooter's back tire was low. That meant that my younger son
would have to ride behind me. I wasn't used to having a passenger.
My sister and her family took a cab and went into town for a quick shopping excursion
and would meet us back onboard in time for the sail-away at 7:00 p.m. As my son
and I pulled out onto the highway and accelerated, my helmet strap broke. My son
(the one riding with me) grabbed the helmet and tried to right it on my head, hoping
to hold it. However, it wouldn't stay steady and in the hassle with the helmet,
I lost control and hit a concrete embankment while traveling around 35 to 40 mph.
My son, thankfully, landed in cactus but I wasn't so lucky. I flipped several times,
and landed on rocks.
I don't remember too much after this, but my sons tell me that it took an hour for
the ambulance to get to me. They feared for my life. Imagine having your children
thinking their mother is dead! They tell me that as the ambulance crew tried to
drag me out of the rocks by pulling on my leg. Turns out, it was broken and they
say I screamed in severe pain (thankfully, I don't remember that part). The ambulance
took me to one hospital, which wouldn't help me because guess what? I didn't have
travel insurance. Injured, I couldn't remember how old I was, nor being on a cruise
ship. I kept thinking it was still January. The cruise line was notified but my
sister (who was cross-referenced) was not notified until just before sailing. The
ship's desk didn't verify my injuries, nor did they work to ensure the safety of
my underage children. My sister was told she could not leave the ship as they were
preparing to sail. She was informed that I had a minor accident and was already
on my way home that evening via plane with the kids (we still don't know where they
got that story).
I was moved to a hospital for divers, which claimed to work with Blue Cross. Here,
my memory clears. I remembered hospital staff constantly coming in and demanding
money. They took my CHILDREN and my bank card, and made them attempt to draw out
a large sum of money (thankfully, they didn't know the right PIN).
The scooter rental company claimed I owed $450 for the scooter damages. I had taken
out the extra insurance that was supposed to cover accidents, but guess what? They
claimed it didn't. They repeatedly came into my room and threatened to have me arrested.
Yes, arrested - all while I had a broken leg and multiple facial injuries. My son
got no medical attention and was in shock, with a bruised rib, a torn rotator cuff,
and assorted scrapes and cuts.
The hospital staff tried to take an X-ray but their machine wasn't working properly.
They determined that I had a broken leg but they were unsure how badly it was injured.
They offered the services of an orthopedic doctor to operate and fix my leg. I declined
to let them do this. The hospital took pictures and sent the photographs of my face
(FULL of rocks, bleeding and cut) to my husband and mother in the US demanding that
$2,000 (later it went to $5,000) be wired immediately into the hospital’s bank account.
THIS was a problem. First of all, they didn't have that kind of cash on hand. Second
of all, it was now after 7:00 p.m. and no bank was open.
During this time, I received no pain medication, no fluids, no antibiotics, no water
or food. My leg was placed in a splint and I was put into a concrete block room
where I faded in and out of consciousness. My children were not allowed to stay
with me. Fortunately, I remembered a girl named Chelle from my area that lived in
Cozumel and owned a diving operation. My kids relayed this information to my husband
who contacted her for help. Chelle promptly came to the hospital to take possession
of the children. The cruise line certainly wasn't concerned about them as they'd
already left with our travel documents onboard in the cabin safe. This created another
problem - no documents to fly my boys home. Not knowing what else to do, the teens
and Chelle developed a plan to take a ferry to Cancun, hire a taxi to get to a bus
stop, and then take a four-plus hour bus ride to Costa Maya to catch up to the ship.
The boys spoke no Spanish. Once you get out of the tourist area, no one speaks English.
The children were not in the nice tourist areas anymore. My oldest son tells me
of their adventure. The youngest son was still in shock, and hurt. Justin had to
half carry his brother and what little they had with them. My 17-year-old quickly
became the adult. He couldn't sleep the night before for fear of missing the ferry.
The next morning, Nick, Justin's brother, was in very bad shape and sore, so he
had a hard time helping him. On the ferry there were not a bunch of US tourists
who they might turn to for help. They reached the bus station but their bus did
not show up.
Now, you can imagine the fear they went through as their cell phones were dead and
they couldn't call anyone. The last time anyone had spoken to them was prior to
getting on the ferry (prior to leaving they NEVER told me they were going alone
because I wouldn't have allowed it). They did what they thought was right. One of
my sons started to cry out of desperation and fear, thinking they'd missed their
bus and no one could speak English to help them. Finally, they found someone able
to tell them in broken English that the bus was just late. When it finally arrived,
it did so along with six other buses. They asked several strangers for help to get
on the right bus and after much confusion boarded a bus taking a chance that it
was the right one.
Four hours later, they saw a sign for Costa Maya immediately after having made a
stop. Justin began to panic thinking they'd missed their stop so he stood up and
began asking for help. A man was able to explain to the driver what was going on
and they found a taxi stand where the kids were able to get a cab to the pier. Pulling
up to the pier, the children heard the ship's horn sounding and saw them pulling
up the gangway. They had to run (with Nick injured) to get on the ship. Meanwhile,
my sister was still onboard yelling at the purser's desk because the kids weren't
there and the ship was leaving without them. She was promptly told that there would
be someone at the pier who would help them (she asked them, "Like they did in Cozumel?").
She said about the time that my nephew was getting ready to head outside to jump
overboard, they were paged to come down to the gangway to get the children.
That means that the cruise line does not have a policy that ensures that underage
children are seen after when there is an accident.
Back in Cozumel, I was still being held for what I consider ransom money. They had
done nothing for me. I had a face full of rocks, a broken leg and no pain medication,
food, water or fluids through IV. They did try an IV, but when the air ambulance
crew finally got to me, it had the same date and time on it as the one they hung
when they checked me into the hospital. It wasn't working.
At home, my husband was trying to get in touch with someone from Royal Caribbean
Cruise Line in Miami. He finally reached the right person but by then it was too
late to arrange an air evacuation for me on Thursday. We had to wait until Friday.
Royal Caribbean did agree to LOAN us $15,000 so I could leave Cozumel for the US.
I was told that I must repay the loan promptly. If you are like us, you don't have
that kind of money lying around, so it will take me a long time to pay this loan.
The hospital in Cozumel waited until they learned that the air ambulance crew was
coming for me before they decided to remove the rocks from my face. They had been
instructed by my husband that a plastic surgeon was in Houston waiting on me to
repair my face and mouth. They were instructed to remove the rocks and pack the
cuts without stitches. They came into my little room and told me they were going
to proceed to fix my face in broken English and asked for permission to remove the
rocks. After giving this, they held me down and improperly administered pain medication.
What I mean is that they put the needle into my face, pushed it in too far and shot
ALL the numbing medication down my throat instead of into my lips and gums. They
didn't wait for the other areas on the outside (my nose and under my nose), nor
the tear on the right side of my mouth, to numb and started digging rocks out and
sewing me up with a very large needle and thread. I tried to stop them, and they
became very rough. All I could do was lie there and cry and plead for them to stop
but they would not.
The next morning, the hospital believed they were getting a wire transfer for $5,000
USD, so they released me to the air crew. Once I was airborne, the wire transfer
was halted by the bank.
In Houston, we learned that I had split my tibia (the lower leg bone) like a piece
of wood from the top to almost three-fourths of the way down. It was also broken
horizontally in two and my knee was shattered. It took them two hours to clean me
up and treat my facial cuts for infection. The doctors were unable to do anything
initially to correct the bad work done by the doctor in Mexico. They determined
the Mexican doctor did not use the right thread and as a result butchered my mouth.
I used to play trumpet at church - I'll never play again.
It took me three months to walk again and I'm still struggling. I can walk about
1/10th a mile now but it is exhausting.
I'm telling my story in hopes that you will pass this along to others. Do NOT let
your clients travel without insurance. If they don't take it, give it as a gift
if possible. This experience cost me a lot of money, but it could have cost me my
children. Houston said if they'd opened me up for leg surgery at that hospital,
it could have cost me my leg, my ability to recover and walk again, or even my life
if it became infected. It has cost me my musical talent. It has cost us a lot of
money in traveling between Houston and Little Rock. It has cost us a lot of money
in my Blue Cross major medical deductible, co-pay after co-pay, prescriptions and
therapy.
My husband was unable to visit me in Mexico as he is a Canadian citizen and in process
of applying for his green card. As a result, he was unable to leave the country
as they would not let him back in. He called Immigration and begged, but to no avail.
My father didn't know if he should come to me, or go looking for his grandsons?
By the time he learned the children were safe, the air ambulance had been arranged.
My mom has no passport.
I'm going to be working on a grassroots movement to require cruise lines to revisit
their policy regarding underage children. What happens when the children are stranded
and parent(s) are injured? Who is responsible for getting these children back into
the US to a responsible party? If anyone's interested in helping me lobby for change,
please let me know.
I hope that you read this and that if you or your clients think that trip insurance
is a waste of money, please tell or let them read my story. Even if they don't insure
their trip cost, they NEED basic medical coverage and evacuation coverage. Their
children need to have someone looking out for them, and many of these travel insurance
companies will get someone to them to help them. Also, don't assume that the cruise
line is going to look out for those children. Encourage parents to be safe and take
NO CHANCES when traveling with children.
For those who are sharing my pain, please don't feel bad for me. I am truly BLESSED
that my family made it through this. I haven't lost my home due to medical bills.
I haven't lost my children and I am walking (slowly but surely).
Thanks for listening!
Kristin Webb-Walker
Ships 'n Sand Travel
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