What Happens if You Get Sick on a Cruise Ship
No one books a cruise expecting to become seriously ill while they’re onboard, but, sadly, it happens all too often. Passengers on cruises become ill due to everything from seasickness to virus outbreaks to spoiled food. If you’re going on a cruise, you’ll need to know what to expect if the worst should happen and you become ill.
Cruise ships have limited space that can spread the disease quickly among the passengers and staff. Catching a serious disease on a cruise ship can mean being airlifted out, especially if the disease is contagious and dangerous.
Do Cruise Ships Have Doctors?
Cruise ships prepare for cases where their passengers could get the flu or another illness. The smaller cruise ships will have one doctor on staff at a minimum. Bigger cruise ships might have an infirmary with multiple doctors treating patients.
For basic medication such as aspirin and seasickness meds, you can skip the doctor and buy the medication at the ship's store. If you need prescription meds, the doctor in the infirmary will prescribe them to you. Some of the conditions that the doctor can treat with drugs include:
- Respiratory problems
- Norovirus
- Flu
- Gastrointestinal problems
Can a Cruise Ship Treat Medical Emergencies?
While the medical facilities on a cruise ship won't have all of the medical equipment you might find in a hospital, cruise ships can still treat serious cases like heart attacks. They do have medical staff within a few minutes' walk, and they can stabilize patients. In many cases, after stabilizing the patient, they will airlift them out to receive better medical treatment.
Quarantine: Will the Ship Do It
Whether a ship chooses to quarantine you or not depends on the cruise ship's policy. When a cruise ship does announce that they are putting their passengers into quarantine, they take it seriously.
For example, norovirus and flu outbreaks will usually be handled by not allowing passengers to leave their cabins. They deactivate your keycard to discourage you from leaving. Failure to follow through with quarantine could mean banning from future cruises with the ship and getting disembarked at the next port.
Will the Cruise Ship Disembark Me?
In most cases, no, the cruise ship won't disembark you as long as you follow the rules, and they evaluate you as being healthy enough to continue. With contagious illnesses, they see it as enough to quarantine the passengers who have it.
Only in cases where your illness is dangerously contagious would they disembark you at the next port. Even when they do that, they will arrange for someone to take you to the hospital. Usually, the doctor decides this. They will either say you're too sick to continue cruising, or they will say that quarantine is sufficient.
Filling out the Questionnaire
No one on the cruise ship will call you out if you have a sneeze or cough. Before the ship disembarks from the port, they will request that you fill out a questionnaire. They will ask if you have vomited or had a fever in the last few days.
Someone who indicates that they were sick within the last week may get pulled aside for further medical checkup from the doctor. If they deem you as having a fever or illness, they have the legal authority to prevent you from boarding.
Cruise insurance may be a wise thing to purchase before buying a cruise line ticket. This covers your medical expenses provided you bought the right insurance policy. In some cases, you may have a right to sue the cruise line if your illness directly relates to negligence on the part of the cruise ship. Lawsuits against cruise ships can be tough without the right evidence, so if you plan to sue you’ll need a lawyer’s assistance.