To take or not to take travel insurance. That’s a subject that’s beyond the scope of one post, and often an individual decision. One of my clients who takes very expensive trips informed me years ago that he “self-insures,” figuring, if he cancels one in 20 trips, he will still come out ahead. (So far he hasn’t canceled any.)
But a frequent response I get from travelers is “Well, even if I’m feeling lousy, we’re still going.”
And other travelers might take insurance, but if they feel just a little under the weather, they decide they don’t want to skip the vacation and decide to go anyway..
These days, however, maybe not.
CLIA – Cruise Lines International Association has announced that their members will be using “enhanced screening procedures” during the current H1N1/swine flu virus. Passengers will be “required to complete and sign a written questionnaire prior to boarding a CLIA member cruise ship anywhere in the world.”
And there will be a “secondary screening” for passengers who report symptoms or have other risk factors. Medical staff will make case by base decisions on boarding. CLIA adds that “passengers will not be permitted to travel if they exhibit influenza-like-illness or meet the suspect case conditions for Influenza A (H1N1) as defined by CDC.”
This means, say, if you think you just have a little food poisoning, but you look as though you could have flu, you may not be going anywhere.
Ditto if you’ve been around people with flu, or if you have other symptoms or anything that sets off alarms. And even though the hysteria seems to be dying down, it’s their call, not yours.
No word yet on what happens for passengers who are denied boarding and haven’t taken insurance, but I wouldn’t count on getting money back. At least easily. Now, if a passenger is denied boarding and turns out NOT to have swine flu, well, that’s an interesting legal issue.
It’s enough to make you long for the days that cruisers just worried about getting seasick.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m sorry.. but in todays environment… I’d lie like a rug. I mean seriously.. even if I had trip insurance.. to be denied boarding at the cruise ship would mean the loss of services already taken (say flights, hotels, vacation time from work, etc.)
Plus.. do travel policies cover denied boarding?
Who is going to be honest on those questionnaires? Sounds like a legal departments CYA to me.
Mindy, I have a feeling most people would agree with you. And if I thought I just had food poisoning or something, I would too. But wonder how many people it will catch with something that isn’t swine flu. We met a guy on a Mexico cruise two years ago at one of the last ports, he was not feeling well the first night, thought it was something he ate. Nurse said it could be norovirus and quarantined him in cabin for five days. He said he had left his cabin once for a soda and the waiter took his card, ran it, and told him to get back in the room. He said he was pretty sure after the fact it was food related from something he ate before he got on board, also said he was NEVER going to a ship’s doctor for anything none life-threatening again.
This is not news. The cruise lines have been checking passengers for medical reasons for years, looking for symptoms that might indicate norovirus.
As long as they don’t catch you tossing your cookies…or looking like you’re about to do so.