A life on the ocean wave is one that many travellers dream of; for young or old and active or laid back, with many cruise vessels being self-contained floating cities where you can go to sleep with the sunset on the horizon and wake in a new and exciting country every day, it’s easy to see why.
Sure, this type of holiday is not for everyone, with some concerned about getting sick miles from land, others harbouring a dread of bad weather and some kept away by the fear that everything they buy on board will be exorbitantly priced to suit the captive audience.
These worries can be easily washed away with a little bit of research into the realities of being on a mega entertainment hub that can cater to almost any dream or desire, where food, drinks, entertainment and facilities can be included in the fare on vessels equipped with state of the art navigation systems that slip effortlessly between destinations whilst avoiding any little black cloud and being manned (and ‘womanned’) by an army of professionals from every field of life.
Staff and facilities on board will usually include doctors, general wellbeing and other healthcare workers, crèche` and children’s activities, sports advisors, life guards, entertainers, butlers, cocktail waiters and all manner of some of the best shops and services you could wish for in any metropolis. Ohh, and there are also usually a few sailors on board, one would hope!
The hospital bays on board ships nowadays are as good as you will find anywhere and whilst their facilities wont stretch to brain surgery or organ transplants, they can usually manage many minor ailments and in some cases outshine some hospital facilities in one or two of the countries we can think of.
Whatever their on board facilities, so long as you have an adequate travel insurance plan, even if the ships medical team are unable to attend to you whilst at sea, help is only just over the horizon. Did you know that QBE Assist, if required, can even send helicopter evacuation teams to your cruise liner to extract you to a suitable hospital if it will save your life?! Many other insurance companies will at best wait for the cruise line to off load you at the next port, where you are left to the lottery of what facilities will be available there.
Of course, the cruise line operator will do their best to get you there quickly, as its in their best interests to have you disembarked as quickly as possible so as not to ruin their reputation or break down the moral of the other travellers, and they may even be able to offer some in house treatment en route and have the bill waiting for you when you get home.
When the chips are down it's safe to say most travellers prefered option is to have the ships representative call the QBE Assist and have treatments or other care authorised and often billed direct to QBE, so you don’t need deep pockets to find payments up front, or in the most life threatening of situations, that the QBE Assist team are on standby ready to send aid to where ever their policy holders may be.
