THE INDEPENDENT [UK] – A passenger who won a free Caribbean cruise ended up being charged $47,000 after he fell ill with the flu while onboard.
Mike Cameron and his girlfriend, Tamara Masterman from Minnesota won a free sailing with Norwegian Cruise Line that departed earlier this year.
The cruise line’s ship Encore set sail from Miami, Florida, on 5 January on a weeklong tour of the Caribbean.
However, while on the trip Mr Cameron came down with the flu, prompting him to visit the ship’s medical centre for treatment. The holidaymaker managed to recover after three days, he told Fox9.
Ms Masterman said that her boyfriend was “hooked up with catheters and IVs” during the treatment.
The passenger soon found out that the treatment had cost $47,000.
“You start thinking, ‘Are you going to lose your house, are you going to lose your cars’?”, Ms Masterman questioned.
“I don’t know how I’m ever going to pay them off, I’m going to have to, but, I don’t know how,” Mr Cameron added.
The cruise line reportedly charged two credit cards that were on file for the passenger, maxing out each of them. Mr Cameron still has $21,000 to pay.
Speaking to the local news station, Ms Masterman said that they bought travel insurance from Norwegian that covered expenses of up to $20,000, but have had no luck in filing a claim.
“The traveller’s insurance doesn’t want to pay it until we run it by our health insurance. The health insurance doesn’t want to pay it because it’s abroad,” Ms Masterman claimed.
“To turn around the day we are leaving and get handed a $47,000 bill I just didn’t even know what to do,” Mr Cameron told Fox9.
“Everyone in the medical ward kept saying ‘Don’t worry you have $20,000 coverage, you’ll be just fine’.”
The couple said they received a letter from Norwegian that stated its pricing is “closely comparable to other cruise lines and is what we believe to be fair and reasonable” …
