Carnival Cruise ship leaves with family's luggage, dialysis machine

[FarCenter]

MIAMI - A South Florida woman says she and her family were escorted off a Carnival Cruise ship after the cruise line could not find her daughter's dialysis machine.

Lillian Hensley, her disabled daughter, her son and her daughter-in-law were supposed to set sail for a five-day Carnival Cruise to Jamaica last weekend. Christine, her daughter, requires nightly dialysis, and Hensley said she received clearance from Carnival to bring a portable dialysis machine onboard.

Shortly after checking in Saturday, Hensley said she got a call from the ship's staff saying they couldn't find their luggage or the machine.

When she told the person that her daughter could not live without dialysis, she said she was told to get off the ship.

http://www.local10.com/news/Carnival-Cruise-ship-leaves-with-family-s-luggage-dialysis-machine/-/1717324/13554882/-/pv1p76z/-/index.html

More about your nearly non-existent rights as a passenger at http://www.businessinsider.com/carnival-cruise-sails-with-familys-medical-equipment-2012-5

[snooper2]

1. Um, they really had no other choice...

Unless you can pick those up at the local Lowes or something, they had to stay on schedule.

I'm sure they can compensate the family plenty...

[LeftyMom]

2. Did they get the machine back yet?

I'd keep an eye on CL/ebay. Weirder shit gets stolen and sold every day.

[jberryhill]

3. What should the cruise line have done?

When she told the person that her daughter could not live without dialysis, she said she was told to get off the ship.

Is this meant to suggest they should have kept her aboard?

It is a statistical likelihood that someone's luggage will be misplaced. That happens. There is no 100% failproof method otherwise.

They misplaced these people's luggage. Okay. So then what should they have done? Kept her aboard and have her die because someone put the luggage on the wrong conveyer?

[MineralMan]

4. Here's a photo of the most common portable dialysis machine:

It's not a small device. Even so, I think I'd put it on a wheeled cart and get it on the cruise ship myself if it was essential for my child's survival. I can't see what else the cruise line could have done under the circumstances. They might have made some sort of special arrangement, though, in loading it.

[broiles]

5. If it's essential for life, keep it with you.

I never put prescriptions in checked luggage. I certainly would never check a dialysis machine into the chaos the is a cruise line check in.

[MineralMan]

6. That would be my call, too, for sure. I never check anything

I must have.

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. I don't know if it is a customs thing or what

but every cruise I took, they took basically everything you brought with you when you boarded.

I hope they find it and can get it back to the family. I imagine that is an expensive piece of equipment.

[MineralMan]

8. I hadn't thought of that.

Last edited Thu May 24, 2012, 04:09 PM - Edit history (1)

I've never been on a cruise. Customs regulations could require it, I guess. If that's the case, the cruise line should have been extraordinarily careful to make sure it was handled properly. Personally, I'm not sure I'd have taken someone on a cruise who required daily dialysis. What if something in that machine malfunctioned?

A bad situation all around, for sure.