I had booked a cruise from Istanbul to Venice last summer aboard Oceania’s Riviera. I reported aboard with a very large knee, caused by my worst gout attack ever, complicated by an infection from a fall. I called my physician at home, who is on staff at Presbyterian-New York Weill Cornell Medical Center, and she suggested I not get treated until I got aboard ship and saw the ship’s doctor. The doctor, whom I judged in the end to be incompetent, wanted me immediately debarked before the ship sailed, so I could “have (my) knee opened and scraped.” I declined. He was in a panic about my high white cell count, not realizing that gout increases white cell count as surely as an infection, and for the same reason. So he treated me for the infection, and only upon my insistence treated me for the gout. He kept referring to me as “septic” and being in danger of losing my knee unless I immediately had it opened and scraped. He never believed I had gout, however, refused to talk to my doctor back home, saying “I don’t care what she thinks and I especially don’t care what you think,” and when he involuntarily debarked me into the Greek medical system three days later he noted on my medical certificate (from memory, but this is the gist) “Patient thinks he has gout. Uric acid level normal.” In other words, he was claiming I didn’t know what I was talking about.

The ship’s agent ashore was in charge of getting me into the only private hospital in Piraeus and obtaining rooms for us at a decent hotel–all at our expense, of course. I had an MRI which found plenty of soft tissue damage “consistent with gout,” and a blood culture which confirmed a routine, easily treatable bacterial infection above the patella but never in the knee or the bloodstream. In no way was I “septic” or in danger of losing the knee. Still, I went home, cancelling onward plans in Venice and northern Italy. The episode probably cost me $8,000 plus lost cruise fare.

When I got back to New York, I saw competent orthopedic surgeons and rheumatologists in two different hospitals, including Presbyterian-New York. They kept me on the drugs I had been taking for two weeks. “I know it looks bad,” said the ortho, but your knee is fine, and we’re not cutting into it. Furthermore, the smartest thing you ever did in your life was refusing to have the knee opened and scraped, which could have driven the infection into the knee and caused serious complications. “So what caused all the agitas?” I asked. “Gout, mainly,” said the competent doctor. “You had an infection I would probably have treated at the same time, but mostly it was gout.”

I had medical coverage, so that was 80% taken care of, the hotel stay and living expenses in Piraeus were my problem (but the food for our four day wait for test results was great) and Delta Airlines was wonderful, and changed our non-refundable flight arrangements at no charge. We’re still out the cruise fare, of course. I wrote to the Chairman of Prestige Cruise Holdings, which owns both Oceania and Regent, expecting some sort of makeup offer. I pointed out this was my fourth cruise on one of their very expensive ships (two on Oceania and two on Regent) and had one more booked for the coming year. They said they had acted appropriately, and they would do nothing to make it up to us.

I of course have cancelled the upcoming Oceania trip. I will never travel on one of their, or Regent’s, ships again. And everyone should be forewarned. I had no idea a vacation could turn out so badly. If only I’d had trip insurance, I would have saved thousands of dollars. In July we’re taking a Windstar cruise, and I purchased my trip insurance long ago.