Cruise Line Passenger Pregnancy Policies

Jan115 · March 18, 2013

Just ran across this article on Philly.com, about an expectant couple who discovered a short time before their day of embarkation on a 5-night Carnival Fascination cruise that they would be denied boarding. Carnival decided to hold fast to their rule of banning passengers who are 25 weeks or more pregnant. In addition, the cruise line did not refund them the fare.

Here's the article - feel free to weigh in!

<a href='http://mobile.philly.com/travel/?wss=/philly/travel&id=196627331'>http://mobile.philly.com/travel/?wss=/philly/travel&id=196627331</a>

I, for one, even if I were just 12 weeks along, would prefer to stay close to home where I have access to my own doctor and hospital. If an emergency should happen, the last place I would want to be is in the middle of the ocean or in a strange land.

Secondly, in the case of this couple, they seemed unaware of the pregnancy rule when they booked, nor were they advised of such by their TA, even though it is clearly stated in the cruise contract.

By the way, this is purely coincidence (I hope) that this concerns a Carnival ship. All cruiseline's have pregnancy policies in place.

WeCruiseToo · March 18, 2013

Way back at the start of our first cruise, the ship had to make an emergency stop at Cabo San Lucas to get a woman who had gone into early labor to the hospital. By the end of the cruise it was announced that Mom and baby girl were both fine and that the parents had chosen “Jubilee” for the baby’s middle name – that’s the name of the Carnival ship we were on!

Just like most other cruise line policies, this one is in place to protect their guests. Shipboard medical facilities are not really equipped to take care of emergency premature labor and some of the ports that are visited may not have the necessary facilities as well – so why risk it?