A Kentucky couple's dream cruise vacation has turned into a nightmare before Christmas following a medical emergency.
According to WKYT, Michelle Manuel and her wife Rose Johnson were enjoying a Caribbean cruise gifted to them from friends when Rose fell ill, stranding the couple in a hospital in the Bahamas.
"I just keep telling everybody, 'we didn't plan for this. We didn't plan for this to happen,'" said Manuel. "We were looking forward to it. We've been planning it since the summer and we were just really excited to leave. I know I've always wanted to go on a cruise."
According to a GoFundMe campaign started Saturday, Rose has an obstructed bowel that will require surgery. Her medical expenses are piling up because her insurance won't cover costs outside of the U.S. What's more, the couple only needed birth certificates to travel and don't have the necessary passports to re-enter the U.S.
The women are disabled and live on fixed income.
"They [the hospital] wanted me to give them $2,000 cash or else they weren't even going to see her at all," Manuel told WKYT. "They said I had to pay $750 dollars cash right then or they won't even send her out for the CT scan."
"It could be life or death. He [the doctor] even said if it's the one thing, she would have to have emergency surgery."
Manuel, who plans to go to the U.S. embassy for assistance Monday, could only advise other travelers to prepare for the worst. "I guess, come prepared more for expenses that you're not expecting," she said.
Working with a travel agent and purchasing travel insurance are always two excellent places to start.
The cautionary tale comes not long after another American couple's Caribbean cruise was cut short when they missed their ship's departure out of Havana, Cuba.
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