Imagine spending a fortune on a once-in-a-lifetime experience, a round-the-world holiday on a dream cruise, only to be deemed unfit for travelling and be stranded in Phillippines for weeks. Extremely unlucky, right? Well, this is the story of a 72-year-old British man, Christopher Chapel.
Apparently, Chapel had spent £17,500, over 17 lakhs in INR, for a dreamy round the world trip via cruise scheduled for earlier this year.
So, what happened?
According to a LadBible report, Chapel began feeling sick and nauseated midway through the trip. He visited the cruise’s doctor, who informed him he wouldn’t return on board and asked him to undergo some tests.
Chapel was then told his case was nothing more than a mild heatstroke. However, unfortunately, his cruise had abandoned him at the port by the time he got done with his tests.
He and his 51-year-old niece Karen Williams reached out to the cruise organisers and travel insurers nationwide. Chapel was told his condition was deemed critical, and he was also declared unfit to fly to Manila.
He said, “If there is a critical medical situation, as P&O keep saying, why haven’t I been told more about it or shown their medical report?” reported LadBible. “They have failed in their duty of care, first by leaving me on the island and now with all this secrecy about my health.”
He returned to the UK on the 7th of April. He took a boat from the island of Palawan to the Philippines’ capital. He could complete the remaining journey by air with a team of medics escorting him.
“It seems like a comical cock-up. The person who sent me away from the ship didn’t even examine me and must have known that the hospital tests would have taken longer than the ship would be at the port” he said.
“I was then stuck in a hospital bed with nothing wrong with me, it was ludicrous. I should have been allowed back on board, it wasn’t a serious health issue.”
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