Carol Palk was sick and bleeding from an ulcer in her stomach riding in the back of a cab during a five-hour trip through a dangerous Mexican state, so that she and her husband could catch a plane that would eventually fly them back to the United States via Mexico City. Neither Carol nor her husband, Bertram "Buzz" Palk can speak Spanish, so they could not communicate beyond showing their driver their airline tickets. Hours earlier, she and her husband were marooned on a foreign shore by the crew of their cruise ship because they could not treat her ulcer. Carol Palk, a 79-year-old from Whippany, was sailing on the Allure of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean Cruises ship registered in the Bahamas but sailing out of Miami, with her husband and friends from their Rotary Club. The seven-night cruise, which stopped in ports throughout the western Caribbean Sea, was the couple's 16th cruise vacation. More than 20 million people cruise each year, according to TripSavvy.com. But it is unclear how many people find themselves in a situation in which they are forced from their ship in a foreign country because of a medical emergency. The ship's crew was following a company policy. "Our actions depend entirely on the condition and needs of our patients," said Owen Torres, a Royal Caribbean Cruises spokesman. "In this case, our ship’s doctor and medical crew initially treated the guest in our medical facility but required additional and urgent medical attention that could only be provided in a hospital." CRUISE GONE WRONG:After Norovirus sickens 402 people, Royal Caribbean cruise ship returns to Port Canaveral TRAVEL:Flying soon? Here are five things you should know about airline changes VACATION DISASTERS:Norwegian cruise ship based at Port Canaveral crashes into dock in Puerto Rico TRAVEL PROBLEMS:3 times vacation travel went wrong Carnival and Norwegian cruise lines, two other popular cruise ship companies, did not respond when asked if they have similar policies. During the trip, Palk sought treatment from the ship's doctor when she noticed blood in her stool, a sign of internal bleeding. That's when she got shocking news. The doctor on board told Palk that he was monitoring her red blood cell count and that if it dropped below a certain level he would be forced to take her off the ship. "The doctor told me, 'I'm going to kick you off the ship' if the level dropped any further," Palk said. That's exactly what happened. After Palk's blood count dropped again the following day, the couple were told to pack their belongings because they were being removed from the ship at the next port-of-call. In a matter of hours, the Palks were left watching the ship sail off from a dock in Puerto Costa Maya in Mexico on Jan. 11, just two days before the ship was scheduled to arrive back in Miami. "I just had no idea what was going to happen to me or my wife," the 82-year-old Bertram Palk said. The mistreatment of passengers by a cruise line does not surprise Jim Walker, a maritime lawyer based in Miami. Many cruise ships are registered in foreign countries, just like the Allure of the Seas, so passengers are in a legal "no man's land" when aboard some of these vessels. "Legally, there is not much people can do in these cases," Walker said. "If the couple were to sue, they'd have to prove injury or negligence to get anywhere." Instead of going to a hospital, the Palks opted to return to the United States. So the ship's staff arranged for a $600 taxi to Cancún and two flights: one from Cancún to Mexico City and one from Mexico City to Miami, totaling an additional $1,039. The couple also had to pay $74 for entering Mexico, a fee that was collected at the ship's dock. "I told them we didn't want a flight to Miami and that we wanted a flight to Newark, but they said it was too late," Bertram Palk said. "They didn't even ask us." The Palks' journey home took a grueling 24 hours that was so strenuous Carol Palk decided to write an impromptu will on one of her flights. Ron Francioli, the Whippany mayor, who was part of the Rotary Club group with the Palks, was desperate to get in contact with his friends during their trek home. "The way Royal Caribbean handled this was a complete disaster," Francioli said. "I was up through the night trying to talk to them." The more than 200-mile taxi ride from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancún through the Yucatan Peninsula took the couple through the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, where a Level 2 travel warning has been issued by the State Department, on a scale that has four levels. Story continues below photo gallery The warning calls for increased caution in Quintana Roo due to crime in which bystanders have been injured and killed, the State Department website says. The first level calls for normal precautions, the third level advises citizens to "reconsider travel" and the fourth warns citizens not to travel to the area at all. Bertram Palk was relieved when the driver asked "bathroom?" a couple of hours into the ride, because his medication forces him to make frequent trips to restrooms. The bathroom was behind a gas station, where a group of men were standing. "I was using the urinal and looking over my shoulder," Palk said. The couple were unsure about what to do in the foreign country. They don't speak Spanish and they didn't know where to turn. The United States has an embassy in Mexico City and nine consulates general and nine consular agencies that act as extensions of the consulates general. There is a consular agency about 9 miles from Mexico City International Airport and a consular agency in Cancún, but the couple did not think to call them. "When a U.S. citizen needs assistance overseas, the department works to provide all appropriate consular assistance," said Marlo Cross-Durrant, a State Department spokeswoman. Fatal crash:Driver charged in Wayne crash that killed three had prior DWI conviction<doc-sep>A couple frantically tried to stop a cruise ship that was leaving without them in the Bahamas after they turned up 45 minutes late to board the vessel. The couple was on a Royal Caribbean ship on Feb. 15 when they actually missed the boat. The unidentified man and woman were supposed to get back to the ship by 3:30 p.m., which is the last call for passengers, but when they showed up at the dock late the door was already closed. Video captured the pair looking dejected at the ship leaves them behind. The stranded couple was on the last day of a seven-night cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship. The trip started in Miami and made stops in Roatan, Costa Maya, Cozumel and Nassau, which is where this video was taken. CBS Travel Editor Peter Greenberg spoke to Inside Edition about the incident and how you can avoid being left behind. “Give yourself a 90-minute rule. The 90-minute rule is when they tell you the ship is sailing at 6, get back at 4:30. There are no repercussions to the cruise line and it is in the cruise line's contract you can’t be late. The cruise line is going to sail but the rules are the rules — you miss the ship, you are chasing it,” he said. If you do get left behind, your options are limited. “The responsibility is totally on you. If you miss that ship, you better get on a plane to the next port,” Greenberg told Inside Edition. RELATED STORIES<doc-sep>A couple from New Jersey claim they were kicked off a cruise ship in Mexico while one of them was having a medical emergency. Carol Palk and her husband, Bertram, from Whippany, New Jersey, set sail from Miami on January 6 aboard Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas seven-day cruise headed for the Bahamas, Mexico and Honduras, according to New Jersey's The Record, but when Palk appeared at risk of needing a blood transfusion days later, the cruise allegedly kicked the couple off the ship. The 79-year-old reportedly noticed blood in her stool, a possible sign of internal bleeding, on January 9, three days after the ship's departure. "I knew the signs, and I suspected it was a bleeding ulcer," Palk told Yahoo Lifestyle. Palk visited the ship's infirmary, and the doctor began monitoring her red blood cell count, according to The Record. She said the doctor told her that if it dropped to a certain level, she would have to be removed from the ship, because it was not equipped to handle her medical needs if she should need a transfusion. "They weren't equipped if I had needed a blood transfusion, so they wanted me off the ship," Palk told Yahoo Lifestyle. "The doctor said he would 'kick me off.'" In a statement to Newsweek, a spokesman from the cruise line said the doctor determined a hospital in the area would be better suited to treat Palk, but she had allegedly declined immediate treatment. "Our onboard medical team initially treated the guest in our medical facility, then determined that, for the guest's health and safety, additional medical attention was needed that could best be provided by a hospital in the area," the statement read. "The guest declined our professional medical recommendation to seek immediate local care and decided instead to return home." The couple was removed from the ship on January 11 in Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico, The Record reported. The ship was two days away from arriving back in Miami. A police officer reportedly charged the couple $75 once they got off the ship to enter Mexico. They then took a five-hour cab ride from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun, which cost them $600, and took a flight from Mexico City to Miami for $1,039 with a layover, according to The Record. The couple landed in Newark, New Jersey, on January 12 and went to a hospital, where Palk had an endoscopy, Yahoo Lifestyle reported. They reportedly spent more than $3,000 just to get back to the U.S. but were reimbursed $1,300 by their travel insurance, the publication reported. The couple also said the Royal Caribbean issued them $314 in credit and a 20 percent coupon off their next cruise. Palk told Yahoo Lifestyle she has no plans to go. "We don't want to go," Palk told the publication. "If they were worried, they could have airlifted us. But they didn't want the responsibility."<doc-sep>A couple who turned up 45 minutes late to get back on their cruise ship were left stranded in the Bahamas – and the whole thing was filmed. The pair were on a Royal Caribbean cruise on 15 February when they missed the boat, literally. The Symphony of the Seas ship was docked at Nassau port, and passengers had been given an all-aboard time of 3.30pm. At 4.15pm, the gangway was removed and doors were closed – the couple arrived five minutes later. Video taken from the neighbouring Norwegian Bliss cruise liner shows them arrive, run to the front of the ship and converse with workers onboard, who presumably told them it was too late. The thrusters start up and the water begins churning as the propellers kick into gear. “No getting on at this point!” reads the caption on the video. The incident occurred on the sixth day of a seven-day cruise; from Nassau, the ship was returning to Miami, Florida. Whether or not a ship will wait for late passengers depends on a number of factors, including port regulations and schedules, the number of passengers who are late, and the whims of the captain, according to Cruisecritic.co.uk. The 10 hottest places on earth Show all 10 1 /10 The 10 hottest places on earth The 10 hottest places on earth Eastern desert landscape near Wadi Halfa, Sudan istock The 10 hottest places on earth Camels near Timbuktu, Mali istock The 10 hottest places on earth Mosaic Canyon in Death Valley, California, US istock The 10 hottest places on earth Part of a sulphur lake in Dallol, Ethiopia Carl Court/Getty Images The 10 hottest places on earth Dasht-e Loot, Iran Flickr/ninara The 10 hottest places on earth Tirat Zvi, Israel Wikimedia/Dorontalmi The 10 hottest places on earth The desert near Aziziyah, Libya Rudolf Baumann/Flickr/ruba The 10 hottest places on earth Children enjoying the sun and sand at Bandar-e Mahshahr, Iran Wikimedia/Adam Jones The 10 hottest places on earth Ghadames, Libya istock The 10 hottest places on earth Kebili, Tunisia istock If passengers do miss a cruise, they will usually incur the cost of getting themselves home and any accommodation needed in the interim. A flight from Nassau to Miami costs from around £140 one way. Earlier this month, The Independent reported on a cruise ship that smashed into the docks in Puerto Rico, sinking the pier. Video shows the Norwegian Epic cruise liner veering towards the San Juan docks, destroying two mooring points in the process. The vessel departed from Port Canaveral in Florida on 9 February for a seven-day cruise around the British Virgin Islands. However, technical issues onboard meant the ship had to divert to Puerto Rico. Footage filmed from above captures the moment the liner slowly crashes into first one mooring point, then another, both of which are submerged below the water.<doc-sep>
This is what happens when you arrive late to board your cruise This is what happens when you arrive late to board your cruise... It sure pays to be on time, especially when it comes to catching a flight or, in this case, boarding a cruise ship. In an incident caught on video earlier this month, a couple have been captured frantically running alongside a cruise ship after arriving at the terminal in the Bahamas 45 minutes after the all-aboard call time. The clip posted to Youtube shows the man and woman trying desperately to wave down Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas cruise ship as it pulled away at 4.15pm from Nassau port in the Bahamas. According to the person who shot the video after witnessing the incident from a nearby cruise ship, ground crew started packing up the gangway for a prompt 4.15pm departure. Five minutes after doors closed and the cruise was set to depart, the couple arrived at the port and soon realised their fate. As the ship pulls away, the couple run alongside with the man screaming ‘nooooo’ before both passengers stop in their tracks, and watch the ship drift away. After three minutes, the ship starts blaring its departure horn signalling a final goobye to the port — and the helpless couple are left behind. The downtrodden duo seek help from port workers, but appear to be left on their own as they walk down the dock as the ship breaks away. News.com.au has contacted Royal Caribbean for comment. According to Escape, if a passanger does miss the ship, there are ways to get your trip back on track. The advice is to always carry the cruise lines emergency contact number in your smartphone, or have them written down. These numbers should be on the daily program so remember to take it with you when getting off at a port. A passenger should make immediate contact with ship representatives, both by phone and at the terminal, to figure out your action plan. Keep your credit cards and passport or photocopy of the main passport page with you while on shore — you may need them. You can catch up to the ship at its next port of call and the ship’s representatives will help get you there, but it will be at your cost including any transport and accommodation. One cruise line’s contract states: “Guest is responsible for the cost of the transfer, including but not limited to, governmental fees, visa fees, subsistence, lodging, airfare, launch fare, car hire or agency fees.” Some ports may be relatively close and easily accessible, but miss the ship in Vancouver and you may be looking at a flight to Hawaii if crossing the Pacific, or trying to get to isolated towns in Alaska if the trip is headed north.