{"id":40519,"date":"2025-03-11T23:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T03:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/?p=40519"},"modified":"2025-03-11T23:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T03:22:12","slug":"minnesota-man-wins-free-norwegian-cruise-vacation-then-catches-the-flu-onboard-and-gets-hit-with-47k-medical-bill-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/minnesota-man-wins-free-norwegian-cruise-vacation-then-catches-the-flu-onboard-and-gets-hit-with-47k-medical-bill-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota man wins free Norwegian cruise vacation – then catches the flu onboard and gets hit with $47K medical bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nA Minnesota man won a free weeklong cruise vacation to the Caribbean for him and his girlfriend, only to catch the flu onboard and get slapped with an eye-popping $47,000 medical bill.<\/p>\n

Mike Cameron and his girlfriend Tamra Masterman won a free Norwegian cruise trip from the Grand Casino Hinckley that set sail out of Miami on Jan. 5, he told The Post Thursday night.
\nBut what started as a dream trip to the tropical destination quickly went awry when Cameron, of Braham, came down with the flu.
\nThe ailing passenger sought treatment at the medical center onboard the Norwegian Encore ship and recovered three days later.
\nAs the couple\u2019s tour of the Caribbean came to an end, Cameron was shocked to learn he was stuck with the nearly $50,000 medical bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just flabbergasted by the whole thing. I guess I am just used to the medical system in the United States. I can\u2019t believe it happened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The bill came as a shock as crew members assured him not to worry as he received treatment.
\n\u201cOne lady in the medical ward that said that he had the traveler\u2019s insurance and that meant $20,000 of coverage,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

The cruise line maxed out two credit cards Cameron had on file and he still owes $21,000, he added.<\/p>\n

The couple had purchased travel insurance from the cruise line that covered expenses of up to $20,000 and have health insurance \u2014 but Cameron is stuck in a holding pattern, with each claiming the other is responsible for the bill, he told Fox 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe traveler\u2019s insurance doesn\u2019t want to pay it until we run it by our health insurance. The health insurance doesn\u2019t want to pay it because it\u2019s abroad,\u201d Masterman explained.<\/p>\n

Stuck in limbo, Cameron isn\u2019t sure how he\u2019ll afford the steep bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how I\u2019m ever going to pay them off, I\u2019m going to have to, but, I don\u2019t know how,\u201d he told Fox 9.<\/p>\n

The couple said the bill accompanied a letter from Norwegian stating that its pricing was \u201cclosely comparable to other cruise lines and is what we believe to be fair and reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cameron has one piece of advice for travelers after his ordeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want people to be aware, if you go on a cruise make sure you got good traveler\u2019s insurance,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you are out on international waters, it\u2019s a whole different story.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Minnesota man won a free weeklong cruise vacation to the Caribbean for him and his girlfriend, only to catch the flu onboard and get slapped with an eye-popping $47,000 medical bill. Mike Cameron and his girlfriend Tamra Masterman won a free Norwegian cruise trip from the Grand Casino Hinckley that set sail out of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[251,89],"class_list":["post-40519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wls-news","tag-251","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/news.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40520,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40519\/revisions\/40520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/worldlatinstar.com\/wls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}