Family's cruise ship emergency serves as reminder to get insurance, says travel agent

LAKE MARY, Fla. - A Central Florida family is expected to be back on U.S. soil Wednesday morning when the Norwegian Sun docks at Port Canaveral.

Nicole Mejias says she’s been trying to get her 4-year-old son to an American hospital after he developed a severe infection while on a cruise.

“We’re still concerned about vision and the spread of infection,” Mejias said in an interview with FOX 35 from the ship Tuesday.

Mejias says her son got a small cut above his eye before the family boarded the ship Friday.

She says it became infected during the trip, causing sepsis.

“His eyelid here is necrotic so he’ll probably need surgery,” she said.  

The family didn’t bring passports since it’s not required on some cruises, so Mejias says they’ve struggled to find a way back to the U.S.

Norwegian’s medical team has been treating Roman on board.

Mejias also says she did buy travel insurance, but she’s not sure what will be covered.

RELATED: Central Florida family struggling to get back to U.S. with sick child on cruise

“You want to be careful what travel insurance you should purchase. Make sure you look at the policy, making sure it has emergency evac, making sure it has medical,” said Effie Walthall, owner of On Deck Travel.

Walthall says every policy is different so you want to look at the fine print to find out how much is covered.

“A typical evac normally costs anywhere from 50k to 250k depending on where you are on the globe so it’s important to research that,” she said.

On top of that, she says even though passports aren’t required on some cruises, you should still bring them.

“It’s always important to have the passport because you just don’t know what’s going to happen during travel,” Walthall said.

The Mejias family is proof of that.

“We would have never thought that something like this could happen,” Mejias said.

The Mejias family says it plans to take Roman to the hospital as soon as the ship returns Wednesday.

We have made multiple attempts to reach Norwegian and have not heard back.

To find out what rights you have aboard a cruise ship, click here to read the Cruise Lines International Association Passenger Bill of Rights.