Aymonds

Brant Aymond's paddleboard accident on a coral reef in Honduras turned his and his wife Danielle's honeymoon cruise over Thanksgiving week into a bloody, painful experience.

 WWL-TV photo

A couple from Geismar thought a cruise would be a perfect way to spend their honeymoon over the Thanksgiving holiday week, according to a report by WWL-TV.

But things went bad quickly after Brant Aymond was injured in a paddleboard accident, and he and his wife, Danielle, say he received substandard medical care aboard the Norwegian Cruise Lines ship.

Aymond had both of his feet sliced by a piece of coral, a bloody and painful experience that got worse when the ship doctor who stitched the wounds downplayed their severity and gave him an antibiotic the Aymonds later learned was for intestinal bacteria.

Aymond's worst wound become infected two weeks later. The couple rushed to a Baton Rouge hospital when the foot swelled and a rash crept up his leg. The surgeon found two pieces of coral sewn inside Brant’s foot, along with a severed tendon, the report says.

The WWL report says cruise ships assure passengers they'll have certified and qualified doctors on board, but a lot of the doctors are foreign nationals and don't always have the certifications guaranteed to patients at a hospital in the states.

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Some cruise companies don't have information readily available about their on-board physicians. The Aymonds said they have not been able to get any information from Norwegian about the licenses, training or certifications for the Mexican physician who treated Brant.

Also, cruise companies encourage passengers to purchase additional insurance policies, but there can be problems with the coverage. The Aymonds say the ship’s staff did not know how to handle the extra insurance they purchased through Norwegian and forced them to pay nearly $2,000 upfront.

See the full WWL story here, as well as information about precautions travelers can take when on a cruise.

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