A woman claiming to be a Royal Caribbean customer said she had an allergic reaction to something she ate on the cruise ship but refused to pay for medication because it was too expensive.
Frustrated by her experience, she posted a video took to TikTok on Saturday and showed off her incredibly swollen face.
“So I haven’t even been on the boat 24 hours and my face is swollen,” she said as she reached for her sunglasses.
She didn’t say what she ate that caused her to have this reaction, but as most people would do in a situation like this, she said she went to the staff on the cruise to try to get medication.
She asked for Benadryl, which reduces swelling by blocking histamines, chemicals our bodies produce when an allergen is present.
A box of 24 tablets of Benadryl costs just $6 at CVS or $7 at Walgreens. The woman said she was offered a price tens of times higher.
“They have it, but it costs $390 to give me Benadryl,” she said, without mentioning how many pills she was trying to buy.
Royal Caribbean has not stated on its website what it charges for over-the-counter medications such as Benadryl. DailyMail.com approached the company for comment.
This woman said she was on a Royal Caribbean ship and ate something that gave her an allergic reaction. In the photos above she shows how swollen her face is
Pictured: The woman’s profile photo on TikTok, showing what she normally looks like
Reaction to the woman’s video was swift, with most commenters wishing her a speedy recovery or offering her advice.
One of the best comments said, “Girl, I would have spent the $390.”
Another commenter wrote: ‘I’m taking the whole medicine cabinet on a cruise because I refuse!’
‘I’m sorry. Also in the future, dear, take everything with you in the medicine cabinet when you sail. I take EVERYTHING, especially Benadryl,” a third person wrote.
One other person appeared to have experience with exorbitant drug prices on cruises.
‘Oh no. I take all medications when we travel, especially on a cruise, because yes, they are so expensive. Next time you’ll be on top of it. Hopefully the swelling goes down,” they said.
The woman ended the video by saying that she managed to meet someone on the ship who gave her Benadryl.
There was a swift response to the woman’s video, with most commenters wishing her a speedy recovery or offering her advice
This comes as Royal Caribbean was reeling from two major scandals last fall.
In September, a 12-year-old boy fell to his death from a 13th-floor balcony on the Harmony of the Seas, one of the company’s larger ships in its fleet.
Witnesses said the boy was playing with a group of friends he made on board shortly before he fell over the cabin railing into the ship’s internal Central Park area, a plaza filled with bars, pubs and restaurants .
Royal Caribbean staff attempted to resuscitate the boy, but he died before the ship docked in Galveston, Texas, at the end of a seven-night cruise.
Friends said the boy was on board with his family, including two sisters, for a birthday party.
Shortly after this incident, the FBI said it was launching an investigation into how the boy fell.
In October, news broke that more than 1,000 people may have been secretly filmed on hidden bathroom cameras aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.
The Harmony of the Seas is pictured in Miami in 2020. This is the boat where a boy fell from a balcony
The boy is said to have fallen five stories high from a cabin balcony into the ship’s Central Park atrium (pictured)
Arvin Joseph Mirasol, 34, was arrested in February after a passenger aboard the Symphony of the Seas discovered a hidden camera he had placed in her bathroom
That’s according to a class-action lawsuit seeking damages for passengers aboard the Symphony of the Seas who were unknowingly photographed and filmed by their stateroom “while undressing and engaged in private activities” during a cruise in February.
Before the lawsuit was filed, the former employee, Arvin Joseph Mirasol, 34, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to filming guests and producing child pornography.
The lawsuit alleges that Mirasol also transmitted and uploaded images of the passengers to the Internet, including to the so-called dark web, without the guest’s knowledge or consent.
The unidentified passenger who filed the lawsuit said she was suffering from severe emotional problems — including insomnia, physical pain and dizziness — when she discovered she was being photographed.