Man Put Ashore During Cruise Celebrating His 89th Birthday

TAMPA - Jack Clevenger didn't feel that bad.

But Carnival Cruise Lines put the 89-year-old Ruskin man ashore on a Honduran island anyway, saying he'd be better able to get medical care there than on the ship Legend.

Clevenger was on a birthday cruise out of Tampa with his family.

He never did seek medical care on the island, saying he heard from a ship's nurse that the hospital might not be up to his standards.

Instead, he and his son, Roy, 63, scrambled to find a cab, a motel and then a way off the tourist island of Roatan.

They learned expensive lessons: Be careful what you complain about to the ship's doctor. And buy travel insurance.

"They treated us with utter disregard for our safety," Clevenger said. "If we hadn't have had a little bit of money with us, we'd still be in Honduras."

The ship's doctor examined Clevenger after his complaints of some blood from his mouth and in his stool. The doctor concluded he had internal bleeding, said Jennifer de la Cruz, a representative for Carnival Cruise Lines in Miami.

The vessel was about to embark on a two-day stint at sea, she said, and the medical staff thought it would be prudent to get Clevenger ashore or on a flight home.

"If Mr. Clevenger's condition deteriorated during those two sea days," she said in an e-mail to News Channel 8, "his life would potentially have been at risk as it can take an extended period of time to get a ship to a location with specialized shore-side medical facility and/or arrange a helicopter evacuation."

The father and son spent $2,500 and two days hopping three flights to get back to Tampa....