Are you prepared for life threatening situations when you travel?

A sick child is scary enough when you have access to your family doctor and health insurance. It's down-right terrifying when your child falls ill in a foreign country. The Cortes family traveling aboard Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas found out just how challenging it can be this past weekend.

Got Travel Insurance?The family's 7-month old daughter fell ill on the second night of the cruise. The ship's doctor diagnosed the child with norovirus and said the family needed to get her to the hospital.

The whole family disembarked in Bahamas near midnight and saw a doctor who diagnosed her with a head cold, but nothing more serious. Trouble is, the ship had already set sail, leaving the family stranded in a foreign country without passports or travel insurance. They spent almost $2,000 in accommodation and travel expenses getting home.

Whether the cruise line, the ship's doctor or the family was at fault is still up for debate. Royal Caribbean says the family waited to long between phoning the ship's doctor and actually bringing the child to him. The parents say they were given 10 minutes to get off the ship - the mom disembarked in her pajamas.

What's clear is that the family didn't plan ahead for the worst possible scenario. No one wants to consider the "what ifs," but keeping your family safe means thinking ahead. Covering the basics of insurance and passports lets you focus on more important issues in an emergency - like your child's health.

The disgruntled Cortes family went public with their story this week, demanding compensation from the cruise line. Royal Caribbean maintains that a Guest Care Specialist accompanied the family to help with on-island arrangements and has offered to refund the cruise and the cost of the family's flights home, "despite the company's strong disagreement with the manner in which the Cortes family's situation has been recounted in the media."

Bottom line? You're responsible for yourself and your family. Not the cruise line, airline or resort you visit. And traveling with kids but no insurance and no passport is just plain stupid.

Would you travel outside the US without a passport? Travel insurance?