I Need Help--we missed our Magic Disney cruise 3/17-3/24/07

[terkonda]

hi folks

we missed our disney cruise on the magic 3/17-3/24/07 because of mechanical delays (hydraulics on Delta from atlanta to ORD). we booked our travel thru disney cruise lines including the air from st. louis to ord. they routed us thru atlanta and no fault of ours- we did not reach ord till 630pm and unfort the cruise left without us and another 40 guests from various parts of the country. we had trip insurance via access america that was provided by disney. we returned back to st. louis and cancelled our trip on the cruise.
now insurance company is refusing to pay since it was a mechanical prob wiht the flight (delta airlines) and disney says we need to contact our insurance carrier (access america provided by disney). i feel it is unfair to hold the passengers responsible for the mechanical delay.

I would appreciate any suggestions that would help me get my money back.

u can private email if need be so to ranjana95@hotmail.com

we are a family of 5 with that includes 3 children (6, 7, 12)

thank you

 

[cmacf1]

I don't have any advice (DCL newbie,) but I wanted to say I'm so sorry that happened to your family. What an incredible disappointment that must have been. I hope you get the insurance stuff settled to your advantage.

 

[Disney Fans]

Keep going up the ladder as they say, keep asking for the manager and if no help then ask for that persons manager, etc. keep calling, writing letters, etc. Sometimes in cases like these you have to push the issue! Good Luck and hopefully others may have even better advice then I can give!

 

[Michelle2]

That is awful! I am so sorry for your family....one of my biggest nightmares is what happened to you.

 

[Joel110]

How awful...If it were me, I'd push DCL to resolve it. I'd request a manager and explain that they took my money and they booked my flights, so they need to call the insurer and workout a solution. Also, you can contact your state's department of insurance and ask for assistance if the previous option doesn't work. Nothing motivates an insurance company quicker than if there's a department of insurance representative on the other line. I pulled that card on a title company when they weren't responding to my request for a copy of the title insurance on my home. The Dept. of Ins. representative got on the line, requested to speak to the person in charge, and I had my copy in a few hours. IMO...this should be taken care of for you, and I work for a major insurance company.

 

[LadyZolt]

I agree with Joel, but I'd go even farther. Nothing motivates companies like media attention, either. Contact your local newspaper's travel section and tell them about it. Write the story yourself if you can. Local radio and news, too. Anyone who will listen. Generate local publicity -- with people falling off cruise ships regularly, the cruise industry has a spotlight on it anyway. This sounds like a case of finger-pointing with no one standing up to take responsibility. Also, if you paid with a credit card, I'd be talking to the credit card company, too, about how I'm not paying for services I didn't receive as agreed. I pay with American Express and I know that they would absolutely be doing something about it. So make a loud noise and don't stop until this is resolved to your satisfaction.

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

 

[Babs417]

What was the name of the ins co? Make sure no one get that ins!

 

[flexsmom]

For the OP - if you booked your air through DCL, did they offer you an alternative flight to catch up with the ship once it was clear you had missed sailing? My understanding was that that was one of the primary benefits of booking with DCL. Any problems, and they bear responsibility for getting you to the next legal port to embark on the ship. If they did not do this, I think I'd ask DCL about that. If they did offer this, and you declined it and went home, then that may be one of the reasons for the response you are getting from both DCL and the insurance carrier?

 

[mom_of_2_princesses]

For the OP - if you booked your air through DCL, did they offer you an alternative flight to catch up with the ship once it was clear you had missed sailing? My understanding was that that was one of the primary benefits of booking with DCL. Any problems, and they bear responsibility for getting you to the next legal port to embark on the ship. If they did not do this, I think I'd ask DCL about that. If they did offer this, and you declined it and went home, then that may be one of the reasons for the response you are getting from both DCL and the insurance carrier?

I agree with this. Did they offer to get you to other port? I feel so bad for you guys. This is every one's worst nightmare when planning a trip.The only thing I could think of was maybe a passport was needed to get to next port and I still don't have mine.

 

[Jeanne B]

For the OP - if you booked your air through DCL, did they offer you an alternative flight to catch up with the ship once it was clear you had missed sailing? My understanding was that that was one of the primary benefits of booking with DCL. Any problems, and they bear responsibility for getting you to the next legal port to embark on the ship. If they did not do this, I think I'd ask DCL about that. If they did offer this, and you declined it and went home, then that may be one of the reasons for the response you are getting from both DCL and the insurance carrier?

I was going to ask the same thing, we never book our air through DCL but I thought that was the primary advantages of booking through them, they have to get you on the cruise even if it means picking it up in the next port.

 

[MiaSRN62]

I feel very bad for terkonda. It seems like they've been letdown by both the insurance company as well as DCL.

This is what concerns my husband about our upcoming disney cruise. We haven't purchased the insurance yet---it's pricey for a family of 5---and there seems to be so many loopholes for the insurance companies. We were looking over the fine print and was suprised at some of the things that aren't covered.

I wish the best for the OP, and I'm sorry for your disappointing travel experience. What happened to you, is one of the reasons we book our airfare ourselves and fly in the day before. Not putting blame on you at all, rather, just makes me very nervous to fly out the same day because so many things can go wrong as far as delays and cancellations.

Please let us know what becomes of this and welcome to the DIS.

 

[Monagles]

http://www.accessamerica.com/

Gives an overview of the policies, etc.

 

[Henlady]

I feel so sorry for Terkonda and Family. It would be awful to be that close to a vacation, only to have it disappear before your eyes.
I can't help with the Insurance bit, but for future cruisers, this is a very good reason for always arriving the day before the cruise is set to sail. If something does go wrong with your transportation, you have sufficient time to "fix" it or find an alternative. For our Oct 2005 cruise we were booked on the Auto Train, arriving the day before the cruise. Unfortunately Hurricane Wilma decided to make an appearance and our Auto Train trip south was cancelled. We just decided to drive down, get a refund on our cancelled leg of the train trip and then make our scheduled return on the Auto train. It was not ideal, but at least we had time to make that adjustment.
I hope everything works out for you with the insurance dilema.

 

[Regina]

I can't believe that they're denying you a refund. You did everything by the letter.

If they did offer to fly them to another port, keep in mind that if they don't have passports (not required yet for cruising), they would probably have needed them to return to the US. You need passports when flying to the Caribbean/Mexico.

 

[DrCavin]

Something just doesn't sound right with this....

 

[Joel110]

For the OP - if you booked your air through DCL, did they offer you an alternative flight to catch up with the ship once it was clear you had missed sailing? My understanding was that that was one of the primary benefits of booking with DCL. Any problems, and they bear responsibility for getting you to the next legal port to embark on the ship. If they did not do this, I think I'd ask DCL about that. If they did offer this, and you declined it and went home, then that may be one of the reasons for the response you are getting from both DCL and the insurance carrier?

I can understand that and imagine under the contract, it is correct, but I believe it was an Eastern, so the earliest that they would have caught up with the Magic would be on Tuesday in St. Maarten. So they would have missed 3 of 7 nights on the cruise. I could understand the OP's vacation dreams being deflated and deciding to go home versus going through the hassle of making travel arrangements to get to St Maarten and locating lodging. IMO, it'd be cheaper for the insurer/Disney to cover the cost of the cruise than to pay benefits and travel arrangements for St. Maarten at last minute.

I don't know what policy the OP had, but the "fine print" of one of their more expensive policies seems to confirm that the insurer feels that the whole trip should not be covered because under "Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection" it says that the benefits are paid on "A covered Travel Delay that results in the loss of more than 50% of Your scheduled Trip length." Again, the OP would have missed 3 of 7 nights, which is technically less than 50% of the trip, but had to fly to St. Maarten last minute. Under "Travel Delay Coverage", it does say that "Carrier caused delay (including bad weather)" is a coverage, but only that payments of $150/day per person are covered.

IMO...this is why someone pays for insurance, to cover unexpected events that are out of their control that result in missing some or all of their trip. I would agree that it would be a better idea to fly down the day prior, but it may not always be possible and I think the OP did the next best thing by having DCL book the flights and then insuring the trip.

The DCL website says "Leave your worries behind when you let us make travel arrangements for you". Yet blow you off when you have an issue? If DCL wants revenue from booking flights and selling insurance, then they should be willing to step up and make sure that those impacted by travel delays are taken care of. What next? DCL leaving behind cruisers on a DCL sold shore excursion because the tour operator doesn't return to the ship ontime?

 

[pop5]

I was on this cruise and talked with a family who was probaly on that problem flight from Atlanta. Delta arranged for them to fly to SAn Juan and then later caught up wiyh us is St. Marteen. She was not happy because she was told by dcl that they would hold the ship and her luggage ending up making it and the ship left 30 minutes before she got there.

 

[gottaluvdisney]

Did you actually file a claim with Access America? Or, just talk to their customer service? If you have not filed a claim, you need to and have it reviewed by a claims representative.

I don't think that DCL will do a refund in this type of situation. I read on another thread that over 100 people missed the ship due to flight delays on the March 17 sailing. Can you image DCL issuing refunds for those guests that don't make the ship on something that is not their fault. Even if they did book the airfare, they don't run the airlines or control the weather.

I think DCL offering to get you to the next port or letting you reschedule you cruise vacation is fair.

 

[logan1_2000]

I do think OP has an excellent case to get DCL to step up and work w/ the Insurance Co. to get OP paid. DCL is a middle-man for the insurance policies, they just mark them up and sell them but they are not the insurer--nevertheless, it is exactly true that guests purchase the insurance from DCL specifically to protect against these situations. DCL needs to know about this at a decently high level, not just front line phone-answerer, because this is a black eye to DCL, no one cares if an insurance company is trying to stiff someone (that is hardly even news), but Disney, they are all about image and service and that is why DCL costs more.

As for catching up in St. Maarten, our last Eastern on the Magic in 2005, there was a group of folks who did just that, their plane was late and could not make the embarkation--apparently it was quite a few folks, maybe 30 or more, and DCL put them up on the property and then flew them to St. Maarten for what was left of the trip, I saw one of them checking in, so to speak, at guest services while in port. Not sure what other arrangments or compensations were involved, either while spending a couple days at WDW or in terms of any refund. So since that was not what happened here, must have had some different circumstances

 

[HawkeyeGal]

I don't have experience with this insurance company, but we did have to file a claim with Berkley Travel (through Costco) for our cruise because DD & I were sick and isolated for a day. We had to do the claim ourselves, and I expected to be given the run-around and have to fight for our money, but they were very straightforward and quick. We got exactly what we expected, the value of one day for each of us, and it was simple.

Good luck to the OP - I would like to know, too, if you have filed a claim with the insurance company or just talked to someone. I understand Disney sending you on to the insurance company. Just remember to document everything - every piece of mail, e-mail, every call - time, date and name of person you talked to.