Cruise insurance question

[TChrist05]

I wonder if anyone that has had to use cruise insurance can give me some advice. I have cruised DCL many times and have taken out the cruise insurance many times but have never had an occasion to have to use it. On 10/24 our daughter suffered a medical emergency causing her to spend 18 days in intensive care in the hospital followed by 14 days on a regular floor. The medical situation has improved but she is in a rehab center since she was not able to walk and has limited use of her right arm and hand. She is improving but we do have a ways to go. We had been scheduled to cruise after Thanksgiving and I must say that DCL and Delta airlines were fabulous to us. We are scheduled to cruise on the Transatlantic on 5/13, and our PIF date is on 1/13. I would imagine that they would consider our situation a pre-existing condition, as she is making progress now(took 3 steps yesterday) but if she is not back to some degree of normalcy I would guess we cannot go. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what insurance company might cover our situation? I do have DCL insurance but don't think they would cover our situation and I am not booking my airfare to Florida or my return airfare from Copenhagen with Disney. Thanks for any suggestions as someone might have been in a similar situation as we are in. Thanks.

 

[lanejudy]

Wow, so sorry to hear your daughter has been through so much but glad she is improving albeit slow progress.

"Pre-existing condition" is actually determined based on when you purchase the insurance. If you originally purchased the insurance prior to her initial medical event on 10/24, then it is not considered "pre-existing" as it didn't exist when you bought the policy (even though it exists prior to the cruise). If you have NOT yet purchased insurance, yes her condition would now likely be considered a pre-existing condition. It may be hard if not impossible to purchase a policy now to cover her situation, and if you find one expect it to be quite pricey. Also be aware that be covered under a PEC waiver, usually the person must be "able to travel" as of the date the policy is purchased, and it sounds like she would not be cleared for travel right now. You may not be able to purchase a policy to cover her current situation for near-term travel. Be sure to get in-writing that she is cleared for travel when she is finally discharged from rehab; you may need that in the future if complications come up again later.

As to whether the policy sold through DCL will cover -- that depends when you purchased the policy. If it was before her medical event, I would think it's covered with documentation from her medical provider indicating that she is not able to travel. However, if you purchased the DCL policy after her initial medical event (and since DCL policies are officially purchased at PIF that is likely), it may be considered a pre-existing condition and I don't believe the policies through DCL include PEC waiver coverage. DCL does offer a "credit" (is it 75%?) towards a future cruise if the insurance denies your claim.

It sounds like you have a really tough decision to make as to canceling now before PIF or hoping she's healthy enough in a few months. I think I personally would cancel now and try for the same or similar itinerary next year, allowing her plenty of time to fully recover.

Best of luck to her with recovery and I hope you get to enjoy your cruise at some point!

 

[MickeyEarrings]

Wow, @lanejudy - that is the best explanation of PEC and trip insurance I've ever read!

 

[TChrist05]

Thank you for such a great explanation. I guess what I did not mention is she is not traveling with my DW and I but she lives upstairs in our home with her husband. She takes care of our home and pets when we travel. Another thing for us is her husband does not drive a car so she would be very dependent on myself or my wife. What I did today was call a leading vacation insurance company and explained the situation and they confirmed that this would be a pre-existing condition and no company would probably issue a policy. What I also did was call DCL and find out the policy on name changes, so that if I was unable to travel to stay home with my daughter could a friend of my DW travel in my place. It is possible and no fee up until day 45 before travel. DCL also suggested I contact their cruise insurance company but I imagine the answer will be the same but it is only a phone call so I will do so tomorrow. At least we have a couple of options if we pay in full so we will not lose the whole cruise. Thanks for your time.

 

[dclpluto]

Sorry very sorry about your daughter.

 

[TChrist05]

Thanks everyone.

 

[Starwind]

I can't speak to your specific situation, but I will explain what I do since we have PEC that may or may not be a reason we may have to cancel a cruise.

I book the cruise from DCL and purchase their insurance; however, it doesn't kick in until PIF day. But it does give the "cancel for any reason" coverage, which means worst case I would lose 25% of my cruise cost.

For airfare I choose an airfare that has a favourable cancelation/refund/change policy, preferably one with no cancelation fee (eg Westjet's Plus fare, which also has other benefits, like two checked bags and more leg room, and can be canceled upto IIRC 2 hours before the flight). This is more expensive than the cheapest airfare, but I consider it a reasonable compromise.

I book hotels that allow cancelation without penalty as close to checkin as possible. For WDW resorts, a room only reservation allows cancels upto 5 days before checkin. Mainstream hotels are typically day or or 24 hours before checkin.

Everything is paid for on the same credit card, which does have travel insurance (medical, cancelation, interruption) HOWEVER it also has PEC exclusion periods.

SW