DCL Vacation Protection Plan Questions

[KSL]

Hello all! I've tried to search this forum and I did find a few threads discussing DCL travel insurance, but couldn't find an answer to a couple of specific questions I have. If anyone can comment on these, I would be very grateful!

• My understanding is that the DCL insurance only covers the cost of DCL-purchased travel (so, not independently arranged air fare, for example). Correct?
• My understanding is that the cancel-for-any-reason portion of the policy is in effect from when DCL receives payment on the insurance, and that the individual protections are in effect only for the duration of the cruise itself (so, not door-to-door coverage). Correct?
  • If this is correct, then in the event we miss the cruise due to flight delay/cancellation, we would not be able to claim trip interruption or trip delay, because those are individual protections that will not have started yet. Correct? In that scenario, we would fall back to the cancel-for-any-reason coverage?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[lanejudy]

Correct
Correct
and correct -- but you would likely need to submit the claim to the insurance and have it rejected before you are eligible for the DCL-offered future credit.

 

[KSL]

TYSM @lanejudy for your confirmations!

If you (or anyone) can comment on some follow-ups, I am now wondering:

If we purchase the DCL Travel Protection Plan, is this the correct sequence in a scenario where we would miss our cruise due to cancelled/delayed flights:
1) notify DCL we need to cancel our cruise
2) collect paperwork (what kind of paperwork?) to document that the flights were cancelled/delayed
3) submit claim to plan administrator
4) receive expected denial of claim because the travel delay (necessitating cruise cancellation) event occurred prior to individual travel protection policy taking effect (it begins when the cruise departs)
5) submit flight cancellation/delay paperwork and claim denial to DCL for issuance of the cancel-for-any-reason benefit

Add this wrinkle: we have 6 passengers arriving to the departure port across two sets of flights. If we don't all make the cruise, none will travel, even though some may have made it. Any way to provide for that instance? Does the cancel-for-any-reason apply (I mean it sounds like it if it's truly for any reason, but to check...)?

Thanks in advance for any guidance!

 

[lanejudy]

I have not had to submit such a claim so while your process sounds correct, hopefully someone else can confirm.

I assume your party is at least 2 staterooms. I would think "cancel for any reason" is just that and the party who actually arrived in MCO but decides not to cruise without the rest of the group would use the same documentation showing others in the party were delayed. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter the "reason" for cancellation because the insurance essentially denies the claim; thus triggering the ability to request the credit from DCL.

One thing to consider with some of your party arriving on different flights/from different cities... is everyone ok with losing ~25% of the cruise fare and carrying a credit? As those impacted by pandemic cancellations can attest -- it can be hard to get the whole party rescheduled for a future date within the required timeframe when it involved different family units. The credit is use-it-or-lose-it within a specified time period (I think it's 12 months from date of cancellation) and is likely tied to the specific passengers. Honestly, I'd opt for coming in a day or two early giving you all a buffer.

 

[BmarieT]

We are booked on the 2023 WBTA and I purchased the insurance from Disney via our Dreams Unlimited travel agent. We have not received any documentation about what is covered which I find odd. We will be flying to London from the US so if it does not cover flight delays / lost luggage then we need to buy different insurance. We have never purchased trip insurance in the past but now that we are in our mid fifties I wanted the added medical coverage and I am also worried about the flight and missing the ship with the way airlines are no longer dependable.

 

[lanejudy]

We are booked on the 2023 WBTA and I purchased the insurance from Disney via our Dreams Unlimited travel agent. We have not received any documentation about what is covered which I find odd. We will be flying to London from the US so if it does not cover flight delays / lost luggage then we need to buy different insurance. We have never purchased trip insurance in the past but now that we are in our mid fifties I wanted the added medical coverage and I am also worried about the flight and missing the ship with the way airlines are no longer dependable.

Did you also book your flights through DCL? Any components of your trip that are booked through DCL will be covered by the insurance (flights, pre-/post-cruise hotel stay, transfers, etc.). If you (or your TA) booked your flights independently directly through the airline, you would need separate travel insurance for that.

The trip insurance purchased through DCL isn't actually purchased until the PIF date. It's still well in advance of the the PIF date for the 2023 WBTA. You probably won't get documentation until it is officially purchased. Until then, you can change your mind and have your TA drop it if you decide to go with other coverage.

 

[KSL]

I have not had to submit such a claim so while your process sounds correct, hopefully someone else can confirm.

I assume your party is at least 2 staterooms. I would think "cancel for any reason" is just that and the party who actually arrived in MCO but decides not to cruise without the rest of the group would use the same documentation showing others in the party were delayed. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter the "reason" for cancellation because the insurance essentially denies the claim; thus triggering the ability to request the credit from DCL.

One thing to consider with some of your party arriving on different flights/from different cities... is everyone ok with losing ~25% of the cruise fare and carrying a credit? As those impacted by pandemic cancellations can attest -- it can be hard to get the whole party rescheduled for a future date within the required timeframe when it involved different family units. The credit is use-it-or-lose-it within a specified time period (I think it's 12 months from date of cancellation) and is likely tied to the specific passengers. Honestly, I'd opt for coming in a day or two early giving you all a buffer.

Thank you again, @lanejudy! We are in three cabins, actually! Yes, we would all be OK with losing the roughly 25%, though it may be moot as we are leaning toward a policy from a different insurer so that we can include coverage for our flights and hotel the night prior to embarkation, rather than only for the cruise. Agreed on coming in early - we are flying in the day before the cruise (four of us in the afternoon and even my DH and DD#1 who can't fly out until early evening, there is still another flight that night after theirs), but we'll be traveling in December so the weather could delay us for more than just one day.

 

[KSL]

I have not had to submit such a claim so while your process sounds correct, hopefully someone else can confirm.

I assume your party is at least 2 staterooms. I would think "cancel for any reason" is just that and the party who actually arrived in MCO but decides not to cruise without the rest of the group would use the same documentation showing others in the party were delayed. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter the "reason" for cancellation because the insurance essentially denies the claim; thus triggering the ability to request the credit from DCL.

One thing to consider with some of your party arriving on different flights/from different cities... is everyone ok with losing ~25% of the cruise fare and carrying a credit? As those impacted by pandemic cancellations can attest -- it can be hard to get the whole party rescheduled for a future date within the required timeframe when it involved different family units. The credit is use-it-or-lose-it within a specified time period (I think it's 12 months from date of cancellation) and is likely tied to the specific passengers. Honestly, I'd opt for coming in a day or two early giving you all a buffer.

[I responded a minute ago but it seems to have disappeared!]

Thank you again, @lanejudy! Yep, we'd all be ok with losing the roughly 25% of the cruise fare and receiving a time-limited credit, but it's likely a moot point as we're leaning toward a different insurance policy that will include coverage for our flights and pre-cruise hotel. Fully agree on the importance of arriving to embarkation port a day earlier and that's what we're doing, but it'll be December so weather could well delay us more than a day (let's hope not!).

 

[KSL]

@lanejudy, I tried to respond to you twice last night and don't see either of them having posted, but just to circle back one last time
Thank you - yes we are across 3 cabins and would be ok with the 75% cruise credit but after additional research we are leaning toward a policy that will include pre- and post-cruise transportation and expenses in addition to the cruise itself. And FWIW, we are coming in a day early, just worried about the weather in December causing extra-long delays, etc. Thanks again for your responses!

 

[Dreams&wishes]

We are booked on the 2023 WBTA and I purchased the insurance from Disney via our Dreams Unlimited travel agent. We have not received any documentation about what is covered which I find odd. We will be flying to London from the US so if it does not cover flight delays / lost luggage then we need to buy different insurance. We have never purchased trip insurance in the past but now that we are in our mid fifties I wanted the added medical coverage and I am also worried about the flight and missing the ship with the way airlines are no longer dependable.

Medical coverage in Europe?
Most countries, have universal health care you won't have to pay for emergencies.

 

[MickeyD]

You can check on the disneycruise site and it has the travel insurance and what it does and does not cover. Also, since a pp mentioned they booked through Dreams; go to your reservation on their page and scroll down and it has a link that takes you to a comprehensive explanation of the DCL coverage. As for the flights etc. I thought I would mention that if you paid for those with a credit card, that card may cover trip interruption, lost baggage, etc. We always book flights and rental car and pre cruise stay on our Chase card that covers all of those things. HTH

Hope this link works, but here is the direct link to the dcl page: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/...ction-plan/?int_cmp=INS-intDCLtoDCL-Insurance

 

[ironz]

If I may piggy-back onto this thread-- as we are in the process of filling out claim forms for a DCL cruise with outside insurance. I assume the DCL address to use is the one in the cruise contract; but is the phone number to put on the form the same number that we all use for reservations, etc? I suppose I could call DCL and ask if there is a different phone number for the insurance company to use.
(in case anyone is wondering, one of our party had an injury that precluded travel. Glad we bought insurance; hope the claims process is not awful.)

 

[dwg]

Here is the link from the DCL web site under Travel Insurance in a much more easy to read and printable form.

You will need to read the policy very carefully. The trip delay section uses the term "you" which I take to mean insured under this particular policy while other parts of the policy (Trip cancellation or Interuption) talks about "you or a family member" I take to mean that the family member does not need to going on the trip.

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We have recently needed to used trip cancellation with the DCL travel insurance due to a medical issue. I made sure we followed the directions to the T and gave DCL insurance (AON) everything they needed to process the claim. We received our refund within two weeks of filing the claim.