Fantasy having mechanical issues

[anomamatt]

What form of payment did you use for your airfare? Many credit cards have added travel insurance for travel purchased through them.

Delta's AMEX. I'll look into it, thanks.

 

[lanejudy]

Just to clarify ... "DCL insurance" -- or better worded as the "travel insurance offered through DCL" -- is a business contract you made with a 3rd party vendor and not directly from DCL. It has always been clear that it only covers those portions of your travel that are purchased directly through DCL (which for most cruises is simply the cruise, maybe ground transfers, most don't purchase airfare through DCL). So, no, they will not and should not have direct access to DCL's records. And if one didn't purchase airfare through DCL, it is most likely a goodwill gesture to offer any reimbursement for flights to be rescheduled because the insurance company has nothing to do with DCL directly and is not at all connected to the mechanical issue that impacted travelers. You are asking one company to pay for something they had absolutely no connection with, no control over, and did not charge a premium for covering that portion of your trip. It's akin to asking your neighbor to reimburse you because the neighbor recommended DCL as a good vacation for your family.

I understand that some cruisers may have had airline change fees either waived (by the airline) or paid (by DCL). I understand the desire to be made whole for an unexpected expense. You may have better luck asking DCL to cover such a fee rather than the insurance. And as someone else pointed out, reimbursement and coverage for trip interruption/delay can vary depending on the length of that delay.

I'm sympathetic to those who had travel plans disrupted, especially huge airline change fees. I certainly would not be happy, but I'd also be very upset with myself for bypassing trip insurance that included my flights. I'd consider it a very expensive lesson learned, and purchase insurance that covers all aspects of my travel expenses in the future. Goodwill gestures are nice, but should never be counted on.

Best of luck to those submitting insurance claims. No matter the situation (travel, medical, auto accident, home repair, etc.) -- claims can take quite a bit of time and effort.

 

[anomamatt]

Just to clarify ... "DCL insurance" -- or better worded as the "travel insurance offered through DCL" -- is a business contract you made with a 3rd party vendor and not directly from DCL.

I understand how it works. But DCL offers the insurance on their website and I paid DCL for it. But yes, I do understand the nuances of them passing the payment and liability off to a 3rd party.

I'm sympathetic to those who had travel plans disrupted, especially huge airline change fees. I certainly would not be happy, but I'd also be very upset with myself for bypassing trip insurance that included my flights. I'd consider it a very expensive lesson learned, and purchase insurance that covers all aspects of my travel expenses in the future. Goodwill gestures are nice, but should never be counted on.

I realize I misunderstood the insurance offered and this was our first cruise. But if I bought my airfare through DCL, I would have paid more than the $600 change fee. For whatever reason, DCL's flight prices were insanely high for the trip -- I did check.

If you compare this to when an airline has a mechanical issue and you are delayed, they get you a new flight whether you bought their insurance or not. If Delta had an engine out, they wouldn't charge you if you didn't buy flight insurance.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

DCL's flight prices were insanely high for the trip -- I did check.

Typically, air flights purchased through any cruise line are a higher cost than making the reservation yourself. It's not just a DCL issue.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

I just got off the phone with DCL... they said the insurance doesn't cover it since I bought my flights separately. And they won't get me official documentation of the delay.

The last part made me VERY angry, so at that point the agent told me to email: DCL.guest.communications@disneycruise.com

I'm not sure why I paid $400+ for THEIR insurance. We were in WDW before the cruise, so no real chance of missing it. It seems if you book you own airfare, even with the insurance, all the insurance covers is if you miss the cruise or need to be medevac'd.

Stunned. I am just stunned. Even I didn't think their customer service was that bad. You will get Disney to reimburse you in the end, because they really don't have a choice. But what a bad tone. This was the tone that I originally took exception to that last morning on the ship. The you are the problem tone.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

You will get Disney to reimburse you in the end,

How do you know that? That poster purchased DCL insurance. DCL insurance only covers those items purchased through DCL. They purchased their airfare independently. The airfare (and any penalties attached to it) is not covered.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

How do you know that? That poster purchased DCL insurance. DCL insurance only covers those items purchased through DCL. They purchased their airfare independently. The airfare (and any penalties attached to it) is not covered.

Because they are responsible for anomamat missing the flight. And if anomamat hired a lawyer Disney would loose. The sad thing is that Disney is not admitting this upfront and building a positive relationship with this customer. Instead, Disney is making them work for the money which is not so "magical" or customer focused.

 

[Dug720]

How do you know that? That poster purchased DCL insurance. DCL insurance only covers those items purchased through DCL. They purchased their airfare independently. The airfare (and any penalties attached to it) is not covered.

And now every time I buy a plane ticket, the airline give me the option to insure it.

We as consumers have some responsibilities as well - namely making sure we are covered for money we are not willing to lose.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

And now every time I buy a plane ticket, the airline give me the option to insure it.

We as consumers have some responsibilities as well - namely making sure we are covered for money we are not willing to lose.

Thank you, that's what I'm saying. We chose what risks we want to take. If I take a risk and don't insure something, and then it breaks, or I lose it, whatever, I'm out the item as well as the money. And no one else is responsible for covering my loss.

I recently took a cruise, a "local" one out of LA. Didn't get insurance because, after all, if something happens and I'm removed from the ship (medical or whatever) my son can drive down and get me. Guess what, I got sick onboard. Missed a whole day on the cruise. But it's my loss, since I didn't make allowances for it. Luckily I didn't have to see the doctor. Just be miserable in my room.

 

[SuperDry]

We were in WDW before the cruise, so no real chance of missing it. It seems if you book you own airfare, even with the insurance, all the insurance covers is if you miss the cruise or need to be medevac'd.

It covers a lot more than that. It would cover you if you got sick and couldn't even make it to WDW. It would cover you if a family member not even on the trip suddenly died and you had to fly back from WDW before the cruise. In addition to Medivac, it would cover medical expenses should you get injured or sick on the trip. Also, there's the important "cancel for any reason not otherwise covered and get 75% on future cruise" benefit. So, there are lots of things that it covers that you hope will never happen.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Thank you, that's what I'm saying. We chose what risks we want to take. If I take a risk and don't insure something, and then it breaks, or I lose it, whatever, I'm out the item as well as the money. And no one else is responsible for covering my loss.

I recently took a cruise, a "local" one out of LA. Didn't get insurance because, after all, if something happens and I'm removed from the ship (medical or whatever) my son can drive down and get me. Guess what, I got sick onboard. Missed a whole day on the cruise. But it's my loss, since I didn't make allowances for it. Luckily I didn't have to see the doctor. Just be miserable in my room.

I still say they will pay. Because what they should be paying is more than just the plane change fees. They will be happy just paying those. This would be different if it was weather etc.

 

[JWG]

Regardless of the 3rd party insurance coverage and if it was purchased through Disney or not, if I ask Disney for confirmation that we were delayed getting back to port which is why I missed my flight and incurred change fees, I'd expect them to provide it. It's no cost to them and it's between me and the insurer if they're willing to reimburse me for those costs. Disney may or may not know the coverages of their 3rd party provider (and it's less likely that someone who responds to general guest inquiries does), but I don't care. People were over 3 hours late getting off the ship, they missed flights because of it, just confirm it was due to ship mechanical issues and let people duke it out with their insurance provider if they had it.

Now, if that delay isn't enough to trigger coverage per the plan, then that's on the passenger and they can decide if they want to turn to Disney for reimbursement. Bur for Disney to just refuse confirming the incident is silly.

 

[cruiser21]

Whatever their reason, I have gone from very satisfied (see my first posts on the delay) to a rather angry customer. I'm sure they know the insurance exclusions better than I do and I'm sure it doesn't cover this situation... but I thought someone at DCL would at least acknowledge why I might have expected insurance to cover this... I hope my email gets a proper response. If not, I guess I can complain on social media (etc).

I did follow their rules posted on earliest MCO departures. And I can't get over that I bought their insurance... ugh!

I'm pissed, but I'll try not to think about it until I get a response. The auto-response said it could take up to 5 days. I'll update when I hear back. It had better be something other than telling me I should have purchased my flight through them. Maybe I would have, if their prices were close to what I can get direct from Delta...

I'm sure your not the only one that had to pay change fees and is sending an angry email. I wonder how many people actually buy airfare through DCL. I would think not many.

 

[anomamatt]

Now, if that delay isn't enough to trigger coverage per the plan, then that's on the passenger and they can decide if they want to turn to Disney for reimbursement. Bur for Disney to just refuse confirming the incident is silly.

That is what really put me over the edge. I didn't call DCL asking them to pay for it. I told him the situation, he said "their" insurance doesn't cover it and he wouldn't give me a letter.

And yes, to those saying it's a 3rd party insurer, the agent directly said "OUR insurance doesn't cover that unless you purchased your flights through us" (emphasis mine).

I'm not all that concerned about the money, but it's the principle. I can bill that in an hour tonight (and I've now wasted more than an hour on this). But my wife has been *insistent* that we book a 2018 cruise with DCL that was going to be a lot of money. I'm certainly not doing that until someone takes my request seriously. This was our first cruise and we loved it, but I'm finding DCL's lack of willing to help even with the letter insane.

 

[JWG]

Take comfort in that we're nowhere near the repeat cruisers that others are here, but we've done 4 Disney cruises (all 4 ships, grand slam, woot!) and have never had a single incident. We've left on time, arrived on time, hit all ports, docked at Castaway Cay each time (it's surprising how often that doesn't happen).

We were actually on the Fantasy this March, one of its last cruises before dry dock.

So our experience tends to be the exception to the rule. It doesn't make this experience better, but hopefully means you won't have it again.

 

[cruiser21]

Thank you, that's what I'm saying. We chose what risks we want to take. If I take a risk and don't insure something, and then it breaks, or I lose it, whatever, I'm out the item as well as the money. And no one else is responsible for covering my loss.

I recently took a cruise, a "local" one out of LA. Didn't get insurance because, after all, if something happens and I'm removed from the ship (medical or whatever) my son can drive down and get me. Guess what, I got sick onboard. Missed a whole day on the cruise. But it's my loss, since I didn't make allowances for it. Luckily I didn't have to see the doctor. Just be miserable in my room.

I'm confused. Is this just in regards to travel or everything you buy. Passengers didn't break the boat. I have had cell phone with software issues. Insurance wouldn't cover it. It was up to the maker to replace it.

 

[SweetSpot]

The drydock dates were fully disclosed to those booking the cruise nearly 2 years ago? So you're saying Disney knowingly put a vessel into service and charged full rate while expecting to have mechanical issues. They also fully expected that all the passengers who were booking said cruise would visit DIS boards in order to learn about this expectation rather than disclosing the expectation to the passengers? It is naive to assume that every passenger should have "expected" to have mechanical issues and that because they were "naive" enough to book that particular cruise, that they should be fine with what happened.

Considering this cruise wasn't available to be booked until November 2016 I find it hard to believe that you able to book a cruise that didn't exist 2 years ago. This was specifically a short cruise to get the cruise back on its normal 7 day schedule. We booked it immediately after it became available, November 2016. Also, we have no idea that the mechanical issues were due to dry dock. Sometimes mechanical things break. Unless you have some inside information you would like to share.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Take comfort in that we're nowhere near the repeat cruisers that others are here, but we've done 4 Disney cruises (all 4 ships, grand slam, woot!) and have never had a single incident. We've left on time, arrived on time, hit all ports, docked at Castaway Cay each time (it's surprising how often that doesn't happen).

We were actually on the Fantasy this March, one of its last cruises before dry dock.

So our experience tends to be the exception to the rule. It doesn't make this experience better, but hopefully means you won't have it again.

Unfortunately, I think a company (like people) reveal a lot about who they are in how they react when things go wrong.

lol. Weren't you one of the people who said the thread was done?

 

[truck1]

If I may make a suggestion to those who can't get DCL to send them a letter, call them back and ask fornthe supervisor. If they don't issue a letter and im having a really hard time understanding why, since it doesn't cost Disney anything to send said letter, then send DCL corporate an email and ask why.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

If I may make a suggestion to those who can't get DCL to send them a letter, call them back and ask fornthe supervisor. If they don't issue a letter and im having a really hard time understanding why, since it doesn't cost Disney anything to send said letter, then send DCL corporate an email and ask why.

I would think they would not want to write a letter like that because they would not want open themselves up to what they see as further liability. They would probably rather just payout to the customer directly and act like they are being generous.