Akck
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2019
- Messages
- 1,201
We had booked a 7-night cruise on the Fantasy for 10/1-10/8. As part of the cruise, we booked pre and post 2 night RIV and 5 night OKW stays. Prior to this, we visited our granddaughter and parents in Houston.
For added background, we purchased an annual travel insurance policy this year, due to the cruises we had scheduled and other trips planned to visit family. DIS Con and MNSSHP were happening, so we got tickets for both. I took advantage of UT’s discount car rental rates and reserved cars for both pre and post cruise.
About 2 weeks before the Orlando portion of the trip, it became clear Ian was going to impact the area. Timing was the main issue. I did communicate with our TA and she informed me of our cancellation options at that time (100% penalty). As we got closer, SWA offered free flight changes and we had maybe a day to cancel the UT pre-cruise car rental. WDW was closing Wednesday and Thursday. Ian predictions were it would leave the area by Friday.
With all this information, plans were changing. A key issue was whether to fly in on Friday or Saturday. We opted for Saturday, which necessitated using DCL Transportation to the port. Our TA took care of that. We got the last 2 slots on a early morning flight. On a call to MS, I was able to cancel the RIV reservation. The CM then took the points out of holding, banked them and then switched them with another reservation to free up 2022 points. A call to UT canceled one car rental and the MNSSHP tickets. One thing that kinda irked me was that DVC sent an email that basically left us in the storm. Our only option was to cancel at no penalty.
For travel insurance, we didn’t have any losses. We received refunds and there were no change fees. Still, knowing we’d be reimbursed made it so there was no stress about losing money on this trip. It would’ve been another matter had we missed the cruise. We had only $2,000 trip interruption coverage. The cruise was over $4,000. I may need to think about increasing that next year.
As for the cruise and OKW stay, we enjoyed both other than it being too hot and the parks too crowded for us. We ended up blowing off a couple of park days and just stayed at the resort. We thoroughly enjoyed those days.
For added background, we purchased an annual travel insurance policy this year, due to the cruises we had scheduled and other trips planned to visit family. DIS Con and MNSSHP were happening, so we got tickets for both. I took advantage of UT’s discount car rental rates and reserved cars for both pre and post cruise.
About 2 weeks before the Orlando portion of the trip, it became clear Ian was going to impact the area. Timing was the main issue. I did communicate with our TA and she informed me of our cancellation options at that time (100% penalty). As we got closer, SWA offered free flight changes and we had maybe a day to cancel the UT pre-cruise car rental. WDW was closing Wednesday and Thursday. Ian predictions were it would leave the area by Friday.
With all this information, plans were changing. A key issue was whether to fly in on Friday or Saturday. We opted for Saturday, which necessitated using DCL Transportation to the port. Our TA took care of that. We got the last 2 slots on a early morning flight. On a call to MS, I was able to cancel the RIV reservation. The CM then took the points out of holding, banked them and then switched them with another reservation to free up 2022 points. A call to UT canceled one car rental and the MNSSHP tickets. One thing that kinda irked me was that DVC sent an email that basically left us in the storm. Our only option was to cancel at no penalty.
For travel insurance, we didn’t have any losses. We received refunds and there were no change fees. Still, knowing we’d be reimbursed made it so there was no stress about losing money on this trip. It would’ve been another matter had we missed the cruise. We had only $2,000 trip interruption coverage. The cruise was over $4,000. I may need to think about increasing that next year.
As for the cruise and OKW stay, we enjoyed both other than it being too hot and the parks too crowded for us. We ended up blowing off a couple of park days and just stayed at the resort. We thoroughly enjoyed those days.
