This could have been avoided

[PrincessShmoo]

Read in the comments on FB that the cruise line offered to fly them to the next port of call but the kids did not have passports.
Yes, they were booked through the cruise line.

Also, it was Royal Caribbean.

Well, I'd say the cruise line did all they could. Not getting passports is a personal choice, but not getting them has risks.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Thanks! Brilliant and still cracks me up every time I watch it. Seinfeld sums it all up.

 

[KalamityJane]

Well, I'd say the cruise line did all they could. Not getting passports is a personal choice, but not getting them has risks.

Agreed, plus I'm fairly certain Miami has 24 hour passport places so honestly, they still could have gone.

 

[SummerMagic]

If the cruise line offered an alternative solution, it would be interesting to see if Trip Insurance would have covered the expenses. My guess is it would be a bit of a fight with the company to say the least.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

If the cruise line offered an alternative solution, it would be interesting to see if Trip Insurance would have covered the expenses. My guess is it would be a bit of a fight with the company to say the least.

Generally, insurance doesn't cover anything that the insured messed up on. For example, if you scheduled a flight that in no way would get you to the cruise in time, any expenses incurred would not be covered. But, if you had a flight that was scheduled to get you there in time, and it didn't, it should be covered.

That said, however, it's on the insured to mitigate any problems. If the insured had passports, then the extra costs for a hotel stay (possibly needed if you get to the next port before the ship is due in) could be covered.

But I'm not sure that having to purchase an emergency passport would be.

 

[KalamityJane]

I was thinking even if they didn't have trip insurance and all of the above, buying an emergency passport would still be a whole heck of a lot cheaper than losing out on the whole vacation.

 

[Dug720]

Agreed, plus I'm fairly certain Miami has 24 hour passport places so honestly, they still could have gone.

The only possible glitch is I know a couple of weeks ago people on Cruise Critic were reporting that the Miami office was closed for repairs after flooding or something, so that might not have been possible.

Lesson: Spring for the passports. Better the costs of passports for the whole family (even the Duggars wouldn't be $7000 for the whole family) than $7000 for the trip.

 

[KalamityJane]

The only possible glitch is I know a couple of weeks ago people on Cruise Critic were reporting that the Miami office was closed for repairs after flooding or something, so that might not have been possible.

Lesson: Spring for the passports. Better the costs of passports for the whole family (even the Duggars wouldn't be $7000 for the whole family) than $7000 for the trip.

We renewed ours and got our kids passports last year with our tax refund. 3 kids, and it was 500 something. Not much when you think about 7k, for sure (and LOL at the Duggars reference)

 

[IrishEye]

The emergency and agency slot 24 hour expedited services are expensive, about $ 460 for first time issue. In Miami it is handled on line and hand delivered to your location, a 24 hour turn-around. To go directly to US Passport Agency you need an emergency like death in family to qualify, otherwise it is 3 to 5 days. Regular service for kid is about $105. I would suggest to anyone who travels, especially past US borders, spend the money and get passports.

 

[reimero]

One other thing that hasn't gone mentioned here is that the family in the original article says they "just want their money back." It seems like a simple thing, but one hard and fast truth I've learned about travel is this: even in the absolute worst-case scenario when one party royally screws up inexcusably, Company A (Delta, in this case) will NEVER refund what was paid to Company B (NCL, in this case.) I follow a popular travel/consumer advocate and troubleshooter, and I have yet to see a case where one company has refunded money paid to another company. And there have been numerous stories similar to the OP.

At the end of the day, this is a cautionary tale for would-be travelers. We're conditioned to assume things will play out the way they're supposed to. If the ship sales at 4:30, a flight landing at noon should be fine, right? And the truth is, more often than not things run on schedule. But sometimes they don't. And that "sometimes" can be 20-30% of the time. I feel bad for the family in the article, but I saw three distinct spots where they could have been "made whole" but fell short.
The first was when they failed to purchase trip insurance.
The second was in booking their flights: it doesn't sound like they gave themselves enough of a buffer.
The third was in failing to procure passports for the family.
Basically, they set themselves up so that the only way things could have gone smoothly was if absolutely nothing went wrong. They opted not to use several options (which admittedly had an associated cost) which would have given Delta and/or NCL the ability to make them whole again. If you don't have a passport, you're not flying internationally. Period. If you're flying in the day of the cruise, you're basically only giving the airline a very narrow window to make up for any delays - and it might be sunny and beautiful between Atlanta and Florida, but if they're waiting on a plane from New York when there's a blizzard going on, that delay is going to be unavoidable.

 

[cgolf]

Reading the news piece I am guessing that the family was not all that nice to the gate agents based on how they commented on their luggage. When we got stuck in Orlando one year due to weather my wife was very nice to the gate agent and she did her best and got us a deeply discounted hotel room and transportation there set up for us. The gate agent also thanked my wife for being so kind. People before us that we're rude to the gate agents did not get the same deal. Sometimes it pays to be nice to the gate agents, because trust me they don't want to deal with 100 plus people yelling at them for something that they had no control over, and who knows they may find a solution for you.

As much as I feel bad for this family, no one wants to miss a trip, I hope no one bails them out, especially DCL. If someone caves, and this family spouts off about it, it will just push more and more people to blame companies for their own mistakes.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

especially DCL.

This apparently wasn't a DCL cruise, but RCCL.

 

[cgolf]

This apparently wasn't a DCL cruise, but RCCL.

Just hope that whatever cruise line it was that they don't bail them out.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Has anyone got a link to more information? I could only find that one article, which doesn't say much about the cruise.

 

[Neptune's Fork]

Yes. This could have easily been avoided in the first place by flying at least a day ahead. And yes, if they had gotten passports they could have flown to the first foreign port and met the ship. But if the didn't bother to get trip insurance - which it is obvious they did not - which would have been significantly less expensive than passports for a family, I think we can safely assume they didn't have them.

And of course the family is taking zero responsibility for any part of it.

Exactly right, the best trip insurance is get there a day ahead.

 

[reimero]

Exactly right, the best trip insurance is get there a day ahead.

It's not the best, but it does help a lot. My last cruise, we arrived 3 days early and I still ended up in the ER.

 

[MillauFr]

Why would you buy travel insurance? Wouldn't you just get a credit card that gives you extensive coverage for free? Of course as others have posted the best insurance is flying in a day or two ahead of time. We just planned on spending a day at Disney before our cruise.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Why would you buy travel insurance? Wouldn't you just get a credit card that gives you extensive coverage for free? Of course as others have posted the best insurance is flying in a day or two ahead of time. We just planned on spending a day at Disney before our cruise.

Not all credit cards offer insurance (of any type). And the ones that do, don't necessarily have the coverage that someone may want/need.

 

[truck1]

Has anyone got a link to more information? I could only find that one article, which doesn't say much about the cruise.

She has a facebook page that's public where there's more to there side. I only glanced at it before.

 

[Dug720]

She has a facebook page that's public where there's more to there side. I only glanced at it before.

Of course, as always, there are THREE sides to every story... Party A, Party B, and the truth.