Woman Loses Thousands On Missed Cruise After Flight Cancellation

[Akck]

Not to sound stupid, but how does one do that?
I don't even know how to start looking at insurance outside of Disney. I don't where to look, what to look for....

Google "Travel Insurance Comparison" and then look for a page where you can put in your travel details and it will show you different policies by different companies and you can look into each policy to see if it meets your needs

Also, if you’re doing a lot of travel during the year, look into annual coverage. We bought DCL coverage for our first 2 cruises, but then I realized we travel a lot to see family and non-cruise travel. An annual policy now covers all these trips. Our main reason is for medical evacuation and the rental car damage coverage (never really certain on how well credit card coverage is).

 

[BadPinkTink]

I would never pay for travel insurance and I don't see what's odd about it. It has a very poor expected value and I am capable of taking steps to dramatically reduce the chances of a missed trip (although you can never take that chance to zero).

I have annual travel insurance and I would never think of international travel without it. Travel insurance covers much more than just cancellations. If my checked bag is damaged or if flights are delayed I can claim on travel insurance.

Also another more extreme example, which I hope no one else has to experience. My dad travelled from Ireland to England to visit my sister. While on holiday he had a heart attack and had to spend a week in hospital. His travel insurance covered the hospital treatment in the foreign country. He was in the process of being prepared for air ambulance transport back to Ireland when he had another heart attack and passed away. We had to arrange repatriation of his body back to Ireland, which was again covered by his travel insurance.

I know its an extreme example, but you just don't know what can happen when you travel.

 

[insureman]

I have annual travel insurance and I would never think of international travel without it. Travel insurance covers much more than just cancellations. If my checked bag is damaged or if flights are delayed I can claim on travel insurance.

Also another more extreme example, which I hope no one else has to experience. My dad travelled from Ireland to England to visit my sister. While on holiday he had a heart attack and had to spend a week in hospital. His travel insurance covered the hospital treatment in the foreign country. He was in the process of being prepared for air ambulance transport back to Ireland when he had another heart attack and passed away. We had to arrange repatriation of his body back to Ireland, which was again covered by his travel insurance.

I know its an extreme example, but you just don't know what can happen when you travel.

Exactly right and really sorry to hear about your dad.

 

[Jhondy]

I think they should give her some credit to use for a future cruise. I know legally they don’t have to but I doubt the cruise was sold out so it’s not like they were likely to sell the room to someone else so they are losing out on money. Even if they offered her 75% credit towards another cruise, they’d end up making 25% of the cost for an empty room that sailed.

I think some people need to realize not everyone is as knowledgeable about vacations as people on here are. My family has missed a cruise with RCCL when I was younger because we didn’t fly in the day before. We booked everything through RCCL (I believe) and had insurance so we were Re-imbursed some and flown to meet the ship at the next port a few days later. However, RCCL screwed up and put us in a hotel in an unsafe area that we were told was meant for crew and not for passengers who missed the boat…we ended up getting more credit from them from that mistake. But we we’re never told to fly in a day before or ever thought to do that cause we had never had flight issues in the past. We learned from that day on (although the next trip we did fly in a day early and our luggage got lost and wasn’t found before the cruise).

Cruises are expensive and spending an extra day before a cruise is an added expense and an added day off work. Not everyone can fly in multiple days before cruises due to work schedules or simply the cost. I also think of airlines are going to cancel flights for things other than like weather, which is out of their control, their should be some accountability on the airline beyond oh well here’s your money for your flight back. When people can’t get to where they paid to go, they lose out not only on the cost of the hotel and whatever plans they had but they also lose out on their vacation days from work and may not be able to just easily re-schedule.

All that being said, I think people need to have personal accountability too and need to mitigate their risks but I think airlines are getting off too easy and “just drive” isn’t always possible given not everyone lives 24 hours or less from the port. I know for me, I can’t even imagine driving the 2-3 days (with stops) it would take us to get to port with my kid in the car…she can barely handle 30 minutes to an hour before she gets super antsy and wants out. That’s why I choose to fly and I pay to fly. But now adays while I agree to a non refundable flight for a certain day at a certain time, I have no way of ensuring that will actually happen because the airlines now change flight times whenever they want (and it’s not easy to cancel and just rebook cause usually ticket prices have gone way up during that time period), or can cancel for unforeseen reasons so I can’t try to plan to get out early or change travel plans around to avoid it (like you could if you see forecast showing bad weather).

So, I feel bad for this woman. I don’t think legally she is entitled to any compensation but I would hope they’d give her 50-75% credit at least to use on a future cruise.

 

[nancipants]

I have annual travel insurance and I would never think of international travel without it. Travel insurance covers much more than just cancellations. If my checked bag is damaged or if flights are delayed I can claim on travel insurance.

Also another more extreme example, which I hope no one else has to experience. My dad travelled from Ireland to England to visit my sister. While on holiday he had a heart attack and had to spend a week in hospital. His travel insurance covered the hospital treatment in the foreign country. He was in the process of being prepared for air ambulance transport back to Ireland when he had another heart attack and passed away. We had to arrange repatriation of his body back to Ireland, which was again covered by his travel insurance.

I know its an extreme example, but you just don't know what can happen when you travel.

Similar situation, a friend went on a family cruise to Alaska on Celebrity. It was on her dad's bucket list. Her dad had a heart attack and died on the cruise. Celebrity was extremely accommodating but they obviously incurred other costs trying to get home to the East Coast and transporting the body.

 

[Kwami]

Also, if you’re doing a lot of travel during the year, look into annual coverage. We bought DCL coverage for our first 2 cruises, but then I realized we travel a lot to see family and non-cruise travel. An annual policy now covers all these trips. Our main reason is for medical evacuation and the rental car damage coverage (never really certain on how well credit card coverage is).

At least for rental cars, your regular auto insurance probably covers you in the US and Canada. I think almost all of them do.

 

[Akck]

At least for rental cars, your regular auto insurance probably covers you in the US and Canada. I think almost all of them do.

Yes, but you have to have comprehensive and collision coverage (we do currently). Hopefully, your credit card covers your deductibles. The gray area is loss of use. You may or may not be covered. With the annual travel policy, I know we’re covered up to the policy limits.

 

[DCLMP]

The main reason we added travel insurance to our cruises was for emergency medical evacuation, which can be costly. While I believe our health insurance has some coverage, it may not cover the full bill and it could be in the $ 5-6 figure range.

If you just want medical you can buy it much cheaper with better coverage through a third party. I can usually insure my family for under 100.00 if I just buy medical.

 

[DCLMP]

The insurance coverage offered through DCL only covers those parts of the vacation that are purchased directly through DCL. Since most of us book our own airfares and often pre- or post-cruise hotels, those aren't covered. This is an insurance policy through a third party.

The "cancel for any reason" aspect of the DCL coverage is technically not insurance, it's directly through DCL. That might kick-in for the woman in the OP. She would need to submit a claim to the insurance which would then be denied, and then she could request a credit with DCL. But it isn't reimbursement and it isn't the full amount lost; it only offers a 75% credit which has a deadline for use.


Unfortunately we can't post a link, but try Googling trip insurance comparison sites. Probably the first 2 or 3 results that are not noted as "Ad" will be the sites most of us use.

I've never purchased DCL insurance for the price you would think would be better than that.

 

[HeatherLassell]

It sucks but no, she doesn’t get her money back. Trip insurance would have covered this.

Yup. This is the risk you take if you don't get insurance. Speaking as someone who never buys it I FULLY understand if something like this happened I'd be out of luck and $. They can't give in to her or else no one else will ever buy insurance again. Why would you?

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

It may not be that cut and dry, we tried to get insurance via Disney when we had to rebook and they wouldn't give it to us because it hadn't been on our original pre-covid booking.

Via Disney isn't the only way to buy trip insurance. We never buy through Disney.

 

[robinb]

Yup. This is the risk you take if you don't get insurance. Speaking as someone who never buys it I FULLY understand if something like this happened I'd be out of luck and $. They can't give in to her or else no one else will ever buy insurance again. Why would you?

Right. If they caved and made an exception for her then they would have to give a refund or credit to everyone who couldn't make the departure for one reason or another. My guess is that missing a departure from the home port is usually out of your control and the best you can do is insure yourself against losing your vacation $$$.

As my husband and I get closer to retirement, insurance is more about the cost of having a medical problem covered. I don't take expensive cruises so the cost of losing the money would be painful but not the end of the world. The cost of getting stuck outside of the US needing medical care (and possible evacuation back to the US) scares me much more!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My TA says the cost of medical evacuation would bankrupt many people. It's just not worth the stress.

 

[Akck]

If you just want medical you can buy it much cheaper with better coverage through a third party. I can usually insure my family for under 100.00 if I just buy medical.

Is that for one trip? I purchased annual coverage for under $500 and it will cover at least 5-7 trips this year, so less than $100 per trip. For the coverages included, I think it’s well worth it.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Is that for one trip? I purchased annual coverage for under $500 and it will cover at least 5-7 trips this year, so less than $100 per trip. For the coverages included, I think it’s well worth it.

This is good if you have more than one trip planned in a 12 month period. There were some years I could have used a plan like that.

 

[spiders]

My TA says the cost of medical evacuation would bankrupt many people. It's just not worth the stress.

That is pretty much the only reason why I buy insurance for a cruise. I never buy trip insurance for any other vacation. Don’t get me wrong — if I ended up eating my trip to WDW then I would certainly be saying a few curse words but at the end of the day, I’ll be okay. But I don’t want to get stuck at sea getting ready to find out how much my medevac is going to cost.

I just live in Atlanta so I’m never worried about not making it. If the flight gets cancelled the night before and we don’t make it out then I’m gonna grab a lot of coffee and I’m gonna start driving and we’ll make it to the port on time. Again, I won’t like it and I’ll be saying a few curse words — well, scratch that — the kids will probably in the car with me so I’ll make a few incoherent grumbles — but I’ll survive.

 

[DCLMP]

Is that for one trip? I purchased annual coverage for under $500 and it will cover at least 5-7 trips this year, so less than $100 per trip. For the coverages included, I think it’s well worth it.

Pre Covid I didn’t leave the country more than two or three times a year. I don’t need medical coverage for domestic travel. I’m not sure annual coverage would be worth it for us. 28 cruises and I have never had to file a claim.

 

[sheilafri]

I have annual travel insurance and I would never think of international travel without it. Travel insurance covers much more than just cancellations. If my checked bag is damaged or if flights are delayed I can claim on travel insurance.

Also another more extreme example, which I hope no one else has to experience. My dad travelled from Ireland to England to visit my sister. While on holiday he had a heart attack and had to spend a week in hospital. His travel insurance covered the hospital treatment in the foreign country. He was in the process of being prepared for air ambulance transport back to Ireland when he had another heart attack and passed away. We had to arrange repatriation of his body back to Ireland, which was again covered by his travel insurance.

I know its an extreme example, but you just don't know what can happen when you travel.

Americans over 65 who are on Medicare I think have limited medical coverage outside the country. Travel without a travel medical policy is very poor planning.

 

[Lilsia]

I would never pay for travel insurance and I don't see what's odd about it. It has a very poor expected value and I am capable of taking steps to dramatically reduce the chances of a missed trip (although you can never take that chance to zero).

I don't get travel insurance for the refund, I get it in case something happens and I have to be medically flown back into the States. Only a fool leaves the Country without good medical travel insurance. If you have an accident or have a heart or stroke, you will be at the mercy of the closest Country that the ship is near and you will be on your own to get back to the States, not to mention the cost of the medical care that normal health insurance won't cover. Those expenses can bankrupt you. Too many people just think of getting back the cost of their flights, when you really should be worrying about medical emergencies.

 

[Lilsia]

I didn't know that it was possible to fly from LA to Florida the same day and make it to the ship on time. I have a cruise booked for this fall and the earliest flight that leaves out of Omaha with SWA is around 8am but doesn't get to MCO until 2pm. They only have 1 non stop flight on the weekend and that is seasonal. Otherwise we always have to connect somewhere. It is at least a 5-6 hour ordeal to get to MCO. I always fly in the day before my cruises and stay at the Hyatt at the airport. No way would I risk flying in the same day, especially now with all of the cancellations and delays. And like I said, I always buy trip insurance with Allianz whenever I leave the Country for medical reasons and if it includes getting my money back, that is a bonus. As others have said, this person thinks that they are special and should basically get free trip insurance. Life doesn't work that way.