Woman Loses Thousands On Missed Cruise After Flight Cancellation

[DCLMP]

The 48 hour cancellation that RCL was doing was incredibly lenient. What do you want from them?

I haven't cruised with RCL since 2020 but in the lead up to that cruise there definitely weren't 6 hour hold times. I called MSC multiple times before our March 2022 cruise and the worst was a 5 minute hold to speak to someone.

Yes, it was good, but it ended on March 31. Disney has 6-hour hold times. It was taking many people weeks or months to get refunds when cruises were canceled due to Covid. There are many threads on different cruise lines if you go back a couple of years. It took me 6 weeks to get a refund from Royal. If we're expected to be forgiving then why can't they?

 

[DCLMP]

I think you are confused. The industry has been exceptionally lenient on cancelations for the last two years. They are just now moving back towards normal. Travel insurance is a thing, it's time for people to take responsibility for themselves.

No, I'm not confused. Airlines made permanent more lenient changes to their cancellation policies. A step in the right direction in my opinion.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Anyway, the "fly in 1 day before the cruise" advice really isn't good enough. With all of the staffing problems and bad weather, there's a good chance that you won't be able to fly in on the day of the cruise if your day-before flight is canceled.

I think the amount of time one allows for travel should be relative to the amount of time it would take to drive. We live in NJ so there are many airports to choose from within a 2 hour drive. (Philly, Trenton, Atlantic City, Newark, Baltimore) If one airline is having issues, we can choose from several others. All of these have at least 1 non stop per day. It would probably cost a lot to buy a same-day flight but at least we wouldn't miss the cruise. Also, in a pinch, we could just drive to FL (or NOLA, etc.)
Not a fun way to start a cruise IMO, but better than missing it completely.

Trip insurance is a must with so much uncertainty. It would also reimburse you if you had to quarantine during part of the cruise. As dh and I get older, 50s & 60s, I worry about having some incident with our own health, even unrelated to covid. If dh were to have a heart attack while onboard, the last thing I need is more stress worrying about the cost of having him helicoptered to a hospital.

 

[Kwami]

I think the amount of time one allows for travel should be relative to the amount of time it would take to drive. We live in NJ so there are many airports to choose from within a 2 hour drive. (Philly, Trenton, Atlantic City, Newark, Baltimore) If one airline is having issues, we can choose from several others. All of these have at least 1 non stop per day. It would probably cost a lot to buy a same-day flight but at least we wouldn't miss the cruise. Also, in a pinch, we could just drive to FL (or NOLA, etc.)
Not a fun way to start a cruise IMO, but better than missing it completely.

We thought that, too. We were planning to leave from Providence, but our flight was cancelled. So was every flight from Boston, Manchester, and Hartford. And every flight from New York and Newark, too. There wasn't a single flight in the area that could get us to Orlando early enough to board the ship the next day. We considered taking the train and that night and then flying the rest of the way to Orlando the next morning and that almost worked. If we had found out about the cancellation an hour earlier, then we could have taken the train from Providence to Baltimore, spent the night near BWI, then got on a flight to Orlando in the morning. But, unfortunately, we didn't find out an hour earlier. The other option was to take the train to New York, catch another train out to JFK, find a hotel near JFK, then catch a really, really early flight to Orlando in the morning. But there were too many moving parts with that plan and we wouldn't have had much time to sleep at all, which would have made for a rather bad first day on the ship.

Anyway, it's all good. We just swapped our 7-night cruise for a 4-night and a 3-night. I think I'd rather have two days at Castaway, anyway, and we got to do the back-to-back thing for the first time. The only downside was eating the same menus twice.

But from now on, I'll fly 2 days ahead in the winter!

 

[mousefan73]

At most she could I suppose try to go after the airline to pay for the missed cruise but there’s a low chance of success. It isn’t RCCL’s fault she missed the boat.

as an airliner my response to this is

NEVER gonna happen. When you book a flight you also have a “passenger rights and contract“ documentation. Airlines are only required to get you from A to B if you book flight only. Delays and cancellations airlines will pay a fee or penalty tip to the passenger depending on what is required by law and paying for a cruise is not one of them

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We thought that, too. We were planning to leave from Providence, but our flight was cancelled. So was every flight from Boston, Manchester, and Hartford. And every flight from New York and Newark, too. There wasn't a single flight in the area that could get us to Orlando early enough to board the ship the next day. We considered taking the train and that night and then flying the rest of the way to Orlando the next morning and that almost worked. If we had found out about the cancellation an hour earlier, then we could have taken the train from Providence to Baltimore, spent the night near BWI, then got on a flight to Orlando in the morning. But, unfortunately, we didn't find out an hour earlier. The other option was to take the train to New York, catch another train out to JFK, find a hotel near JFK, then catch a really, really early flight to Orlando in the morning. But there were too many moving parts with that plan and we wouldn't have had much time to sleep at all, which would have made for a rather bad first day on the ship.

Anyway, it's all good. We just swapped our 7-night cruise for a 4-night and a 3-night. I think I'd rather have two days at Castaway, anyway, and we got to do the back-to-back thing for the first time. The only downside was eating the same menus twice.

But from now on, I'll fly 2 days ahead in the winter!

Whew! Winter travel is another story entirely. We gave up traveling in winter completely. It is too frustrating because like you said, it's not just issues with one airline or one airport, the whole region is affected. It could even be a bad snowstorm in Denver or Chicago and planes are stuck and can't get to the east coast and we still get cancelled. We've even had our car buried in the parking lot at PHL while we were visiting WDW. Now, we wait ideally until mid-March to travel. It doesn't eliminate bad weather entirely, but lowers the odds tremendously. Our WBPC cruise sailed March 4 but I took off work several days prior, just in case we'd end up driving or pushing our flights up earlier. I cancelled those extra days once I saw no storms in the forecast. That was a special cruise but for the regular Bahamas or Caribbean cruises, we'd choose later in spring.

 

[katmigordon]

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.

The situation sucks, but no, she should not receive a refund. Not getting trip insurance, especially during these Covid times, is an odd choice.

 

[jjb1974]

My criteria for selecting a future business partner is always based on "Did they do their legal minimum?" and certainly not on "Did they do something above the minimum to try to help someone out with a reasonable accommodation?"

So, hey, one less cruise line to consider for me.

 

[freshmanjs]

The situation sucks, but no, she should not receive a refund. Not getting trip insurance, especially during these Covid times, is an odd choice.

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).

 

[nancipants]

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).

Cool. I'm sure you would take responsibility if you missed your cruise. This woman is not.

 

[nancipants]

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.

We used non-DCL trip insurance for the one cruise we took where we needed to fly.

 

[lanejudy]

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.

I suggest researching third party travel insurance. There are a couple of really good comparison websites that will help. DCL's policy would not have helped this woman unless she also booked the airfare through DCL (and most of us don't). An all-inclusive third party policy likely costs same or less with better coverage than the plan offered through DCL.

 

[otten]

as an airliner my response to this is

NEVER gonna happen. When you book a flight you also have a “passenger rights and contract“ documentation. Airlines are only required to get you from A to B if you book flight only. Delays and cancellations airlines will pay a fee or penalty tip to the passenger depending on what is required by law and paying for a cruise is not one of them

I agree that it’s never going to happen lol but if she’s going to try to go after anyone it should be the airline.

 

[DCLMP]

I suggest researching third party travel insurance. There are a couple of really good comparison websites that will help. DCL's policy would not have helped this woman unless she also booked the airfare through DCL (and most of us don't). An all-inclusive third party policy likely costs same or less with better coverage than the plan offered through DCL.

That is good information I would not have known that. I would assume the cancel for any reason cruise credit would apply to this situation.

 

[katmigordon]

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....

We used non-DCL trip insurance for the one cruise we took where we needed to fly.

 

[John VN]

I agree that it’s never going to happen lol but if she’s going to try to go after anyone it should be the airline.

Me thinks she should go after the reflection in a mirror. NO ONE ELSE to blame.

 

[lanejudy]

That is good information I would not have known that. I would assume the cancel for any reason cruise credit would apply to this situation.

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.

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....

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.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

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

 

[Akck]

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).

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.

 

[DLgal]

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....

The easiest way is apply for a Chase Sapphire credit card and never worry about travel insurance again, because it's included automatically for all types of travel charged to the card. You want a Sapphire Reserve or Preferred card.