Would Trip Interference Insurance cover a missed CC?

[MunFam]

The other threads got me thinking...does trip interference insurance actually cover missed ports? I do not have my hard policy yet to read the fine details, and I did not care to read that portion online. Could someone technically get money back if the port, like CC gets missed?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The other threads got me thinking...does trip interference insurance actually cover missed ports? I do not have my hard policy yet to read the fine details, and I did not care to read that portion online. Could someone technically get money back if the port, like CC gets missed?

Only if you lost money. You'd need to prove a monetary loss to have it repaid. But just saying "I really was counting on going there" won't cut it. And you would need to have some sort of trip interruption coverage, I believe.

Since port fees are generally refunded by the cruiseline for missed ports, and any ship-sponsored excursions aren't charged for, there's really no monetary loss.

 

[jerseygal]

Interesting question, but I would think not, but you could certainly call the Travel Insurance Company. I doubt it since a "change of Port" due to weather or other conditions is common on cruise lines...

 

[SuzanneSLO]

The other threads got me thinking...does trip interference insurance actually cover missed ports? I do not have my hard policy yet to read the fine details, and I did not care to read that portion online. Could someone technically get money back if the port, like CC gets missed?

In general, no.

However, if you miss a port and you had nonrefundable expenses (such as for a tour or car rental), then such nonrefundable expenses would be covered. -- Suzanne

 

[MunFam]

It just made me wonder because I was on the phone today with our insurance agent and we were going over excursions and she said that I could insure ones that were fully refundable, and if we missed all or a portion of it due to unforseen circumstances, we would have coverage, even if we did not pay for the excursion...I know it gets gray at that point, so I was just curious if anyone had tried filing a trip interruption/interference claim before.

The only time we cruised without insurance we missed every single port going up the West Coast. It was a LONG couple of days with 30 foot seas.

 

[Sir William]

A trip interruption typically means having to interrupt your trip and return home due to some emergency: death or life-threatening injury or illness in the immediate family, your house being damaged or destroyed by fire or natural disaster, and the like for example. It does not normally apply to the tour or cruise company changing the itinerary due to weather, port or hotel non-availability, etc (which almost all travel companies include as a non-refundable event in their contracts with you). It could also apply if the ship was damaged and had to return early to port (or worse, sunk).

You can certainly ask for a refund from your travel insurance company for not making a specific port call, but it's unlikely they will allow it as being reimbursable.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I think also if unforeseen circumstances (like weather) cause a cruise to end early whatever lost days could be covered by insurance at a pro-rated rate. It wouldn't be "the weather was crappy...our cruise had to cut us short a day...we're devastated from the disappointment of plans gone wrong...I deserve a 100% refund for the whole cruise so I can book a do-over". It'd be whatever your cruise cost / length of cruise x number of missed nights. Ya know?

 

[lbgraves]

If you weren't able to dock in a port, you would still have access to the services onboard, food, drinks, entertainment, etc. Technically you aren't missing out on everything.

 

[mmouse37]

A trip interruption typically means having to interrupt your trip and return home due to some emergency: death or life-threatening injury or illness in the immediate family, your house being damaged or destroyed by fire or natural disaster, and the like for example. It does not normally apply to the tour or cruise company changing the itinerary due to weather, port or hotel non-availability, etc (which almost all travel companies include as a non-refundable event in their contracts with you). It could also apply if the ship was damaged and had to return early to port (or worse, sunk).

You can certainly ask for a refund from your travel insurance company for not making a specific port call, but it's unlikely they will allow it as being reimbursable.

Actually, when our cruise was delayed 2 days due to a hurricane (it could not dock at PC due to PC being evacuated). The ship had to dock at Ft. Lauderdale and turned into a 5 day cruise instead of a 7 day cruise. While we did not get money back from the insurance co. for our missed cruise days we did get reimbursed from the travel insurance under the trip interruption clause for our extra hotel nights, extra rental car days and food spent for those 2 days till we boarded the ship. I saved all receipts and submitted them and we were reimbursed specifically under trip interruption.

We did get reimbursed 50% of our cruise fare from DCL and a nice shipboard credit. We also had to be transported via DCL transfers to Ft. Lauderdale from WDW to meet the cruise. Let me tell you Ft. Lauderdale was chaos as the Wonder had to be diverted there as well and DCL did not have their own terminals to check people in...it was crazy!!!

MJ

 

[bumbershoot]

if we missed all or a portion of it due to unforseen circumstances, we would have coverage, even if we did not pay for the excursion

Before believing that insurance person, I would call back and ask another. Maybe ask a supervisor. Because with insurance, as far as I know, you have to have expenses for them to reimburse you. Missing CC doesn't incur expenses. Not even port fees. There's nothing to reimburse.

 

[SlickWilly]

You can always submit to the insurance - it totally depends on the terms. Years ago we had an Alaksan cruise end a day early due to Norwalk virus. The cruise line took care of everything and we actually received a partial fare refund. No out of pocket costs. Our TA said no chance insurance would pay us, but the terms were clear - any change to the itinerary would be paid a fixed amount. We submitted and they sent us a check.

 

[SuperDry]

Before believing that insurance person, I would call back and ask another. Maybe ask a supervisor. Because with insurance, as far as I know, you have to have expenses for them to reimburse you. Missing CC doesn't incur expenses. Not even port fees. There's nothing to reimburse.

The ultimate authority with any insurance policy is the wording in the policy itself - it contains the authoritative answer and will be used to determine whether a situation is or is not covered, regardless of what anyone on the phone, even a supervisor, tells you. These days, it should be easy enough to download or get emailed to you a PDF containing the entirety of the policy, either before or at the very least within the free cancellation period after issuance.

Regarding travel insurance in general, Bumbershoot is correct: generally speaking, it's only going to cover extra expenses you incur as a result of a covered situation. Here's an example that most people guess wrong about: Let's say you're flying from New York to Los Angeles for a 3-night vacation, and you've pre-paid for 3 nights of hotel in LA. Your flight is delayed by one day, and the airline puts you up in a hotel in New York for that first night. Most travel insurance would not pay anything in this case: even though you lost out on a night in LA and paid for a room you didn't occupy, you didn't incur any extra expense due to the travel interruption, and that's what the policy covers. Same would be the case if you stayed at home for that night in NY because you lived near the airport. But, if you had to pay for your own room at the airport in NY, that would be covered by travel insurance. Of course, YMMV so read your policy for the exact terms of coverage.

 

[tvguy]

Read the cruise contract. Generally speaking, the cruise line doesn't promise you will stop in any ports at all, let alone specific ones. They don't even promise which ship you will be in. So I suspect a claim for a missed port would be declined.

 

[bumbershoot]

The ultimate authority with any insurance policy is the wording in the policy itself - it contains the authoritative answer and will be used to determine whether a situation is or is not covered, regardless of what anyone on the phone, even a supervisor, tells you. These days, it should be easy enough to download or get emailed to you a PDF containing the entirety of the policy, either before or at the very least within the free cancellation period after issuance.

Great point. Helpful, however to have a lawyer or insurance person reading it with you, because those things are confusing.