Emergency Cancellation-No Insurance

Two days prior to our recently scheduled cruise, we were forced to cancel due to a serious emergency medical situation that required immediate surgery and numerous follow-up visits to the doctor. Although we usually purchase insurance, unfortunately, we didn't do so this time. The cruise was on a major line, which we have sailed on many times, usually booking full suites (as we had done this time). Our TA attempted to help us with obtaining some kind of refund or, perhaps, a discount on a future cruise. We were very surprised to learn, however, that the cruise line was completely unwilling to assist us in any way because the medical emergency wasn't life-threatening. We will, of course, purchase insurance in future. I was wondering, however, if this has happened to anyone else and if the outcome was any different to ours. I know that cruise lines are in business to make money from cabin sales, onboard purchases and insurance premiums and that the line had no obligation to help us out, but I really expected they would offer something to their loyal customers.

I booked a cruise a few days ago on Carnival leaving for Alaska on Aug. 19th. I did buy the travel insurance for $170 (I am traveling solo)

Much to my surprise I found I really did not need it. I have a Black MasterCard and when I was on their site this morning looking up airport lounges I saw their travel protection. My paid travel insurance covers 100k in medical expenses (free) compared to 30K (paid).

Long story made short, check with your CC company. You may have coverage you did not know about.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you :)

Thanks for the reply and good wishes, Playa. I did check our credit cards at some point for possible coverage. Unfortunately, our cards didn't have that feature. Enjoy your Alaska cruise. It's a a beautiful place.

I don't know why you were surprised. Why would anybody buy cancellation insurance if the cruise line doesn't follow their written policies?

I don't know why the cruise line would have done anything different if it had been a life threatening emergency.

Keep in mind that if you had insurance, the trip insurance company pays you. The cruise line still keeps your money.

I'm sorry you had a medical emergency and I hope the person is ok now. Sorry to sound harsh but you took on the financial risk by not buying trip insurance. You're probably lucky that the emergency happened before the cruise instead of during it especially if you needed emergency medical evacuation and didn't have insurance coverage. Or if the person was not on the cruise, you didn't have trip interruption coverage to help pay your expenses for leaving the cruise early.

We also once cancelled two days before a cruise (in a suite.). We had to invoke the cancel for any reason option and were reimbursed 75% per our policy. We never asked or hoped the cruise line or airline to do anything for us. If we had bought regular trip insurance (without paying for the cancel for any reason coverage), we would have been out everything because our reason for canceling was not a covered reason.

I booked a cruise a few days ago on Carnival leaving for Alaska on Aug. 19th. I did buy the travel insurance for $170 (I am traveling solo)

 

Much to my surprise I found I really did not need it. I have a Black MasterCard and when I was on their site this morning looking up airport lounges I saw their travel protection. My paid travel insurance covers 100k in medical expenses (free) compared to 30K (paid).

 

Long story made short, check with your CC company. You may have coverage you did not know about.

 

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you :)

In your situation, you can probably cancel the insurance you bought and get a refund. Most policies let you cancel the policy within 10 days.

D4, as I mentioned in my original post, we had always purchased insurance in the past, except for this trip. No, I did not expect the cruise line would reimburse us for the cost of the trip. Most businesses, however, who value their customers and recognize that we're not all perfect and do mistakes and suffer misfortunes as human beings, will provide something as an incentive to keep a good customer. I guess this line just didn't see it that way. I posted my original message, however, to determine if the reaction we received from the line was typical or not, so I can plan accordingly in deciding which lines to book in future.

TDMA, I am sorry for your troubles. I have seen numerous postings such as yours; there is hardly ever a different outcome. The only times (twice in ten years) I have seen something different is when the story makes national news and the cruiseline offers something because of the resultant negative publicity.

You will not find a different outcome by switching cruiselines; just consider it a lesson learned. Actually two lessons; (1) buy the insurance unless you want to self-insure your losses. And (2) realize their appreciation of you as a frequent customer comes in the form of their past passenger perks. They make more money off of new passengers, not the repeat ones.

It would have been nice if they had "thrown you a bone", like a couple hundred in future cruise credit, but I wouldn't hold it against them for not doing anything. After all, you did end up cancelling so late that it's unlikely the cabin re-sold.

I imagine that most cruise lines have multiple passengers with last minute emergencies on almost every sailing. Medical emergencies, death, getting to the port (airline problems), not having the right documentation to board, etc.

I booked a cruise a few days ago on Carnival leaving for Alaska on Aug. 19th. I did buy the travel insurance for $170 (I am traveling solo)

 

Much to my surprise I found I really did not need it. I have a Black MasterCard and when I was on their site this morning looking up airport lounges I saw their travel protection. My paid travel insurance covers 100k in medical expenses (free) compared to 30K (paid).

 

Long story made short, check with your CC company. You may have coverage you did not know about.

 

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you :)

Since you booked your cruise so recently, can you try to cancel Carnival's insurance and get your $170 refunded?

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Regarding the vacant cabin, I've heard that the lines have pre-qualified individuals who will happily accept a last-minute trip. If that's still true with all the TSA requirements, the cruise line received my payment as well as some kind of discounted fare from someone else for the same cabin, or at least for a lower level cabin if they upgraded other passengers into our cabin. Also, I would assume that upgraded passengers would spend more on board, although that would be hard to prove unless you work in that industry. I have also heard that cruise lines make more money from new passengers, although I'd be surprised if that were true for those in our situation. We pay more upfront for suites (rarely discounted), are very generous with onboard purchases (because we can afford more these days) and cost the lines very little with the extra perks we receive (early boarding, small onboard discounts and the like). If it's true that all cruise lines have this attitude toward their best customers, maybe we need to re-think how we spend our vacation dollars. If you work for any of the cruise lines or used to, I would be very interested in your thoughts on this topic.

Since you booked your cruise so recently, can you try to cancel Carnival's insurance and get your $170 refunded?

I just printed out both the CCL & MasterCard Black coverage and put them side by side. Here are the differences.

Both have full fare recovery in the event of illness, accident, injury or death, etc. for both myself, husband or immediate family member, so that is a washout.

Accident or Sickness - CCL: 20K / BM: 150k

Repatriation - CCL: 30k / BM: - 100k

Emergency Evacuation - CCL: 30k / BM: 100k

Delayed Luggage - CCL: 500 / BM: 600

Lost Luggage - CCL: 1500 / BM: 3k

Trip Delay - CCL: 500 / BM: 3k

BUT in my case there is a kicker to the advantage of CCL insurance. It covers me in the event that a natural disaster makes my home uninhabitable and since I live in the tropics that is reason enough for me to keep the CCL policy since I will be traveling in the height of hurricane season.

BTW, the BM will take second fiddle to CCL policy. For example let's say I lose a suitcase with a value of 2500. BM will pay the 1k difference since CCL's coverage is 1500.

While perusing many boards on CC to get an idea about what cruising is all about I have noticed many people that have 4,5,6 cruises booked for the next year.

If you are a frequent cruiser I suggest looking into the BM instead of paying $170 per cruise for insurance.

Just my humble opinion.

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Regarding the vacant cabin, I've heard that the lines have pre-qualified individuals who will happily accept a last-minute trip. If that's still true with all the TSA requirements, the cruise line received my payment as well as some kind of discounted fare from someone else for the same cabin, or at least for a lower level cabin if they upgraded other passengers into our cabin. Also, I would assume that upgraded passengers would spend more on board, although that would be hard to prove unless you work in that industry. I have also heard that cruise lines make more money from new passengers, although I'd be surprised if that were true for those in our situation. We pay more upfront for suites (rarely discounted), are very generous with onboard purchases (because we can afford more these days) and cost the lines very little with the extra perks we receive (early boarding, small onboard discounts and the like). If it's true that all cruise lines have this attitude toward their best customers, maybe we need to re-think how we spend our vacation dollars. If you work for any of the cruise lines or used to, I would be very interested in your thoughts on this topic.

TSA has no participation in security for cruise line ships.

You do not see TSA in cruise ship terminals.

I would assume that upgraded passengers would spend more on board, although that would be hard to prove unless you work in that industry. ... If it's true that all cruise lines have this attitude toward their best customers, maybe we need to re-think how we spend our vacation dollars.

I don't see why upgraded passengers should spend more. They've got a bigger bedroom, so they're going to go on more excursions / spend more in the casino / drink more? I don't see it.

As for the second, surely you're overreacting. To decide not to go on a cruise ever again, just because they won't cover you for a small amount of your uninsured loss, seems rather to be cutting off your nose to spite your face. As you said earlier, these circumstances are never going to happen again anyway.

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Regarding the vacant cabin, I've heard that the lines have pre-qualified individuals who will happily accept a last-minute trip. If that's still true with all the TSA requirements, the cruise line received my payment as well as some kind of discounted fare from someone else for the same cabin, or at least for a lower level cabin if they upgraded other passengers into our cabin. Also, I would assume that upgraded passengers would spend more on board, although that would be hard to prove unless you work in that industry. I have also heard that cruise lines make more money from new passengers, although I'd be surprised if that were true for those in our situation. We pay more upfront for suites (rarely discounted), are very generous with onboard purchases (because we can afford more these days) and cost the lines very little with the extra perks we receive (early boarding, small onboard discounts and the like). If it's true that all cruise lines have this attitude toward their best customers, maybe we need to re-think how we spend our vacation dollars. If you work for any of the cruise lines or used to, I would be very interested in your thoughts on this topic.

we also had a medical emergency. no insurance, i loose. it was my own fault never took insurance before why now? sh.... happens. as we found out. i was upset about the way the air tickets were handled. we purchased them through the cruise and we totally lost them.purchase on our own we would have received some compensation. lesson learned

bia

Regardless of whether the emergency was life threatening or not, the cruise line does not owe you anything at all. By accident or intent, you did not purchase insurance. If they did something for you, why should anyone purchase insurance? All they would have to do is go to the cruise company and say that because they were a good customer the cruise company owes them something. Sorry but that is not the way it works.

When we travel, we purchase only medical and evacuation insurance. In fact, we purchase a yearly policy that covers all trips taken during the year. I accept that if I have to cancel a trip, I am out the money.

Hope that you have recovered and have learned a lesson.

DON

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. Regarding the vacant cabin, I've heard that the lines have pre-qualified individuals who will happily accept a last-minute trip.

A myth.

I booked a cruise a few days ago on Carnival leaving for Alaska on Aug. 19th. I did buy the travel insurance for $170 (I am traveling solo)

 

 

 

Much to my surprise I found I really did not need it. I have a Black MasterCard and when I was on their site this morning looking up airport lounges I saw their travel protection. My paid travel insurance covers 100k in medical expenses (free) compared to 30K (paid).

 

 

 

Long story made short, check with your CC company. You may have coverage you did not know about.

 

 

 

I am keeping my fingers crossed for you :)

Does it cover emergency evacuation which can easily run over $100K?

I don't see why upgraded passengers should spend more. They've got a bigger bedroom, so they're going to go on more excursions / spend more in the casino / drink more? I don't see it.

 

 

 

As for the second, surely you're overreacting. To decide not to go on a cruise ever again, just because they won't cover you for a small amount of your uninsured loss, seems rather to be cutting off your nose to spite your face. As you said earlier, these circumstances are never going to happen again anyway.

Agree. Our spend is about the same regardless of the level of accommodation we book.

I just printed out both the CCL & MasterCard Black coverage and put them side by side. Here are the differences.

 

Both have full fare recovery in the event of illness, accident, injury or death, etc. for both myself, husband or immediate family member, so that is a wash....<snip>

Does it cover emergency evacuation which can easily run over $100K?

Emergency Medical Evacuation/Repatriation coverage is $100,000.

Comfort Return Ticket to Home Country 1st Class is covered for $7,500.

Medical Expenses (injury or sickness) for cardholder, spouse/domestic partner and dependent children is covered for $150,000.