RCCL Insurance Question -Refund??

I'm not about to start a thread about the pros and cons of buying insurance, but I am wondering if this is an insurance ripoff.

I booked a cruise for Oct. on VOS and also purchased the insurance. I was told that there is a 100% refund if you cancel 70 days prior to the cruise.

I have now heard from other posters that the insurance portion is not refundable even if you cancel outside the 70 days.

If this is true..why?

The insurance company has not insured me for anything so why wouldn't that money also be refundable. They haven't covered me for cancelation as I am still outside the 70 days, they haven't covered me for medical as i'm still at home.

Wondering if anyone knows why this is so and why didn't the agent tell me this when she said I can get a 100% refund?

You do have the option, of not buying the insurance until it is time to make your final payment. In which case, if you cancelled before the final payment was due, you have not paid for the insurance yet...

Enchantment 7/02

Navigator 11/03

Next one?? ??/04

That really doesn't answer my question.

What has the insurance company insured me for?

I'm allowed to cancel for any reason as i'm outside 70 days (with or without insurance)

and they haven't insured me for medical as the ship hasn't left yet.

I should have been told by the agent that the 100% refund doesn't apply to the insurance.

You're right, you should have been told. As far as I know, no insurance payments are refundable no matter what company.

Radiance to Alaska

Jewel of the Seas

As far as I can tell from researching this, the only good reason to buy insurance before you enter the penalty phase is to cover pre-existing conditions. Otherwise, just wait until final payment.

Technically, the insurance company isn't "insuring" anything if you cancel before penalties come into play, but that is the standard practice. If you buy term life insurance, it is a very rare policy that would refund any premiums if you cancel before you die. Granted, they are at least insuring your life during the time and the travel insurance isn't. It's just the way they have designed the policies.

The culprit in this is your TA that didn't tell you. The cynic in me has to observe that he/she probably got some commission on the insurance and would keep that if you cancel the cruise. So maybe you could say that the insurance company was insuring part of the TA's commission at your expense.

Bob

Bob

Thanks for your responses.

The TA was actually RC and they should have known better.

I was basically just pricing cruises and The VOS had a great rate. She told me to "lock the price in now" and if I find something else it is 100% refundable.

I then made the booking and she said "would you like insurance". I thought it would be a good idea to have insurance, but assumed it was also refundable.

I guess the responsibility lies with me, but she should have mentioned the insurance wasn't refundable.

Anyways, buyer beware and I hope someone else can learn from this. I would have definately bought the insurance at final booking as I'm 33 and not too worried about pre existing conditions.

Pre exsisting conditions also apply to Granny's bad heart or Dad's high blood pressure. There are other reasons to have to cancel a cruise. Your own medical reasons may not be enough, but your family's medical reasons may be. Also, if you have purchased Airfare and hotel accomodations and then decide to cancel, the insurance will cover the cost of those. Just my 2 cents.

Debbie

<MARQUEE direction=left width=33%>ADVENTURE ON THE AOS 4/25/04 </MARQUEE>

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mombandy4:

Pre exsisting conditions also apply to if you have purchased Airfare and hotel accomodations and then decide to cancel, the insurance will cover the cost of those.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

not if you just decide to cancel, it has to be for an "event" that is covered by insurance, just deciding not to go isn't normally covered although some cruise lines coverage will allow you to cancel for no reason for a future credit(of some percentage)

Debbie;

I agree with you if you're inside the penalty period (less than 70 days), but in my situation I am 210 days from it.

So I do not see what risk the insurance company has had.

I feel it should be offered at time of final booking as they have assumed zero risk.Or at the very least explain that it is not part of the booking refund.

Just my 2 cents

You are correct, insurance premiums are not refundable. I booked insurance for me and my friend 2 years ago for my VOS sailing. She ended up not going and was unable to get a refund for her portion of the insurance. They did however give me a voucher to use for my next trip.

Until Adventure of the Seas

RCCL Adventure of the Seas 11/14/04

RCCL Voyager of the Seas 10/26/03

Carnival Pride 11/9/02

Premier Cruise Lines (5 sailings)

I could be wrong but it depends on who you bought your insurance through. If you bought the cruiseline insurance (in this case RCL's insurance) then I thought that was refundable. Insurance purchased through other companies is usually not refundable. One of our first cruises on Carnival we purchased the insurance thru the cruiseline (didn't know there were other options) and we had to cancel and I believe I remember the insurance part was refunded also. Not sure if RCL is different or times have changed but I really do think it depends on who you purchase your insurance coverage through.

if you are within the penalty period and cancel you get 100% of your money back.

You can purchase insurance from the cruiseline up until final payment and from other places even the week before you cruise (more expensive and more rules).

So with this being said, imho, why would you buy insurance befre final payment?

it does not make any sense

Until our Cruise Critic Group Alaska Cruise

Come check out the links below for our Cruise Critic group cruise to Alaska - August 2004

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Carnival Holiday 1991

Norwegian Sea August 2001

Carnival Triumph August 2003

Celebrity Horizon October 2003

From what I understand now, the only advantage of buying insurance before final payment is to cover pre-existing medical conditions.

For example, if I bought the insurance yesterday and tomorrow I develop a heart problem I will be covered on the cruise even if I have to cancel the day before.

However,If I waited till I made the final payment then the heart condition would be considered pre-existing and any claims as a result of this heart conditions would not be paid.

That is the only advantage to buying the insurance before.In hindsight I should have waited till final booking.

i bought a policy through www.insuremytrip.com the week before i was leaving, it covered all preexisting conditions and was only 40 dollars more then the original quote i got from the cruise line.

check out this site you can save a lot of money

Until our Cruise Critic Group Alaska Cruise

Come check out the links below for our Cruise Critic group cruise to Alaska - August 2004

http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=frm&s=927093444&f=9693034447

http://www.cruisecritic.com/interests/groups.cfm?ID=43

Carnival Holiday 1991

Norwegian Sea August 2001

Carnival Triumph August 2003

Celebrity Horizon October 2003

For what it is worth... I purchased my cruise and insurance thru RCL recently and right prior to having to make my final payment I was considering cancelling my cruise. I was told by my rep that I wouldn't be out a penny. I was never asked but I believe that I was not charged for the insurance until I made my final payment.

As for the person mention pre-existing conditions. Based on the information I recieved from the insurance group, pre-existing conditions only apply to the people travelling.

If you needed to cancel due to the illness or death of a relative not cruising and they had a pre-existing condition at the time you purchased the insurance, you are still covered.

You're right, you should have been told. As far as I know, no insurance payments are refundable no matter what company.

 

Radiance to Alaska

Jewel of the Seas

It is my understanding if you cancel a cruise the amount you paid for the cruise is refundable, the insurance premium is not refundable.

I was under the impression, that the cruise care insurance did not start until it was paid for, and normally, although it is on the invoice, you don't pay for it until final payment, you just pay the regular deposit for the cruise, which is just that, a deposit.

I was under the impression, that the cruise care insurance did not start until it was paid for, and normally, although it is on the invoice, you don't pay for it until final payment, you just pay the regular deposit for the cruise, which is just that, a deposit.

That is normally the case with Royal's insurance. If you want to be covered earlier than final payment, you must request to pay for the insurance.

That is normally the case with Royal's insurance. If you want to be covered earlier than final payment, you must request to pay for the insurance.

If you were charged for insurance from the time you made your deposit, that means you had coverage from that date. That should have been explained to you and usually has to be requested at that time rather than "automatically" added without your permission.

The reason to request and pay for coverage from the cruise line before final payment when it is due would be to get the pre-existing "look back" clock ticking. During this "look back" period, no issues that come up will be covered. If you are beyond that, then it is covered.

I can give you a personal example. DH fell and broke his hip the end of October. They inserted three screws and warned that a total hip replacement would probably be required if the hip was not getting "nutrients." We had a cruise booked for late April 2014. Since we had no idea when the hip replacement might occur, I cancelled the cruise because I had not bought insurance yet.

Every month he went in for x-rays to see how recovery was coming along. Every month they told him that it appeared the joint was getting nutrients. At the end of February, they told him that a total hip replacement would not be required and formally discharged him. No further appointments or treatment required. The day he cleared the 120 look back time from the time he was discharged from the hospital following the screws being inserted, I rebooked the cruise and bought insurance. I always get thiird party because I don't think the medi-vac coverage on cruise line insurance is sufficient. Third party usually is better coverage all the way around, sometimes cheaper, and usually not more than a few dollars more than cruise insurance.

Third party insurance has the same "look back" BUT if you purchase it within a couple of weeks of making your initial deposit, some policies waive that look back period. This is advisable if you have (or an immediate family member has) an ongoing illness (heart condition, cancer) that could cause you to cancel. You are getting something for your money--coverage--even though when you purchase it, there are no monies at risk at that time, no issues, and might not ever be for the next few months.

I never thought we would have to cancel a cruise because DH would trip and break his hip! I collected air fare another time when the NCL ship "Norway" blew up and the cruise was cancelled. Got my cruise money back but I had already gotten non-refundable air tickets. I had only bought the insurance because my MIL had Alzheimers and I wanted pre-existing coverage for her.

Hope this all makes sense.

Tucker in Texas

I always bought cruise insurance from the cruise line until my travel agent told me that it is better to buy insurance from an outside source.

I decided to give it a try. I bought cruise insurance from Allianz on January 6, 2014 for a November 2014 cruise. I just cancelled this cruise and knew that like RCL's cruise insurance if I cancel the cruise that this cruise insurance is also not refundable. Even Carnival's insurance is non-refundable.

BUT and here's the nice part. I called Allianz to see if I could transfer this insurance to another cruise / cruise line for a yet undetermined date and was told yes I could.

Allianz allows a person to keep their cruise insurance up to 770 days from the date of purchase to reuse. This is a little over two years.

I am not endorsing this company or telling everyone they should use this company but I think it is important to know that there are other travel insurance companies out there, beside the cruise line's insurance, that allows cancel our cruises and keep our insurance to be used at another time.

A little homework can go a long way and save us money; in this case it saved me $288.

I thought that the insurance purchased through Royal was completely refundable before final payment date.

I recently purchased a policy through InsureMyTrip and the policy said that I could cancel after the 10 day review period as long as nothing had been claimed and it was before nonrefundable payments were due. (I only had to pay an $8 processing fee) I also had the option of transferring the premium to another cruise.

Read through your policy. There should be a cancellation policy on it somewhere.

The insurance company has not insured me for anything so why wouldn't that money also be refundable.

I agree with you, they have taken next to no risk for their money ... but it entirely depends on the insurance company.

I have recently obtained a full refund from our insurance company after a cruise cancellation, yet I have also had to forfeit insurance costs for previous cancellations (from a different provider). Guess which provider we'll be using in future ...

My understanding is that insurance is a form of gambling.

I am gambling that something will go wrong and the insurance company will have to pay out.

They are gambling that nothing will go wrong and they get to keep the money with no payout.

You have in fact used your policy...(you were covered from the day you bought it) and the fact that you were lucky enough to not make a claim makes them the winner in this case.

That's how insurance works.

R

Its amazing why people get so fed up about not being refunded the premium of the Insurance. So you bought a $4,000 cruise and your worried about $300 if not that in Insurance Premium. To me if I really needed insurance for pre-existing conditions I would not even stop to question it and go ahead and just buy it.

I've got a lot of other things to worry about but when it comes to health no ifs ands buts its gotta be purchased. If I felt it was just too risky to book the cruise that far in advance I just wouldn't book it especially with non-refundable airfare. Yes I know you get a good rate early on but if a Doctor said I needed to lay low and not travel for a bit then so be it.