Anyone else lose their vacation due to bad weather?

Hi all,

Just wondering if there was anyone else out there who had their cruise ruined due to bad weather. Tomorrow we were scheduled for a cruise on the disney dream but instead will not get to go on vacation at all due to this blizzard in chicago. Airports are closed today and tomorrow which means I have no shot at trying to jump on a flight tomorrow to catch the boat before it leaves. The airline didn't cancel the flight until 3 hours before taking off. So we lost any shot of driving down to Orlando through this blizzard. After talking to Disney, since I purchased the insurance I will get 75% off what I paid back minus the cost of insurance. Adding up the costs for my prepaid parking, the hotel, and transportation to the port, and the 25% money lost on the cruise I'm out around $1,000 and not even getting to go on any type of vacation. Needless to say I'm pretty disappointed, but mostly for my child who won't get to see Mickey Mouse in person for the first time. Just wondering if anyone else had a horror story like this or any tips that may alleviate being out so much money. I thought purchasing cruise insurance would protect against weather, but after reading through the fine print it only protects you 100% from medical emergency. Now I know for the future, maybe try to see if there is a better type of insurance for traveling.

Hi all,

 

Just wondering if there was anyone else out there who had their cruise ruined due to bad weather. Tomorrow we were scheduled for a cruise on the disney dream but instead will not get to go on vacation at all due to this blizzard in chicago. Airports are closed today and tomorrow which means I have no shot at trying to jump on a flight tomorrow to catch the boat before it leaves. The airline didn't cancel the flight until 3 hours before taking off. So we lost any shot of driving down to Orlando through this blizzard. After talking to Disney, since I purchased the insurance I will get 75% off what I paid back minus the cost of insurance. Adding up the costs for my prepaid parking, the hotel, and transportation to the port, and the 25% money lost on the cruise I'm out around $1,000 and not even getting to go on any type of vacation. Needless to say I'm pretty disappointed, but mostly for my child who won't get to see Mickey Mouse in person for the first time. Just wondering if anyone else had a horror story like this or any tips that may alleviate being out so much money. I thought purchasing cruise insurance would protect against weather, but after reading through the fine print it only protects you 100% from medical emergency. Now I know for the future, maybe try to see if there is a better type of insurance for traveling.

I'm sorry you've lost out on your vacation.

In the future it's a good idea look into third party insurance, as, typically, insurance purchased through the cruiseline (any cruiseline) generally isn't the greatest. You can usually get better coverage for a lower cost elsewhere. We usually use insuremytrip.com (it's an insurance comparison site) to find our travel policies. You just enter the parameters of what you want covered, and they will show you a selection of different policies from different companies that will fit and you can select from those.

One other note, if you're going to be traveling to your cruise during the winter, it's always a good idea to build in a couple of extra days for travel. Yes, I know it's not always possible to do other than fly in the day of the cruise (indeed, that's what we've done frequently), but, especially during wintertime, weather happens and it's best to allow for it.

Really sorry to hear you have not only lost your vacation, but also a hell of a lot of money for bookings that are not covered.

Insurance policies and companies..... Urgh!!!

They really should be made to state more clearly what is covered and what isn't in plain English!

Especially when they are offered by the vacation company you are booking with as it will only reflect badly on them, so I do not understand why they do not make a better effort.

Hopefully you will be able to find a better vacation insurance company now for next time.

Traveling a couple of extra days before your vacation as mentioned is ridiculous to me. Unless you can afford that extra time off work and the money spent on accommodation and doing things each day until the cruise.

Flying in the day or night before is appropriate caution. Flying in 72 hours before a cruise is silly.

Also how much time do you allow for after your cruise if the weather turns really bad before you fly home?

A 7 day cruise could turn into a 14 day vacation before you know it!

If I were you, take this on the chin, and such a hard lesson to have to learn through no fault of your own. You trusted what you thought you bought, and try to find a good insurance company that will cover all costs.

Crappy situation, I hope you can make another cruise reservation soon and start to look forward to that :)

ex techie

Instead of losing out completely, doesn't the Disney policy allow you to rebook at a later date? I know that may be a major inconvenience, but better than nothing? Sorry to hear this. We also use a 3rd party trip insurance to allow for better coverage and flexibility.

Really sorry to hear you have not only lost your vacation, but also a hell of a lot of money for bookings that are not covered.

Insurance policies and companies..... Urgh!!!

They really should be made to state more clearly what is covered and what isn't in plain English!

Especially when they are offered by the vacation company you are booking with as it will only reflect badly on them, so I do not understand why they do not make a better effort.

 

Hopefully you will be able to find a better vacation insurance company now for next time.

Traveling a couple of extra days before your vacation as mentioned is ridiculous to me. Unless you can afford that extra time off work and the money spent on accommodation and doing things each day until the cruise.

Flying in the day or night before is appropriate caution. Flying in 72 hours before a cruise is silly.

 

Also how much time do you allow for after your cruise if the weather turns really bad before you fly home?

A 7 day cruise could turn into a 14 day vacation before you know it!

 

If I were you, take this on the chin, and such a hard lesson to have to learn through no fault of your own. You trusted what you thought you bought, and try to find a good insurance company that will cover all costs.

 

Crappy situation, I hope you can make another cruise reservation soon and start to look forward to that :)

 

ex techie

I don't think arriving several days before a cruise is ridiculous or silly at all. In fact, that's the smart thing to do - especially in the winter! There are plenty of things to do in Central Florida to fill a few days before a cruise.

I don't think arriving several days before a cruise is ridiculous or silly at all. In fact, that's the smart thing to do - especially in the winter! There are plenty of things to do in Central Florida to fill a few days before a cruise.

Yeah, if you can afford to dedicate that much extra time off and the extra accommodation and trips costs!

Plus time out of school.

With the appropriate insurance, you have no need to turn a 7 day cruise into a 10 or 14 day vacation just incase of bad weather, unless you want to that is.

Scaremongering that is. How many cruises get cancelled even when you plan on arriving 24 hours before and weather stopping you getting to the port is the factor?

ex techie

Sorry about the delay. I live in Chicago and was thinking about all the travel plans that are ruined because of this snow storm. In winter, I always plan at least two days pre arrival for a cruise. I know we are lucky we can make our schedule work but especially in Chicago in winter, I just can't take the chance. We are flying to orlando in feb 28 for 14 days at disney...hope it works out. We are just going to a hotel but if there's a chance of bad weather I'll just get in the car the day before. We rarely get trip insurance and just self insure, so any missed days are on us.

You can also double insure. I buy insurance for the sunk cost of the entire trip plus berkshire air care if flying (pays for delays and interruption automatically).

When possible, in the winter I do try to head out 2 days prior if I can, just to give options, but I appreciate that's not always possible.

And I never buy insurance from the vacation provider.

You've got the plane tickets and time off, why not consider getting rebooked into Orlando JD going to Disney World for a few days. I was in Epcot Saturday, almost no lines! It was warm and we were able to walk up to the Kina Cafe for breakfast without a reservation and get seated immediately,. Make lemonade out of lemons. :)

You did a lot of things right and basically learned a hard lesson. I'm really sorry for the spoiled vacation.

You were coming in a day early and you bought travel insurance. Unfortunately you learned that insurance thru DCL is generally more costly and less coverage than private insurance. DCL insurance covers 75% of those items booked thru DCL. Sorry, but...always know what you are buying. Most private insurance would have covered this at 100%, some less a small deductible. Many offer a child's policy free with purchase of adult policy.

Your situation is one of those reasons that IF someone is doing WDW before a cruise, I always suggest WDW first. You can lose WDW one day at a time! But sounds like you were a "cruise only" vacation, so not applicable. You tried to be reasonable flying in the day before. Unfortunately that's not enough in Chicago and similar snowy climates. Just a couple weeks ago, my flight from Chicago was canceled for weather related issues (snow so co-pilot couldn't get to airport). I arrived at my destination almost 24 hours later than planned and in a totally exhausted state. I managed to hop a flight from Chicago to Houston and then to my final destination. People who were insisting on a direct flight from Chicago were being booked 3 days later by the time I got to the front of the line. SO, crazy delays out of Chicago are not rare in winter!

Can everyone make a 3 or 4 night cruise into a 10 day trip? No. So how many days ahead do you book? As many as you can arrange? That answer makes sense. Unfortunately that's not an option for all of us all the time.

Again, really sorry.

Sorry for your situation. It is unfortunate when things don't go as planned. All we can do is the best we can and then just accept the rest as best we can. I'm glad you had the insurance you did and that you've kept the situation in perspective. I have read of many occasions where people took much less care in preparing and insuring their trip and were much less reasonable in their reaction to missing their vacation cruise.

Oh no. I am sooo very sorry. You look so forward to your trip, booking of vacation time from work, and your little one's disappointment...never mind about the cost. I feel for you and hope you get to reschedule soon.

You've got the plane tickets and time off, why not consider getting rebooked into Orlando JD going to Disney World for a few days. I was in Epcot Saturday, almost no lines! It was warm and we were able to walk up to the Kina Cafe for breakfast without a reservation and get seated immediately,. Make lemonade out of lemons. :)

This is such a great idea!

I'm so sorry to hear about your cruise though and hope you were able to do something else.:)

Why not drive the 3 hours down to Indianapolis and take a direct down to Orlando?

Why not drive the 3 hours down to Indianapolis and take a direct down to Orlando?

Because cubs05 cruise left on Monday?

ex techie

After talking to Disney, since I purchased the insurance I will get 75% off what I paid back minus the cost of insurance. Adding up the costs for my prepaid parking, the hotel, and transportation to the port, and the 25% money lost on the cruise I'm out around $1,000...

What a bummer.

Yes, if you'd had non DCL insurance you could have added each of those nonrefundable items into the insurance, and gotten them covered.

I tend to forget to add insurance (and since I'm in WA the insurance has to cover pre-existing conditions, and there are strong timeframes of when I buy the insurance to get that to happen) so we do tend to go down days early. And in the week before I'm watching the airline's and airport's websites like a hawk, waiting to see if weather is affecting any part of my trip.

So sorry, OP.

Because cubs05 cruise left on Monday?

 

 

 

ex techie

Guess I should have said "why didn't" instead.

I was just working on travel insurance for my upcoming Celebrity cruise so I have the Allianz Trip Assist Family Care Plan brochure handy.

They cover 100% of trip cancellation due to a "covered reason". Among the covered reasons are Travel Delay resulting in loss of 50% of trip length and Complete shutdown of service by travel supplier for at least 12 or 24 hours due to bad weather.

You may want to try another policy next time. I usually steer people away from the DCL offered company in that it's expensive and I've heard of poor coverage in it.

Hi all,

 

Just wondering if there was anyone else out there who had their cruise ruined due to bad weather. Tomorrow we were scheduled for a cruise on the disney dream but instead will not get to go on vacation at all due to this blizzard in chicago. Airports are closed today and tomorrow which means I have no shot at trying to jump on a flight tomorrow to catch the boat before it leaves. The airline didn't cancel the flight until 3 hours before taking off. So we lost any shot of driving down to Orlando through this blizzard. After talking to Disney, since I purchased the insurance I will get 75% off what I paid back minus the cost of insurance. Adding up the costs for my prepaid parking, the hotel, and transportation to the port, and the 25% money lost on the cruise I'm out around $1,000 and not even getting to go on any type of vacation. Needless to say I'm pretty disappointed, but mostly for my child who won't get to see Mickey Mouse in person for the first time. Just wondering if anyone else had a horror story like this or any tips that may alleviate being out so much money. I thought purchasing cruise insurance would protect against weather, but after reading through the fine print it only protects you 100% from medical emergency. Now I know for the future, maybe try to see if there is a better type of insurance for traveling.

Really sorry to hear that.

They cover 100% of trip cancellation due to a "covered reason". Among the covered reasons are Travel Delay resulting in loss of 50% of trip length and Complete shutdown of service by travel supplier for at least 12 or 24 hours due to bad weather.

You may want to try another policy next time. I usually steer people away from the DCL offered company in that it's expensive and I've heard of poor coverage in it.

12 OR 24 hours? That seems vague.

There are at least 3 problems with the coverage thru DCL. First, it does not cover pre-existing medical conditions. Secondly, it covers only those items booked thru Disney. Third, it Disney gives 75% of any non-reimbursed cruise fare toward a future cruise (no money back on this clause, just credit toward another cruise) which must be the same people as on the first cruise.

That may work for many people, but consider a situation--mom, dad, and college kid are unable to get to port due to weather....so get 75% credit. BUT it is very difficult for college kid to schedule so mom and dad decide to do another cruise without kid. They DO NOT get 75% of the originally booked fare; they get 75% of mom's fare + 75% of dad's fare. They lose the 75% of young adult's fare!

And when you look at these figures, remember that DCL is not "out" the amount they give as credit. They already recouped some of their "loss" by not needing to pay the port charges or government taxes for people who were not on board...and depending on the cabin booked, they MIGHT have been able to "resell" this cabin as an upgrade at the port.

I do have one question in this case. Does the insurer that DCL uses not pay anything for a last minute cancellation due to weather? Because the 75% from DCL kicks in only after the insurer rejects the claim or pays their part.

Always read the terms, including what's covered and what's not.

Hi all,

 

Just wondering if there was anyone else out there who had their cruise ruined due to bad weather. Tomorrow we were scheduled for a cruise on the disney dream but instead will not get to go on vacation at all due to this blizzard in chicago. Airports are closed today and tomorrow which means I have no shot at trying to jump on a flight tomorrow to catch the boat before it leaves. The airline didn't cancel the flight until 3 hours before taking off. So we lost any shot of driving down to Orlando through this blizzard. After talking to Disney, since I purchased the insurance I will get 75% off what I paid back minus the cost of insurance. Adding up the costs for my prepaid parking, the hotel, and transportation to the port, and the 25% money lost on the cruise I'm out around $1,000 and not even getting to go on any type of vacation. Needless to say I'm pretty disappointed, but mostly for my child who won't get to see Mickey Mouse in person for the first time. Just wondering if anyone else had a horror story like this or any tips that may alleviate being out so much money. I thought purchasing cruise insurance would protect against weather, but after reading through the fine print it only protects you 100% from medical emergency. Now I know for the future, maybe try to see if there is a better type of insurance for traveling.

Not in Disney, but on a competing line, we got stuck in the airport for a blizzard. Our insurance didn't pay for a replacement cruise; just all expenses to attempt to catch up with the ship. Turns out the best we could have done was catch up with it 6 days into the cruise. We gave it our best shot.

We were thrilled when the line offered us a replacement cruise with a choice of 4 sailings on a newer better ship. It was a cruise to remember. And the insurance did pay for all food and accommodations between home and that airport. It did take us 2 days to get home.