My Travel Insurance is "covering" my extra two sea days on Mariner!

Just got off the phone with my travel insurance co., they are covering any and all added expenses from our extra sea days while the Mariner was stuck at sea due to the hurricane. This includes all expenses posted to our onboard account during those two days, my missed hotel in Orlando, extra gratuities that we paid for the extra sea days, taxi fare to the airport, etc... They are not covering any missed wages from missing work, that's costing us a bundle, and my husband essentially lost two vacation days that he needed in the future. The extra sea days are nice folks, but when you aren't planning on it, it can end up costing you more than they are worth.

 

Everyone is saying "wow, you got a 9 day cruise for the cost of a 7 day cruise"... WRONG!! We paid the equivalent of 4 paid work days which is alot more than the extra two days would have cost. Still, compared to what FL residents went through with this hurricane, it's nothing, but I did want to let everyone know that they might be entitled to a claim too.

What travel insurance agency did you use? We got three extra days on the Sovereign, but I didn't think about trying to get our expenses covered - it's probably worth a phone call!

We used Global Alert Travel, purchased through "insuremytrip.com", and these expenses are covered under "travel delay". Good Luck.

Susanita,

 

I really, really want to believe that the insurance company paid for any and all of on board charges under travel delay. I can see possible laundry and toilet articles and maybe even the tips, but would they really cover a casino charge or alcohol? That's fantastic, but it boggles my mind that they would be that generous.

Hi Bob, the specifically said "any and all charges incurred during those two days", and we just need to show credit card statement or sea pass bill to verify the amount. She specifically said "any drinks purchased, any meals, gratuities, cab fare, cell phone bill, internet charges, ship to shore calls, laundry, airline ticket changes, hotel cancellations" to name a few. So, I guess we'll see!

That's amazing. One reason I wondered is I frequently go to the casino to get cash on the last full day and use it for tips. While it is for a legitimate reason under your circumstances, the sea pass bill would say casino and it would surprise me if they covered that. But it sure sounds all-inclusive.

 

I don't recognize that company name, but I will sure look at it hard for our upcoming trips.

Sounds too good to be true....

But wait! There is something I just thought of (oops), she said it was "up to an amount of $200 each", so that means anything we spent over $400 total is NOT covered. Sorry, forgot to mention that it totally slipped my mind. Duh, me.

 

We didn't have any casino charges, or any bingo charges, or anything like that.

Susan what travel insurance company was it? I would defintely like to use them for my upcoming cruise..

I got it through insuremytrip.com, it's Global Alert offered through MH Ross, it was very reasonable, like $35 pp. It paid for itself.

SO happy for you! Wow, and only $35 pp. You are the deal finder :).

 

Marie

Sounds too good to be true....

 

The trip delay benefit would include normal and necessary expenses required until the trip can be completed. They look everything over pretty well to determine if an expense is necessary. Yes, drinks are covered but that would be something like a soda with a meal. A bottle of wine will not be covered. And with the daily per person limit there's only so much damage you can do anyway.

Susanita, you said you purchased on your own. So, is this how it works . . You book your cruise then show them some sort of proof as to when you are travelling, cost of trip, etc? Then purchase a trip ins. policy from them? Is that how it works? Thanks in advance.

 

Elaine

Hi Elaine, I just went to insuremytrip.com, typed in all the necessary info (dates of travel, etc...), chose which policy I wanted, and purchased it. There were no questions asked, they sent me the policy over email, and the day before I left they emailed me a bon voyage letter and a reminder of their contact numbers in case I needed assistance while at sea. When I called to see if I had a claim, they said that they would have to verify that I did indeed purchase the insurance (which I had the receipt and confirmation in front of me, so that was no problem), and I'm sure when I get my claim form I will need to show them my receipt that I actually booked the cruise. That was it. I also have a letter from the Capt. of the ship that states that we were stuck at sea, my sea pass account receipt, my hotel confirmation that shows that it was non refundable, etc...

 

I won't purchase the cruiseline insurance for $100 when I can get the same thing on my own for $35. I've used insuremytrip.com for all previous 8 cruises, but this is the first time I've had a claim.

did this $35 include medical? or just trip cancellation/interruption/delay expenses?

susanita, thanks for the info! Will definitely check into it next time I cruise.

susanita,

 

How much coverage did you buy? I looked at insuremytrip.com and put in $900 p/p, 7-days, 40 years old and it quoted me $93.

 

Do you have some tricks such as lowballing the cruise fare and taking a chance on cancelaation, but get the other coverage?

I'm curious too, did this cover medical, and medical evacuation also? I haven't even started looking at insurance yet, but I need to.

Sue - glad to see you back from your cruise. Missed you while you were gone. Please let me know what you thought of the Mariner and RCCL since I remember this being your first RCCL cruise. Post a review when you get the chance.

Age makes a huge difference. We are in our 40s would pay about half if we were in our 20s.

HI LvCruiser, this was actually my 2nd RCI cruise, my first was almost three years ago on Enchantment (that was the cruise that started this terrible addiction!). I wrote a review, it's probably on page 3 or 4 now. We had a wonderful time!

 

This policy did include up to $50,000 medical, and also emergency evacuation. I put in our ages (I'm 37, hubby 40), and the cost of the cruise with airfare and hotel (didn't lowball, entered the exact amount). The $93 that shows up is probably for TWO of you, so the amount pp would be around $46?

 

I just bought insurance for our February cruise, for 5 of us (my mother and our two kids will be with us, it was only $31 pp with $50K in medical, trip cancellation, trip delay, baggage loss and delay and even accidental death included). The weather in Upstate NY in February is sometimes so brutal that that is a chance we could be delayed, let's hope not!

I really figured the price on your ins couldn't possibly have included medical. I ran a search for our BOS 1/14/05 cruise (its a 10 dayer), total cost w/air/cruise was around $3500. DH is 37 and I'm 35. Global Alert would have cost us $173. The cheapest policies were Travel Insured and TravelSafe at $130. I didn't like some of their coverages so I went with CSA Webdirect at $143 total. So, I guess that rounds out to $71.50pp, which was good, but still twice the cost of yours. Do you think it was the price of my cruise/air that made it higher?

 

RC's ins would have cost us $218, which wouldn't have covered air since we booked on our own and was less coverage on many things as well.

Susanita,

 

You're right, I overlooked that. I compared this policy to two I have taken in the past, Travel Guard Protect assist and Access America travel with Ease (never had to use any insurance, thank goodness) and it does stack up pretty well and costs from 10-15 dollars per person less than our typical cruise. It is better in most areas except one. For medical evacuation, it has a $50,000 limit where the other two have $300,000. Overall, it looks good enough that I wonder why I overlooked it.

 

That's the value of this board. Here I've learned about a company I hadn't considered AND information about how well they treat you when you have a claim (far more important than saving 20-30 per cruise). Of course, I'm eagerly waiting to see if they do all they say. If so, I may just use them in the future. Please keep us posted.

 

Thanks.

I ran a search for our BOS 1/14/05 cruise (its a 10 dayer), total cost w/air/cruise was around $3500. DH is 37 and I'm 35. Global Alert would have cost us $173.

Yes, the cost of the policy is directly related to the cost of the vacation. I entered the pp cost of our vacation as $900, total $1800 ($750 cruise, $150 air). I think it also has to do with the length of the vacation, as well as the state that you are from, for some strange reason. Every time I've gotten a policy, they've asked my home state, I'm guessing rates may vary from state to state? There are times where I could NOT get a certain type of coverage because I was from NY, but I just chose another.

 

I'll keep everyone posted! I did find out from others in our group that most of them are also able to make claims (all except one), and all of them got their policy through insuremytrip.com

Yes, the cost of the policy is directly related to the cost of the vacation. I entered the pp cost of our vacation as $900, total $1800 ($750 cruise, $150 air). I think it also has to do with the length of the vacation, as well as the state that you are from, for some strange reason. Every time I've gotten a policy, they've asked my home state, I'm guessing rates may vary from state to state? There are times where I could NOT get a certain type of coverage because I was from NY, but I just chose another.

 

I'll keep everyone posted! I did find out from others in our group that most of them are also able to make claims (all except one), and all of them got their policy through insuremytrip.com

 

Insuremytrip has to ask for your state of residence because they include Travel Guard policies in their comparisons. Travel Guard (because of some regulatory problems they had a couple of years ago) have to market different plans for residents of WA and OR with different premiums. For the other plans on their site the plan premiums are the same regardless of what state you reside in.

 

For all of the plans that they list, the premium is based primarily on the traveler's age and per person trip cost. The older you are, the higher the premium. The more expensive the trip, the higher the premium. This is why one poster's $35 pp premium may not apply to your individual circumstance. The length of the trip only really comes in to effect in a couple of instances -- #1 if the trip length is over 30 days they start tacking on an additional per day (susally $3 - $5) premium. #2 CSA WebDirect does figure in the trip length when computing the premium so a ten-night cruise would probably cost a buck or two more than a seven-night cruise.

 

One other difference is where the plans break the age brackets. For example, a 70 year old with Access America is in their 60 - 70 age bracket, so he gets a break by having his premium averaged down with younger travelers. If he's using Travel Guard he's in their 70 - 74 age bracket so his premium is averaged up with the older travelers. .