Fairgarth

Hallelujah! A check in the mail yesterday, over six months since I incurred the expense. The claim was over five grand so I have been out-of-pocket all this time and not knowing when or if it would be settled. The amount of $122 was deemed not eligible but I am very happy to get the settlement. The point was made earlier about declaring which company this was. I'm reluctant to say since I expect many others might pile in on this one company. I'm sure there are more companies just as bad. Perhaps we need a new thread: "Report your claims experience with travel medical insurance, good and bad."

When I have been asked to check a carry-on, the agent has been very clear that I should first remove and retain any valuables, medications and lithium batteries. That last is very important since they do not want spontaneous combustion in the belly. I truly can't believe that any agent would take the carry-on without first advising the passenger. That has to be mandatory.

I'm of the opinion that a limit of $5000 is hopelessly inadequate. Here's my evidence. I had to go to a cruise ship medical centre twice in 24 hours. The total was $5021. My mother-in-law was boarding a cruise ship in Ft. Lauderdale when she fell backwards on the escalator and ended up in hospital in intensive care for four days. The bill was $23,600. (We were surprised - thought it would be very much higher!) A friend had an accident in Cuba which could not be fixed locally and was flown home on a private jet. What did that cost? When we left New York on QM2 the captain sailed in closer to the Maine coastline and a Coast Guard helicopter lifted off a sick passenger. What did that cost? Who pays? The other thing you must think about is who pays? In my case, I paid the cruise ship and now it's my job to submit the claim to my insurer. Until, or indeed if, they settle I'm out five grand. For my mother-in-law in Ft. Lauderdale, the hospital claimed directly from her insurance and she had nothing to do with it. If, however, you run up a hospital bill in Albania, Aruba or Argentina are they likely to claim from a Canadian insurer and just let you go?

Sorry, don't follow your logic. The gal checked her bag at one gate then the flight was moved. She did not and should not retrieve it. In fact as per OP, it was on her aircraft, not "unattended", and that is why it was held up while they went into the belly to find her bag and haul it off.

Folks, don't get hung up on price. My wife and I have been buying an annual medical travel insurance from the same company for thirty years and never had a claim. Now I do. I had to go to the medical centre on a cruise ship. It has been more than five months since the claim was submitted. I phone every month but I still don't know if they will pay out, when they will pay out or how much they will pay out. I am not renewing with them. Trying to find out which insurer will honour claims in a timely and decent manner is next to impossible. All the discussions on the boards, including this one, are about price and coverage. Can anybody shed light on satisfactory claims experience?

Repositioning happens, for example, when ships move from the Caribbean to Europe in spring and then back again in the fall. QM2 does not do repositioning - it's a trans-Atlantic 'crossing'. Depends what you want. QM2 takes seven days to cross the pond. Everybody else takes 14 or so. Is that cheaper? Is your time limited?

The stingrays are free, not captive at all. The guides told me that on days with no tourists they still go out and feed them anyway.

Watch the opening hours. The ground floor market closes - around 2:00pm?? - but upstairs stays open.

I now believe that the seat map doesn't tell you anything. Here's what I think is happening. The Barcelona flight has 398 seats in economy. There is a whole range of fares that people may choose. With higher fares, you may select your seat at booking. For a lower fare, you may select your seat for an extra charge, which some people decline. So they are booked but there is no seat blocked. Then there may be fares where seat selection is delayed until check-in at the airport. Again, there is a booking but no seat selected. So you might easily have 398 seats available, 300 people booked but only 200 seats selected. In which case the seat map shows 198 open seats i.e. the flight is only half full. T'ain't so. If anybody else can shed light, please do.

Sorry to rain on your parade but your flight will be full. My wife and I flew Vancouver to London back in October. The flight was only two thirds full so that meant there was well over 100 open seats when we did seat selection. Two together? Easy, right? Nope, none. A and C were all taken and there was a whole row of empty B's the full length of the aircraft on both sides. I'm disappointed that my fellow Canadians would be so inconsiderate and selfish but there you have it. Don't know when you get to select your seats but it may already be too late and there's nothing left but singles. If you find two together grab them, don't get fussy. You will have fabulous time over there, enjoy!

Have you got one ticket for CDG - YYZ - YHZ? Or two, one for AF and one for AC?

Here you are: a QM2 crossing in April 2019.

Yes, indeed, Hank. Don't know if they still do it, this was pre-Covid. They had two convertible Ferraris available. You can have ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes..... Luigi wrote down details from my Canadian licence and off we went, He comes too. Of course, you are in city streets so you can't get the thing out of second gear. Still, bucket list. Check!

Oh my, where to start? It depends very much on your interests. Academia, yes. Uffizzi no, we were bored. Sorry! Santa Croce is much more interesting than the Duomo except that if you are up for it, excuse the expression, you must climb to the top of the Brunelleschi dome. The same ticket will take you to the top of the Campanile. Palazzo Vecchio is worth the visit. Walk across the Arno and up to Piazza Michelangelo for a great view back across Florence. Rent a Ferrari for twenty minutes. If you have time, go to the top of the hill to San Miniato. Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli gardens. There's a super museum, the Galileo, just upstream from Uffizzi if you are interested in science and engineering. Incredible what these renaissance pioneers got up to. On the way to Mercato Centrale you will pass through the San Lorenzo street market. OK, enough, already.

I can't iamgine that Cunard could detain you on board against your will. What if there was some major health emergency and you needed a hospital? They would get you off PDQ. I speak from experience. We were on a ten day cruise from Venice to Athens last October and had to jump ship after four days and fly home to Vancouver. No problem. And, since you ask, everything is fine now, thank you.