GeezerCouple

We agree that you should book ASAP when you find a cruise you'd like to join. Otherwise, the type of accommodation (size, price, location on ship, etc.) may be sold out when you later do decide to book. Be SURE that you read carefully about the policies regarding refunds or changes, etc. It may be true that However, that does NOT mean there definitely wouldn't be any penalties or changes in the prices if you make changes or even cancel, possibly including prior to final payment. The policies can vary a lot from cruiseline to cruiseline, or change over time, etc. You really need to read all the Terms & Conditions. Or ask here on CC in the section for the specific cruise line you are considering. And best to mention the exact cruise, as there may be specials on offer for some cruises but not others, etc. Also keep in mind any special perks of a reservation you already have (included beverage package or such). Those may or may not be available if a booking is changed. And ask these questions BEFORE you cancel anything at all. Once you've cancelled (to change or not), chances are very low that you could "get back" the previous terms/perks if you decide that changing isn't better... GC

Welcome to CruiseCritic! You've raised several issues. Some of what you've written suggests that you've read about a lot of complaints about travel insurance payments, but perhaps not about times the claims are paid without any notice. As with many consumer issues, people tend to be much more likely to complain - and to more than one other person - about their unsatisfactory experiences. Importantly, some of the denials with insurance are actually relatively easy to understand. Note that I am NOT saying all of them are. Some of what I read seems that the insurer seems to be acting in an obstructive way. However, there are other times I read about situations (here on CC and elsewhere) where the "problem" is pretty obvious, and at least in part due to the insured, not the insurer. I'm thinking of cases where the traveler (the insured) complains that the insurer had "no right" to see my medical records. Sometimes they invoke HIPAA, which was written to protect medical record privacy. However, HIPAA rights, even in hospital settings, can quickly be waived for specific others if the insured party agrees. And, very importantly, insurance that involves medical situations almost (or always?) includes wording that gives the insurer the right to review appropriate medical records. Without this, insurance fraud would probably skyrocket: Some people would just "claim" without real cause that a medical problem made it necessary to [do whatever happened to need to file the claim]. It's the same with insurance that doesn't involve travel, by the way. We have had several travel insurance claims, and *all* of them have been paid without quarrelling, and they've been paid promptly. By "promptly", I mean within 2-3 weeks of our submission of all of the necessary documentation. Only once was there a delay at all: there were problems with the translation of a letter from a letter in a foreign language from a foreign physician. And these days, with emails and scanned letters/documents, that didn't even take very much extra time anyway. We use www.TripInsuranceStore.com - they are a broker and work with several vetted travel insurers who offer quite a few different policies. (They'll help with claims if asked, as well.) There is no extra cost to use a broker. But CALL them to discuss your *specific* situation and concerns, so they can help you to find a policy that is best for *your* needs. Let them ask you some questions in addition to questions you'll ask them. We've never needed to appeal. We did have to clarify something a few times, but that was no burden at all. (That one foreign language letter was the only "annoyance", and it didn't take all that long anyway.) READ THE POLICY CAREFULLY! That is essential. It will define the terms so there isn't any confusion (or shouldn't be!). It will define how THAT COMPANY defines terms (such as "pre-existing condition") for THAT policy. And note that pre-existing condition can be defined for travel insurance quite differently that what we tend to think of in ordinary life... and there are differences among different policies. ASK questions of the agent or broker! Answering questions is part of their job! As to your comment about whether CFAR "is ever worthwhile"... try not to pass judgment on what might be "worthwhile" for other people, even if it isn't worthwhile for you. Also, just so you know, travel insurers work with people who take all sorts of trips. Although $20k may be a lot for you, it's not a lot for other people or for "travel in general". Especially for longer trips, it's not hard to get costs higher than $20k - and sometimes much, much more (6 figures, for example). My point is that your potential claim point isn't one that an insurer is likely to go crazy getting out extra sleuths or whatever... As for price, yes, insuring two people who are 90 will be relatively expensive. That reflects thet fact that there is a higher likelihood that there will be a claim, as you recognize. We have used TIS to help us get policies from Travel Insured (the actual insurer), and all of our claims have been with TI. And we have zero complaints, except that we had the misfortune to need to *use* the travel insurance in the first place. 😞 We wish we had been buying the insurance and never needed to make a claim. I do suspect, from reading here on CC and elsewhere, that there are some insurers who DO make the claims process "difficult", hoping the traveler will give up. But not all of them do. And we would NEVER even consider dealing with an agent, broker, or insurer that we had difficulty contacting prior to purchasing a policy. We want reasonably prompt and clear responses. Our feeling is if they won't be helpful when we are trying to *buy* a policy, how bad will it be when/if we need to have them "pay us" for a claim!? (That's our attitude for many consumer situations, not just insurance and not just travel!) I hope they both are able to go and have a wonderful time! 🙂 (Note from our CC name that we aren't all that much younger than your mother and her friend, and there are quite a few others here who are apparently older than us.) GC

Could you clarify why moving within the same town before a trip could be a "problem" with respect to the travel insurance? I don't know what the situation would be if moving between different states in the US, given that travel insurance is regulated by the states, and there might be different regulations, but even without that, would the coverage be valid once one was resident in another state? But if staying within the same state, what problem? GC

They needed your "bank information"?? Say what!? What in the world for? We've had quite a few travel insurance claims (NOT through "squaremouth" [??]), and ever single time 1) we received payment within about 2-3 weeks of submitting all of our documentation (none of which we thought was irrelevant) and 2) we received a regular check, without needing to disclose any banking information. [They'll get whatever routine information they get when the check is processed, but not "asking us for our bank information"!] We've also had claims over the past several decades from car insurance and homeowners insurance and valuable items insurance, and every single time, we received a check. And we received them timely (except one driver's insurer who fiddled with excuses for the deductible, and we then said something like, "ten days or we file a complaint with the state insurance commissioner's office", and we had a check in about a week). Not one of them ever asked us for "banking information". And if you had already provided that information twice before, all the more reason... we would have had a complaint filed *fast* after that amount of time and nonsense. GC

We are among many here who find that annual travel insurance plans don't match our travel needs. The limits are low, for one thing. Importantly, IF we happened to max out the coverage before the year ended, if we had other trips already planned, it would probably be too late to first start the coverage then without forfeiting some important insurance coverages. So that was a non-starter. I suggest that you contact a travel insurance agent or broker to discuss the various possible coverages, annual or otherwise, and then decide. We use www.TripInsuranceStore.com But *CALL* them; do not rely upon the very short online policy summaries. There's no way those can capture all of the fine details or help you understand if they work with any of your specific situations. GC

The best source of information about the specific travel insurance policy that you purchased (along with your state of residence, as insurance is regulated at the state level, so it may vary from state to state) would be who you bought your policy from. What did they say when you asked them how to handle adding additional trip costs, and what deadlines may apply? ETA: Also, some of this information may be included in the terms and condtions of your policy, so look there, too. GC

You'd need to check with the cruise line reservations agent or your travel agent. Different lines may have different policies. One way to do this is to book the second passenger under an identity that you personally know will change. IMPORTANT: Make SURE that you find out any deadlines for a) charges to change the name of a passenger, or b) when it is just too late to make any such change. Those can vary a lot from line to line. Also, do NOT book for just one passenger and plan to add another later. There could be a very unpleasant surprise if one goes to add a passenger and finds it cannot be done, even if there is space in the cabin/suite. It could be that all of the "lifeboat spaces" in that section of the ship are already full. In that case, NO additional passengers can be booked into that section unless someone else cancels and there is still time to add someone at that point. (This is completely separate from the above-mentioned deadlines for changing the *identity* of passengers already booked.) GC

The methodology makes a huge difference, including some aspects that are never (or almost never) fully disclosed. The first thing that came to my mind was how much of any effect (IF the effect was "real", etc.) was due to it being a "cruise" on a "ship", vs. something like any vacation, or maybe any vacation at an all-inclusive resort of similar quality/etc. There's a lot to be said for having almost no scheduling constraints and LOTS of choices during each day, while also having almost all of the "chores" of everyday life taken care of. 😁🥂 GC

"... being mandated on some cruises to accept ..." ?? Sorry, but... Who is forcing you (or anyone) to accept anything? That's like us claiming that we were forced (aka, "mandated") to accept a smaller cabin rather than the large suite that we wanted... when the reality was that ... the large suites were sold out, *OR* perhaps because we didn't want to pay the higher price for the larger suites. I am unaware of regular mainstream cruiselines who "mandate" what accommodations each passenger must have. (If there are indeed ships that have a general policy of "we'll assign you a cabin type and location of our choosing"... I certainly don't know about it.) This is [usually?] entirely a matter of choice. My understanding was that the pricing tends to drive the choices. For those who really want/need to pay "less", sometimes *IF* they accept ("ACCEPT" - nothing forced here!) a "guaranteed room", they *might* get something better than they could otherwise get for that price, OR they could at least get on a sailing that was otherwise sold out (meaning, no longer available in the cabin/suite choices they preferred. In some cases, those "guarantees" might get one something *much* nicer, but for a much lower price! This pricing situation can work in the other direction, too. We once got an Owners Suite because we were booking late (plans for a different trip were suddenly canceled), and when I was looking at ships and itineraries, suddenly I saw... this wonderful suite (in the exact ship location we most enjoy) for a startlingly low amount. We figured someone must have cancelled late. They probably paid some hefty penalty, and the the cruise line also got some nice $$$ from us in addition. ... and they avoided having that suite sail empty. Ship cabins (and hotel rooms) are "perishable"; once the date arrives and passes, they can't fill the empty rooms. And it's much worse for ships. In a hotel, they can hope that someone *else* might show up to pay for the room during at least some of the cancelled nights (say, a 14-night stay at each, for comparison). That's just about impossible on a ship once the sailing date passes. Just because "someone wants something" doesn't mean it's available, or available at a price they are willing to pay. We personally would NOT choose any sort of guarantee IF that meant not having choice about our accommodations. We care a *lot* about the type and location of our accommodations on a ship, and we are willing to pay accordingly. Obviously, others feel otherwise, and that's great for us and for them. 🙂 GC

Welcome to CruiseCritic! What type of disability restrictions do you have? Without that information, it's hard to know how to help you. You might also call Oceania. They might have some information. But you might also want to post on the Ports of Call sub-topics for each port that you are visiting. [Keep in mind the number of cruises... ships... dates... etc. To get the best likelihood of helpful information, it would help to provide more details: which ports are you visiting? ] And here is a list of the various topics where one can post (e.g., Ports of Call): https://boards.cruisecritic.com and https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2-ports-of-call In the future, you might want to try to make reservation much further in advance. To the extent that there are choices that would be suitable, some of them may have already sold out (and this happens for questions about activities that have nothing to do with disabilities as well). Enjoy your cruise! GC

First, do you really need two policies? Many (most?) of us get one policy, and often that is 3rd party coverage that would include any travel before/after the actual cruise. There is sometimes better coverage, but not always. As for claims: READ YOUR POLICY as there can be differences. OUR policies require that we pay upfront, save receipts, and then submit for reimbursement. In some cases of extreme costs/etc., the insurer MIGHT (need to check on this if interested) be able to guarantee funds (IF the overseas provider accepts that) or wire at least some money. This is one of the reasons that some of us always travel with several charge cards with high total limits... just in case... Keep in mind that foreign medical providers likely do NOT have agreements with *any* USA-based insurers (including Medicare, which has very limited coverage, if any). So they not only have no obligation to accept insurance "forms" (money, yes!) or to deal with the insurers at all. And they almost certainly would never "bill" a USA-based insurer. In some cases, they simply have no way to process this. GC

Difficult to know what the actual wording means sometimes... And as I mentioned, I don't know what is customary in the UK. (I did a Post Doc in the UK a loooong time ago, and it could be surprising sometimes what seemed to be "the same"... but wasn't really quite the same! My colleagues had many - MANY - laughs because of that, or when they "accidently on purpose" cause me some confusion. Yes, I laughed too, but sometimes the differences were subtle and suprising! And I *STILL* miss being there. It was one of the best years of my life!) However, I'd definitely double check with a few others in the UK, and perhaps CALL the cruiseline and ask them... yes, do that. Ask what is customary... does the TA just send your credit card info to the cruiseline? If so, chances are good there's no problem. What I don't/can't know is whether it's also a "chances are good there's no problem" IF the TA collects your money from the charge card and then is supposed to pass it along to the cruise line. You should get a good answer from the cruise line about what is customary, or, importantly, what perhaps should *not* be asked of you (?). Note: To be clear, here, at least, when we look at our credit card bill, the cruise charge shows up as from the cruiseline itself. The commission to travel agents involve details that we would typically not see. Same for hotels. (Airlines are different these days; the TA often charges a separate commission to the traveler. That changed some years ago, and even so, many TAs hate handling air reservations, or at least "regular" reservations. It may be different for high end, but when we do those, it's using awards! 😉 ) Enjoy your cruise, and Happy Holidays! GC

Huh?? We've worked with more than one travel agent. ALL of them ALWAYS used our credit card information to send "our money" (be it deposit or full payment or other expenses) *DIRECTLY* to the vendor: the cruise line, the airline, the hotel, etc. ALWAYS! However, we are in the USA and you are in the UK, and the procedures may be very different. There certainly are other differences! One problem we'd occasionally heard of, but again, here in the USA, is that the TA "takes the money" and then somehow (!??) does *not* pay the provider.... then bad things can certainly happen. Good luck. GC

Heh. I'm a statistician! The classic that I tend to use goes similar to: A statistician is someone who stands barefoot with one foot on a chunk of dry ice and the other on a hot griddle and declares: "On average, the temperature is just right!" Not particularly helpful information As for OP, there is NO WAY AT ALL that I would rely upon a tight connection when there are long-haul flights yet to come. Those aren't likely to be similar to the LaGuardia to DC National shuttle, where there's another flight every hour. A VERY important question to ask is: What happens if you miss that connection? Are there a few other possible flights later in the day, or is the next choice the next day? Or is different routing entirely going to be necessary? And during the holidays? Nope! Way too risky. ... unless you allowed several extra days in the Sechelles before sailing. And even then, I'd rather not spend that extra time in airports, hoping for open seats. Given the cost of the entire trip, is $150 really a major factor? GC

If by "OTC" one means covered/reimbursed by FSA (or HSA/etc.), Depends are covered, and there is NOT any requirement for a letter signed by a physician. GC