GeezerCouple

33 minutes ago, Laurab23 said:

My travel insurance is primary so no worries there. But the travel insurance claim form asks for name,policy number and group number of my other insurance. Medicare card just has policy number and no group number and it won't let me continue filling out the form without a group number.

So you are filling it out electronically?

Can you put several zeros in the space?

Worst case, can you print out the form, fill it in by hand (leaving this part blank or even putting in "No Medicare group number"), and then scan it if sending by email or print it if by snail mail?

Better yet, call the insurer?  Ask them how you should proceed?

This isn't going to be the first time they had an insured who was on Medicare.

GC

4 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

What I have done is when I filed with Medicare, I noted on the claim that I realize it will be denied so please expedite the denial. I received the denial in just a couple of days.

Thanks.  This is a terrific suggestion, and glad to hear that it has worked for you.

I guess it makes sense that if one tells Medicare not to bother to vet the claim/etc., that you don't expect any coverage, they can take care of it much faster.  (Of course, these things don't always make sense...)

GC

2 hours ago, Laurab23 said:

On the form it asks if you have health insurance. If you say yes, is asks for policy number and group number. I have medicare health insurance and only a policy number. I know my medicare will not cover any thing. So do I put that I do not have health insurance?

 

Laura

Yes, Medicare IS your health insurance.
So you need to complete and sign the form, which I assume has a statement about entering all information correctly, etc.

IF your policy has "secondary" coverage, you'll need to wait for Medicare to deny your claim.

If your policy is "priimary", then you won't need to worry about any delay, as the coverage won't be dependent upon whether any other policy might have paid.

GC

Just now, 39august said:

Did you have other insurance like medicare or your personal health insurance? My r travel insurance thru the cruise line wants me to submit claims to both medicare and Blue Cross for them to deny before the cruise travel insurance will pay,. This will cause a huge delay. 

It sounds like your travel insurance is "secondary".

In the future, to avoid this type of delay, make sure you get travel insurance that is "primary".  That means you do NOT need to prove other insurance declined the claim, or didn't pay the full amount of the loss.

(In some cases, one can change secondary coverage to primary by paying a small extra fee.)

This is one of the reasons why a travel insurance agent or broker can be very helpful.  They can explain "other issues" that might not be obvious when one is scrolling through the long terms and conditions.  (And this isn't anything "misleading"; it's just that many travelers wouldn't think of this possibility unless/until it actually happens.)

We learned about this possible difficulty reading here on CC.  It came up specifically about how long it can take Medicare to deny a claim, and how that can delay a regular travel insurance claim even when it is *known* that Medicare will *not* pay for foreign medical care, based upon the known terms of Medicare (and possible supplements, etc.).

So then we knew to ask about this particular potential problem.

GC

12 minutes ago, belle2 said:

We are a family of 4 very experienced cruisers. We travel with our two teens. A pull out sofa bed is not comfortable for them. We don't have the budget to book two rooms. We have cruised Royal, Carnival, and Disney. We mainly cruise Carnival because the 3rd and 4th guests sleep in an upper and lower birth rather than both in a sofa bed. Disney is the same but its just not in our budget often. Royal usually puts the 3rd and 4th in a sofa bed if I book a balcony. We prefer balcony rooms but will travel in lower categories if necessary. I have been looking at Celebrity, Norwegian, and Princess and I am mostly finding sofa beds for the 3rd and 4th guests. My question is what cruise lines and ships should I look at to find 3rd and 4th guests in upper/lower births? We would really like to branch out from Carnival. We really aren't too picky but sleep is important to us on vacation.

Your question is really much too general.

Whether 3rd/4th guests sleep in bunks (regular mattresses) of some sort vs. "sofabeds" depends upon so many things, and that can - and often does - vary withIN a single ship.  It can depend upon a variety of things, including what type of accommodation:  least expensive inside to large suites.  (And having a "large suite" does NOT necessarily mean there will be 2 nice beds for 3rd/4th guests.  There are a few that do not even allow more than 2 guests, odd as that may seem.)

So if you could mention which category of accommodation and general price point (including length of cruise/daily rate), you might get more help here.

In general, I don't necessarily recommend using a travel agent, though others certainly do.

However, in this case, it probably would help to use a travel agent who specializes in cruises, and who works with many different cruise lines.

(NO, we are not allowed here on CC to recommend specific travel agents, unfortunately.)

GC

7 hours ago, Zerog33 said:

First cruise and we are going to ABC  (Caribbean).   

Thank you all for your quick responses.

Great idea to have a pic of it on your phone.   Very handy.   

Don't just have a picture of your passport on your phone, although that is definitely helpful.

Also keep backup copies of ALL important docs IN THE CLOUD so that if necessary, you could download copies or even printouts of critical items, even if your phone died or got lost/stolen, etc.

GC

3 minutes ago, Anne Foxley said:

I really don’t know where to put this but it should be posted.

 

Some weeks ago, I telephoned Cunard to make an Enquiry, using a phone number from the internet rather than the one listed on Cunard web site. The result was that I had given sufficient information to enable the recipients of my call to access my account before I realised it was a scam. They even played the same  on hold music as Cunard.

I saw something about this on Cruise Critic some time ago but can no longer find the post. I immediately cancelled my credit card and called Cunard on their website listed phone number. They set up a password to be used in order to make any changes to my account. However, I have just realised that it is not required to access my account on line! The other person who mentioned the scam on this site may not be aware of this. Apparently, the only way to fix it is to cancel the booking and rebook OR remove all personal information from the website and check in on embarkation. This as you can imagine, is a big hassle.

I was able to give the phone number I had called to Cunard and they said they would pursue it but people should be aware of this.

I think it should be mentioned, perhaps higher in this thread, that this is NOT a "scam by Cunard".

This appears to be a scam by some third party trying to pose as "Cunard" in order to get a variety of infomation about someone trying to make reservations for a Cunard cruise.

And it's an excellent reminder ALWAYS to use OFFICIAL contact information, and not just pick something off some arbitrary link on Google or similar.

GC

1 hour ago, mma__leanne said:

This.

 

You get norovirus once (okay, twice) on a ship and wait 2.5 hours at sick bay for a shot of Imodium in the butt cheek, and you learn to add this to the list!

I wasn't aware that Imodium is available as an injectable.

Are you sure it was Imodium (generic = loperamide) or was it some other drug with the necessary action?

For some of these "traveling medical issues" it might be a very good idea to speak with your physician to get recommendations about specific meds and dosing.  That could include when not to worry.... or when to worry and seek medical care... at least for starters.

Or contact a travel clinic physician.  They are familiar with the assorted maladies, including which are more likely in certain destinations.

There are some effective meds that are only available by prescription (at least in the USA; it can vary from country to country, of course).

That way, you can be sure that you won't inadvertently take something that is contraindicated for you personally or shouldn't be used with some other specific med you may use.

GC

2 hours ago, AmateurGO said:

On our upcoming April 21 cruise on Marina, I made dining reservations almost 3 months in advance.  If we did not want to dine at 8:30 or 9:00 (which would literally kill my DW), we had to take a shared table.  This was across all nights of the cruise for all specialty restaurants

Once you are onboard, you can speak with someone at restaurant reservations, or even with each maître d' separately.  Let them know you'd really prefer a 2-top, and they might be able to juggle things.  And keep in mind that people do sometimes cancel or change their specialty reservations.  In that case, the maître d' would have no way to know who might want what when they rearrange things... unless you've mentioned it.

This is the type of thing they deal with all the time.  There's no guarantee, but you might have some success at least a few nights.

ENJOY!
 

GC

37 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I am no expert on Geoblue (Steve from Insuremytrip.com would be an expert)...

I think Hank may have mis-typed the above...

Steve is the owner of www.TripInsuranceStore.com - a completely different travel insurance company to the best of my knowledge.

Others here on CC have used insure my trip, but we are among those who have very successfully used Steve's TripInsuranceStore.com for both purchasing policies *and* for making claims.  ALL of our claims have been paid very promptly (within 2-3 weeks of our sending in all of the required documents, which we do in one batch), including a few large claims.  We've never had any "nonsense" or quibbling about the claims.

There are a few other phone reps at TIS, and we've had excellent experiences with them, too.  Occasionally, if there is a tricky question, they'll promptly pass the call along to Steve.  They are all very helpful and *patient* about any unusual "what if <X> happens" types of questions, and we found that incredibly helpful very early on when we were just starting to learn about travel insurance here.

We always recommend *calling* them to discuss the specifics of the trip and possible insurance needs.  They have sometimes asked questions that made us realize that we may need a different type of coverage - and at least one time when they helped us realize that we did *not* need a policy for the planned trip! 😉 

And as we've mentioned before, we remain incredibly grateful to those here on CC who helped us learn about travel insurance and suggested that we contact Steve at TIS.  Our very first "special big trip" ended before it began, when DH had a medical emergency less than 2 weeks before our scheduled departure date.  At that point, none of our $$$$ costs were refundable.  And although we could have "afforded" the loss (after all, we had already paid it all), we both remain sure that we would never again have tried to plan any type of really "special" celebratory trip if we had lost that money.  Instead, as we traveled... to and from assorted medical and hospital visits - we frequently mumbled things like, "Thank goodness for that travel insurance, so we won't have to pay a SECOND time when we finally do take this trip!" 

That made a huge difference to us!

GC

5 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

First, the majority of people who claim they would be claustrophic are not really. How do they survive in life?  How can they happily go to a place like a theatre with no windows...

Claustrophobia is a fear of small enclosed confined spaces, not of dark places or of places with no windows.

A theatre is usually quite a large space (or at least, not a "very small space"), and even during a movie or performance, it is rarely completely dark such that one cannot see.  People are usually able to walk around if they wish, to leave to get snacks or to visit restrooms (and to return to their seats), or just to leave, full stop.

Some interior cabins or even the smallest cabins with a "view" (which might be a very small porthole) appear to be very small indeed.  In some cases, there is a single chair (no sofa or love seat) such that a second person would need to stand or sit on the bed; there isn't room even for a second chair.

GC

53 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

100% right-you don't want to make any mistakes in getting off.  Rules are different at each Country, like ORV said better get this right the first time with Oceania.  PS: after you get the answer and agree get it in writing and carry that with you to present to the Hotel Manager.

And don't forget, in this case you probably have Customs/Immigration to deal with, and Oceania is not able to fully make assurances about that, although I'm sure they would do their best.  But especially with the recent earthquakes, things could change, and possibly quickly.

(I liked the "Fire and Brimstone" comment above by @Yesimapirate !)

We haven't been to Santorini; had to cancel our cruise there on short notice, alas.  But everything I've read relatively recently suggests that even IF you could tender with your luggage.... then what?  If you are staying overnight (before a flight out, perhaps), try to have your hotel arrange any transportation.

Bottom line, as you already wrote:

10 hours ago, Hornblower Fan said:

Santorini seems like a bad port to need to do this

!!!

GC

57 minutes ago, KyleClark said:

Good point..  In the past I have booked a trip and then immediately purchased the minimum $500 pp of trip insurance insurance just for the medical coverage and was willing to lose the rest of fare if I had to cancel.  This policy I would purcahse you did not have to cover all non-refundable expenses to get the pre-exisitng waiver and the medical was primary coverage up to $500,000.  So, with that being said I guess I'm looking at this Amex coverage as a supplement to pick up whatever my purchased trip insurance would not cover.  Like I said "muddy" thinking and that is why I ask people here who are more educated on this sort of thing for their input.

Yes, we do that, too... get the travel insurance started immediately upon making the first payment (usually only the deposit), and then we up the coverage as we make more non-refundable payments.  (Our policy type allows us to move to a different trip if we cancel the original trip without having any loss, within a certain time limit.  We've done that just a few times.)

We've never used the Amex coverage (or any other card) because of the exclusions, and our policies with Travel Insured have always paid our claims very promptly, including some large claims. (We go through TripInsuranceStore.com to purchase the policies.)

So I'm not very familiar with the Amex coverage, but I *thought* I remembered other online groups where it was mentioned that all costs had to be paid for with the Amex card.  Please do check that, as I'm not writing from first-hand experience.

What I do know is that our regular travel insurance had much better coverage than any card we've looked into.  However, it costs more, too, obviously!  But with our histories, it's well worth it.

GC

6 hours ago, Hornblower Fan said:

The end of my O cruise overlaps with the beginning of a river cruise so I need to disembark early, at a tender port (Santorini).  Will they allow large luggage on the tenders, or is there some other way to arrange to have the luggage brought ashore at tender ports, or are they going to try to refuse?  Maybe I can take an early excursion without the luggage, having arranged for them to deliver it ashore later, say at 1pm, when the tender rush has ended.  Santorini seems like a bad port to need to do this, with the port cable car often very busy and also bad for luggage, especially on a 4-ship, 10000-passenger day.  The luggage will only be one big 16kg case (to be checked-in on aircraft) plus one 7kg carry-on bag, so not too crazy, but still a struggle in packed transport.  When's the best time to discuss the issue with Oceania themselves?

Welcome to CruiseCritic!

Have you cleared this *in advance* with Oceania?

"try to refuse" isn't especially good terminology if it isn't something they ever agreed to do in the first place.

And about this:

6 hours ago, Hornblower Fan said:

Maybe I can take an early excursion without the luggage, having arranged for them to deliver it ashore later, say at 1pm, when the tender rush has ended.

How do you think this is going to work, having *them* "deliver it ashore"?

The "time to discuss this" is ASAP, especially if your plans depend upon having this work.

Good luck!

GC

38 minutes ago, KyleClark said:

I purchase a cruise fare for $2000 pp.  I go and buy $500 worth of trip insurance pp.  I pay for the trip in full with my AMEX card.  It comes with $1500 worth of trip cancellation/trip interruption insurance pp already built in.   Is there any downside to this?

What do each of the policies actually say??

In *some* cases (but definitely not all), one needs to insure ALL trip costs on a policy or card to be covered.

And double check about pre-existing health conditions.  That's not included sometimes.  And "pre-existing condition" has very specific meanings within each insurer/policy, so make sure you understand those; it can be very different than what we tend to think in "real life".

GC

1 hour ago, Kaylago said:

How I read the policy is 6 bottles of wine at embarkation but any at pots of call would be stored. Also no spirts at all. Isn’t that what their alcohol policy says. 

I'm not sure how you are coming to this conclusion, about any bottles brought on board at "ports of call" would not be allowed.

The link states that "This includes guests flying with their own wine, or purchasing it on shore..."  

How does "purchasing on shore" exclude all ports of call other than the initial port?

And where are you seeing restrictions against bringing *any* "spirts" on board at all?

IF there is such a statement, then thus far, that, too, has been enforced... liberally (!). 🙂 

You almost seem to be trying to force an interpretation that isn't there, and also one that *many* experienced Oceania guests have already (and repeatedly) explained otherwise.

It's true that what isn't stated is that they usually (always? almost always?) don't "count" and restrict quantities.

And thus it remains helpful if others don't flagrantly take advantage of the current situation, which could lead to more restrictions that could affect everyone.

GC

4 minutes ago, twincheryl said:

Thanks for your thoughtful response.  Have definitely learned about the cost of one way vs round trip international flights... that's a big reason we haven't done a TA yet.  Just ridiculous pricing!  

A suggestion about the one-way fares needed for TA/etc., cruises.

This is a very good occasion to use awards/points for the airfare.  In general, there's not the same "penalty" for a one-way ticket when using points.

Or to use the cruise-line's air ticketing, which we don't like for a variety of reasons, mostly having to do with lack of choices or control once ticketed, etc.

We've gotten incredible flights (business and first) on top international carriers using points.  Those are harder to get these days, so we may start using some points for lux hotel stays in the future.  We've got a *lot* of points waiting, mostly because we didn't travel during Covid, so didn't use any of the growing accumulation...

GC

2 hours ago, klfrodo said:

Any particular reason why they didn't reimburse for meals for the Trip Delay?

I mean I can think of a couple of possible reasons (no receipts, daily room rate exceeded max daily benefit) et al. 

Just curious. But glad to hear that it worked as designed.

Agree.

IF you didn't already hit a daily max or such, then I'd ask why the meals weren't included.

The two times we had hotels included in our claim, we were reimbursed for all meals claimed, if they were served at the hotel (not included in hotel charge) or elsewhere, such as the airport while waiting... before flight cancellation was announced.

When we needed to stay almost a week at a lux hotel (where we already were when the medical problem occurred), we were reimbursed for ALL costs... room, room service, hotel restaurants, bar, etc., as well as some other miscellaneous charges.

But it ultimately depends upon the terms and conditions of each specific policy, as to what is allowed as well as any limits.

GC

1 minute ago, twincheryl said:

When looking at policies on your website, haven't been able to search correctly to find something that would cover cruise fare only.  Is that because the cost of covering the trip interruption or delay is a small percentage and companies just don't break that part up?

Hi,

We aren't Steve or from TIS (obviously), but we've purchased insurance from them, and we've made several claims. (We wish those hadn't been necessary, but... *life*!)

Keep in mind that regardless of the relative probability of trip interruption, that can cost far more than simple cancellation.

For example, you may have to make a claim for most of the travel expenses if "trouble" happened early in the trip.  So that would be almost as much as the cost of cancelling.

And then... if you need to interrupt your trip to get home, you may have some travel expenses before getting to the "other" airport for the return.  And then... often with international tickets, one way can cost more than "half of a round trip" cost, sometimes a lot more, and if it's business class, that difference can be... large! (This depends in part whether you already had a one-way return ticket or not.)

Plus... it would probably not be at any "advance purchase" lower fare that you might have gotten.

(We haven't seriously checked the one-way vs RT fares recently, so I just did a quickie comparison for a trip we'll probably be planning soon.  There were some OW flights "home" that were close to half the RT cost, but most were closer to the full RT cost.  So at least double check that for your locations, and for "short notice" flights home, which is what would probably happen with an "interruption".)

This is why many of the "trip interruption" policies are for 150% of the original insured cost, whereas the cost to "cancel" is indeed probably just the full cost with little/nothing extra.  The interruption insurance may have to cover much of the original cost *plus* the extra return costs.

Since you've worked with Steve before, I'd suggest that you call him about this.

He was the one who explained all of this (plus other potential gotcha's) when we were first purchasing travel insurance after reading about it here on CC.

[And good thing - we had one of our largest claims with that very first trip! So now, "we don't leave home without it", to mis-use a particular phrase! 😉  And yes, we also *do* take our Amex cards with us! 🙂 ]

Hope you enjoy your trip(s) without needing to use that insurance.

[We consider that we always "use" insurance even without a claim... it's that SWAN effect: Sleep Well At Night!]

GC

On 3/18/2025 at 10:41 AM, Banditswife said:

They also delivered an extra unit, in case of the 1st one failing, but it never did.

[emphasis added]

This was VERY interesting - and very good - to know about how Scootaround handles some of their rental equipment.

Also, did you need an Rx to arrange for the portable oxygen concentrator?

Many thanks!

GC

We get policies where the coverage begins the day of departure/when we leave the house and ends the day we return/walk back in.

But we *want* that, very specifically.  That way it covers us if there is some serious snafu, say, en route to the airport, etc.

What I don't know is whether "our type" of policy requires those start/stop circumstances.

I'd suggest contacting a travel insurance agent or broker, to see what your choices are for types of coverage you would want.

Steve, at www.TripInsuranceStore.com is someone we learned about here on CC, and we are among many who have benefitted from his advice.

CALL to discuss your specific situation/questions.

GC

We've been getting MJA in addition to our regular travel insurance.

Although we've had several claims with our regular coverage (all paid promptly, including some large claims), fortunately, we have not yet needed MJA.  However, we did come close once, when I was in hospital overseas (land trip, not a cruise vacation). Just as we were starting to mumble, "Is it time, should we start the MedJet process, I sort of turned the corner.  That was a MUCH better way to "use" MJA than to need to be medevac'd! 😉 

The reason that we get MJA is because IF there were to be a medical emergency that required specialized hospital care - or even regular hospital care if we weren't satisfied with the quality - we'd DEFINITELY prefer to get to our home hospital and a medical team who know our particular medical histories and some special issues.

Also, it would just be nice to "be home" so that the "other one of us" didn't have to live out of a hotel, or be far from other support services, etc.

Keep in mind that what a regular insurance policy might consider to be a "satisfactory" medical facility... might *not* be what YOU consider to be "satisfactory".  Also, we'd probably rather not settle for "satisfactory" when our regular hospital is part of a world-class medical school/teaching hospital complex.  And for those without that "at home", there might be some specialized care at a hospital other than your regular one, just in case...

As with almost any insurance, we would prefer NOT to need to use it.  But that certainly doesn't mean that we "wasted" the cost of the premiums.  We don't feel that way about our homeowner's insurance or our car insurance, and it's the same.

However, this is a personal decision, so everyone needs to make their own choices.

GC

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

I find it difficult to believe that Heathrow doesn't have it's own electrical backup system that can isolate itself from the common electrical grid.

This sounds more like a network/power grid hack or ransomware situation that they are working through.

They apparently do have a "backup generator", but I haven't read what size that is, etc., or if there is only one.  Enough backup power to keep Heathrow running completely... that would be... considerable.  I don't know what the pro-active solution is, but I'm also not in "emergency preparedness" for anything of that size (or remotely close).

And unfortunately, it seems that their backup generator was close enough to be disabled by this same fire.

So, *now* (!) the powers that be have determined that their emergency planning was insufficient. 😡

And the teams that would respond if it were terrorism/etc., are already involved in case that should turn out to be relevant.

GC

9 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

So I had to buy a more expensive policy that had a pre existing condition waiver that I could purchase at the time of final payment

Your situation (having a "medical event" before purchasing the travel insurance) is why we start the insurance immediately after we've made the first payment, which is usually a relatively small deposit.  At least for our type of policy, we only need to insure that deposit amount, and then we up the coverage as more nonrefundable costs are added.

And IF we cancel the trip entirely without any loss or claim, we can usually apply the coverage to another trip, within some time constraints.

The coverage we'd need to purchase later wouldn't have all of the coverages that we like to have, so that's not a good option for us.  And of course, if we needed to cancel after adding nonrefundable costs but before starting the insurance, we'd be out that money entirely if we couldn't qualify for the policy at a late stage.

Hope all goes well for your travels!

GC

There was a fire at a nearby electrical substation:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/20/travel/london-heathrow-airport-shut-intl-hnk

This will likely snarl travel just about everywhere, and the delays and cancellations snowball.

Don't forget about whether a plane is coming from some place with a connection at Heathrow, even if your flight isn't directly to or from there.

What a mess!

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

GC