Jersey42

1 hour ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

I'm assuming if it is a medical issue GeoBlue would be the 1st company we would file with. If we cancel prior to the cruise for a covered reason then Celebrity's insurance would be our go to to recover the cost of the cruise.

Yes, you are correct on both accounts. 

@Hlitner's advice is all spot on.  I will add the following for a medical claim:

• If you have GeoBlue, Medicare Advantage and Celebrity Cruise Care you file with GeoBlue and they will take care of all (covered) expenses - less the deductible if applicable.  Celebrity is secondary coverage, so the best you could reasonably expect from them is the GeoBlue deductible.  I guess if GeoBlue denies coverage for a portion of the claim or they pay a reduced amount, you could file with Celebrity for the balance. But I would not expect anything more than the deductible.
• Medicare Advantage (MA) plans are all different.  I assume if you are purchasing a GeoBlue plan, your MA plan does not give you complete or good foreign travel coverage.  So you will probably never need to file anything with them.
• From GeoBlue: "The GeoBlue Trekker plans are secondary insurance. However, GeoBlue will process and pay overseas claims as a primary payor and reserves the right, where applicable, to contact your primary insurance company to coordinate benefits."  While GoBlue could contact your MA plan for coordination of benefits, Steve at TripInsuranceStore (highly recommended) confirmed recently that he has never seen this happen with any of his customers.  

On 7/16/2022 at 6:19 PM, kb4683 said:

Could someone please tell me how to see the complete table/chart?  Here’s a screenshot of what I see on my iPad.

 

 

Thank you.

Try the latest chart.  The formatting changes I made should show the full table on an iPad or iPhone.  On a phone in portrait mode, some of the long words may break in the middle, but it should still be readable.  At least the last column should no longer be chopped off.  YMMV, but it worked for me when I tested on Chrome and Safari on both an iPhone and an iPad. 

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

For starters, HAL's itinerary creates confusion by showing check-in commencing at 12:00am. What they really mean is that check-in begins at 12:00pm (noon). Remember, the ship isn't even scheduled to arrive in Quebec City until 7:00am.

What makes you think they really mean 12:00 PM when they use 12:00 AM in multiple places?  My thought was HAL might be trying to make it easier for people to meet the 72 hour requirement. This would make it equivalent to the three day requirement that HAL currently requires (until Sept 5) in the US.  Obviously no one can be boarding at anywhere close to midnight, so Canadian officials might have a problem with HAL declaring an impossible "scheduled boarding time" if it is to circumvent the 72 hour rule.

Do you know who checks the COVID test results?  Is it HAL employees like in the US, or is it Canadian officials?   Have you heard any rumors (or facts) that Canada might eliminate the negative COVID test requirement like they have in the US and most other countries?

For other reasons, we may end up changing our flight to Canada from Wed afternoon to Thursday, so non of this may matter for us.  

Does anyone know how the 72 hour rule for PCR test works - i.e. what is considered "your scheduled boarding time" and how is it monitored?

Here is why I ask.  We have a cruise that departs Quebec City at 4:00 PM on a Sunday.  We board some time on Saturday for an overnight stay.  No boarding times have been assigned yet, but the Holland America website states check-in starts at 12:00 AM (midnight) on Saturday.  If I can use Saturday at 12:00 AM for my 72 hour window, I can get tested at home before I fly to Canada.  If I have to use a more realistic time of 12:30 PM (only a guess), then I need to find a way to tested after I arrive in Canada.

TO UPDATE THIS LIST:

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Moved Madison Adams from Coral to Caribbean as per live thread. Fixed spelling of DRO on Crown. Cleaned up formatting. Other minor cosmetic fixes. 

3 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

If you bought an annual medical only plan, which did you buy?

Why that company/

I continue to buy GeoBlue Trekker for the following reasons:

• The possibility of a potentially large medical bill is my primary reason for purchasing insurance. It is nice to have insurance for a sore throat or some bumps and bruises.  But I don't want to face a large unreimbursed bill.  $20K (per trip) of coverage would not interest me unless I had other good medical coverage.
• I want insurance that pays primary (Allianz is secondary). My primary medical insurance offers some foreign emergency travel coverage, but it has a $50K lifetime maximum, so I need primary to avoid using up the lifetime max.  Plus, the claims process is simplerwith primary.

Other reasons I like GeoBlue, but Allianz would be ok:

• I want it to cover pre-existing conditions - just in case.  Both GeoBlue and Allianz do this, although Allianz does have a very minor time constraint.
• I want medical evacuation coverage.  GeoBlue provides much more, but for my typical trips, Allianz's coverage is probably adequate.

Yes the GeoBlue premiums have gone up a little and the small annual deductible has changed slightly, but in the whole scheme of things it is still a great value - especially for people under age 70.

3 hours ago, voljeep said:

my Medicare supplement policy - (united healthcare thru aarp) reimbursed my complete medical center expenses on Regal Princess ($1,200) for medical emergency back in January. 

Are you a Massachusetts resident?  I believe that is the only place you can get a Medicare Supplement (Medigap) policy that works that way.  Everywhere else has a $250 deductible and then an 80%/20% cost share with a lifetime maximum of $50K.  Wisconsin and Minnesota also have some different rules, but neither cover foreign emergency travel like Massachusetts.

1 hour ago, Ptroxx said:

Huh this is good to know. I have the same supplement policy.  

Not if you are a NY, CA or NV resident.  You may have a United Healthcare/AARP Medicare Supplement but it follows federal regulations.  The three states I mentioned are the only ones with state specific laws. Massachusetts is the only one that offers plans that fully cover foreign emergency travel with no deducible, cost share or lifetime limit.

4 hours ago, technoman said:

Ok i get it. Its a cultural thing where people follow the heard like sheep because its the 'Done Thang'

From my point of view i guess i would consider the princess plus as part of the package and not paying the $50 plus dollars per day pp. I dont object to paying some form of gratuity but i do object to the amount being charged. In a hotel you would pay $2-3 per day maybe for the maid service and i did say i was prepared to pay around $10 per day per cabin . Its Princess that  is stiffing the crew by not paying them the correct level of pay and again lets not forget the 18% Service gratuity on drinks pathetic when the price of the drinks are expensive. 

Thanks to all posters who contributed sensible comments.

Let's ignore the philosophical question of tipping.  There clearly are cultural differences and no one is correct, it's just a difference in how things are done in different countries.  

Based on some of your wording I just want to be sure you understand how things will work onboard.  This is all based on post 4 that says the Princess Plus fare is part of your holiday package.

• All of your drinks up to $12 are included (maximum of 15 alcoholic drinks per day).  No additional 18% gratuity will be added to each drink.  Most drinks are $12 or less.
• Wi-fi is included.  It may or may not work well, but you will not see a charge for it.
• You will not see any charge for tips/gratuity/crew appreciation.  This includes tips for your room steward, waiters or anyone else.  You are not expected to add any tips onboard.  That said guest services will not refund you any portion of your cruise fare including amounts going to the crew.

So you may not agree how your cruise fare is being allocated, but I wanted to be sure you realize that you will not be paying any any extra for the above items (including tips) once you get onboard.

By the way, on the land portion of your trip if you go to any restaurants that are not included in your package, you are expected to leave an 18-20% tip for your server.  

Even on lines that permit extension cords, someone knowingly or unknowingly tries to bring a surge protector onboard.  If you keep your eyes and ears open you will usually find one of the offenders complaining 😁

From a recent Ruby post.  All drinks that were posted had a $12 price.  About eight drinks from the previously posted menu were not on the list.

• Gin & Tonic Ultima Hendrick’s Gin, lime wheel, lemon peel, juniper & tonic 12.00
• Azul Blanco Silver Tequila, lime, Blue Curacao, pineapple, elderflower foam 12.00
• Grappa Peach Grappa, lemon, honey, Peach Schnapps, Champagne 12.00
• Bangkok Mule Whiskey, basil, lemongrass & ginger syrup, ginger beer 12.00
• Apples Delight Calvados, fresh lemon juice, honey syrup, St. Germain, apples, Port 12.00
• Sandia en Fuego Don Julio Reposado Tequila, serrano pepper, watermelon, lime, agave 12.00
• The Great Pumpkin Bacardi 8, egg white, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon 12.00
• Vanilla Sky Vanilla Vodka, pineapple, Orjeat syrup, Orange Curacao, lime 12.00
• The Cartagena Cool Appleton Rum, Cinnamon, orange and chocolate bitters, cinnamon syrup and orange peel 12.00
• Coco Café Rum, espresso, coconut cream, kosher salt garnish, grated nutmeg & chocolate 12.00
• The Butterfly Gin, lemon juice, Cointreau, simple syrup 12.00

12 hours ago, LovetheSea said:

I saw a video by someone recently on the Discovery, that when they ordered Escargot in the MDR  it had mushrooms instead of snails? My husband always looks forward to the snails. Anyone get snails on the Discovery recently?

10 hours ago, swdke said:

I hate mushrooms, can't stand them, Escargot has always been snails, not mushrooms.  I would know.  Mushrooms, yuck.  LoL 🤣

3 hours ago, LovetheSea said:

He showed what it was called on the menu "Escargo Bourguignon".

Who knows whether this was one mushroom (by mistake) or if it was actually a mushroom at all.  There is too much sauce covering the object in the video to tell if is a mushroom or a snail.  We got real escargot on the Sky in February and on the Caribbean in July. The menu in the video indicates mushrooms are part of the preparation with garlic butter.  That is the same description we have seen before. So my take is you should get real escargot with small bits of mushrooms in the garlic herb butter.  Enjoy.

Here is an old menu.  Sorry for the quality:

9 minutes ago, rljan said:

We have an annual policy from Travel Insured International.  It’s worth checking out.

This one takes a different approach from all of the others I have looked it.  In certain circumstances it could be a good policy and in others, there are better options.  Here is why.

This policy (Travel Insured Annual Multi-Trip Protector) offers a fairly low annual premium for base benefits such as medical, evacuation, delay, baggage and missed tours and connections.  Then you can optionally insure each trip for benefits such as cancellation and interruption. 

The medical is decent at $100k per trip and it pays primary.  It does have a waiver of the pre-existing conditions clause but it is not clear if you must purchase the optional benefits for each trip to get the waiver.

The biggest downside is the cost if you want to insure all of your trips.  Premiums vary by trip and your age but I tried purchasing the optional trip specific coverage for several hypothetical trips.  In most cases the premium was slightly higher than what it would have cost me to purchase a good trip specific plan.  So over the cost of a year I would pay the annual premium plus the cost for each trip.  I could just purchase a plan for each trip with better medical and evac coverage and save some money.  Each person needs to do the comparison to see how the costs work for their situation.

When might this policy be a good option:

• You are positive you do not need pre-existing conditions coverage OR you get something in writing that states the pre-existing conditions exclusion is waived for the entire year if you purchase the policy within 21 days of making the initial deposit on your first trip. AND
• You want the base coverage and will only purchase the trip cancelation/interruption coverage for some of the trips. (in this case the costs may make sense)

Like with all travel insurance, the devil is in the details.  It is always better to understand them before you have to make a claim.

We have chosen to get an annual GeoBlue-Trekker medical and evacuation policy.  Then we rely on our Chase card or self insure for some trips. For others (more expensive and pre-existing conditions might be an issue) we purchase a trip specific policy.

5 hours ago, jeff74 said:

Is anyone booked on an upcoming cruise on the Volendam that is worried that Holland America might further extend their current contract to house refugees?

We are still considering one in November but we have decided to wait and see what happens. The decision was probably easier for us than most. There are lots of suitable cabins available. No flights would be involved. Plus, there are a number of other November cruises that have plenty of availability. We will decide in September after the Volendam is expected to resume sailing.

1 hour ago, bananavan said:

We had a Transatlantic cruise this past April. We purchased the cruise line insurance . I had two visits to the clinic onboard the ship and was sent to a hospital for treatment on one day. I paid for everything when I was billed. The total came to almost $1000. 

 

I returned home and submitted my bills to my United Health care Plan F claims department. 
That was on May 29. I have receipts for their arrival at the Insurance offices. I have been waiting since then for word as to how much will be reimbursed. Plan F supposedly pays 80% of foreign claims. 

 

I am waiting for this before I can file a claim with AON which insures Celebrity. I have been told that the claims are paid in the order that they are received and that they are getting to those for the month of May soon. They hope that they will resolve. this by the end of the month. Does this sound normal? 

 

As I paid for the hospital bill with my Chase Sapphire card am I better off trying to get reimbursement there? 

I don't think I can answer all of your questions, but here are some thoughts that might help with some of them.

All cruise line insurance that I am aware of (including Celebrity's) pays medical claims as secondary, so you have to file with other insurance first before and get the explanation of benefits before you can file with the cruise line insurance carrier.  If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, it provides $2,500 of medical coverage, but it is also secondary coverage so that won't help you.  If you have the Preferred card, they do not cover any medical expenses, so no help there either.

All Medicare Supplement plans (like your United Healthcare plan F) that cover foreign emergency travel work the same way.  There is a $250 annual deductible, then they pay 80% of covered charges up to a $50K lifetime maximum. So assuming this is your first claim this year and the claim was for exactly $1000 of covered expenses, UHC should pay $600 - i.e. 80% of ($1000 - $250).  AON should pay the remaining $400.

What I do not know is your process for filing the initial claim.  Is it like a claim in the US where you first file with Medicare and then UHC takes it after they receive the Medicare denial? Or can you directly file with UHC, because they know Medicare will deny it?  I assume you have talked with UHC and they told you how to do it.  Only UHC can then tell you how long they take to process these claims, but if I read your response correctly it sounds like they should be getting to yours shortly.  Too long in my opinion, but not surprising today.  Then you will have to wait perhaps another 6-8+ weeks after filing with AON.  But eventually you should get paid.

In the future you might want to look at third party travel insurance that pays medical claims as primary.  Then you won't have to file with Medicare or UHC, and you won't use up any more of your $50K lifetime maximum.

15 hours ago, Crusin-Suzan said:

We bought Allianz yearly policy!   We have about 80 days of cruising the next year!   We also have  Chase Sapphire CC that has travel insurance!   We never used travel insurance before but with our age and this past couple of years with this covid craziness thought we should start!

It sounds like you have done your homework and hopefully Allianz works for you, or better yet you never have to use it.

In addition to Babr's comments, the reason the Allianz plans would not work for us is the medical coverage.  The plans max out at either $20K or $50K per trip.  I want more more ,as this would be the biggest unplanned expense I would want to insure for.  The medical is also secondary coverage, so you have to file first with your home insurance and Allianz pays what they did not pay. For those of us on Medicare with a Medigap plan that covers foreign emergency travel, primary medical coverage is very important.  Otherwise we could use up our Medigap lifetime maximum in a single trip.  That is why I always tell people looking at travel insurance to be sure to completely understand the medical coverage and how it works with your existing medical coverage. 

A positive with Allianz, is they have a pre-existing conditions waiver as long as you purchased within 14 days of your first trip deposit.  All annual plans do not offer this waiver.  Anyone else reading this who is thinking about an Allianz plan should pay attention to the 14 day requirement, otherwise pre-existing conditions are excluded for most coverages including medical, cancelation and interruption.  Also, the pre-existing condition lookback period is longer than with most plans (120 days).

Good advice from @GeezerCouple.  Do not heed the advice given by several on the other thread to get the Royal Caribbean insurance.  The good thing as some posters stated is the premiums are not age dependent.  The bad thing is the medical limit is $25K and it does not cover pre-existing conditions.  Depending on your mother's situation she may not have a  pre-existing condition, but she probably does.  I would make sure you know for certain.

Here is Royal Caribbean's definition:

“Pre-Existing Condition” means an illness, disease, or other condition during the 60 day period immediately prior to the Effective Date of Your coverage for which You or Your Traveling Companion or Family Member scheduled or booked to travel with You: 1) received or received a recommendation for a test, examination, or medical treatment; or 2) took or received a prescription for drugs or medicine. Item (2) of this definition does not apply to a condition which is treated or controlled solely through the taking of prescription drugs or medicine and remains treated or controlled without any adjustment or change in the required prescription throughout the 60 day period before Your coverage is effective under this Certificate.

34 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

I really wonder what HAL is thinking.  HAL wants their "guests" to come back, to fill their ships, to make them some profit.  So, no, HAL doesn't have to do anything for their guests, nor show any flexibility. I am actually surprised that HAL took the time to explain the options.

 

Given the circumstances outlined in post #1, HAL could break a "rule", please the guests, keep them happy, impress them with some flexibility. A bit of graciousness, some "thanks for booking with us, for having some faith in HAL being able to put on a good cruise at this time".  Honestly, what would it take for HAL to learn some cheap public relations?

Yep.  It would have been a very easy thing for them to do and keep everyone happy.  They have the cabins, they would keep everything I paid and everyone would avoid the hassles of a cancel and rebook at a lower price.  

HAL actually did not explain any of my options. My TA threw out the various options to HAL, but HAL would not budge.  If I cancel, they would also not guarantee I would see the FCCs in two weeks, it was a minimum of two weeks.  

12 minutes ago, BnDcruisers said:

The “original” price was quoted at $280, by the internet manager on the ship, we got it for 50% or $140, in February of this year on the Enchanted, this was for 1 device, for elite/platinum. 

If you paid $140 in total and both of you received a single device plan for 14 days then you got the the good pre-boarding price.  If you only got one single device plan to share, you were taken.  Pre-board prices for a single device are $10/day or $5/day with the elite discount.  Onboard price is $15/day or $7.50 per day with the elite discount. 

By the way, a four device plan is twice the price of a single device plan, so it never makes sense to purchase two single device plans.

TA talked with HAL and they did not offer us anything.

• HAL would not assign us any cabin at this time. They reminded the TA that they had no obligation to assign us any cabin prior to boarding.
• We could cancel using the Flexible Cancelation policy and we would receive a combination of FCCs and credits back to our credit card as per the policy.  But, the FCCs would not be available for us to use for a minimum of two weeks. So if we wanted to rebook immediately, we would have pay for the rebooking and have the FCCs available for another cruise. 

So we will just do nothing at this time.

32 minutes ago, BnDcruisers said:

We were on the Enchanted in Feb of the year, a 14 day Caribbean, and purchased the internet package the first day on board, 1 device, $140, which 50% off for Elite, and on the standard Princess package used OBC plus we are stock holders with $250 cruise credit. 
Easy to do just go to the Internet cafe and get a computer and follow the steps. 

So did you get $140 less 50%, making it $70 for the 14 day cruise?

The issue being discussed here is the pre cruise price is $10/day and the onboard price is $15/day.  Either way you also get the platinum/elite discount if applicable.  Several months ago, the internet cafe managers would honor the pre-cruise price when you purchased on embarkation day. They no longer seem to be doing that, thus the desire for people to purchase before boarding. Like you, we had no problems in February, but they stuck to the higher price in July.  So the choice now is to purchase early with a credit card for the cheaper price, or wait until you get onboard and use your OBCs at the higher price.

12 hours ago, crystalspin said:

I would see what your TA can negotiate with HAL. With that many "acceptable" OV's available, I wouldn't get too much in a hurry. 

Yes, that is definitely plan A.  The only hurry would be when we get closer to the 30 day flexible cancelation deadline and my other option is gone.  We still have a few weeks. Plus most of the lower category cabins are now only available as a guarantee, so I might eventually get one of the preferred cabins anyway.

12 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Hopefully your TA has a good contact at HAL that is tuned to the relatively new wrinkle the Flexible Cancellation puts in such bookings. 

 

ETA: Since you booked through a TA, I think even a cancellation needs to be done through them. Refresh your TA's memory about the Flexible Cancellation policy, if necessary. They may fall back on the "After Final Payment you have no leverage" idea that has always been the rule of thumb.

This is plan B. I would only consider this if HAL rejects plan A. Unfortunately the TA has made comments in the past about difficulties dealing with HAL, so we will see.  And you are right, this has to go through the TA.  I have already reminded him about the Flexible Cancellation policy.

I was hoping someone might have had experience with getting HAL to assign them a cabin in similar circumstances. If not, experience trying to cancel for FCCs and then immediately rebooking with the FCCs.  My fear is they HAL not let me use the FCCs immediately.

I have a cruise booked and paid for that is sailing in two months.  I booked an oceanview guarantee and have still not been assigned a stateroom.  The current price for the most expensive oceanview stateroom is a little less than what I paid for the guarantee.  At least 17 of the rooms in the highest category are showing as available.  I would be very happy with any of them.  What is the best way to get one of those rooms?

I posed the question to my TA this morning and asked if HAL would assign me one of those rooms. So far no response.

The alternative is to cancel the current booking, and get an FCC from HAL.  Then book one of the desirable rooms using the FCC.  I would have enough for the upcoming cruise and there would be $125-$150 left over for a future cruise. Will this work?  Or, will HAL impose a waiting period to use the FCC.  This approach seems to me more complicated for all parties and I would be more than happy with the first approach.  The small amount of leftover FCCs would not be worth the extra hassles unless HAL says no to the first request.

Has anyone tried any of these approaches?  Any other ideas?

On 8/6/2022 at 11:14 AM, SomewhereGirl said:

⚠️I tried to open a couple of the attachments but my antivirus alerted me that the files are potentially dangerous.  I did not proceed. 

On 8/6/2022 at 8:05 PM, SomewhereGirl said:

I hope you're right and you're all safe but I'm not going to risk it.  It was a big warning I've not seen before with any other PDFs.  Doesn't happen with all the PDFs Princess has sent me recently.

Depending on your anti virus program, you should find this issue on all attachments saved to the cruise critic servers.  For example, I know McAfee will warn you about all Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PDFs saved to cruise critic.  Pictures such as jpg files that are displayed inline without having to download are ok, but I suspect all files that need to be downloaded will generate the warning.  I suspect the AV software does not like the location cruise critic is storing the files.

Hopefully if you choose to download one of these files, your AV software will scan the file and eliminate any real threats.  But if you don't trust the source, then the safe thing to do is not download the files.

Here is an example from McAfee. 

The other day, someone posted all of the bar menus from a July/Aug cruise on the Enchanted.  Unfortunately the Good Spirits menu is probably one you have already seen and it is the only one without prices.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2871457-enchanted-bar-menus-august-2022

Good Spirits menu Aug 2022.pdf

Maya Chan's site is up now.  Banner still says reopening 10/12/2022.

A good email address is "contact at costamayabeachresort.com"