dszrew

While the rest of the travel world is allowing cancellations without penalty, cruise lines are still trying to cling to what is becoming an outdated business model. I'm tired of putting money down for deposits, then having to guess whether their policy will be extended, and having to make a Go/No Go decision at final payment time. Frankly I'd like to see the cruise lines have the guts to implement a more permanent flexible policy--come into the post covid world instead of trying to hold onto how things have always been.

13 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I hope that Delta has customer-friendly policies regarding flights made with frequent flyer miles.  

through 2022 flights can be changed or canceled with no fees and full refund of miles. I've already rebooked several flights and gotten the difference in miles refunded--and a bonus for doing it online without calling. 

if Infinity were transferred to Pulmantur in the 2 Dec timeframe, I would assume it would need some kind of dry dock or port call, perhaps just for a week, to change the branding from X to Pulmantur? that would have to be done before the crew comes on board? just trying to think if the timeline is Dec to contact the crew, we might hear more official news prior to that... just speculating.

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

@Hlitner please let us know how things work out with Delta.  I thought they were allowing cancellation and redeposit of FF flights/miles with no penalty.  If you have to pay $200 that would be [bad] news.

I booked a flight with miles on Wednesday. then on Thursday the price went down. changed the booking and got the extra miles back, no fee. 

if you pay with $$, you get a flight credit, not a refund (I did that too just the other day and saved $38). some parts of Delta's website say international flights must be used in a year, but right now any flight credits are good through the end of 2022. I'm looking at flights to South America in February, and figure if the cruise is canceled, then I'll get a flight credit/redeposit miles and use that for an Aug 2022 trip to Europe.

4 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

I haven't heard back from Allianz, but I dug to the bottom of the actual Declaration of Coverage we received on our last renewal, not the booking area, and in the "Important Notes section at the very end of the document, it does specifically state that the coverage is for all insured, not each.  

I tried to look at the full policy description, but couldn't find access to it on the website. other travel insurance sites will let you look at the details, and I dislike that you have to actually book it or at least submit your information before they let you read the fine print.

24 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

Calls to InsureMyTrip.com report zip for that annual (or even single) “trip only” preference as I described above.

 

Any other ideas?

I have not seen this kind of policy anywhere.

Allianz is the only policy I've found so far that includes trip cancellation for an entire year. Most annual policies are medical with potentially car rental.

14 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

Which annual policy?  There is one called AllTripsPremier that covers all family members.  We have that and the $15,000 limit applies to each family member, not the combined members, and per year, not per trip.  It may be state dependent.

AllTripsPremier allows selecting up to $15,000, but for me it says the benefit is per policy per year. 

AllTripsExecutive has a maximum of $10,000 trip cancellation, but shows the benefit as per insured per year. 

Could be state, or ages...

4 minutes ago, dszrew said:

When I check the annual Allianz plans, I see a maximum of $15,000 but is per year, not per trip or per person.

Odd, choosing a different insurance package I see $10,000 per insured per year, bringing the total to $20,000 (a little better, now only a 33% loss on a $30k trip). only half the emvergency evac coverage though.

29 minutes ago, 1985rz1 said:

The maximum trip insurance we can get under the annual policy is $15,000 pp.

When I check the annual Allianz plans, I see a maximum of $15,000 but is per year, not per trip or per person.

Reimburses your prepaid, non-refundable expenses if you must cancel your trip due to a covered reason.

2 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

So, until we find some way to get separate trip only (cruise + air + land w/o med/Medevac) insurance that covers high cost travel and waives PECs, we tend to look for the most basic comprehensive policies with minimal med/MedEvac but decent trip coverage.

that's about what I had concluded, thanks for confirming it. I like the idea of an annual emergency medical policy, but that's typically included in the individual trip cancellation insurance too. of course, if you have both, then you run the risk of each arguing the other should cover any medical evac! my main concern at this point is covering medical evac and cancellation of the $30k cruise costs--that is just too high to not insure in some way.

15 hours ago, Redtravel said:

I use Allianz. Until the pandemic, I bought a yearly policy.  

when I check annual plans for Allianz, it's mostly a medical evac policy, with only up to $10,000 cancellation coverage for the entire year. that doesn't even make it to half of a single Oceania longer cruise. maybe I'm missing additional options, or do you not insure full cruise amounts with the annual plan?

when you save a trip on Oceania's website for later review, someone from Oceania will call you within a few hours. So I asked my guy these questions for the definitive answers:

• you can remove OLife up to 14 days before sailing and get a full refund (not subject to the % penalties)
• you can change from shore excursions to obc prior to 14 days before sailing
• if you cancel the cruise, OLife is not refunded as it's considered part of the cruise fare [so if you think you will cancel the cruise, remove OLife first, then cancel?!]

14 hours ago, njhorseman said:

As you can see OLife choices must be made by the final payment date. They become part of the fare and would be subject to the same cancellation penalties as the fare, just as taxes and fees are rolled into the fare and not separately stated.

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/special-offers/olife-choice/

"Guests in the same stateroom must choose the same OLife Choice amenity, and amenity must be chosen by final payment. "

I will assume for travel insurance that this is correct. However, I have been told from various TAs:

• You can add or remove OLife, even after final payment. 
• You can switch from shore excursions to obc (I'd imagine that would have to be finalized before 14 days prior to sailing). 
• OLife OBC is refundable. (but given the idea that OLife becomes part of the "fare" perhaps there is no refund unless you actually take the trip)

I've seen none of this in writing and I tend not to fully believe everything until it's confirmed, either through personal experience or an official statement.

21 hours ago, njhorseman said:

Cancellation penalties for shore excursions and other options are listed near the bottom of page 6 of Oceania's Ticket Contract https://www.oceaniacruises.com/Documents/Legal/10812/US-TicketContract.pdf . As you can see what I would call "ordinary" shore excursions only incur a penalty within 36 hours of tour departure, while Unlimited Passport and Your World package cancellations incur a penalty on or after embarkation day .

what is OLife considered? it's not listed explicitly. is it considered other "optional" charges or like port fees included in the cruise fare and therefore not refundable? it's an Oceania thing mostly--can you cancel OLife sometime prior to embarkation and get a refund after having made final payment?

I'm looking at insuring a cruise, but only the non-refundable portion of the cruise. 

If I pay for OLife shore excursions, then say cancel the cruise 1 day before the trip because of a covered medical issue, will the OLife payment portion be refunded? will port taxes and fees be refunded? (does it make any difference if the cruise is canceled prior to 14 days before the cruise--the date when you have to have selected the shore excursions?)

1 hour ago, dszrew said:

how often is there also a significant fare difference with your chosen flights? or is it pretty easy to get flights for the airfare allottment? are these flights refundable? I guess with final payment being due 180 out, I could book flights at that time and rely on insurance in case of cancellation.

I've researched back on some older posts and think I understand this now. I'm not at a gateway city, so after paying a deviation fee and then getting to the gateway city, I'm likely able to do air myself under my control for a similar price or use miles to book.

Or, I could book with air, then at 270 days request an itinerary, work to see if I can get preferred airline, etc, see what extra it would cost from my city, then either accept or cancel air. I guess it costs me nothing right now to book the air, so I might do that and then make the decision prior to final payment and after seeing what costs are above the amount they are giving for air.

3 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Pay the  deviation fee & choose your flights about 270 days out  

consider flying in a day or so early  or if you can stay a few days after the cruise

Worth the  $175 PP  for peace of mind  in knowing your flights & routing

JMO

how often is there also a significant fare difference with your chosen flights? or is it pretty easy to get flights for the airfare allottment? are these flights refundable? I guess with final payment being due 180 out, I could book flights at that time and rely on insurance in case of cancellation.

7 hours ago, Redtravel said:

O life package works at this time. You can book air, lock in price, and then reconsider options when final payment is due.  I was booked on a Oceania cruise that was canceled recently.  Since I booked the air from O,  I didn’t have to deal with the airline separately to get a refund or make a change.  

I'm looking at a longer cruise where final payment is 180 days before sailing, and would still not get an air itinerary for 3 more months after final payment. was told that cancelation of air could only happen before final payment, although not sure if you can cancel after final payment and get obc credit or something. for myself, I like saving the $ (possibly $350 per person) but really do not want to risk getting middle seats in both directions by waiting until 90 or 75 days prior to sailing.

most recent info google finds on Pullmantur:

https://www.cruisemapper.com/news/8556-pullmantur-denies-information-liquidation Feb 22

looking for investors

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/royal-caribbean-group-provides-business-update-and-reports-on-first-quarter-2021-301280193.html (April 29)

mentions Royal Caribbean providing cash refunds to past guests as part of the reorganization plans

22 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

As for cancelling after the fact  you may get less  credit that close to sailing as you may have gotten if you declined the air when you booked

If I were to add air closer to sailing, I might expect the amount I'd pay might be more than if I had booked it originally. but it seems that when you book you know exactly how much the air is (compare the with air price to the without air price) and I wouldn't expect that to go down.

if that's the case, and if they just give me what flight they want to give me, I'd likely be unhappy with it at any cost savings or rather I'd pay whatever extra is required to control my own flights and reserve them when I'm ready. (I also have a problem that often these type of tickets won't allow seat assignments until ticketed, which is 60 days before sailing, which also means on some flights only middle seats left!)

18 hours ago, mauibabes said:

I will let Oceania Air Dept come up with their option, then I will make a decision. 

Never used Oceania for air, but looks like assignments are made 75 days out. do they just tell you the flight you are booked on, or is there any kind of "choice" between possible flights? (I know you can pay to make special requests, but wasn't sure how the normal process works.)

sounds like you make final payment including the air charge, then find out later what flight they give you, then you can cancel the air and get a refund for that portion?

5 hours ago, arima22 said:

For Premium comparison of price you have to add the Oceania air upgrade fee of $199 PP each way plus the deviation fee, and possibly the additional fee for an airline the they do not have on contract.

are you saying if you want to use their $199 premium upgrade you also have to pay the deviation fee?

and, is the $199 each way? sounds like a bargain until you add that all up--$575 for a round trip upgrade?

39 minutes ago, patty1955 said:

I know a lot of people won't agree but we're not  fans of Delta. The last time we flew on them, the flight was change 3 time (time and routing) and the gate was change several times while we were at the airport. Interestingly enough, our flight from Barcelona to Seattle is on Delta. 

my preference for Delta international flights is their seating configuration--often 2-4-2. United and American and others are often 3-3-3 or 3-4-3 which are quite tight. 

8 hours ago, Paulchili said:

People please   There is no such thing as O Life air. There is O Life and there is air - the two are entirely separate and you can take both, either one or none.

So please do not call it O Life air - it only confuses others.

Well from Ocenia's website, to be technical, they call it "OLife Choice" (air + choose an amenity) or they say "OLife fare with Airfare". you can also do "OLife" only which is choosing an amenity without air. 

I think you are splitting hairs that few care about. saying "olife air" is certainly faster, although it may be ambiguous if you mean airfare only or airfare with the amenity. 

at least for US websites, it is very easy to find cruise-only pricing aka "no OLife". 

I generally prefer to book my own air, in particular to control the aircraft and seating arrangements I get. I'm concerned, however, that air prices are climbing in anticipation of an increased ability to fly. It seems like pricing overall is higher than pre-pandemic. OLife pricing generally has airfare to Europe still around $1000 of the price you pay, which may work out to be a good deal if air prices remain high. 

Anyone seeing or suspecting the same thing? I would ignore OLife with air but wonder if I'd be wise to book it. My TA says you can always drop the air prior to final payment...