PartyAllDaTyme

Here's what you get with travel insurance-- peace of mind. You can relax and enjoy your cruise without having it in the back of your mind, what if this or that happens? Travel insurance won't help in every situation, but it certainly can help.

In the long run, you'll probably pay more in premiums than what you'll get back in paid claims, but that's how insurance works. It's the short run that can be a major disaster without insurance.

As a side note: ALL travel insurance is a "reimbursement" based plan anyway. In other words, you get stranded in a foreign port or you need medical attention,,,, you pay up front out of your own pocket,,,, then when you return, you file a claim, and then it gets reimbursed if its a covered event.

I am a sales agent for one of the major travel insurance companies. The medical benefit and medical evacuation benefit may be payable directly to the provider. As a practical matter, we say pay for a doctor's visit out of pocket, but for a hospital bill we pay the hospital directly (with an approved claim, of course), and same with evac. We don't expect someone to have to pay a $10,000 medical bill out of their own pocket and then wait for the claim check to arrive.

There are some areas of the world where they will not discharge you (or even admit you) until the bill is paid. For those situations, we will guarantee advance payment to the hospital.

I find signatures a handy way of judging (in part, at least) the experience and accumulated wisdom of a poster. Only been on two cruises? I'm not so sure you know what you're talking about. Fifty cruises? Okay, you are much more likely to have something of vaue to say. I always find it fairly easy to scroll past the signature, and have never noticed a problem with the page loading.

Only thing that bugs me is people who put several countdown clocks next to each other so the page width is affected-- have to scroll left to right to read the posts in the entire thread.

As others, we would seldom use room service between 11pm and 6am, no not much of an issue. We always provide an extra cash tip when we do use room service anyway, so no difference. Is the fee considered a gratuity-- does the staff see any of the fee? If so, no different than prepaid grats on Select dining.

I found it odd that they initially refused to do it on anything but a sea day. In 2014, we had a wonderful renewal of vows ceremony on Summit while in port at St. Lucia on our 30th anniversary, the captain officiating. They even let us (briefly) light our anniversary candle. There was never any question about doing it on a port day, and by luck of the draw most such anniversaries will not happen to occur on a sea day, so not sure what the issue would have been.

If OP didn't quite understand the way the upgrades are supposed to work, it still doesn't explain why she (or he) "pulled up reservation to find that we were upgraded to a great c2 on hump," only to find afterwards they were still in the original C3. Possibly something to do with requesting the C2 in the first place. The TA still should be able to change their booking to a C2 and get them the C3 price, no? And if they were working with a TA, why was this not done in the first place? Sounds like the TA is the one who needs to get his/her act together.

Called my insurance co & they said just to send in the form from the ship's doctor

They just want to know they we did see a doctor before leaving the ship

 

Time will tell if they actually accept it ;)

Good to hear!

well as bad luck would have it we had to get off a cruise last Sunday

good thing I included the port fees in my quote because once you set foot on the ship no refunds

In the process of gathering paperwork :eek:

So the cruise line refused to refund a refundable cost? Unless there's something in the cruise contract about it, sounds like you'd have grounds for legal action. Pity cruise lines make it almost impossible to sue.

A quick check of the cruise contract from Celebrity (my usual line) shows cancellation charge 14 days or less before sailing or early disembarkation is "no refund less taxes and fees." Therefore, these should be refundable in any case. As I said, if you've already been to the port, you 'used' the port fee and so it's nonrefundable, but it's also nonreimbursable from the insurance since trip interruption benefit will only cover the unused portion of the trip.

I work in sales, not claims, but my understanding is that any forms should be sent to you by email and can be forwarded to the ship's doctor. You may need to get the specific email from the cruise line. They may have a general email to send them to and they will forward on to the ship.

A 'note from the doctor' is usually unacceptable (exceptions can be made, but don't count on it). There is a specific form that would need to be completed. Also, the wording on the policy probably refers to a sickness or injury at the time of loss if it was a trip interruption. Going to the GP after the fact says nothing about what his condition was at the time, so it would have to come from the ship's doctor.

A lazy river could be a real enticement on one of those super sized new cruise ships .Now that would be a first :D. But ,where do they store all the inner tubes???

If they did this, we'd have to be talking about inner tube hogs.:eek::rolleyes::D

I heard on the news that other cruise lines have decided to skip that port due to security concerns. I wish they would cancel all Mexican ports until they clean up their gang and cartel issues.

Hopefully this clears up before next February-- that's our next cruise, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas:eek:. Maybe we'll just stay on the ship.

I assume this is for a Panama Canal cruise. Other ports are nearby, such as Mazatlan, so they may try to go there instead, but they may also simply make it another sea day-- more time for everybody to stay on the ship, buy drinks and lose money in the casino:eek:;):D.

It can be problematic to switch ports of call with little notice, but if it's an ongoing problem and your cruise isn't for a while, there's more time to make alternate arrangements. But they need to find a port that isn't already booked full with other cruise ships, for example.

The canapes were so bad it was almost funny...

Ask for the cheese and crackers plate instead.

We have dined in SR's and will do so agan, but only primarily for special occasions, such as celebrating a birthday or anniversary. We may indulge if there's a special, such as half price on sailaway night.

The only times we sailed in CC was to get an aft cabin on Summit. Otherwise, we would have been happy with a regular ol' verandah. A few nicer perks, but nothing worth the extra price other than the location.

We took our first RCI cruise (Vision class, not Radiance class) in April. Our impressions were that mot things were a notch below what we were used to expecting from Celebrity. Service was a bit slipshod and inconsistent, RCI specialty restaurant food equaled X's MDR food, RCI MDR food equaled X's buffet, and so on.

As mentioned, little touches were missing-- no champagne or mimosa when boarding, no cool towels and water on reboarding, no chocolates on the pillow at night. Basic TV, no shipboard account information or video on demand. Mattress was uncomfortable (though the steward did provide something to make it better about a week in when I asked for an extra blanket so I could sleep on the sofa, maybe an egg crate foam mattress insert). I found entertainment was on par with X, though less activities. Smoking policy was enforced, though they allow smoking in a part of the casino (which is like allowing peeing in one part of the pool:eek:).

All in all, we just kept saying to each other, "I miss Celebrity."

With a 9-year old, though, there are likely going to be more kids on board for him to interact with and more to do.

One visit to an emergency room in Alaska. And it costs upwards of $40,00 to be medivac'ed from a ship in Glacier Bay or Ketchican. And you have to file with your own insurance first, so if you have Medicare and get sick in St Martin, Bermuda, you are in for a six to eight month wait to be reimbursed. Try finding the Dr who treated you to get him to sign the forms. And you get to pay your own airfare home. The emergency contact person will even book it for you with YOUR credit card.

Don't take the cruise line insurance. The only thing it is good for is if you are hospitalized in advance of a cruise for something that never ailed you before and your Doctor unequivocally tells you that you can't travel for a very definite period of time that includes your cruise dates.

I work for a major travel insurance company. Most insurance is "pay and file", so the insured is responsible for paying the additional costs in any case, including return air for a trip interruption. In the case of hospitalization or evacuation, the insured must file the claim, but we can pay the hospital or evac service directly.

Insurance can be either primary or secondary-- for some states it's automatically primary, others it's primary only if the appropriate plan is purchased and it's purchased within a particular time frame, usually within 15 days of the initial trip deposit. There is also one policy that can be made primary at any time as an optional benefit and for an addtional cost. I'm told that if Medicare is the only insurance, all that's required is to send in a copy of the Medicare card-- no claim needs to be filed.

Our average turnaround for a claim is five weeks. Our minimum for Medevac is $100,000.

Some roll calls are more active than others for a number of reasons. Some of it's luck of the draw, some is the time of year, some is the itinerary. In the summer, I think there's a higher proportion of casual cruisers on summer vacation with their families-- they don't hang out at Cruise Critic much.

There are three other posters on your roll call, but as the weather gets warm people will spend more time outside and will not post as much, either. That could explain why no one else has posted since late March.

Here's our experience-- DW is sensitive to hand sanitizer, her skin quickly becomes red and irritated. On Vision this last month, on the second night of the cruise (TA, just left Key West, 9 sea days coming up) they were mandating everyone get a squirt of Purell before going in WJ, and staff were the only ones allowed to handle the food, even the tongs. When she said she was sensitive to sanitizer, the response was, "Then I must report you to the Captain. What is your cabin number?" Rather than risk (she imagined) being confined to our cabin for nine days and then being put off the ship in Funchal, she angrily accepted the sanitizer. We ate as quickly as we could and she headed for a sink to wash off, but she had red blotchies for a day.

I asked Guest Services about this and was told it's to maintain a list of passengers who are sensitive or allergic, otherwise people will skip it and claim they are sensitive. I asked if there was a Noro problem, and they confided there was a case and were clamping down.

DW still didn't want to give out our cabin number, so the next morning I went to WJ to load up a plate and bring it back to her. No one on station going in, but there was someone when I came out. He was offering but letting people in if they didn't want it. I asked him if this was common during a disease scare, and he replied he was supposed to make sure everyone going in had sanitizer, but he really didn't want to annoy people if they didn't want it.

Back to Guest Services to mention that their protocols were a bit lax with this guy, and I was told there were now two cases and they were doing all they could to keep it from getting out of control, since we had eight more nights before the next landfall, and thanked me for bringing this to their attention.

Back to the buffet to get my plate. No staff at the entrance at all. Few people taking a squirt from the dispenser. Got my plate and walked out to join DW in her self-imposed exile, and there was a woman now there, intermittently dosing those who accepted it but letting those who didn't want it in with a smile and a laugh. I asked her where she was a few minutes ago when I came in, and she said she was nearby mopping up a spill, pointing to an area where she wasn't when I came in. I asked if they were supposed to be implementing stricter hygeine why she was letting anyone in if they didn't want the sanitizer. She winked, laughed and said, "It's all good, mon (Jamaican). Don't say nothin' or I'll get in trouble!"

When I told DW this, she decided to rejoin the living. The next day, she went to the washroom near the buffet to wash her hands before entering. While washing, she spoke with a uniformed crew member and related her problems, but said she always washes her hands. The crew member laughed and said she understood, then followed her out of the washroom and stopped her from entering the buffet without a dab of Purell. DW was flabbergasted. "But you just saw me wash my hands and listened to me tell you how I can't use the sanitizer!"

We never did have a full-blown Noro outbreak, and after reading some earlier posts I question whether the sanitizer would have had any effect anyway, but we were not overly impressed with how this was handled.

Port fees and taxes are refundable. If you cancel before the cruise, you get them back, so why insure them? If you interrupt your trip, you only get the unused portion back, and you will have "used" the port fees and taxes for the ports you've already sailed out of, so you're not going to get them back from the cruise line or the insurance. Same as you're not going to be reimbursed for the breakfast you ate in the departure port just before you boarded.

JudithLynne states she filed a claim and got a refund, but the refund was from Celebrity, not her insurance. She would have received the refund for port fees and taxes even if she didn't have insurance.

LHT28 includes them anyway, in case there is some other charge that was omitted. That's fine if it doesn't kick you up to the next tier. Most insurance is priced in tiers, so if you round your trip cost up to the nearest $500 per person, it won't affect the premium. All you get back is what you paid, but it doesn't hurt to err on the side of caution. But this has nothing directly to do with including refundable costs like port fees.

I work for a major travel insurance company.

If there is specific pricing for individuals, as in the case of a cruise cabin, we go by what the invoice says. (If it's arrangements such as a condo rental where only one name is on the rental agreement, the occupants can divide the cost any way they want, but would need to show documentation such as a cancelled check made out to the person who paid for the accomodations.)

For the cruise, if Person 1 paid $800, Person 2 paid $800, Person 3 paid $500, Person 3 would only get back $500 if he/she cancelled. If you averaged it out to $700 per person and if all cancelled, Person 1 would get back $700, Person 2 would get back $700, Person 3 would get back $500.

I work for a major travel insurance company.

I think it's something to do with a chartered cruise-- for some reason they can't or haven't completely taken it off the site, but don't want people actually booking it so they set it to a ridiculous price. The phrase "Costco Exclusive Cruisetour" is probably a clue.

Dining in Blu we walked out after our main entree without having any desert. The next night our server asked us why we walked out because the maitre d noticed we didn't stay for desert and thought it because our service was too slow or bad. We told him that we don't normally have desert as we don't feel they are worth extra calories. That night as we were leaving the Maitre d stopped us and asked why we didn't stay for desert and we told him. He said that we shouldn't worry about it as we are on a cruise and we replied that we work too hard staying trim and fit for us to indulge in sweet tasteless calorie ladened artery cloggers that we don't have a taste for. He then offered to make something more "healthful". All he was trying to do was appease us and couldn't understand why we wouldn't stay for desert. He also said that it didn't look good because the other diners think that we are having a problem.

 

I think sometimes they try too hard and don't realize that it is nothing personal and afraid that it is.

 

happy cruising

We just had the same problem, though on RCI, not Celebrity. DW is diabetic and had reached her limit of carbs for the day, so she declined dessert. Besides, she was full. She explained this to the waiter, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. He offered various sugar-free desserts, but we got up to leave. The maitre d' stopped us before leaving the MDR to try to rectify a problem that did not exist. In doing so, he almost had my wife in tears because they would not listen to her tell them that, no thank you, she did not want dessert. In trying to fix a perceived and nonexistent problem, they caused one.

Click here for a review from the M-class cabin sticky.

Agreed. In fact, I'm really disappointed that cruiselines don't do entire US east coast and West coast itineraries. I'd love a one-way itinerary that looked something like this:

 

Boston

NYC (2 days)

Philadelphia

Baltimore

Washington DC (2 days)

Norfolk

Wilmington, NC

Charleston

 

Of course, some of those places don't have a cruise port. But with the growth of cruising as a way to travel, I hope that more cities choose to build a port. Especially Washington DC. I know people that live on the East Coast usually just want to get away to the Bahamas or Bermuda or something, but many of us west of the East Coast (or from other countries) would love an actual East Coast itinerary.

 

Same way on the West Coast. Princess has a limited one but I think it's only 1 week in Spring and Fall when repositioning the Alaska ships.

The above itinerary would violate the Passenger Vessel Services Act. A non-US flagged ship (and NCL's Pride of America is the only US-flagged one) has to stop at least one foreign port. West coast coastal repositioning cruises include a stop in British Columbia.

I'd like more exotic foreign ports-- Asia, India, Africa. And an ATW. It can be available in 30 day segments, as long as we have the option to book a B2B2B to make it a true ATW. Otherwise, we'll have to rely on Princess for the ultimate bucket list cruise.:(

More outlets in the cabins-- maybe include this on new builds.

Incorporate gratuities into the basic cost of the cruise. This won't happen unless it happens industry-wide, otherwise it will look like a huge price increase for anyone trying to compare apples to apples by looking only at the price of the cruise.

Better prizes for trivia! And a rule that trivia hosts must be fully fluent in English!:D