dodge55

'fishywood'

Refund all from Princess. 78% back. 31% back to CC, 47% back as cruise credits. Nothing from Insurance.

Cancelled 3 weeks prior to cruise.

OK. I just got a better clarification of the claim. And 'fishywood' and 'flatbush flyer' were very close to dead on.

In July, my dad got diagnosed with cancer, in which it was taken out in August at Mayo Clinic with no further treatment necessary. So, the insurance company does consider this a 'preexisting condition' at the time of full pay (we booked in Feb, but paid in full in Sept). The issue was not that it was a preexisting condition, as the cancer had been taken out. At the time of having to pay in full, there was no plans at all to do any preventative treatment. The cancer was gone. So, I went ahead and paid for the cruises. Then, soon thereafter, Mayo Clinic decided it would be safer to go ahead and do preventative Proton Beam treatment in Oct/Nov just as an extra precaution. Still no problem. Then, they moved it to Nov/Dec. because of scheduling conflicts. Which overlapped our cruise. Despite my dad's objections, they would not move it up to Jan or later because of other scheduling conflicts. The choice to pay for the cruises was based on information I had at the time, which obviously changed, in which I had no control over. Obviously, it would have been very risky to pay in full, if treatment was scheduled at all - so I wouldn't have done that. So, it obviously is nobody's fault, just a lesson learned. I had just hoped that Princess would have given us a 25% cruise credit to reschedule the cruise for 2018. That's 5K that was lost.

This was a family reunion of sorts and an 80th B'Day celebration for my mom and dad. Yes, we could have gone on the cruise without my dad, but there was no way 5 out of 6 people were going to go with him in treatment. (Me, my wife, my dad, my mother, and my aunt). That's not how our family works. So, it was a no brainer to cancel. Just wish it had turned out a little better.

And, it does appear my dad is cured, at least in the near term.

Thanks to all for responding.

Thanks. That's good to know. Did you use the insurance provided by Princess (AON) or outside source? I'm trying to get clarification on the 25%, but so far no explanation yet and no letter (got the 75% refund 2 weeks ago). My guess is for older people the 100% coverage is the way to go to avoid problems.

I had the unfortunate problem of having to cancel our family reunion Panama Canal cruise due to my dad's cancer treatment at Mayo Clinic. We bought the insurance thru Princess, which I think was a huge mistake (we should have bought elsewhere probably). We bought the lower tier insurance which gave us 75% back, plus the other 25% back with a valid medical reason. I think the higher tier gives back 100% for any reason (not totally sure on this). Apparently cancer isn't a valid enough medical reason, even though complete documentation was provided by Mayo Clinic doctors. They wouldn't even consider giving the 25% as a cruise credit - so we could reschedule the cruise for 2018. It's sad when older people get stiffed out of their money.

So, I was wondering how other people have made out when using their insurance policy?