Devastated - Need to cancel cruise five days out

We're scheduled to set sail in five days but my brother is in hospice at home. I'm his power of attorney for healthcare. Does anyone know if RCCL will understand our crises and refund our money? We are so upset over his certain death and losing all our money would only add to the stress.

Can’t hurt to ask. I am very sorry about your brother. That is devasting. Losing a few thousand dollars on a cruise is nothing compared to the loss of a sibling.

You will not get a refund.

All you can hope for is to call and explain your situation. There have been examples in the past where Royal has allowed guests for compassionate reasons to move their booking to a later date, no money back if the cruise is cheaper and you would have to pay more if the new cruise was more.

For future reference this is where travel insurance comes in handy.

my mother died Nov 2 last year and I had to sail Nov 3. I had no insurance and since my sister was in place I cruised instead of losing the cruise money. The first night in the DL I was balling my eyes out, fortunately there was only 1 other couple in there. I learned my lesson, most of my upcoming cruises have travel insurance.

So sorry I have had loved ones in hospice care as well.

If you have opted for travel insurance you'll be fine..otherwise not sure how RCI will handle this...it could go either way. Best to call them directly and plead your circumstance.

Best wishes to you and your family.

my mother died Nov 2 last year and I had to sail Nov 3. I had no insurance and since my sister was in place I cruised instead of losing the cruise money. The first night in the DL I was balling my eyes out, fortunately there was only 1 other couple in there. I learned my lesson, most of my upcoming cruises have travel insurance.

Sorry a hard lesson to learn....but isn't it wise to now insure all your travel ?

I'm sorry to hear about your brother. Eight years ago my mom died 4 days before our cruise. It was unexpected. I called RC so our cabin could be given to someone else, I didn't ask for anything and we didn't have insurance. I got extremely lucky and was given a full refund. I don't know why that happened for us and others have said they received nothing. I know we weren't entitled to anything at the time.

If you paid by credit card, you could check with your provider to see if they have any insurance provisions.

You could always call Royal and be open and honest with them over the situation and see what they come back with.

I'm sorry about your brother & my thoughts go out to your family at this difficult time

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We're scheduled to set sail in five days but my brother is in hospice at home. I'm his power of attorney for healthcare. Does anyone know if RCCL will understand our crises and refund our money? We are so upset over his certain death and losing all our money would only add to the stress.

I am so very sorry about your brother being in hospice. Thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Try calling your credit card company that you used to purchase your cruise. My brother’s wife had to have an emergency hysterectomy several days before their cruise as he had not purchased travel insurance. However, his credit card had insurance as a perk and he rec’d all of his money back.

So sorry I have had loved ones in hospice care as well.

 

If you have opted for travel insurance you'll be fine..otherwise not sure how RCI will handle this...it could go either way. Best to call them directly and plead your circumstance.

 

Best wishes to you and your family.[/quote

 

Thanks. We do have the insurance through Royal but not sure how easy it is to make a claim without jumping through hoops.

If you paid by credit card, you could check with your provider to see if they have any insurance provisions.

 

You could always call Royal and be open and honest with them over the situation and see what they come back with.

 

I'm sorry about your brother & my thoughts go out to your family at this difficult time

 

 

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Thank you

If you paid by credit card, you could check with your provider to see if they have any insurance provisions.

 

You could always call Royal and be open and honest with them over the situation and see what they come back with.

 

I'm sorry about your brother & my thoughts go out to your family at this difficult time

 

 

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Again thank you. I didn't even think to check with my credit card company.

So sorry to hear about your brother. Unfortunately, this is why people get insurance. Maybe, just maybe, you could get a credit toward a future cruise but they are in no way required to do this.

So sorry I have had loved ones in hospice care as well.

 

If you have opted for travel insurance you'll be fine..otherwise not sure how RCI will handle this...it could go either way. Best to call them directly and plead your circumstance.

 

Best wishes to you and your family.[/quote

 

Thanks. We do have the insurance through Royal but not sure how easy it is to make a claim without jumping through hoops.

 

If you have the insurance through Royal then Royal will see that and that is all that you will be offered. They have only offered other solutions to those without insurance. Sorry you are having to go through all this but you should not delay in calling Royal.

I am so very sorry about your brother being in hospice. Thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Try calling your credit card company that you used to purchase your cruise. My brother’s wife had to have an emergency hysterectomy several days before their cruise as he had not purchased travel insurance. However, his credit card had insurance as a perk and he rec’d all of his money back.

Did even think to call our credit card company. Thank you.

Again thank you. I didn't even think to check with my credit card company.

I believe that you must first go through Royals insurance since that was a paid policy as credit card insurance is secondary.

All you can do is call in and try your luck, but don't expect to get a refund or a future cruise credit. As others have said, check the credit card you paid for the cruise, you may have travel insurance through your credit card company. It may fully cover your expenses, maybe only partial, but hopefully you have something in place that can get you at least a portion of your cruise fare back.

Unfortunately, this is what travel insurance is meant for, and if you don't have travel insurance you are essentially "self-insuring" and saying that if something goes wrong you are OK with losing the money you've spent. We've heard too many horror stories of medical emergencies before traveling, medical emergencies during travel, unexpected job loss, major flight delays, etc. We now never travel without insurance if the total cost is over $1,000.

Too often I've heard people say after the fact that they didn't get insurance because they weren't expecting anything to go wrong, but that's not it's purpose. Insurance is against the unexpected, not the expected.

Only had this happen once. My nephew and his partner were going on a cruise with us. His father died the week of the cruise. I called and they were super nice and refunded their money

My husband and I never travel without insurance. You just never know what is going to happen. We buy an annual policy so we are covered for whatever travel we do during the year.

I believe that you must first go through Royals insurance since that was a paid policy as credit card insurance is secondary.

Yes, definitely. Good to see you had the insurance. Have the documentation available and give Royal a call, you can see the full list of terms and conditions at https://www.archinsurancesolutions.com/coverage/Royal

You should be entitled to a full refund of at least the cruise fare through Royal's insurance. After all that has paid out, if your credit card has travelers insurance you can see about any additional costs that Royal didn't cover. I'm not 100% sure, for example if Royal insurance would cover airfare, hotels, etc.

Yes, definitely. Good to see you had the insurance. Have the documentation available and give Royal a call, you can see the full list of terms and conditions at https://www.archinsurancesolutions.com/coverage/Royal

 

You should be entitled to a full refund of at least the cruise fare through Royal's insurance. After all that has paid out, if your credit card has travelers insurance you can see about any additional costs that Royal didn't cover. I'm not 100% sure, for example if Royal insurance would cover airfare, hotels, etc.

Hopefully if a hotel was booked they can just cancel it (depending on cancellation policy..usually 24 hrs before arrival)...Also not sure RCI would cover flights if they purchased them on their own and not with RCI....that's where the credit card they used to purchase them should come into play.

Nice for you to add the link but I thought RCI insurance uses Berkeley although it may depend on where the OP lives.

Only had this happen once. My nephew and his partner were going on a cruise with us. His father died the week of the cruise. I called and they were super nice and refunded their money

 

My husband and I never travel without insurance. You just never know what is going to happen. We buy an annual policy so we are covered for whatever travel we do during the year.

What annual policy do you have that covers trip cancellation?

My condolences for your brother. You may also call the airline. American gave us credit back for our flight last year when my sister-in-law passed.

Sorry about your brother.

However, since you stated above that you have travel insurance with Royal, why are you willing to jump through hoops with your credit card company but not RCCL.

I would first go to RCCL and see what they will do. If your credit card has "insurance" coverage. It will most like be secondary or even tertiarily, so you would still have jump through the same hoops if even not more.

Again thank you. I didn't even think to check with my credit card company.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family :(

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You said you have insurance through Royal, and that is how you will make a claim. We made a claim last year after my cancer diagnosis (could not take the cruise, mere hours away from boarding) and yes, you will have to prove your claim but don't think of it as "jumping through hoops". If you have coverage for this situation, you will be covered, pretty simple.

If it is like my situation, Royal and your credit card company and your work insurance and any other kind of insurer will all be talking to each other.

I'm sorry to hear of the imminent passing of your brother. This is and will continue to be a difficult time for you and your family. God bless you all.

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