Non-refundable Deposits and Death of Pax(s).

What is annual travel insurance? I have only heard of it per trip. Outside of something like Medjet that is. Does it cover possible cancellation of any trip for that year?

 

Unfortunately we know from personal experience what happens when someone dies before a trip after final payment. My FIL died in an accident a couple months before the cruise. My MIL got his port fees refunded but that was it. We didn’t try to see if someone else could take his place so not sure about that. She did try to change their room but couldn’t downgrade which is what she wanted.

 

As cold as it seems it makes sense for RC not to change their policy if someone dies. That’s what insurance is there for.

 

We rarely buy insurance and take the chance. Doing the math we figure if we cancel one of 8-10 cruises then that would be about the cost of getting insurance for all of them and we have never had to cancel. So far we have won that bet. But I do get it for my parents since they have a higher likelihood of having to cancel.

 

And we have Medjet which covers our family for emergency medical and gets us (well patient plus one) back home in cases of emergency.

 

 

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It is extremely helpful if you travel regularly because 1 premium covers you for 1 year of travel to most places in the world so if we had to cancel any holiday at any time during the year we are covered.

We live in the UK and have had annual travel insurance for about 30 years.

It is extremely helpful if you travel regularly because 1 premium covers you for 1 year of travel to most places in the world so if we had to cancel any holiday at any time during the year we are covered.

Super interesting. I have never heard of that. I will have to ask my TA if I can get that in the states. We are getting ready to be empty nesters and have some big trips planned so that would be very helpful. What company do you use?

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Super interesting. I have never heard of that. I will have to ask my TA if I can get that in the states. We are getting ready to be empty nesters and have some big trips planned so that would be very helpful. What company do you use?

 

 

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We book direct with the insurance company.

TAs only sell short insurance for duration of holiday only so you would be much better advised contacting holiday insurance companies direct in the US.

When my Father In Law passed away a few years ago, he had 5 or 6 cruises booked - including 2 within final payment time. I called Royal and all his monies were returned to the credit card on which he charged them. All they asked was for a copy of the death certificate. Royal really does (or did then, anyway) have a heart.

In fact, about a year after his death, my husband and I were sailing on my FIL's favorite ship, Freedom, and we ran into the Casino Manager - his dad was a high roller. When we introduced ourselves and my husband mentioned who his father was, she gave a big hug and said that the day they heard that he had passed, upon closing the casino that night, the staff got together and had a toast in his memory. She was choked up when telling the story and how much they missed him. So -- yes, there is "heart" within Royal and their crews.

Mike

When my husband died very suddenly we had a cruise booked about 5 months later. Daughter and her family were on the same cruise. I decided to still sail.

RC was great! They couldn’t have been any kinder. I called to cancel his portion of the reservation. They never asked for insurance information. I offered to send a copy of his death certificate but the representative said she had already pulled up our name and googled his obituary. She said they would also refund his fare, but had left the discounts, including a military discount and put it on my fare. I traveled solo and they didn’t up my fare to a solo fare. In fact they changed my cabin to the same category but very close to my daughter and family.

I was dealing with Crown and Anchor rep and I am diamond plus. Perhaps I was very lucky. I will probably never know. I do know that I was treated with a lot of respect and kindness. In retrospect it was to their advantage. As a couple we had been “loyal to royal”. Since then I have made 4 cruises solo (no family, just all by myself). I think how RC helped when I needed them contributed to my continued cruising with them.

We always buy insurance. We have a 95 year old mother so we never know when we plan a vacation what might be coming up. It is not a big expense for the peace of mind it provides. Also, to have the medical coverage if necessary on the ship is a great comfort too.

We always buy insurance. We have a 95 year old mother so we never know when we plan a vacation what might be coming up. It is not a big expense for the peace of mind it provides. Also, to have the medical coverage if necessary on the ship is a great comfort too.

Well good for you -- and for all the others who gave advice to the OP rather than answering their question. :rolleyes:

If you have no experience with how it is handled (OBVIOUSLY they were asking about this in the absence of any travel insurance), then you need not reply.

I have had experience, answered the actual question, leaving out what I would do (yes, I always have insurance, but my father in law did NOT).

Mike

A lot depends on the terms of the travel insurance and when the event occurs. I know that the policy that I purchased for our Anthem cruise doesn't take effect until the day I leave home to go to the port, so unless my death happened then it wouldn't help at all.

If you have a covered medical condition that develops prior to the cruise departure, but is not a preexisting condition, and death is a medical condition then your travel insurance will certainly cover under trip cancellation prior to cruise departure.

Now if you purchased a medical coverage only, then that will not cover treatment until the cruise starts.

As stated insurance may not even come into play. If someone passes away before the insurance period it would be no help at all. I personally see nothing wrong with companies having a heart.

You obviously don’t own a business. Bless your heart ❤️.

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What does insurance have to do with fares especially if the fare is a refundable type. If I cancel more than 6 months out I would get my entire amount without getting the insurance company involved. Under 6 months that is different.

 

 

 

You also assume all of 8 have non-refundable fares.

 

It's different if the Paxs cancels as he/she will get the balance (less the penalty) in future cruise credits if more than 6 months out. However, when Paxs expires, does the estate get the balance of credit to use within the year. Ergo, can one of the heir(s) be able to use it.

Nelblu,

This is a hypothetical situation. It is implied by the context the the deceased pax had purchased or already in the penalty phase of the booking.

And, one must assume that none of the pax purchased trip insurance. Otherwise this conversation would be futile.

We all, or some already know how those score works. And I reinforce that we are only talking about non insured, in penalty phase of their booking.

And lets not forget the TA’s are increasingly charging booking fees could be $10-50 on top of the fare. Obviously, only pertains to those who have been charged a fee. Which is always non refundable. Much like a ticket purchased with ticketmaster even if the event does not take place.

Using your numbers, that would be 2,500 people who die before they cruise. However, that assumes they booked a cruise in the first place. I am guessing that a good percentage of people that will die, would not have booked a cruise in the first place. For example, they are too elderly to travel, they have been diagnosed with terminal cancer, etc. Plus many of the deaths that would occur in 2018 would have occurred before many people would have booked a cruise.

I am curious about where you got 8 out of 1000. I checked WHO's website and for the United State in 2016 the mortality rate was 114 per 1000 people for the United States. Interesting enough Portugal had a mortatlity rate of 76, the rest of Western Europe was lower, some by a bit some by a significant amount, esp. as compared to the United States.

Cruise lines should NOT break there own contract provisions. In any circumstance that is in the normal vein of daily business. Passengers die before their trips all the time. With the 20 million annual passengers expected to cruise in 2018 according to CLIA the numbers must be thousands per year. If they refunded all of those pax

using the WHO statistics that 8 out of every 1000 will die in 2018 the math is astounding.

 

Besides, if they refunded passengers non refundable fare. It would completely destroy the integrity of buying insurance in the first place.

 

 

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Are you sure? I've booked several different travel insurance policies and I've never heard of any being that restrictive. If a covered event occurs between buying the policy and the end of travel that prevents you from going on or completing your travels it should be covered. A death at any point in time between purchasing the policy and returning on the cruise would prevent you from going on the vacation, so it should be covered.

 

If your policy really doesn't cover anything before the moment you leave your house it's really odd, and I'd highly suggest getting a different policy in the future. If the policy only came into effect when you left it would only be good for things like airline delay, lost luggage, or medical expenses while traveling. It wouldn't cover illness, injury, death, job loss, etc. that stop you from taking the trip at all.

 

IMO that is a completely worthless travel insurance policy.

Nope, not sure so I'll email them and see what they say.

Nelblu,

 

This is a hypothetical situation. It is implied by the context the the deceased pax had purchased or already in the penalty phase of the booking.

 

And, one must assume that none of the pax purchased trip insurance. Otherwise this conversation would be futile.

 

We all, or some already know how those score works. And I reinforce that we are only talking about non insured, in penalty phase of their booking.

 

And lets not forget the TA’s are increasingly charging booking fees could be $10-50 on top of the fare. Obviously, only pertains to those who have been charged a fee. Which is always non refundable. Much like a ticket purchased with ticketmaster even if the event does not take place.

As mentioned in my opening remark, there's huge and contentious thread regarding what's RCL's responsibility when an itinerary change occurs (Coco Cay vs. Miami). The jist of the thread should RCL make good & forgive their rules regarding the non-refundable fares penalties.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2666309

This made me wonder what is RCL's policy if a Pax died and assume it was before final payment.

Yes, I'm aware of TA's adding they're own fees. Mine charges $50 per for cancellations. However, they offer some fine fine percs. I'm getting pre-paid grats for 2, dinner for 2 at a SR, $100 obc for their Thanksgiving promo, $50 in obc for being a loyal customer.

In addition got $200 in obc for RCL promo in booking a non-refundable fare.

Love those percs.

You obviously don’t own a business. Bless your heart ❤️.

 

 

 

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Nope, but I've been a customer of several and I tend to spend more money with companies that care than those that don't.

As mentioned in my opening remark, there's huge and contentious thread regarding what's RCL's responsibility when an itinerary change occurs (Coco Cay vs. Miami). The jist of the thread should RCL make good & forgive their rules regarding the non-refundable fares penalties.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2666309

 

This made me wonder what is RCL's policy if a Pax died and assume it was before final payment.

 

Yes, I'm aware of TA's adding they're own fees. Mine charges $50 per for cancellations. However, they offer some fine fine percs. I'm getting pre-paid grats for 2, dinner for 2 at a SR, $100 obc for their Thanksgiving promo, $50 in obc for being a loyal customer.

 

In addition got $200 in obc for RCL promo in booking a non-refundable fare.

 

Love those percs.

There have been posts on CC from people that have had family members die dealing with various cruise lines. Most of them have been about how the cruise lines have been unfair in not refunding, even though the people did not have insurance. You can probably find them by doing a search.

Bottom line is you should assume that the cruise line will stick to its terms and conditions.

We buy an annual travel insurance policy every year from Allianz Global insurance.. It covers us from Day 1 through the 365th day. It is good internationally and covers medical, evacuation and all the regular stuff. Not only is it more economical than buying a policy for every trip, I never have to remember to buy for each trip. we take several trips a year, cruises and others.

We buy an annual travel insurance policy every year from Allianz Global insurance.. It covers us from Day 1 through the 365th day. It is good internationally and covers medical, evacuation and all the regular stuff. Not only is it more economical than buying a policy for every trip, I never have to remember to buy for each trip. we take several trips a year, cruises and others.

Does it cover the costs of the cruise if you have to cancel for medical reasons?

My Chase Visa credit card covers me up to $10k per for a covered trip charged to that card.

You might want to verify that. Many cards have recently decreased their travel insurance coverage.

When my husband died very suddenly we had a cruise booked about 5 months later. Daughter and her family were on the same cruise. I decided to still sail.

 

RC was great! They couldn’t have been any kinder. I called to cancel his portion of the reservation. They never asked for insurance information. I offered to send a copy of his death certificate but the representative said she had already pulled up our name and googled his obituary. She said they would also refund his fare, but had left the discounts, including a military discount and put it on my fare. I traveled solo and they didn’t up my fare to a solo fare. In fact they changed my cabin to the same category but very close to my daughter and family.

 

I was dealing with Crown and Anchor rep and I am diamond plus. Perhaps I was very lucky. I will probably never know. I do know that I was treated with a lot of respect and kindness. In retrospect it was to their advantage. As a couple we had been “loyal to royal”. Since then I have made 4 cruises solo (no family, just all by myself). I think how RC helped when I needed them contributed to my continued cruising with them.

Does it cover the costs of the cruise if you have to cancel for medical reasons?

I am sincerely sorry to hear about your husband but pleased RC treated you really well on the cruise and happy that you still enjoy to cruise.

Thank you! We have exchanged views on posts before. As a former Yorkshire girl (many years ago!) I am familiar with Sunderland - my parents had friends in Newcastle. One of these days we may meet in the diamond lounge!

Thank you! We have exchanged views on posts before. As a former Yorkshire girl (many years ago!) I am familiar with Sunderland - my parents had friends in Newcastle. One of these days we may meet in the diamond lounge!

That would be nice it would be lovely to chat to you.

Replacing the I Lady?

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You might want to verify that. Many cards have recently decreased their travel insurance coverage.

Yes, my Chase United Explorer card which I use to charge United fares was reduced up to $6k per when charged to this card. They also increased other benefits. My current Chase Sapphire still has the $10k per.

Replacing the I Lady?

 

 

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