Carnival Freedom Fire Reimbursement questions

[MrMarc]

If I understand the problem is that it was paid for with gift cards, so you cannot use that to pay for another type of vacation.  Unfortunately, despite posts here, there is no insurance that would provide for an alternate vacation.  Since Carnival is refunding the cruise fare,, insurance would not come into play.  I think the best suggestions have been to call carnival and see if they can transfer your fare to a different cruise before it gets caught up in the refund process.  I understand your frustration or even anger, but no one can change what happened.

[phoneman69]

13 hours ago, Lane Hog said:

Carnival is issuing a full cash refund.  That's what you use for your do-over vacation.  

If you don't have travel insurance, this is a good example of why you should.

Now is that not a REALLY HELPFUL suggestion. OP has there son and is looking for a little help and this is your offer ? Really 

[purpleally]

7 hours ago, Gaprofitt said:

Insurance?  This is on Carnival.   They made no effort. That's the issue. 

Edited May 27, 2022 by purpleally

[cruisingguy007]

16 minutes ago, phoneman69 said:

Now is that not a REALLY HELPFUL suggestion. OP has there son and is looking for a little help and this is your offer ? Really 

 

What else can you really do but be honest? You going to Pay Pal OP some money? Because Carnival sure isn't going to give OP money for another vacation on top of a refund, a free cruise and incidentals. I think we can all empathize with the OP's plight but it's a bit ridiculous when you really think about what is being asked here. This is not how things work. 

Edited May 27, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[MrMarc]

54 minutes ago, phoneman69 said:

Now is that not a REALLY HELPFUL suggestion. OP has there son and is looking for a little help and this is your offer ? Really 

You must have forgotten where you are posting...

[phoneman69]

8 hours ago, MrMarc said:

You must have forgotten where you are posting...

Yes i lost my head for a moment !! How could i ever think that someone could plan a vacation months ago, Pay in full 90 days ago, schedule flights pay for airline ticket, line up covid testing, have their bags packed for their family cruise and get a little SYMPATHY from the Hard liners. I need to  pick up my lunch box and get back in line

[Lane Hog]

Sometimes you have to put on the big boy underwear and realize that crap still happens, and there won't always be someone there to blame or pick up the tab for the inconvenience.

 

Be grateful they had a couple days advance notice and weren't already at the departure port.  How many people have traveled to a port and had their year-in-advance cruise canceled for a hurricane?... 

 

Travel insurance might have provided interrupted trip insurance if it had been purchased to cover more than just the cruise.  

Edited May 28, 2022 by Lane Hog

[Homosassa]

21 minutes ago, Lane Hog said:

 

 

Be grateful they had a couple days advance notice and weren't already at the departure port.  How many people have traveled to a port and had their year-in-advance cruise canceled for a hurricane?... 

 

 

Perhaps you need to reread the OP's first post.

[vickig315]

23 hours ago, Virga said:

If he HAD booked standard travel insurance, what exactly would have been covered?  In my - admittedly very limited - experience with using trip insurance, policies are similarly restricted to the cost you paid, not the value of what you had booked.  If the carrier provides you that 'full' refund, what exactly does the trip insurance cover?  

 

I guess my question is, say I'm convinced and want to purchase the kind of policy that will make sure I still get to have a $2000 vacation if the '$500' cruise I booked during mid-plague-promotions is cancelled abruptly - what kind of policy coverage am I looking for?  What kind of insurance covers the VALUE of a trip, not the cost paid?

Travel insurance will cover trip interruption. So if you fly to Orlando then your cruise is cancelled for whatever reason (illness, fire, natural disasters,etc) you generally get up to 150% of the cost of the cruise covered to pay for a hotel, rental cars and so on. We used this once when I got very sick during travel to the port. Travel insurance paid for us to stay at a resort for 7 days and a rental car. We went to the beach and Universal instead.

[vickig315]

On 5/26/2022 at 11:43 PM, Gaprofitt said:

 

Hi All,

 

   Had a question.  First and foremost I understand unforeseen circumstances regarding the fire.  I'm sitting in Orlando and Carnival simply emailed me that my cruise was cancelled. No offer to find me another cruise or suggest cruises that may have unbooked staterooms. Just boom, it's cancelled.  They did offer reimbursement back to my original payment method, which is unfortunately Carnival gift cards as well as credit for a future cruise. 

 

  Here is where I am.  I'm in Orlando, off work and my son wants to enjoy a vacation. Now that bill is on me as my cruise is cancelled.  Would it be unreasonable to ask Carnival to pay my lodging expenses for what would have been the length of the cruise?  Has anyone had success doing this?

It is unreasonable. That's literally what travel insurance is for. Trip interruption protection would cover you up to 150% of your cruise cost to pay for a hotel.

[2wheelin]

18 minutes ago, vickig315 said:

Travel insurance will cover trip interruption. So if you fly to Orlando then your cruise is cancelled for whatever reason (illness, fire, natural disasters,etc) you generally get up to 150% of the cost of the cruise covered to pay for a hotel, rental cars and so on. We used this once when I got very sick during travel to the port. Travel insurance paid for us to stay at a resort for 7 days and a rental car. We went to the beach and Universal instead.

I’m guessing that if it had been a case where the cruise line reimbursed you, that would have been subtracted from the 150%?

[BlerkOne]

Carnival didn't make the OP use gift cards - that was their choice. Isn't that what we read so often on other topics? Choice. Now they want Carnival to transfer money to a competitor. Totally unreasonable.

[ontheweb]

17 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

Can't retroactively do much of anything...you are correct. But, by hammering the point home about how insurance would cover these issues and result in reimbursement, maybe people will learn the lesson for next time. We may not be able to change the past, but we can ensure people are prepared for the future.

"Those who forget the past are doomed to relive it."----George Santayana

[RD64]

9 hours ago, Lane Hog said:

Sometimes you have to put on the big boy underwear and realize that crap still happens, and there won't always be someone there to blame or pick up the tab for the inconvenience.

 

Be grateful they had a couple days advance notice and weren't already at the departure port.  How many people have traveled to a port and had their year-in-advance cruise canceled for a hurricane?... 

 

Travel insurance might have provided interrupted trip insurance if it had been purchased to cover more than just the cruise.  

Lanehog - totally agree - the majority of people on these boards are still wearing their “Pullups” 

[SeaShark]

35 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

But in this case what the “insurance ninjas” don’t seem to understand is that insurance will not cover what the cruise line has already reimbursed—at a premium. 

 

First, why do you presume that people don't know that? Insurance is only going to cover what was NOT reimbursed...like airfare, hotels, car rentals or anything else that might not be covered by the refund.

 

Second, the detrimental air quotes and name calling isn't necessary to make your point...if it is, then you probably aren't making the point you think you are. Fact over ad hominem attacks, please.

[vadersprincess12]

On 5/27/2022 at 7:33 AM, Gaprofitt said:

Insurance?  This is on Carnival.   They made no effort. That's the issue. 

So, a cruise is cancelled due to an unexpected issue and you expect Carnival to look for a new cruise for you?  How about all of the other people who were on the cancelled cruise?  Their "effort" is issuing you a refund, and another cruise.  

 

I agree with another poster ~ you could be looking for another cruise yourself.

 

[pc_load_letter]

10 hours ago, vickig315 said:

Travel insurance will cover trip interruption

 

With whom do you get your travel insurance through? For all our previous trips, we've never purchased any.

[Lane Hog]

15 minutes ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

With whom do you get your travel insurance through? For all our previous trips, we've never purchased any.

Lots of options there.  AIG is a big player in trip insurance.  

 

Your travel agent should have options available that can cover air + land + sea even if they're booked separately.  Admittedly, the more components in the trip, the higher the cost.  

[SeaShark]

5 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

But in this case what the “insurance ninjas” don’t seem to understand is that insurance will not cover what the cruise line has already reimbursed—at a premium. 

 

3 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

The quotes (not airquotes) were the result of my QUOTING another poster—which you know because you also replied to them.

You went on to ask for facts and then stated the same facts I did. 

I didn’t presume anything about people. I just read their posts.

 

First, both posts are above...you can clearly see the quotation marks (") you used to air quote the derogatory term insurance ninjas, so you saying not airquotes(sp) isn't correct. Quotes appear in blue boxes, the air quotes have to be added.

 

I see no facts, just you claiming to know what people do or don't understand. There are no posts in the thread where anyone has shown a misunderstanding of what insurance covers.

 

So...swing and a miss sport.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, Lane Hog said:

Lots of options there.  AIG is a big player in trip insurance.  

 

Your travel agent should have options available that can cover air + land + sea even if they're booked separately.  Admittedly, the more components in the trip, the higher the cost.  

In fact, many TAs will ask you if you want travel insurance. If you decline, they will make you note that you did so after they asked so you cannot come back and complain if and when you wish you had insurance that they did not let you know that you can buy insurance and that it is a good idea.

[rs45thompson]

On 5/27/2022 at 7:33 AM, Gaprofitt said:

Insurance?  This is on Carnival.   They made no effort. That's the issue. 

They are giving you your money back and giving you a free cruise.  What more do you want?

[rs45thompson]

On 5/27/2022 at 7:46 AM, Gaprofitt said:

 

I called and got $700 OBC for our next cruise.  I'm happy now.  It's easy to just say they gave me a free cruise. This was an extremely low cost cruise.   You also are required to go within a year, which a lot of people can't do.  So it's useless. 

That's awesome. I'm glad you called, I would have just taken what was offered.

[2wheelin]

On 5/27/2022 at 12:09 AM, Lane Hog said:

Carnival is issuing a full cash refund.  That's what you use for your do-over vacation.  

If you don't have travel insurance, this is a good example of why you should.

 

On 5/27/2022 at 3:19 AM, tallnthensome said:

Carnival is not going to pay your lodging expenses for a week. File an insurance claim. You did buy travel insurance, right? 

 

On 5/26/2022 at 10:43 PM, Gaprofitt said:

 

Hi All,

 

  They did offer reimbursement back to my original payment method, which is unfortunately Carnival gift cards as well as credit for a future cruise. 

 

  ask Carnival to pay my lodging expenses for what would have been the length of the cruise?  Has anyone had success doing this?

 

On 5/27/2022 at 10:24 AM, Virga said:

If he HAD booked standard travel insurance, what exactly would have been covered?  In my - admittedly very limited - experience with using trip insurance, policies are similarly restricted to the cost you paid, not the value of what you had booked.  If the carrier provides you that 'full' refund, what exactly does the trip insurance cover?  

 

I guess my question is, say I'm convinced and want to purchase the kind of policy that will make sure I still get to have a $2000 vacation if the '$500' cruise I booked during mid-plague-promotions is cancelled abruptly - what kind of policy coverage am I looking for?  What kind of insurance covers the VALUE of a trip, not the cost paid?

 

On 5/27/2022 at 10:41 AM, Virga said:

 

Then why are we giving him a hard time about insurance and telling him that's what insurance was for?  To my knowledge, no standard insurance policy would have put him up in Florida at current last minute rates for the length of his cruise, they'd have said that Carnival's refund made him whole there, covered the cost of his flight change fees and told him to go home, right? 

I just don't think insurance would have really come into play here in any way that would have salvaged his vacation.  Carnival's original offer covered nearly all the costs insurance would normally protect.  Telling him that Carnival won't cover his lodging and he should instead file an insurance claim is misleading - insurance wouldn't pay for an Orlando vacation instead either.  If there is the kind of policy that would cover that, I would definitely be interested in looking into it to see if it's something that makes sense for us.  

 

18 hours ago, SeaShark said:

insurance would cover these issues and result in reimbursement,

 

On 5/27/2022 at 7:46 AM, 2wheelin said:

When you are fully reimbursed by Carnival why would insurance help? Insurance plans clearly state they cover non reimbursable expenses. They may help with flight changes—if Carnival had not extended the $200 or it does not cover it.

I am struggling right now with what insurance to get for a trip so am reading lots of policies. A question I have is what terms cover you if you need to extend a trip due to covid or flight cancelations. Is it interruption, delay, something else? The coverage limits are quite different for each of these and are not necessarily inclusive of all you expenses.

If you don’t see the contradictions and confusion here, have a nice day “sport”

[SeaShark]

1 hour ago, 2wheelin said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don’t see the contradictions and confusion here, have a nice day “sport”

 

I absolutely see contradictions and confusion...that is why things have to be repeatedly explained to folks like yourself who are just muddying the waters. You made the claim that people who advocate insurance don't understand what it pays for, but you fail to provide proof of the claim. You know that there is more involved than being reimbursed for the cruise fare (which is all that Carnival is doing)...things like airfare, hotels, etc...but you fail to acknowledge that this is the part that insurance covers. 

 

The real question is: Do YOU agree that those with insurance will be better off than those without?

 

 

BTW...funny that you include your own contribution in what you see as contradiction and confusion.

Edited May 29, 2022 by SeaShark

[vickig315]

On 5/28/2022 at 11:01 AM, 2wheelin said:

I’m guessing that if it had been a case where the cruise line reimbursed you, that would have been subtracted from the 150%?

I'm not positive how that would work out. They cover your unanticipated expenses due to the trip interruption up to 150% of the original value of all the costs of your trip that you insured. I'm not sure how the reimbursement from the cruise line would factor in. They won't for example cover air fare if you take a future credit....but that wouldn't impact them paying for a new flight if you decided to just fly home on different flights due to an interruption. I hope this makes sense.

Also the more I think about this original post, I'm pretty sure everyone cruising out of Florida is required to have travel insurance right now, right? So I'm not sure why the OP would be upset.