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RCI Policy for hurricane victims

flviking

By flviking,
in Royal Caribbean International

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flviking

flviking

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My sisters home was severely damaged by Ian. She was supposed to sail Sunday from Boston. Does Ty have travel insurance. TA says RCI will not make any accommodation. Any thoughts on if that is really the case. She didn’t buy travel insurance as she thought she would be covered by credit card. Card will not cover the FCC portion which is most of the cost. 

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flviking

flviking

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Easy to say take the cruise but not happening. Most insurance policies require the policy holder to take actions to minimize further damage. You can’t just go on vacation with a tree on your house and a hole in the roof. 
 

Yes, she lives in Florida which is a declared disaster area and the airport is just starting to open up. 

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Homosassa

Homosassa

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Posted

If TA has already checked with Royal Caribbean, that is her answer.

 

Did she receive an FCC? Your post makes it sound like she might have been offered an FCC and, if so, that is more than Royal Caribbean had to offer her.

 

The cruise line is not responsible for any associated costs of the cruise (transportation, accommodations, etc). 

 

While the gun was jumped and all the state was declared a disaster area BEFORE  the storm made landfall, there is a good portion of the state where we had no damage from the storm (I live one hour north of Tampa).

 

 

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moposh "Live from...." Rare

moposh

Posted
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21 minutes ago, dada2199cc said:

Not that it was asked, but on other forums I've seen similar questions and the most common response is "she should take the cruise" -- and I agree with it.

 

Going away for a week isn't going to change anything.  Insurance companies are going to take forever and the deadline for filing a claim isn't one week.

 

I would take the cruise, enjoy myself as much as possible and then come back and deal with the issues.

I don't know if I could really enjoy myself knowing about the issues at home.  

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Sunshine3601

Sunshine3601

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35 minutes ago, dada2199cc said:

Not that it was asked, but on other forums I've seen similar questions and the most common response is "she should take the cruise" -- and I agree with it.

 

Going away for a week isn't going to change anything.  Insurance companies are going to take forever and the deadline for filing a claim isn't one week.

 

I would take the cruise, enjoy myself as much as possible and then come back and deal with the issues.

I agree with your logic.    After a disaster of this size insurance adjusters are not going to get to every home and they don't expect everyone to be sitting at their home to meet with them.    

 

I would file the claim and make sure I had phone and email access to stay in touch while onboard the ship.    There really isn't much that can be done sitting at home.   From the sounds of the damage, she probably has to find temporary housing anyway.    Getting pampered on a ship sounds much better than sitting in a hotel or at a friends house waiting for a call from an ins. rep and contractor(s).

 

I know from experience with SuperStorm Sandy when it hit our home on the island of LBI NJ, it took while over 30-days before an insurance person came to see our house that was a full gut inside and out.  The home stunk with couple feet of sand inside and dead fish, mold growing everywhere, looting of people's copper pipes, etc. was happening until the National Guard stepped in to control who visited the island.     It tooks weeks for the insurance people to even get back to me with their assessment of the damage.  Then weeks before a contractor could even look at the home.     The entire process was about 9 to 10 months before the house was repaired and I was one of the lucky ones.    Some fought with insurance companies for over a year.

 

If she wants to stay home and cancel the cruise in its entirety her TA that booked the cruise will be the only person Royal will speak with at this stage.    The other option is for her to email mbayley@rccl.com and explain her situation.   Royal is usually compassionate towards people involved in these types of storms.

 

Whatever she decides I wish her the best with her home and thankful to hear she is okay.   

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ARandomTraveler

ARandomTraveler

Posted
Posted (edited)

Based on what happened in 2017 during hurricane Maria, she won't get her money back if she doesn't make the cruise, unless she has insurance.

 

This is actually what got me to start buying cancel-for-any-reason insurance for every vacation I book. Back when Maria happened, a lot of roads were washed out, homes were damaged, flights were cancelled, and ports were destroyed, BUT, cruise ships were still able to sail, and so they did.

 

Anyone who chose not to sail because they didn't want to go to destroyed islands, or whose flights were cancelled and they couldn't make it to the ship, or people who planned to drive to the ship and could no longer get through because the roads were damaged, or whose own homes had been destroyed, well....they lost their money. This is exactly what travel insurance is for.
 

Most credit cards only offer insurance for things like lost luggage, emergency evacuation or death. They don't offer the comprehensive insurance coverage most people need in cases like this. That's why it's really important to read all the fine print. 
 

It wouldn't make sense for the cruise line to have a policy, then provide an option to purchase additional protection, and then when someone chooses not to spend the money on the extra insurance (or chooses not to spend the time to read the fine print),  just give them back their money out of pure compassion. Sorry, but she's probably S.O.L.

 

It won't help your sister at this point, but hopefully other people can learn from her mistake. 

Edited by ARandomTraveler
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JupiterTwo

JupiterTwo

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The only situation I can recall when RCL issued refunds was when the departure port itself was hit by a hurricane, as was the case with Harvey and Galveston.

 

Even then, RCL royally messed things up by waiting until after the last possible moment to declare the cancellation of the cruise. Carnival had already diverted their ships to New Orleans, but RCL stubbornly insisted that the Liberty was still going to Galveston as scheduled. This was insane, as there would be no dock workers or terminal staff to receive the ship because everyone was home taking care of their own houses and supply needs.

 

Also, RCL forced people to choose between flying into a disaster area or lose their cruise fares. They waited until the day before the scheduled departure to finally announce that Liberty was being diverted to New Orleans, but people were already in transit to Galveston by that point.

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ARandomTraveler

ARandomTraveler

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4 minutes ago, JupiterTwo said:

The only situation I can recall when RCL issued refunds was when the departure port itself was hit by a hurricane, as was the case with Harvey and Galveston.

 

Even then, RCL royally messed things up by waiting until after the last possible moment to declare the cancellation of the cruise. Carnival had already diverted their ships to New Orleans, but RCL stubbornly insisted that the Liberty was still going to Galveston as scheduled. This was insane, as there would be no dock workers or terminal staff to receive the ship because everyone was home taking care of their own houses and supply needs.

 

Also, RCL forced people to choose between flying into a disaster area or lose their cruise fares. They waited until the day before the scheduled departure to finally announce that Liberty was being diverted to New Orleans, but people were already in transit to Galveston by that point.

This was a different situation. The ship changed its departure port and based on their own terms and conditions, were pretty much required to offer refunds in that case.


In a situation where the ship is still able to leave from the original embarkation port, they don't have to offer any refunds.

 

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mjkacmom

mjkacmom

Posted
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6 minutes ago, BND said:

We cruised out of Bayonee 5 or so days after Sandy hit NJ.  We were on Explorer.  900 people cancelled due to the storm (locals).  Travel insurance is available for a reason.   

In retrospect I should’ve tried to get on that sailing, we just had basement flooding but were without heat and electricity for over a week. Live 20 minutes from Bayonne.

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karl_nj

karl_nj

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10 minutes ago, BND said:

We cruised out of Bayonee 5 or so days after Sandy hit NJ.  We were on Explorer.  900 people cancelled due to the storm (locals).  Travel insurance is available for a reason.   

 

I remember boarding Carnival Miracle out of Manhattan about a week after Sandy.  The midtown cruise terminal still had no power at all; Carnival ran extension cords from the ship to the terminal in order to run the computers for check-in!

 

I was really happy to get out of the area at the time, by this point finding gas for your car was still quite difficult... but I also was lucky enough not to have any damage to my house with that storm.

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BND

BND

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 minutes ago, karl_nj said:

 

I remember boarding Carnival Miracle out of Manhattan about a week after Sandy.  The midtown cruise terminal still had no power at all; Carnival ran extension cords from the ship to the terminal in order to run the computers for check-in!

 

I was really happy to get out of the area at the time, by this point finding gas for your car was still quite difficult... but I also was lucky enough not to have any damage to my house with that storm.

We took Amtrak up from DC and stayed at the Hilton Penn (now a Doubletree) and it had power.  We didn't even know for sure the train would be going up until a day before.  We took a car service from the hotel through Newark to CL where we saw lots of stuff piled on sidewalks (mattresses, etc) and lines at some gas stations.  There were multiple cars in the CL parking lot with tow trucks as water had overflowed the pier and flooded them.  This was before the parking garage was built and they were still using the tent and old terminal.  When we returned (9 days later I think) we took a car service into Manhattan.  Tunnels had just reopened.  I think we stayed a couple of days in Manhattan before taking Amtrak back.   The car service drivers we had were driving 2-3 hours into PA to find gas.  It was crazy.

Edited by BND
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Goodtimes57

Goodtimes57

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I think the most you can do is at least try. But RC is not and should not be responsible to get people to/from a cruise ship. I seriously doubt they will budge. She might try her Home Insurance policy. 

 

And yes she should have went on the cruise. Folks were told to evacuate anyway. When Harvey hit Houston. It was announced on a Wednesday that Houston was the bullseye. On Friday to left for our Alaskan cruise. It hit two days later. There was NOTHING we could've done to mitigate damages. Nothing. And after the storm damages occur, insurance companies are on the hook for the repair cost.  

 

And someone has to say it.... She should have bought travel/cruise insurance. 

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moposh "Live from...." Rare

moposh

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1 hour ago, dada2199cc said:

 

Interesting, I have not seen any of this in my life -- and I once DID go on a 2 week African vacation 2 days after a tree fell on my house and car.  I called the insurance company and literally told them "deal with it."


I am surely not going into damaged property and risking my life when my insurer is going to pay for experts with safety gear to do it for me.

 

As I said, I know it wasn't asked, but if it was me, I'd be cruising and relaxing and letting the experts and pros do what they're paid to do.

 

 

 

Are you an expert at damage mitigation?  Do you have the necessary safety gear and know the safety protocols in dealing with damaged property?

 

After a storm damages my home, you best believe I'm taking a hotel room anyway -- and after a hurricane, the likelihood of an expert coming to check out the claim quickly is close to zero.

 

They are STILL paying out claims from hurricanes in 2020 and 2021, mind you.  

A bit aggressive in your reply.   

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