Major Disconnect- Why?

[Jtn]

I booked a cruise last August, and the Princess agent was amazing.  Subsequently, I booked another cruise for myself and two guests.  I am looking forward for two more cruises in 2023.  All because of the customer service.

 

The DISCONNECT.

 

During that first cruise the ship’s doctor quarantined me to my room with Covid, with and additional quarantine of one week in Canada.  I was told onboard ship my hotel and meal expenses would be paid.  I trusted the information I received and after that I continued to sail with Princess.

 

4 months later my covered expenses have not been reimbursed.  Princess directs me to AON Affinity.  A company if their choosing.  For 4 months AON states they are overwhelmed, and cannot provide any information beyond that.   I have no contract with AON Affinity, but Princess does.  When I called Princess, twice they said they would get back to me., and never has done so.  My Princess agent had also tried without success.  Yesterday I called Princess a 3rd time and asked to speak with a Princess rep who works with AON and/or claims.

 

I was told that department does “not speak” to customers.  Unbelievable!  I explained my contractual relationship and promises of reimbursement were all with Princess, how can it be that Princess will not contact their vendor (AON Affinity)?
 

Anyone out there have a Princess contact, a person in management I can contact.

 

Any passengers out there who had success and received a reimbursement thru AON Affinity, I would like to know if there is hope.  Hope many month, 4, 5, 6 months????

[riffatsea]

I am confused?

I thought AON was an insurance company

If you bought trip insurance with them then you can talk to them directly

If you didn't buy a policy with them then I wonder how you can collect from them??

What am I missing?

[memoak]

We escalated these things through our CVP and had all of our monies back for FCC’s and hotel and food within a few months

[venussuz]

43 minutes ago, riffatsea said:

I am confused?

I thought AON was an insurance company

If you bought trip insurance with them then you can talk to them directly

If you didn't buy a policy with them then I wonder how you can collect from them??

What am I missing?

I'm in a similar situation, waiting for Aon Insurance to pay out for a TA last May - June. Filed the trip interruption request June 19, a day after getting home, and have got nothing but "apologies for the delay, we're Very busy" from both Princess and Aon. 

I've yet to speak to anyone from either company not reading off a script.

[reedprincess]

Did you submit your expenses through the refund portal on the website?

That is what we were instructed to do to claim our quarantine lodging and food expenses. 

We were contacted less than 24 hours later to verify contact and mail info, and given details on when refund would be processed.

Absolutely nothing to do with the Princess insurance, etc. 

It was all directly through Princess.

https://book.princess.com/captaincircle/customerCare.page

 

Choose Out-of-Pocket reimbursement, then Covid -19 related. And upload your receipts . 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, riffatsea said:

I am confused?

I thought AON was an insurance company

If you bought trip insurance with them then you can talk to them directly

If you didn't buy a policy with them then I wonder how you can collect from them??

What am I missing?

AON is the insurance company that underwrites (or at least administers) the trip insurance for Princess.  If you buy the protection plan from Princess you are dealing with AON...behind the scenes.  You don't "purchase" directly from AON.  (They handle the trip insurance packages for several cruise lines.)

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Rick&Jeannie

[Honolulu Blue]

3 hours ago, Jtn said:

I booked a cruise last August, and the Princess agent was amazing.  Subsequently, I booked another cruise for myself and two guests.  I am looking forward for two more cruises in 2023.  All because of the customer service.

 

The DISCONNECT.

 

During that first cruise the ship’s doctor quarantined me to my room with Covid, with and additional quarantine of one week in Canada.  I was told onboard ship my hotel and meal expenses would be paid.  I trusted the information I received and after that I continued to sail with Princess.

 

4 months later my covered expenses have not been reimbursed.  Princess directs me to AON Affinity.  A company if their choosing.  For 4 months AON states they are overwhelmed, and cannot provide any information beyond that.   I have no contract with AON Affinity, but Princess does.  When I called Princess, twice they said they would get back to me., and never has done so.  My Princess agent had also tried without success.  Yesterday I called Princess a 3rd time and asked to speak with a Princess rep who works with AON and/or claims.

 

I was told that department does “not speak” to customers.  Unbelievable!  I explained my contractual relationship and promises of reimbursement were all with Princess, how can it be that Princess will not contact their vendor (AON Affinity)?
 

Anyone out there have a Princess contact, a person in management I can contact.

 

Any passengers out there who had success and received a reimbursement thru AON Affinity, I would like to know if there is hope.  Hope many month, 4, 5, 6 months????

I'm sorry this has happened to you.  I hope you get some satisfaction soon.  🙏

 

My modest suggestion is to go straight to the top - write a letter to John Boy in Santa Clarita.  Tell him what you told us.  Have the documentation available to back things up.  Good luck!

[CruisingWalter]

Unfortunately this is not unusual to have bad experiences with the insurance plans sold through the cruise lines. It's not just Princess, the insurance policies are not that great and the customer service is often poor.

 

We always purchase, and always recommend friends purchase insurance independent of the cruise line. The coverage is always better for you than what the cruise line is offering. In general the cruise line insurance is more heavily weighted on trip cancellation and trip interruption. We choose insurance that's more heavily weighted on medical coverage and emergency evacuation. Our trip insurance typically covers $50-$100k pp medical coverage and $250k-$1M pp emergency evacuation along with trip cancellation and interruption. When it comes time for the claim, it's a clean line to the claims department. 

 

We learned that lesson on our very first cruise thanks to our travel agent who explained why 3rd party insurance was better than going through the cruise line. Cruise line insurance favors the cruise line, independent insurance favors the passenger. 

 

I really hope you get a favorable resolution and consider independent insurance for future travels, land and sea. 

[Colorado Coasty]

As frustrating as it is, six months appears to be the norm. We eventually got more than we claimed or expected from both Princess and AON. Writing, calling, and complaining doesn't accomplish anything.

[Rick&Jeannie]

3 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

Unfortunately this is not unusual to have bad experiences with the insurance plans sold through the cruise lines. It's not just Princess, the insurance policies are not that great and the customer service is often poor.

 

We always purchase, and always recommend friends purchase insurance independent of the cruise line. The coverage is always better for you than what the cruise line is offering. In general the cruise line insurance is more heavily weighted on trip cancellation and trip interruption. We choose insurance that's more heavily weighted on medical coverage and emergency evacuation. Our trip insurance typically covers $50-$100k pp medical coverage and $250k-$1M pp emergency evacuation along with trip cancellation and interruption. When it comes time for the claim, it's a clean line to the claims department. 

 

We learned that lesson on our very first cruise thanks to our travel agent who explained why 3rd party insurance was better than going through the cruise line. Cruise line insurance favors the cruise line, independent insurance favors the passenger. 

 

I really hope you get a favorable resolution and consider independent insurance for future travels, land and sea. 

Excellent information here.  We always get the Princess (or whoever) insurance but we have it backed up with the Geo Blue Trekker Choice plan...an annual multi-trip plan that kicks in for additional medical and evac benefits.  We knew that our Medicare plan (and supplemental plan) was not going to be any good out of the US...the Geo Blue plans are good world-wide.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Excellent information here.  We always get the Princess (or whoever) insurance but we have it backed up with the Geo Blue Trekker Choice plan...an annual multi-trip plan that kicks in for additional medical and evac benefits.  We knew that our Medicare plan (and supplemental plan) was not going to be any good out of the US...the Geo Blue plans are good world-wide.

I have Medicare Advantage plan through a health provider and they do reimburse me for medical expenses. They even covered the Paxlovid I received on the cruise

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 minutes ago, memoak said:

I have Medicare Advantage plan through a health provider and they do reimburse me for medical expenses. They even covered the Paxlovid I received on the cruise

Yes...but were you out of the US at the time?

[Loveh2ofl]

48 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Yes...but were you out of the US at the time?

I had medical expenses on our last cruise out of the US while at sea.  Medicare Plan F reimbursed 80% after deductible.  So that's another way to get out of country coverage.  Lifetime max is $50K tho.

 

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Yes...but were you out of the US at the time?

I was in Grand Turk and my medicare advantage plan covered all the shipboard expenses except for the $28 medical records fee.  AON covered the medical co-pays for visits to my primary and cardio doctors after the cruise. Mine was non-covid related

Edited January 16, 2023 by voljeep

[brisalta]

18 hours ago, riffatsea said:

I am confused?

I thought AON was an insurance company

If you bought trip insurance with them then you can talk to them directly

If you didn't buy a policy with them then I wonder how you can collect from them??

What am I missing?

 

Princess Cruise Lines uses AON to process certain category of claims, even claims that are not insurance based. Other cruise lines are known to use AON for the same purpose.

 

When I made a claim I received a response in 28 days with reimbursement following in the postal mail.

 

Also see comment #5 if you have not already read it.

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by brisalta

[thunderbaycruiser]

6 minutes ago, antsp said:

I wasn't going to come back with anything, except I wouldn't tell them

 

How would you go about not telling them? On numerous cruises, Princess has done ship wide tests of all passengers. I think I have heard this happening on Day 3 in some cases.

 

Staff wait outside your cabin after handing you the test kit. You must then return the completed test. 

 

Apart from some sort of fraud, I do not get how you "wouldn't tell them".

[memoak]

5 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Yes...but were you out of the US at the time?

Yes. No questions asked just reimbursements 

[LetsGoToo]

Insurance companies are heavily regulated. If you haven't had prompt handling of your claim (generally 30 days) or feel like they are acting in bad faith, you can always file a complaint against the insurance company with your State Department of Insurance. The insurer gets the complaint forwarded to them and has to respond to the regulators regarding the matter. 

[PacnGoNow]

10 minutes ago, LetsGoToo said:

Insurance companies are heavily regulated. If you haven't had prompt handling of your claim (generally 30 days) or feel like they are acting in bad faith, you can always file a complaint against the insurance company with your State Department of Insurance. The insurer gets the complaint forwarded to them and has to respond to the regulators regarding the matter. 

Isn’t there a time limit, in which they must reply to the insured?  Depending on the State, I believe.

[LetsGoToo]

duplicate post. sorry 

Edited January 17, 2023 by LetsGoToo

[LetsGoToo]

3 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Isn’t there a time limit, in which they must reply to the insured?  Depending on the State, I believe.

Yes, it's generally 10-15 days.