Would your insurance have covered Your Cancelation due to Hurricane Harvey?

So....been reading the ongoing page-turning drama on the RCI boards regarding the how, when and why of the differences between RCI and Carnival in handling the cancelation of the 8/26 and 8/27 cruises out of Galveston. Several people posted 'that's why we always buy insurance' and I got to thinking about what we regular denizens on this board often see....misunderstanding of what Trip Insurance is and what it covers.

 

Here is a summary of what Steve, the guru at Trip Insurance Store says:

https://tripinsurancestore.com/travel-insurance-bad-weather-and-natural-disaster-coverage/

 

In reading that, I note that most policies would not have covered a voluntary cancelation by the passenger.

-The required hurricane warning was only a watch in Galveston.

-The required mandatory evacuation is only in effect in parts of Houston, but not in Galveston.

-The required 12 or 24 hour cessation of services of a common carrrier IS in place at the Houston airports, but it is unclear if this would allow immediate cancelation of the cruise, as well. That's something I will ask Steve next time.

 

So....does anyone have a policy that has better coverage? What would you have been covered for? And when would your coverage allowed you to cancel?

I have started traveling over-insured. I use a credit card to pay for airline tickets and cruises that also includes basic travel insurance feature. I travel with very high frequency, so I buy annual travel insurance policy. I have also started buying the insurance offered with the airline ticket with many carriers for long-haul flights. They are very inexpensive in relation to what they would pay if something really went wrong.

 

When purchasing cruise tickets for others I even go ahead and purchase the cruise line plan as a supplement. I do this as they are not covered by my annual plan nor my credit card option to the full extent. Here a medical issue is my main concern.

 

The allianz site is fairly clear in regards to hurricanes.

https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/travel/planning/hurricane-insurance-coverage.htm

 

As I would understand it that all passengers with a policy that are on board Liberty now are covered from this afternoon.

 

Passengers that would have been traveling to board Liberty would also be covered now as long as they attempted to make it to the ship. This would even cover them if their flight at point of origin was cancelled now.

The house is flooded. The city is a disaster area. The airports are closed. The travel insurance company is being difficult.

 

I booked a late-season Alaska cruise in September of last year for myself and my parents. In February, I purchased travel insurance through TravelEx for the full cost of the cruise. We made final payment on time and were making plans to leave next Wednesday morning. Then Harvey dropped by.

 

My parents are currently trapped on their street by high water, but their house is dry. My garage and utility area flooded with six inches of water, but the main living area is on pier and beam construction and has escaped...so far. However, I am going to have to make a flood insurance claim and I will need to stay in town to coordinate repairs. My elderly parents are nervous wrecks and say that they cannot travel now. However, the insurance company says that because our homes are not technically uninhabitable, we have no claim.

 

Any suggestions?

I'm sorry for you circumstances. First, if you have "Cancel for Any Reason" coverage, and by "next Wednesday" you mean September 6, then you should invoke that provision. Since you said that the insurance company is "being difficult" I assume you don't have that provision in your policy.

 

If the airport remains closed and therefore your scheduled flight is canceled, and despite a good-faith effort you cannot get re-accommodated on the airline until you'd miss more than half your cruise, I believe you will have a strong basis to make a claim.

 

Barring that, unfortunately, I fear that you'll encounter one of those tougher aspects of insurance: It doesn't cover anything other than what it covers, and surely insurance doesn't cover situations that would have been covered by coverage you didn't have that they charge extra for (such as "Cancel for any Reason").

 

Some of the words in the link in MADflyer's post are very cutting but very true: "you must [make] a good-faith effort to continue your travels," for your coverage to be in force.

Steamsailor...in order to cancel the trip before your departure day, it seems you do not have a covered reason, as the uninhabitable clause apparently does not apply. (!) The only other thing I see is medical, and nobody wants any of you to suffer a serious medical issue on top of what you are already going through.

As bUU said, it is possible you will have a claim under trip delay and/or interruption if the flood situation prevents you from reaching the airport next Wednesday. The 'attempt to join the trip' requirement still applies under trip interruption*, but if the roads are still closed next Wednesday, that is covered under trip delay...which could turn into a full cancelation. But you will have to wait until then to start calling the insurance company helpline (and I use the term loosely) which will help document your attempts to start your trip.

*One other thing....your cruise starts in Vancouver and ends in Whittier, right? You are legally unable to join the trip in any US port due to the PVSA...so your attempts to join the trip would be futile and at the halfway point you are then allowed to stop trying. But you may have to point out the PVSA rule to the 'helpline' so that they don't tell you to fly into Juneau or somewhere. This may require a lot of conference calls between you, the cruiseline and the insurance helpline...which is not what you need to be dealing with right now. I am so sorry for all your troubles, and wish you the best.

*One other thing....your cruise starts in Vancouver and ends in Whittier, right? You are legally unable to join the trip in any US port due to the PVSA...so your attempts to join the trip would be futile and at the halfway point you are then allowed to stop trying. But you may have to point out the PVSA rule to the 'helpline' so that they don't tell you to fly into Juneau or somewhere. This may require a lot of conference calls between you, the cruiseline and the insurance helpline...which is not what you need to be dealing with right now. I am so sorry for all your troubles, and wish you the best.

Emphasis on the "conference calls" part of it, because a passenger joining a trip in any US port is not a case of the passenger doing something illegal. Rather a cruise line allowing a passenger to join a trip in any US port is a case of the cruise line committing a violation. (There are two subtle nuances there which we, as passengers, may not feel are important, but this is insurance we're talking about, and they surely will matter.) The cruise line has to say, "We're not letting you on the ship because of PVSA." And they probably won't. They'll probably say, "We'll let you on and pass along to you the fine we're charged for the violation."

 

Then it is a matter of whether insurance will cover the fine. When that came up last week, the discussion never got to what I recognized as a definitive answer.

bUU- From my understanding of the history and application of this rule; the government is far more upset by a cruise line that has advance knowledge of the violation and allows it to happen.

 

There is little that can be done by a cruiseline when a pax departs early without permission and violates the PVSA, other than to report it and pass along the fine. That's not a big deal. But allowing boarding in a port, knowing that would violate the PVSA, is another matter entirely. And the government response can be far more than a monetary fine; they can revoke the permission to dock in US ports for ALL ships operated by the line...something I have been told is not a risk any cruiseline will take.

 

Which is a long-winded way of saying I think the cruiseline is more likely to say 'we cannot let you board there...the first available port is Whittier, on the last day'. So I do think whether the fine is covered becomes a moot point, the fine will not be assessed because the cruise line won't knowingly violate the rule. Not sure if that helps you or not, but hope it does.

And the government response can be far more than a monetary fine; they can revoke the permission to dock in US ports for ALL ships operated by the line...something I have been told is not a risk any cruiseline will take.

I've never read any report of the government doing anything like that. I have read here a number of discussions questioning whether the fine that cruise lines regularly pass along to passengers catching up to show after having missed embarkation is covered by insurance. So all indications I've seen until now run counter what you have written.

 

 

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Well, no I am not aware of it (revocation) actually happening, either. I'm just telling you what the attorney who wrote these ruling letters told me a few years back when Disney was knowingly violating the rule on B2B bookings.

 

If you're saying cruiselines are blithely allowing passengers to board the ship in a different US port after missing their departure without a ruling letter and are just saying 'Oh well, just pay the fine', I would be very interested in learning the specific circumstances. Everything I have seen (mostly limited to B2B bookings and a few missed departures) show the cruiselines following the rule. Even down to making onboard entertainment leave the ship in foreign ports and flying home so as not to violate this rule. Do you have different experiences?

It'll come back up again and you can ask the folks who face the issue for the details you're interested in..

 

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